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Camera10
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Operating System7.8
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Design10
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Performance9
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Display10
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Battery10
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Value For Money8
Last week, I was in China, checking out Huawei’s latest flagship phone – the Pura 70 Ultra.
This isn’t going to be a deep dive review into every feature the Pura 70 offers – you’ll find plenty of those out there already. Instead, I want to answer a very simple question: would I buy this smartphone?
The answer will be telling. I have, after all, recently switched from the iPhone 15 Pro Max to the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. All I miss about the former is the inability to easily move stuff from my phone to my Mac – that’s it. I’m not an anti-smoker-type ex-iPhone user, though; I remain a huge admirer of Apple’s flagship.
Despite this, the switch to the S24 Ultra has really opened my eyes. It has revealed that I’m not quite as tied into the Apple ecosystem as I thought I was, and it has confirmed what matters to me:
- the camera system;
- battery life; and
- cross-platform interoperability.
At the time of writing, you can’t buy the Pura 70 Ultra in the UK, but as soon as there’s any change to that, I’ll update this review.
This doesn’t mean I can’t give you my full opinion on this phone, though. It deserves that.
Pura 70 Ultra specs and pricing
The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra is basically the successor to the P60 Pro, with a new naming convention, a considerably updated design, and a completely reimagined camera system.
If you’re wondering, ‘Pura’ essentially means ‘pure’, and is linked to Huawei’s Fashion Forward strategy, as you’ll note from the eye-catching design, which we’ll get to in a moment.
There are three devices in the Pura range – the 70, 70 Pro, and 70 Ultra. I was given the latter to review in 1TB form. Under the hood of the Ultra, we have the Kirin 9010 chip, 16GB of RAM, and either 512GB or 1TB of storage. Running the show is Harmony OS 4.2.
On display duties, there’s a 6.8-inch OLED unit with 2,500 nits of peak brightness and a 120Hz variable refresh rate. It’s covered by Crystal Armor Kunlun Glass which is apparently 300% more scratch resistant than regular glass. Huawei is also claiming an impressive 100% increase in drop resistance.
The 5,200mAh battery supports 100W wired supercharging, 80W wireless charging, and 20W reverse wireless charging. There’s also IP68 water resistance, stereo speakers, and a pop-out camera system with a 1-inch lens (which I’ll get to in a bit).
It’s hard to nail down the exact price of the Pura 70 due to the availability and exchange rates, but it is, essentially, iPhone money – which is to be expected, given that this is resolutely a flagship device. The good news is that if you live in certain European countries, you can pre-order the Pura 70 range today.
Pura 70 Ultra design and display
The Pura 70 Ultra certainly lives up to Huawei’s Fashion Forward strategy. This is a striking phone. It’s available in black, brown, and green (the version I was given to review).
It feels solid, it looks like a flagship device, and I’m a fan of the textured back, which reduces any unnerving slipperiness which often comes as standard with expensive smartphones these days.
The rear of the Pura 70 Ultra is dominated by the huge camera module, which provides an indication as to what this phone is all about. Again – I’ll get to that in just a tick.
As for the display, it’s lovely. It’s bright, fast, and draws you in thanks to the minimal bezels and small pinhole camera. It’s also relatively flat-edged, which will please the non-curved edge brigade. I’ve become accustomed to the square edges of the S24 Ultra, which means the Pura 70 Ultra feels very iPhone-like to me with its rounded edges.
Pura 70 Ultra Performance
Earlier, I listed the things that matter to me when it comes to smartphone ownership. The eagle eyed among you will have noticed that I didn’t mention performance.
This is for one very simple reason. I test lots of phones each year and I can categorically confirm that they all feel exactly the same for my use case. I don’t game on my phone, and I don’t do anything that I’d consider beyond ‘normal’ use. For that (and I think I sit among the majority), I’m yet to find a modern smartphone that falls below expectations.
The Pura 70 Ultra is a case in point. It feels super smooth, responsive, and never taxed. Likewise, Harmony OS feels familiar, fun to use and is customisable enough for most people. Incidentally, if you’ve ever wanted a phone with eye tracking so you can play tennis with your eyes on the lock screen, this is the device for you.
Now for the caveat: the Pura 70 Ultra isn’t compatible with Google’s services, and, outside of China, you’ll have to use Petal Search or another workaround to find some of the apps you might rely on. It does, of course, have its own voluminous collection of apps on the AppGallery, but one must remember that, at the time of writing, this is a Chinese device and, consequently, tuned for that market.
Pura 70 Ultra camera
As noted earlier, the Pura 70 Ultra is dominated by its camera system, both visually and due to the fact that it is, clearly, the key point of differentiation for Huawei this year.
We get three cameras to choose from. There’s a 40MP ultra wide with an f2.1 aperture, a 50MP macro telephoto with an f2.1 aperture, and a great big pop-out lens housing a 1-inch sensor with a variable aperture of f1.5-f4.
A quick note: the example images I’m showing you on this page are all taken from my trip to China and they’re straight out of the camera – no tweaking at all.
Let’s talk about that pop-out lens. Firstly, it makes a noise when it extends and retracts. This is, immediately, very cool. Huawei refers to this as a “symphony of mechanical sound”. To me, it sounds like a tiny pod bay door opening and closing. It was confusing at first; I thought it was the camera app making the noise, but it really is mechanical. I’m here all day for that.
The reason for the extending lens is, apparently, to save space and enable more light to hit that 1-inch sensor.
Huawei has conducted over 300,000 retraction test cycles for the mechanism and it is, mercifully, IP68 water resistant. How it holds up to water, dust, and scary stuff like sand remains to be seen, but there doesn’t appear to be much of a gap around the lens, which hopefully bodes well.
This big lens is also capable of taking in 198% more light compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, which is demonstrated nicely during nighttime photography.
It also features the industry’s first sensor shift optical image stabilisation on a 1-inch sensor, which is rather useful and offers anti-shake of up to 67% over the P60 Pro.
As for the focal lengths, 1x and 3.5x are optical, and the rest are digital. I found myself using 3.5x most consistently, and while 5x would have been nice, Huawei’s choice of zoom delivers great results.
Even 10x is pretty useable in lots of scenarios, with AI lending a helping hand during the processing time.
Also worthy of mention is the Pura 70 Ultra’s ability to freeze very fast moving subjects, as demonstrated below with this shot of what was a fast-spinning image of a surfer in Huawei’s Shenzhen store. Impressive.
To put no finer point on it, this might be the best camera system I’ve used on a smartphone. The images it throws out are absolutely stunning.
They’re contrasty and the clarity has clearly been given a tickle, but that seems to be the order of the day in 2024, and I’m all for it.
Crucially, the Pura 70 Ultra doesn’t saturate colours, and you can rely on it to take the right photo when you need it to. That’s all we want, isn’t it?
The images are also super sharp, the shutter speed is very fast, and it’s a brilliant shooter at night, too.
As for the video quality, it’s superb (as you’ll see in my video review of the Pura 70 Ultra).
This remains the most subjective element of any smartphone review, and that’s why I’d love to know what you think about these test images. Get involved in the comments section, please.
Personally, I’m bowled over by the camera in the Pura 70 Ultra. It doesn’t just compete with the iPhone 15 Pro Max and S24 Ultra – it beats them.
Bottom line: would I buy the Pura 70 Ultra?
Yes, I would. The problem is that I physically can’t at the moment because it isn’t available in the UK.
However, I’ve already broken free from iOS, so that’s not an issue, and if we go back to what matters to me:
- camera: nails it
- battery life: nails it
- cross-platform interoperability: the only challenge, based on my location
The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra is a superb phone. It’s fast, feels great, looks great, and the camera system might be the best I’ve ever used.
I have my fingers crossed for wider availability; the Pura 70 Ultra deserves it.
