Huawei Pura 70 series: Everything you need to know
Huawei’s Pura 70 series brings a slick new design and some impressive camera features – it just might not be bringing them to the UK
With the launch of the Pura 70 series, Huawei has moved away from its previous smartphone strategy, dropping the single-letter branding that last cropped up when I went hands-on with the Huawei P60 Pro. The Huawei Pura 70 series consists of three handsets, with the standard Pura 70 joined by the more upmarket Pura 70 Pro and the premium Pura 70 Ultra.
There are plenty of eye-catching design and photography features here that are worth getting excited about, but before that train gets too far down the track we do have one issue to address: at the time of writing, there’s no confirmation of whether or not the Pura 70 series will be landing on UK shores at all.
All three have been confirmed for a European launch, and I think it’s likely that at least one of them will make it over to the UK at some point, but that’s just speculation for now. It’s also worth reiterating for those not in the know that any Pura 70 models that do make it to Blighty won’t support 5G service, as the Government has banned Huawei from accessing the 5G network in this country due to security concerns.
With that out of the way, let’s have a look at what each of the new Pura 70 phones has to offer. We’ll start with the standard Huawei Pura 70, but if you’re more interested in either the Pro or Ultra variants, feel free to use the links below to skip straight to the good stuff.
Huawei Pura 70: What you need to know
The cheapest of the Pura 70 series has a price tag of €999 in Europe and can be preordered from today, with regular sales starting on 22 May. There are only two colours coming to Europe – simple black and white variants – so it follows that the UK would be in the same boat.
The design is a fairly big shake-up compared to last year’s P60 series. It’s a little smaller than the P60, measuring 74 x 8 x 158mm (WDH), but is slightly heavier at 209g. The most notable design feature, however, is the new rounded-triangle camera module on the rear. Designed to resemble the “forward symbol”, this style is, if nothing else, quite different from just about every other phone brand on the market, which is never a bad thing.
Housed inside this bump are a 50MP main camera module with a large 1/1.3in sensor and a variable aperture that ranges between f/1.4 and f/2.0, alongside a 12MP (f/3.6) 5x telephoto zoom lens and 13MP (f/2.2) ultrawide shooter. Both the main and telephoto lenses support OIS (optical image stabilisation), and between them they can achieve a hybrid digital zoom up to 50x. Finally, the selfie camera is a 13MP f/2.4 unit.
The display itself is a large 6.6in LTPO OLED panel with a claimed peak brightness of 2,500 nits, a 2,760 x 1,256 resolution and a 1Hz-120Hz variable refresh rate. It sits flat against the edges, similar to the latest models from Samsung and Apple, with a layer of Huawei’s protective Kunlun glass over the top. This second-generation glass is said to offer 100% better drop resistance, compared to its predecessor. The phone as a whole offers a robust IP68 waterproofing rating, too.
One area in which Huawei is being bizarrely cagey is the processor – no information has been given as to exactly what is powering the Pura 70 (or its siblings, for that matter). Whatever the mystery platform ends up being, we do at least know it will be paired with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard storage space, although the latter is not expandable, as there’s no microSD slot. Rounding out the internals is a 4,900mAh battery that can be juiced up via the provided 66W charger or 50W wireless charging with compatible devices.
On the software front, the Pura 70 series all run the latest EMUI 14.2, which brings with it a few nifty new features. Huawei showed off some new themes that you can interact with just by moving your eyes – the given example was a cartoony game of tennis, where you can move your avatar by looking to either side of the screen. Creepy? Undeniably, but some may find this to be a fun quirk.
The unsettling tracking doesn’t stop there, either. There are also AI-driven touch-free gesture controls on offer here, whereby you “scroll” the air and the phone will pick it up and respond as if you were touching the display, or you can clench your fist for a screenshot.
Due to some squabbling with Google, Huawei phones don’t have traditional Android updates, but the brand has confirmed that all of the Pura 70 series will receive EMUI updates for at least two years. Apparently it’s likely that support will extend beyond that, but Huawei wasn’t willing to commit beyond that.
Huawei Pura 70 Pro: What you need to know
Moving on to the middle option, the Pura 70 Pro will retail for €1,199 and again can be preordered from today, with general sale starting 22 May. Once again, Europe is only getting the black and white variants.
The design language is understandably very close to the Pura 70, so I’m just going to go over the ways in which it differs. First of all, it’s a little bigger, measuring 75 x 8.4 x 163mm (WDH), and it weighs a chunkier 220g. The display is a larger 6.8in panel with a higher 2,844 x 1,260 resolution and it curves elegantly off to the sides, instead of meeting the edges bluntly like the Pura 70.
There’s no word on the processor here, either, but we do know that there’s 12GB of RAM and 512GB of onboard storage (again, no microSD card). The battery is a bigger 5,050mAh unit and charging speeds are slightly higher, supporting up to 100W wired and 80W wireless charging.
The main camera is identical to the Pura 70’s, but it’s backed up by a marginally different 12.5MP (f/2.2) ultrawide lens and a 3.5x telephoto camera with a higher pixel count, at 48MP, and a much wider aperture of f/2.1. Despite offering a slightly shorter optical zoom, the Pura 70 can apparently also achieve a higher 100x hybrid digital zoom.
Beyond far-reaching zoom capabilities, Huawei made a point to highlight the improved shutter speeds achieved by all of the Pura 70 series. Of particular note was the blending of short and long exposures, which apparently allows the engine to composite frames from each to get the best of both worlds – capturing fast-moving objects with great lighting and plenty of detail. I’ve only seen Huawei’s samples so far, so take it with a pinch of salt for now, but it sounds like a feature to watch.
Huawei Pura 70 Ultra: What you need to know
Finally, we have the biggest and most expensive of the bunch. The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra is again available for preorders in Europe from today and will be on full sale from 22 May for an eye-watering €1,499. For that tall order, you’re at least getting slightly more variety in the colour department – the standard black is joined by a dapper-looking brown and a classy green colourway.
Befitting the most luxurious model in the series, the Pura 70 Ultra gets a more refined design, with a vegan leather rear that’s criss-crossed with embossed “Star Pattern” lines. The forward symbol camera module is different here, too, with a colour-contrasting tag just beneath housing the flash and the Xmage logo.
The 50MP main camera is impressive enough by itself as well, with its massive 1in sensor and a variable aperture that can shift between f/1.6 and f/4.0, but what really stands out here, if you’ll excuse the pun, is that it’s set inside a retractable lens structure.
This housing pops out when you open the camera app and apparently allows the sensor to take in even more light, and therefore produce even more detailed images. The pop-out motion is accompanied by a mechanical sound and the ring around the housing itself is a starkly contrasting red, both of which are designed in homage to DSLR cameras. Huawei stated the mechanism has been tested over 300,000 times, which should give it plenty of longevity, and surprisingly it doesn’t compromise the phone’s IP68 rating.
Pop-out camera aside, the design of the Pura 70 Ultra is fairly close to the Pro, with identical dimensions, but a little extra heft at 226g. The display is the same, too, although the Kunlun glass is a more durable Crystal Armor variant, which offers “up to 300%” scratch protection and “100%” better drop resistance, compared to the first generation.
The selfie camera is the same as the other Pura 70 models, but the ultrawide and telephoto lenses on the rear both have higher pixel counts, at 40MP and 50MP, respectively. That telephoto camera can reach a 3.5x optical zoom by itself, as well as a hybrid digital zoom up to 100x, just as we saw with the Pro.
The mystery over CPU hardware continues here, but the RAM is a step up from the other models, with a hefty 16GB, and the ROM comes in at 512GB, with no microSD slot for expansion. The battery is a massive 5,200mAh, but charging support is the same as the Pro, up to 100W wired or 80W wireless.
Huawei Pura 70 series: Final thoughts
It’s hard to judge the worth of three flagship smartphones without knowing when or even if they’re coming to the UK. Even if they did, Huawei flagships are perpetually on the back foot here, because why would consumers choose to limit their connectivity options when all of the best smartphones around have similar perks to the Huawei models, but also offer 5G?
I’ve long thought Huawei could make a killing if it put all of this effort into dominating the budget market, where people are much less concerned about the presence or absence of 5G. As it is, however, the brand has stubbornly stuck with flagships for another year, which at this point feels like a bit of a waste of time.
The cameras are traditionally the main selling points for Huawei phones, and that’s been turned up to 11 for this generation, with the Ultra in particular offering something no other brand can currently match. Whether or not that proves to be enough to unseat the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra or the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max remains to be seen – Huawei might yet just sit the fight out entirely and steer clear of UK shores.