Huawei and Leica have been partners in photography for a little while now, and the low-light capabilities of the latest P30 Pro are nothing short of amazing. While Huawei has made much of the Leica partnership at past events, this year the company received somewhat less of the limelight … and this might be why.
You see, inside every Huawei P30 Pro, behind each of the four lenses you see on the rear of the phone lies something that isn’t a Huawei product, or something co-engineered by Leica.
What is it you might ask? Well, it comes from Sony, in the form of four Sony CMOS sensors.
EE Times came across this in their published teardown:
“Separating Huawei P30 Pro, more than anything else though, is its use of quad cameras,” EE Times writes. “The new smartphone literally has four cameras. They include a main camera, plus cameras for wide-angle, Time-of-Flight and a periscope view. All four use Sony CMOS image sensors.”
“It’s a full design win for Sony,” analyst Stéphane Elisabeth of System Plus Consulting tells EE Times.
It’s hardly surprising to find Sony CMOS sensors inside the Huawei P30 Pro, or in fact, inside most major smartphones these days – despite being unable to sell a mobile phone in Australia, the company has some serious imaging nous, and makes quality CMOS sensors that few others are able to replicate.
One thing’s for sure. Sony’s CMOS sensors form part of a system that has topped the DXOMark ratings and will likely keep the P30 Pro sitting there unchallenged for a little while.
Want to know why? Check out our Huawei P30 Pro review, and our in-depth camera review as well.
It’s a shame Sony look to have given up on us as I really like the look of the Xperia 1 & 10+, there last few flagships have been great apart from missing one thing or another each time & it looks like they might have finally got their act together.