The smartphone continues to evolve into the go-to device for photography, with estimates suggesting that smartphones captured 94% of the trillions of photos taken globally in 2024. Despite these numbers, even the best smartphone cameras have struggled to match the quality of dedicated mirrorless systems—especially when it comes to telephoto capabilities. HUAWEI’s latest flagship, the Pura 80 Ultra, aims to close that gap with a novel camera setup designed to elevate long-range photography while maintaining a manageable device footprint.
At the center of the Pura 80 Ultra’s camera system is what the company calls a Switchable Dual Telephoto Camera. Instead of using separate, smaller sensors for each telephoto lens—an industry norm driven by space constraints and cost—the Pura 80 Ultra shares one large sensor between a 3.7x medium telephoto and a 9.4x super-telephoto lens. This shared-sensor design helps bring the quality of its telephoto images closer to what most flagship phones achieve with their main cameras. The system is further supported by Huawei’s Ultra Chroma Camera, which aids in preserving fine detail and improving color accuracy, particularly in low-light conditions or scenes with saturated lighting.
For users, the enhanced telephoto experience means practical gains. The super-telephoto lens can be used to capture stage performances and concerts with greater clarity and fewer artifacts, even under poor lighting and complex color conditions. Wildlife photographers can take advantage of the 9.4x zoom to maintain distance without sacrificing detail or dynamic range. And for portrait photography, both telephoto lenses offer a level of background separation and optical compression that’s typically associated with DSLR and mirrorless setups, thanks to the larger sensor and longer focal lengths.
Complementing the telephoto upgrades is the Pura 80 Ultra’s main camera, a 1-inch Ultra Lighting HDR sensor. This sensor is paired with a variable aperture ranging from f/1.6 to f/4.0 and is capable of a claimed 16 stops of dynamic range—exceeding what’s offered by many professional cinema cameras. The result is improved performance in both bright and dark areas within the same frame, with enhanced clarity in high-contrast scenes such as night events lit by firelight or strong backlighting.
The system leverages Huawei’s AI Cinematic Engine to manage exposure, preserve detail, and refine tonal transitions during video recording. This processing power, combined with pixel-level color tuning from the Ultra Chroma Camera, allows for more natural skin tones and improved realism in video, particularly in complex lighting situations.
While these advancements won’t make traditional cameras obsolete, they signal a meaningful shift in smartphone imaging technology. The Pura 80 Ultra demonstrates how thoughtful engineering—in this case, consolidating high-quality components and leveraging computational photography—can overcome physical limitations that have long held back telephoto and HDR performance on mobile devices.
It’s unlikely that the Pura 80 Ultra will replace a professional setup, but for users looking to expand the creative possibilities of mobile photography—especially in telephoto, portrait, or challenging lighting scenarios—it offers tools that go well beyond the typical smartphone camera system.
