EmailWhen you think of the most ubiquitous smartphone on the planet you probably think of the iPhone. You wouldn't be wrong, but that could be changing. According to TechChrunch and IT research firm Gartner, Chinese manufacturer Huawei has surpassed Apple in global smartphone sales -- for the second quarter in a row.
This makes sense as more and more people in China, with its huge population, get smartphones and choose for Huawei as an alternative to iPhone, but it has also begun to make in-roads world-wide. Huawei makes phones that run Android and has while you may think of Samsung's Galaxy phones or Google's Pixels, but most of Huawei's recent success comes off of it's iPhone X alternative the P20 Pro.
So what is this phone all about, how does it compare to our beloved iPhone, and if you are looking for something that isn't an iPhone should you buy it?
Huawei released the phone in May of this year and many of its features mimic those on the iPhone X, Galaxy S9, and Pixel 2, where it differs is its camera system -- which for us is what's really important on these smartphones. The camera system on the back sees the other three's two-camera system and raises it another camera. The back camera system has three lenses: a 70 mp mono lens, a 40 mp main RGB lens, and 8 mp telephoto lens.
As you may recall, we reviewed the highly experimental L-16 here some time ago. That camera has 16 lenses, all the different focal lengths. The Huawei would seem to be on track to pick up on what the L-16 has demonstrated: more lenses are better.
Over at TechCrunch they did a side by side test of the camera on the P20 and on the iPhone X and while they are pretty similar, they say that the P20 is the best phone for low light photo and video on the market now.
The Huawei lenses are also made by Leica. We like Leicas around here.
The Huawei P20 goes for $666.69, which a much lower price point than its competitors.
So, if you are producing video on your smartphone, and let's be honest: you really should be by now, and you are looking for something a little cheaper than an iPhone, the P20 may be a good choice for you.
You can read more about the Huawei P2 here.
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