Huawei Pura 70 Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
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Intro
The battle for the best camera phone is ongoing, and while some of the more popular brands take things slow, Chinese manufacturers don't hesitate to go super aggressive and take risks. The recently launched Huawei Pura 70 Ultra is a prime example. The phone features a 1-inch sensor under a very interesting pop-out lens.
Can the Pura challenge the big players in the industry with its innovative approach? Today, we're going to find out. We're pitting against each other the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra. Two "ultra" phones with two very impressive camera systems.
Speaking of which, in this comparison, we'll be focusing mainly on the camera aspect. The lack of GMS on the Pura and its limited availability make the phone something of an underdog. But this doesn't apply to the camera system.
Speaking of which, in this comparison, we'll be focusing mainly on the camera aspect. The lack of GMS on the Pura and its limited availability make the phone something of an underdog. But this doesn't apply to the camera system.
Huawei Pura 70 Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra differences explained:
| Huawei Pura 70 Ultra | Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra |
|---|---|
| Shorter and lighter, aluminum frame | A tad wider and heavier, titanium frame |
| 6.8-inch 1-120Hz OLED, 459 PPI | Similar 6.8-inch screen, a tad brighter and also crisper with 501 PPI |
| Triple camera, main camera uses 50MP one inch sensor | Quadruple camera, main camera uses a 200 MP sensor with pixel binning, one additional telephoto with 3.0x optical |
| More memory in the base version (16GB) | Less memory in the base version (12GB) |
| Slower chipset due to US restrictions | Latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset |
| Larger 5,200mAh battery that will potentially deliver better battery life | A smaller 5,000mAh battery |
| Faster 100W wired and 80W wireless charging | Slower charging speeds |
Table of Contents:
- Design and Display
- Performance and Software
- Camera
- Audio Quality
- Battery and Charging
- Specs
- Which one should you buy?
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Design and Display Quality
Kunlun glass or Armor?
The Galaxy S24 Ultra and the Pura 70 Ultra use different approaches when it comes to design. The Galaxy follows in the footsteps of its predecessors, using a boxy design with camera cutouts in the back glass and a titanium frame. The Pura, on the other hand, boasts a brand new design with a very interesting camera bump, a faux-leather back, and a slightly curved screen. The aluminum frame of the Pura is also much more rounded.
Due to the fact that the Pura 70 Ultra is shorter, it feels more compact in the hand, and the curved and rounded sides and edges feel more comfortable in the hand. The weight of both phones is very similar, and, of course, the Galaxy S24 Ultra comes with the S Pen tucked inside its slot.
The display situation is more similar than different with these two, despite looking otherwise at first glance. Both phones feature 6.8-inch panels with similar brightness and color accuracy. The resolution is better on the S24 Ultra but not by a huge margin, and both phones use LTPO panels, which can go from 1Hz to 120Hz with everything in between.
Our display tests showed just that—the displays of these two phones are very close. The Galaxy is brighter by around 300 nits in peak brightness, which might be hard to tell. The color temperature and minimum brightness are almost identical, and the Pura has a slight advantage in color accuracy and represents grayscale better as well.
Performance and Software
The US ban is taking its toll
There's a big gap in raw performance between these two due to the US restrictions imposed back in 2019. The Pura comes with an in-house Kirin 9010 chipset, which is not on par with the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Performance Benchmarks:
These benchmark scores paint a bleak picture for the Huawei contender, but in reality, you can't say that it's a slow phone. No need to panic over the scores; the more pressing matter concerns the software, as you all might've guessed.
The Pura 70 Ultra doesn't have Google services onboard, and in order to continue your YouTube, Gmail, and Play Store journey uninterrupted, you need to put in some serious effort. The Galaxy also comes with a longer support cycle, seven years, while the Pura offers only three.
Camera
Now we're talking!
Here's where things get interesting. The Galaxy S24 Ultra comes with a 200MP main sensor under an F1.7 lens and achieves the end result through pixel binning - combining groups of pixels to act as one big pixel.
The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra uses a 1-inch 50MP sensor, and it has a variable aperture and a physical diaphragm that can do F1.6–F4.0. What's even more interesting is that the lens pops out of the body to allow the light to reach more of the huge sensor underneath.
The telephoto of the Galaxy is more flexible, as the phone comes with not one but two cameras, one sporting 3x zoom and another periscope with a 5x optical zoom camera. The Pura has only one 3.5x optical zoom periscope lens.
The 40MP ultrawide on the Pura technically has more pixels than the 12MP one on the Galaxy, but this doesn't mean that it will produce better pictures. The megapixel race is over. So, time for some samples.
The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra uses a 1-inch 50MP sensor, and it has a variable aperture and a physical diaphragm that can do F1.6–F4.0. What's even more interesting is that the lens pops out of the body to allow the light to reach more of the huge sensor underneath.
The telephoto of the Galaxy is more flexible, as the phone comes with not one but two cameras, one sporting 3x zoom and another periscope with a 5x optical zoom camera. The Pura has only one 3.5x optical zoom periscope lens.
The 40MP ultrawide on the Pura technically has more pixels than the 12MP one on the Galaxy, but this doesn't mean that it will produce better pictures. The megapixel race is over. So, time for some samples.
Main Camera
Daylight images are very similar, but there are more details on the ones taken with the Galaxy S24 Ultra (if you check out the clouds in the background). The Pura 70 Ultra also produces brighter images, which sometimes can even look a bit overexposed.
The low-light samples are closer, in our opinion, and the 1-inch sensor inside the Pura 70 Ultra does a great job of catching all those little photons. What's also apparent is that the color tonality of the Pura is much warmer. Both photos have good detail and dynamic range, but overall, they have a different feel. The Pura image feels softer, while the Galaxy S24 Ultra is a bit sharper.
Zoom Quality
The Galaxy S24 Ultra has an advantage when it comes to zoom; it has a more flexible zoom system consisting of two cameras with 3x and 5x optical zoom, respectively. The Pura, on the other hand, comes with a single periscope zoom camera, which can do 3.5x optical.
You can see from the shots above that samples taken with the Galaxy look more detailed and crisp at all magnification levels, barring 3.5x, which is the native zoom level of the Pura. All in all, if zoom is your thing, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is hard to beat.
You can see from the shots above that samples taken with the Galaxy look more detailed and crisp at all magnification levels, barring 3.5x, which is the native zoom level of the Pura. All in all, if zoom is your thing, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is hard to beat.
Ultra-wide Camera
The ultrawide samples look very close, again with just a tad more detail and separation in the Galaxy S24 picture. Overall, both phones can snap great ultrawide photos, and once again, the samples taken with the Pura look much brighter and warmer.
Selfies
We all know how good the S24 Ultra is at taking selfies, and this shows in the samples above. Surprisingly, the Pura selfie looks a tad more detailed, especially if we take a look at the background. Both phones produce natural-tone selfies, but the Galaxy exhibits a strange noise (look at the black portion of the jacket) and aggressive oversharpening. We think the Pura wins this wound.
Audio Quality and Haptics
When it comes to audio, both phones sport the same stereo speaker setup, making use of the earpiece as a secondary loudspeaker to complement the bottom firing main one. The Huawei Pura 70 impresses with its loudness, but there's some distortion in the high frequency range. The Galaxy S24 Ultra sounds pretty good—maybe not as loud, but the quality is a tad better.
The same applies to the haptic feedback. The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra has a tight and precise vibration, but it's not the strongest out there. Neither of these phones has a 3.5 mm audio jack.
Battery Life and Charging
There's a slight difference in battery capacity between these two; the Pura has 200mAh more capacity than the S24 Ultra. Sadly, we couldn't perform our battery tests on the Pura due to software limitations, but what we can say is that both phones will take you through a day of heavy use, and potentially stretch that to two days.
When it comes to charging, we were really surprised to find that the 100W charging brick inside the retail box of the Pura 70 Ultra wasn't able to completely obliterate the 45W wired charging support of the Galaxy S24 Ultra. In fact, the times are nearly identical up to the 30-minute mark, and the Pura wins with about 20 minutes in total 0-100 charge time.
Specs Comparison
For the specs nerds out there, we've prepared a little table to show you some numbers. For a detailed specs comparison, head to our Huawei Pura 70 Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra comparison on PhoneArena.
| Specs | Pura 70 Ultra | Galaxy S24 Ultra |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | 162.6 x 75.1 x 8.4 mm | 162.3 x 79 x 8.6 mm |
| Weight | 226 g | 233 g |
| Screen | 6.8-inch OLED 1-120Hz | 6.8-inch Super AMOLED 1-120Hz |
| Processor | Kirin 9010 (7nm) | Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 |
| RAM, Storage and Price | 16/512GB for 1,500 euros | 12/256GB for $1,299 |
| Cameras | 50MP main, f/1.6-4.0, 1" sensor 40MP ultra-wide, f/2.2 50MP telephoto, 3.5x optical - 13MP front | 200MP main, f/1.7 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.2 10MP 3X zoom, f/2.4 50MP 5X zoom periscope 12MP front |
| Battery Size | 5,200 mAh | 5,000 mAh |
| Charging Speeds | 100W wired 80W wireless | 45W wired 15W wireless |
Which one should you buy?
The Galaxy S24 Ultra is the better choice all around. The Samsung phone is cheaper, comes with a stylus, has a faster processor, and comes equipped with a more flexible camera system. Not to mention the GMS onboard, so no software woes if you go that route. Add to everything above the availability and Samsung's great trade-in incentives, and you have a clear winner.
The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra is no doubt a very interesting phone and a very capable camera phone as well. But the experience is incomplete and requires some serious sacrifices.
The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra is no doubt a very interesting phone and a very capable camera phone as well. But the experience is incomplete and requires some serious sacrifices.
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