Huawei’s latest phone fits two telephoto lenses into one camera

The Pura 80 Ultra has much lenses than it initially appears.

Huawei has conscionable announced the Chinese motorboat of its Pura 80 flagship phones, and the Ultra comes with a clever trick: a “switchable” dual-lens telephoto camera that allows 2 antithetic lenses to stock the aforesaid sensor.

You tin spot some lenses side-by-side successful the largest of the 3 camera rings connected the 80 Ultra’s rear, but they stock much than conscionable a housing. Both lenses are attached to the aforesaid acceptable of periscopic elements and the aforesaid representation sensor, with a movable prism that directs airy from the chosen lens. That’s a antithetic attack to the variable telephotos successful immoderate Sony Xperia phones, which usage a azygous lens but determination parts of the periscopic operation to alteration the zoom distance.

The Pura 80 Ultra’s 2 lenses connection 3.7x and 9.4x optical zoom — or 83mm and 212mm if you similar — which is simply a wider scope than Sony’s instrumentality ever managed. The shorter lens has an f/2.4 aperture and Huawei’s spec sheet lists it arsenic a 50-megapixel camera. The different lens is f/3.6 and curiously, contempt utilizing the aforesaid sensor, is listed with a smaller 12.5-megapixel resolution, suggesting that there’s either sensor-cropping oregon further pixel-binning going connected erstwhile utilizing that lens.

Combining the 2 telephoto lenses isn’t conscionable a mode of grabbing headlines. Image sensors are among the astir costly components successful modern phones, truthful uncovering ways to usage 1 sensor for aggregate lenses could prevention costs successful the agelong run. It’s besides a abstraction saver, adjacent much truthful by avoiding having 2 afloat periscopic systems. That could support the telephone slimmer, but besides makes abstraction for amended components — the 1/1.28-inch-type sensor utilized present is larger than astir telephotos offer, and perchance enabled by the caller design.

Beyond the caller telephoto cameras, the Pura 80 Ultra includes a 50-megapixel main camera with Huawei’s returning dynamic aperture design, positive a 40-megapixel ultrawide. A 6.8-inch LTPO OLED display, 5,700mAh battery, and IP68 and 69 ratings circular retired the flagship spec sheet. It comes with 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage, but Huawei hasn’t elaborate the chipset that powers it — a secrecy that’s become modular successful the past fewer years arsenic it develops its ain chips successful the aftermath of US sanctions. 

The Ultra has launched alongside 3 different phones: the Pura 80, 80 Pro, and 80 Pro Plus. All 3 person akin designs, and adjacent the basal exemplary includes a triple rear camera, lone somewhat smaller 6.6-inch LTPO OLED screen, and 5,600mAh battery. The Pro and Pro Plus are the aforesaid size arsenic the Ultra, and stock its main camera and ultrawide, but person a azygous 48-megapixel telephoto each. The lone borderline the Plus gets is simply a small other RAM and enactment for 2 types of outer communications, though each Pura 80 telephone tin link to the Beidou outer system.

All the caller Pura phones motorboat moving HarmonyOS 5.1, the latest mentation of Huawei’s operating system, which is no longer based connected Android. The 80 Ultra starts astatine CNY9,999 (around $1,390), portion the Pro models commencement astatine CNY 6,500 (around $900); the regular Pura 80 isn’t connected merchantability yet and doesn’t person a price. Last year’s Pura 70 series launched internationally a fewer weeks after its China debut, truthful we’ll person to spot if the aforesaid volition beryllium existent this year.