Huawei is aiming to continue to climb the smartphone photography segment with the new P60 Pro. While other brands have partnered with camera names like Hasselblad or Leica, like Huawei previously, the company is now flying solo with their own home-grown XMAGE technology to improve photo quality on their latest flagship.

Huawei P60 Pro

XMAGE Cameras

The star of the show is the Huawei P60 Pro’s 48MP variable aperture main camera with an RYYB sensor and OIS. It can switch from f/1.4 to f/4.0 physically so you can get creamy bokeh shots on its widest setting without using software to simulate background blur. Backing its main camera is a 13MP f/2.2 ultrawide and a 48MP f/2.1 periscope telephoto while at the front is a 13MP f/2.4 selfie camera.

Its primary camera is seriously impressive. Photos look natural with just the right amount of post-processing to make colors pop without being too aggressive. Details are plenty and you can get good bokeh and fall-off at the edges thanks to its physical aperture. Low-light and interior quality is stellar as well. There’s minimal noise in decent scenarios and there’s good dynamic range between shadows and light.

The ultrawide camera has okay performance when it comes to color – everything looks natural without overprocessing. There is significant blurring at the sides but anything near the center looks detailed and balanced.

The 48MP f/2.1 periscope telephoto has a native 3.5x optical zoom and can zoom up to 100x. While the latter can be used in niche scenarios, the optical zoom has decent performance with good detail retention and color reproduction. Bumping up to digital zoom has obvious post-processing but it does well enough for what it is.

Unique Design

The hero model of the P60 Pro is the Rococo Pearl variant. It’s a distinctive finish on the smartphone that mimics the look of a pearl. Due to its processing, each smartphone has a unique design from each other. If that’s too flamboyant to your liking, Huawei is also offering a more minimalist black variant. Regardless of design, the P60 Pro is IP68 dust and water resistant.

At the front is a bit more familiar with a 6.67-inch 2700 x 1220 LTPO OLED screen. It has support for variable refresh rate from 1 – 120Hz saving battery while using it especially when Always-On Display is enabled. The screen is also protected by Kunlun Glass making it more resistant to drops, scratches, and damage.

Familiar Internals

The Huawei P60 Pro comes with a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, which is getting older now but should still be plenty powerful for most users. It is does only support 4G, however, as the company’s trade restriction prevents it from having access to 5G. RAM can be bumped up to 12GB while two storage variants are available, 256GB and 512GB, with support for NanoMemory Card expansion.

Power comes from a 4,815mAh battery, which is slightly smaller than the 5,000mAh standard we are used to getting. Thankfully, it supports 88W Huawei SuperCharge and 50W Wireless Huawei SuperCharge so you can quickly top off the battery in a rush.

You won’t get access to PlayStore but App Gallery remains an okay alternative to the platform. There’s also GBox that allows Huawei smartphones to natively use Google apps with some workaround if you really need them.

First Impressions

Based on what we have seen, the Huawei P60 Pro is a seriously impressive camera smartphone. Despite breaking ties from Leica, their XMAGE technology seems like a proper path forward for the brand and its imaging systems.

Its Rococo Pearl variant also allows it to rise above the crowd when it comes to looks. It’s aging internal hardware, however, its lack of access to the PlayStore and 4G-only support might be a turn off especially for a flagship smartphone.

The Huawei P60 Pro proves that the company can work around its current limitations with great design and impressive camera capabilities. We can’t wait until we get our full hands on the smartphone.

Huawei P60 Pro Price and Availability

The Huawei P60 Pro is priced at PhP 58,999 in the Philippines. Two models are available: 8GB/256GB for PhP 58,999 and 12GB/512GB for PhP 69,999. The brand will support installment payments in Huawei concept stores nationwide via Home Credit for up to 18 months or participating credit cards for 24 months with 0% interest.

Pre-ordering the Huawei P60 Pro will net you a 1-year extended warranty worth PhP 3,999, a trade-in discount of up to PhP 8,000 for your old smartphone, plus a Huawei Watch GT 3 worth PhP 12,999.