Huawei and Leica created some of the very best camera phones I’ve ever used, with the P20 Pro, in particular, igniting my interest in mobile photography. The Apple iPhone has always provided it with a strong challenge, and for a long time, an iPhone and a Huawei phone were my camera go-to devices. Huawei and Leica have now parted ways, so what has become of the brand’s cameras?
The Mate 50 Pro is one of its highest-profile new devices to launch without Leica’s involvement in the camera, so it’s fitting to put it up against the iPhone 14 Pro to see whether Huawei’s cameras still stack up against the best Apple has in 2022.
iPhone 14 Pro and Mate 50 Pro camera specs
Huawei calls its new camera the XMage, and the main 50-megapixel camera has an unusual manually adjusting variable aperture from f/1.4 to f/4.0, plus optical image stabilization. It’s joined by a 13MP wide-angle camera and a 64MP telephoto camera with a 3.5x optical zoom.
The variable aperture isn’t something we’ve seen on a smartphone before, and it allows you to experiment with the depth of field in photos, creating a genuine blurred background effect rather than using a Portrait mode to introduce a fake one. Huawei’s RYYB (that’s red, yellow, yellow, blue) color sensor design returns to help collect more light to make night photos even brighter.
The iPhone 14 Pro has a 48MP main camera with an f/1.78 aperture and optical image stabilization, plus a 12MP wide-angle camera, and a 12MP telephoto camera that takes both 2x and 3x optical zoom photos. Apple has a variety of clever software features to improve photos, including its new Photonic Engine for even better low-light photos, Deep Fusion machine learning system, and Smart HDR 4. The iPhone manages all these features, and you don’t have to do anything to enable them.
On the front of the Mate 50 Pro is a 13MP wide-angle selfie camera, while the iPhone 14 Pro has a 12MP autofocus selfie camera. For this test, we are not comparing video performance, only stills. Photos were taken in auto mode on both phones, examined on a color-calibrated monitor, and then resized before publication for easier online viewing.
iPhone 14 Pro vs. Mate 50 Pro main camera
If you like photos taken by recent iPhone models, you’re probably going to like the Huawei Mate 50 Pro’s camera, as the two tend to lean towards natural colors and tone, without the heavy saturation we’ve seen in some competitor devices. But there are key differences between them, making it hard to choose a winner in this category.
Take a look a the photo of the signs. The overall look, at least with a casual glance, is extremely similar. The iPhone 14 Pro’s white balance and exposure are different from the Mate 50 Pro’s, and it does hide some detail. There’s also slight evidence of edge enhancement, while in the Huawei photo edges are sharp and defined.
In the second photo, you can see the small differences in color and warmth, with the Mate 50 Pro giving the grass a more natural tone, and balancing it well with the color of the sky and clouds. Both have similar levels of detail in the foreground, but the Mate 50 Pro keeps this up in the background where the iPhone can’t match the level of sharpness. The sky in the iPhone 14 Pro’s photo is noisier too.
Finally, the photo of the cup of coffee shows the Mate 50 Pro’s ability to turn an ordinary photo into one that’s surprisingly pretty. This was taken in normal auto mode with the main camera, and not with portrait mode or the Mate 50 Pro’s adjustable aperture. I just pointed the camera in the direction of the cup and pressed the shutter button. The Mate 50 Pro’s beautiful depth of field, sharpness of focus, and level of detail make it truly attractive. Meanwhile, the iPhone’s photo is just that — a photo.
The two cameras may have similar tones, but the Mate 50 Pro really impresses with its technical ability and its very DSLR-like tuning, so it’s ready to produce a gorgeous photo without any real work from you, the photographer, outside of your creative intention.
Winner: Huawei Mate 50 Pro
