Huawei Pura series

The Huawei Pura series (formerly the Ascend P series and P series) is a line of high-end and medium-range HarmonyOS smartphones (Android-based prior to US sanctions) produced by Huawei. The P series was formerly marketed as part of Huawei's larger Ascend brand, and some models were called P smart.

Under the company's current hardware release cadence, Pura series phones are typically directed towards mainstream consumers as the company's flagship smartphones, refining and expanding upon technologies introduced in Mate series devices (which are typically positioned towards early adopters). The Pura series has featured a strong emphasis on camera functionality; since 2016, and beginning with the Huawei P9, Huawei has been in a co-engineering partnership with the German manufacturer Leica.

On April 15, 2024, Huawei rebranded its P series as the "Pura series", starting with the Pura70.

Ascend P1
The Huawei Ascend P1 was released on July 19, 2012, in Canada, named as the Ascend P20 lite.

Ascend P6
Introduced in March 2013 and released in June 2013. The first smartphone with a 5 MP front camera.

Ascend P7
The Huawei Ascend P7 was announced on May 7, 2014, and released on June 7, 2014. It was the last phone in series to carry the Ascend name.

P8 lite, P8 and P8 Max
The Huawei P8 was released in April 2015. The phone has a light painting function. The P8 Max was the sibling of the P8 in terms of phone size.

P9 lite, P9 and P9 Plus
The Huawei P9 and P9 Plus were the first phones from Huawei to receive a Leica Dual Camera from Leica AG, the P9 lite is the last smartphone in the series to have a single main camera. It was revealed on April 6, 2016, in Battersea Park.

P10 lite, P10 and P10 Plus
The Huawei P10 and P10 Plus were launched in Mobile World Congress 2017 on February 26, 2017, at Barcelona, Spain. It has a 20-megapixel monochrome sensor and a 12-megapixel RGB, in which the camera position was retained the same as the P9. Huawei partnered with the Pantone Color Institute in implementing their Color of the Year 2017 named Pantone Greenery into the P10, including 7 more color options.

P20 lite, P20 and P20 Pro
Huawei P20 and P20 Pro were launched in Huawei's Special Event in Paris on March 27, 2018. Both of them received a high rating from DXOMark, with the P20 having 102 and P20 Pro having 109. They both also have a short notch while retaining the home button for the fingerprint sensor. The pro version has a Leica triple camera setup featuring a 40 MP RGB sensor, 5X Hybrid Zoom, and an AI Scene and Object Recognition sensor capable of detecting 19 scenes.

Over 10 million Huawei P20 and P20 Pro units were sold globally.

P30 lite, P30 lite New Edition, P30, P30 Pro and P30 Pro New Edition
The P30 and P30 Pro were unveiled in Paris during a media event on 26 March 2019 which features a main RYYB subpixel array (replacing green pixels for yellow) that is very sensitive to light making it able to shoot photos in very low lighting conditions. The P30 Pro also has a telephoto camera that utilises a triangular prism (using periscope technology with lenses and a camera sensor 90° offset near the centre of the phone) reflecting light giving it the ability to have 5x optical, 10x hybrid and 50x digital zoom.

P40 lite, P40 lite 5G, P40 lite E, P40, P40 Pro and P40 Pro+
The P40, P40 Pro and P40 Pro+ were unveiled in Paris on 26 March 2020. Some P40 models have a new 50 MP "Ultra Vision" wide sensor with Leica optics. The P40 Pro and P40 Pro+ are the first P series phones to feature a 90 Hz display and infrared face unlock. The software is also improved with a new Golden Snap feature that takes a burst of HDR+ photos and automatically picks the best shots. The P40 Pro+ has two telephoto lenses at 3x and 10x optical zoom, the latter of which is a periscope lens. These models do not have Google Mobile Services installed.

P50, P50E, P50 Pro and P50 Pocket
The latest Huawei P50 series was officially launched on July 30, 2021. This year, there are two models launched: Huawei P50 and Huawei P50 Pro, which are the first flagship smartphones of the company to run on the HarmonyOS operating system, upgraded with a new Leica camera and using a chipset. The latest flagship, Qualcomm Snapdragon 888, 4G version, which model HUAWEI P50 Pro have a Kirin 9000 chipset to choose from, but it supports 4G as well (not supporting 5G in both models). On March 17, 2022 Huawei launched Huawei P50E with Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G instead Snapdragon 888 and it is the last Huawei phone with Leica optics.

P60, P60 Pro and P60 Art
The Huawei P60, along with the Huawei P60 Pro and P60 Art, was launched on March 23, 2023 in China. In Europe, the Huawei P60 Pro was launched on May 9, 2023. According to news reports, the Huawei P60 will not be sold in the United States and Australia due to the "tech embargo". In China, the P60 was shipped with the operating system HarmonyOS 3.1 at launch; in Europe, the launch operating system was the Android-based EMUI 13.1. All P60 models were upgraded to HarmonyOS 4, starting from August 2023.

Pura70, Pura70 Pro, Pura70 Pro+, Pura70 Ultra
On April 15, 2024, the Huawei P series was officially rebranded as "Huawei Pura series", ahead of the Pura70 flagship line launch. Huawei also revealed that the Pura series will have four models: Pura70, Pura70 Pro, Pura70 Pro+, Pura70 Ultra. On April 18, 2024, Huawei officially launched Pura 70, Pura 70 Pro, Pura 70 Pro+ in China for pre-order; the Pura 70 Pro and 70 Ultra version launched on April 22.

The 70 devices weigh 207 grams, and the Pro model weighs 220 grams, with 226 grams for Ultra. The Pura 70 has a 6.6-inch screen, and Pura 70 Pro, Pro+ and Ultra models offer quad-curved OLED screens with 1-120 Hz LTPO adaptive refresh rate, 1440 Hz high-frequency PWM dimming, and 300 Hz touch sampling rate.

The screen of the devices is protected with second-generation Kunlun glass. The standard Pura 70 has a 4900 mAh battery with 66 W wired charger, backward compatible. Pura 70 Pro and Pro+ have a 5050 mAh battery with 100 W wired charger, backward compatible, that is 80 W wireless-charging compatible. The Pura 70 Ultra has a 5200 mAh battery with 100 W wired charger, backward compatible, that is 80 W wireless-charging compatible.

Pro and Pro+ share the same rear XMAGE branded camera technology specifications consisting of a 50-megapixel main camera. The camera has a secondary 12.5-megapixel ultra wide-angle camera and a third 48 MP macro telephoto camera. The Ultra variant brings increased camera capabilities featuring a 1-inch sensor. The main camera in the Ultra version has 50 megapixel, 40-megapixel ultra wide-angle camera, and a 50-megapixel macro telephoto periscope camera with 100 times digital zoom. The Huawei Pura 70 series was launched with a variable aperture ranging from f/1.4 to f4.0 in the first three models. The Ultra model has large variable aperture range of f/1.6 to f/4.0. Meanwhile, the front camera on these devices features 13 MP for selfies.

The three more expensive models, but not the Pura 70 standard model, feature NearLink communications. All models have 5G and 5.5G inside, including Baidu satellite features for messaging. All Pura 70 models run HarmonyOS 4.2 software—published on the day of the launch—bundled with camera features with EMUI 14.2 globally.

The new processors HiSilicon Kirin 9000S1 and Kirin 9010, a purely domestic Chinese development, used in the Pura 70 were noted for their performance relative to other competitors' processors, with analysts seeing them both as "a step backward" in comparison with the "international" processors used in the 2023 Huawei P60, but also highlighting that the "fact that Huawei persevered and produced the Kirin 9010 with the [US] trade ban in place is a miracle in its own right."

According to news agency Reuters, all Pura 70 devices were out of stock at Huawei's official online store just a minute after their sale started on 18 April 2024, and hundreds of Huawei fans were said to have lined up at Huawei stores in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo stated in April 2024 that the Huawei Pura 70 series could conceivably increase sales compared to the preceding Huawei P60 series by a factor of 1.5, selling more than 10 million Pura smartphones in 2024.