A patent application to the China National Intellectual Property Administration (via) for a smartphone case suggests that the Huawei Mate 30 Pro will have a penta-camera setup. The case shows an elongated cutout at the upper half of the case, and it is larger than the camera cutout for the Mate 20 Pro, which sported three rear cameras and an LED flash. The suggestion being the longer cutout of the smartphone case for the Mate 30 Pro could potentially accommodate five rear cameras and an LED flash. The case also shows that the right side of the device will be where the power button and the volume rocker are located, and the lack of cutouts for a fingerprint scanner suggests that the smartphone may include an under-display fingerprint sensor. The bottom of the handset will hold the USB Type-C port, as well as the grills for the bottom-firing loudspeaker.
Background: If the rumor is correct, the Mate 30 Pro will not be the first smartphone that features five rear cameras as the Nokia 9 PureView will also reportedly include a penta-camera setup, and recent leaks mention that the device will allow users to take 5 photographs at the same time while increasing the amount of light captured by the cameras. It is likely that similar features may also come to the Huawei Mate 30 Pro, along with other camera functionalities proprietary to the handset. As was the case with the Mate 20 Pro last year, the Huawei Mate 30 Pro is also likely to feature a new chipset. The Mate 20 Pro sported the Kirin 980 chipset, which offers up to a 40-percent improvement in performance compared to the Kirin 970 found in the Huawei P20 series. It is possible that the upcoming handset will offer similar performance improvements, and like other premium smartphones that are expected to be released in 2019 – it’s possible Huawei will include 5G connectivity support with the Mate 30 Pro, although it is also possible that this feature might be limited to a variant of the device.
Given that Huawei launched the entire Mate 20 lineup, including the Mate 20 Pro, last October, Huawei will likely unveil the Mate 30 series at around the same time this year. As a recap, the Mate 20 Pro featured a 6.39-inch display with a resolution of QHD+ and an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. The handset also includes up to 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal flash storage, along with an IP68 water and dust-resistance certification. The smartphone features a 4,200 mAh battery and a single front-facing camera equipped with a 24-megapixel sensor.
Impact: Five rear cameras on the Huawei Mate 30 Pro will turn the upcoming smartphone offering into a flexible imaging tool for consumers. The addition of more cameras could also allow the manufacturer to experiment more freely with the types of sensors included with the device. Nonetheless, to ensure the best possible photograph quality from the handset, Huawei will need to couple the improved camera hardware with enhanced image processing algorithms, which is likely to be the case as the company has already placed a good deal of focus for its current smartphones on its smart features, and specifically, its smart camera features.