Huawei Pura 70

If the Pura 70 Ultra is the loud member of the family and the Pro the all-rounder, the Huawei Pura 70 is the quiet one: the phone for people who want a Pura camera system and a modern flagship screen in a body that does not feel like a tablet. It combines a 6.6-inch LTPO OLED display, the Kirin 9000S1 chip, 12GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, a 50MP main camera with a 5x telephoto and a 4,900 mAh battery, and it weighs 207 g. The review below uses the published specifications and manufacturer information, and it keeps clear of anything the page does not state.

Why the smallest model is the interesting one

Across the Pura 70 line the specification sheets give a pattern. The Pura 70 Ultra and Pura 70 Pro are 6.8-inch phones of 220 g and more, with the Kirin 9010 and 100W charging. The base Pura 70 is 157.6 mm tall, 74.3 mm wide and only 7.95 mm thick, and it is about 13 g lighter than the Pro and 19 g lighter than the Ultra. That thinness and low mass are the whole point. In a market where flagship screens keep growing, a 6.6-inch phone that fits a trouser pocket and one hand is a different proposition, and it is the version to consider if size and weight are your first filter. The Pura 80 generation that came later is a separate family, so this page stays with the 2024 phone.

Huawei's regional page does not give an on-sale date. The date recorded for the series, 18 April 2024, is the announcement date supplied for the range, and local availability should be verified separately.

Colours, glass and the screen

Three colours are listed: Pink, White and Black. Huawei's product images show the pink and white versions side by side from the back, with the triangular camera plate and three round lenses, and a front view with a flat, bright wallpaper. The phone is rated IP68 for dust and water, with the sheet quoting a test depth of up to 1.5 metres for 30 minutes, a little shallower than the 2 metres quoted for the Pro and Ultra.

The display is a 6.6-inch LTPO OLED, given as 6.58 inches when measured as a plain rectangle. It has 2760 x 1256 pixels at about 460 pixels per inch, so it is just as sharp as the larger siblings. The refresh rate is adaptive from 1 to 120Hz, and Huawei lists 1440Hz PWM dimming and touch sampling up to 300Hz, with 1.07 billion colours. No peak brightness number is printed on the page. For a phone this size the screen is a strength: it matches the bigger models on density and features and simply has less area.

Kirin 9000S1 and the software around it

The processor is the octa-core Kirin 9000S1. Memory is 12GB of RAM with 256GB of storage, and Huawei states that external memory is not supported. There is no larger storage option on this specification page, so if you expect to keep a lot of video and photos on the device, 256GB is the ceiling and that is worth weighing against the 512GB of the Pro. The software is EMUI 14.2.

The regional page lists 4G LTE, 3G WCDMA and 2G GSM bands for the dual-SIM phone and does not list 5G or satellite features, so neither is claimed here. Other connectivity includes Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax on 2.4 and 5GHz, Bluetooth 5.2 with LDAC and L2HC, a USB-C port at USB 3.1 Gen 1 speed with a bundled cable that only supports USB 2.0, and NFC with read, write and card emulation. Positioning covers GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, QZSS and NavIC. A fingerprint sensor is listed, with the usual set of motion, light and proximity sensors, plus laser and colour-temperature sensors. Audio is stereo with Huawei Histen tuning and a USB-C earphone connection. As with every phone in the family, check that the apps you depend on exist for Huawei devices in your country, since the specification page says nothing about that.

The cameras, and what the 5x lens means

The rear camera set is a triple arrangement:

• Main: 50MP, branded "Ultra Lighting", variable aperture f/1.4 to f/4.0, optical stabilisation.
• Ultrawide: 13MP at f/2.2.
• Telephoto: 12MP at f/3.4 with optical stabilisation, 5x optical zoom and 50x digital zoom.

This is the one model in the family with a 5x optical telephoto. The Pro and Ultra use higher-resolution 3.5x telephoto units that double as macro lenses; the Pura 70 goes longer instead, which suits distant subjects, stage events and tight portraits, but its lens is darker at f/3.4 and lower in resolution, so it will gather less light in dim conditions. Photos can be stored at up to 8192 x 6144, and video can reach 4K. Autofocus is phase plus contrast, and the front camera is 13MP at f/2.4. Huawei's page lists the standard range of modes: night, macro, super macro, portrait, pro, time-lapse and panorama. The standard Pura 70 does not have a larger one-inch-type main sensor, and the sheet does not suggest it does, so the quality gap to the Ultra in difficult light is a fair expectation even though the manufacturer provides no comparison.

Battery, charging and everyday sense

The battery is 4,900 mAh typical (4,800 mAh rated), non-removable. Charging is 66W wired, and up to 50W wirelessly with a charger or stand sold separately. Those are strong figures for the size of the phone, though they are below the 100W and 80W of the bigger models. A smaller screen and a more modest processor mean the capacity should go a reasonable way, but the manufacturer publishes no endurance hours, so real-world results will vary. At 207 g and 7.95 mm, the phone is also the one most likely to feel pleasant held for long sessions, which is a practical benefit that does not show up in a benchmark.

Who it suits

The Pura 70 suits people who want a premium-looking phone with a capable camera but find 6.8-inch devices unwieldy. It is a sensible pick for photographers who care about telephoto reach more than macro close-ups, and for anyone who wants a pink or white phone rather than the darker colours of the top models. For a comparison with a rival released in the same year, see Huawei Pura 70 versus Galaxy S24, and for an overview of all phones, the rankings page lists them by score.

What you give up

• Storage ceiling: 256GB with no card slot or expansion.
• Telephoto resolution: 12MP, f/3.4, dimmer than the 3.5x units on the Pro and Ultra.
• Charging power: 66W wired and 50W wireless, below the 100W and 80W of its siblings.
• Connectivity listing: 4G bands are listed, 5G is not; check your own variant.
• Software environment: EMUI 14.2 and Huawei's own app setup need to fit your needs.
• Water rating depth: IP68 quoted at 1.5 metres rather than 2.
• Missing data: no official brightness, price or on-sale date on the page used.

In short, the Pura 70 is not trying to win a specification race. It is the compact, light and thin member of the line, with a long 5x telephoto and a flagship-grade screen, and for many buyers that mix will be more livable than the larger models.