Threat to iPhone? Meet Huawei’s super-powerful Pura 70 smartphone

Launched this month by the Chinese technology giant Huaweithe high-end smartphone series Pure 70 promises to be a worthy rival to Apple’s iPhones.

The Pura series, developed by the Shenzhen-based company, highlights the camera’s advanced features, including artificial intelligence tools.

The smartphones in the series have four variants: 70The 70PlusThe 70 Pro and the 70 Ultra — which vary in memory space and camera quality.

The most advanced version, 70 Ultra, has a 50 megapixel retractable camera and can capture stable images even at a speed of 300 km/h. According to the manufacturer, the results obtained are similar to those of a professional camera.

Even before the launch of the Pura 70 line, Huawei had already proven itself to be a thorn in Apple’s side, which is losing consumers in China — the world’s largest smartphone market.

Last year, Huawei made headlines with the launch of the Mate 60 Pro smartphone, which boosted the company’s smartphone sales.

The Pura series has advanced camera features and is known for elegant design, while the also high-quality Mate series emphasizes performance and business features.

With a sophisticated processor made in China, the success of the Mate 60 Pro led to a US government investigation.

The Kirin 9000S chip used in the Mate 60 Pro was reportedly manufactured by Chinese SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation). Experts questioned how the Chinese company had managed to develop the chip after US sanctions and efforts to restrict the country’s access to the technology.

Following the launch of the Pura 70, several online reviewers immediately live-streamed the phone’s teardown process on Chinese social media, with thousands of Huawei fans following along. According to these reviewers, the smartphone features the Kirin 9010 chip, which appears to be a slight upgrade over the Mate 60 Pro’s Kirin 9000.

Drop in Apple sales in China

In the first quarter of this year – that is, before the launch of the Pura 70 line –, Apple lost its position in first place in the smartphone market in China after a 6.6% drop in iPhone sales.

Chinese brands Huawei and Honor were tied at the top, with Honor’s 17.1% market share and Huawei’s 17%. The slice of Apple fell to 15.6%, according to data from market research firm IDC.

China is Apple’s biggest market, behind only the United States, but the company faces a challenging time in the world’s second-largest economy. Chinese consumerswho previously would have bought a new iPhone, are now turning to Chinese brands.

Not even promotions and price reductions on Apple products could change the situation. Data from research firm Counterpoint shows that sales of iPhones in China they fell 19% in the first quarter, marking the company’s worst performance since 2020.