Seeing the Huawei P30 Pro 50x Zoom In Action Is Really Impressive

The new Huawei P30 Pro’s 50x zoom combines a 5x optical zoom with artificial intelligence-driven digital magnification. It’s really impressive for a mobile phone. This video shows how it all works.

Even with the watercolor-like effect of the AI-assisted 50x zoom, the results are borderline magical.

The 5x zoom is obviously really good and crystal clear. The 10x hybrid zoom is still quite good and, while the 20x starts to show some of the digital zoom effect. The 50x blur is too much, but acceptable. It’s surprising how well it resolves things like typography. You can clearly read letters that would be impossible to see with any other phone.

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It’s no wonder that the camera performance really impressed us in our hands-on Huawei P30 Pro review, not only because of its zoom, but with the other three sensors — a 40-megapixel sensor with a top 409,600 ISO; a 20-MP with ultra-wide-angle lense; and a Time-of-Flight sensor that delivers great-looking portraits with a variable bokeh effect.

The new Huawei truly does a phenomenal job in all fronts. The 5x-50x hybrid zoom is just the proverbial icing on the cake. Pending more extensive tests, right now it may be the new best camera phone. After this video, I can’t wait to see what Oppo will be able to do with its rumored 10x optical zoom.

Jesus Diaz

Jesus Diaz founded the new Sploid for Gawker Media after seven years working at Gizmodo, where he helmed the lost-in-a-bar iPhone 4 story and wrote old angry man rants, among other things. He's a creative director, screenwriter, and producer at The Magic Sauce, and currently writes for Fast Company and Tom's Guide.