Review | Huawei Mate 30 Pro full review: excellent handset, but lack of Google apps will be a deal-breaker for many

Cameras, battery life and design are the best on the market, but US export ban that means there’s no official Google apps support makes phone useless for many

It’s guaranteed to be a huge success in China, but don’t buy one until the Google issues are resolved

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The Huawei Mate 30 Pro has a 6.5-inch screen that curves drastically at the sides – known as ‘waterfall display’. Photo: Ben Sin

Published: 3:00pm, 8 Oct 2019Updated: 4:18pm, 8 Oct 2019

Huawei has been caught in its fair share of political and cybersecurity debates over the past year. And while opinions are divided, what’s undeniable is that the Chinese company has been making the best smartphones for the past couple of years in terms of their raw power and capabilities.

In fact, almost all the current hardware we expect in top-tier phones, such as a triple-camera system, enhanced zoom system, large battery, and computational-photography-assisted night shooting modes, were seen in a Huawei phone first.

Huawei’s latest top dog, the Mate 30 Pro, maintains this hardware excellence.

Were it not for the export ban imposed by the United States that prevents Huawei from doing business with Google, the Mate 30 Pro would easily be a top contender for phone of the year. Alas, software support is a major concern for this handset, and leaves a giant question mark over the device.

The Huawei Mate 30 Pro has a unique back design with a large circular camera module hosting four cameras and a textured ring that wraps around the module, giving it extra visual flair. Photo: Ben Sin

Design and hardware

The Huawei Mate 30 Pro follows the Huawei Mate 20 Pro’s unique design language, but has more of everything. The square, centrally placed camera module on the latter returns, but even bigger, and round, with a textured ring around it for added emphasis. The curved OLED screen of the Mate 20 Pro returns, but the curvature is more drastic, sloping down at the edges at a near 90-degree angles just like Vivo’s recent Nex 3.