The whole Android versus iOS debate seems to be endless. However, there’s no denying that compared to iOS devices, Android has definitely become mainstream and every now and then the iPhone versus an Android device comparison is bound to happen. This time around, the Huawei P30 stands against the iPhone XS. It’s astonishing, how far Android smartphones have gotten over the past years that a device that has been priced much lower than the iPhone competes head to head with it. Let’s dive right into it.
Build and Display
Both the Huawei P30 and the iPhone XS tout a glass sandwich design, however, the stainless steel chassis over at the iPhone XS adds to the heft and premium feel of the device compared to the aluminum frame over at the Huawei P30. To the front, the iPhone XS houses a 5.8-inch OLED panel with a notch and a resolution of 2436 x 1125 pixel which translates to a 19.5:9 aspect ratio and a pixel density of 458 ppi that contributes to the 82.9% screen to body ratio of the device. The display supports Dolby Vision and is HDR10 compliant which is scratch resistant and even has an oleophobic coating.
Moving over to Huawei P30, we have a 6.1-inch OLED panel with a dewdrop notch that’s a little less obtrusive than the one seen on the iPhone XS, coming in with a resolution of 2340x1080p with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio that translates to a pixel density of 422ppi that covers DCI P3 color gamut and also is HDR10 compliant.
Regardless of which one you actually pick, you won’t be disappointed as both the displays are OLED which means inky blacks and punchy colors. The true tone display on the iPhone XS might seem enticing but when you compare it side by side to the Huawei P30, there’s no noticeable difference. So let’s call this one a tie.
Software and Performance
This is the department where both these devices are poles apart yet some similarities can be drawn. The similarity being both these devices being powered by their own in-house chipsets.
The iPhone XS is powered by the 7nm Apple A12 bionic chip which is a hexacore chipset with two powerful vortex cores clocked at 2.5GHz each and four power-efficient tempest cores clocked at 1.6GHz each. The software on these devices has to be the major differentiating aspect of the smartphones as they both are from two different ecosystems.
The iPhone XS runs on iOS 12 upgradable to 12.3 while the Huawei P30 runs on EMUI 9.1 built on top of Android 9 Pie. Both of these devices belonging to two different software ecosystems, let’s not get into the technicalities here (p.s. That’s yet another topic).
Addressing the elephant in the room though, we have the security debate but considering the Android phones getting faster and Google pushing regular security updates doesn’t leave much of a room here either. Some of you might be wondering, what about the smartphone specs, as iOS has 3D face mapping and all, how about Huawei then? There’s even support for Face Unlock on the Huawei P30, yeah it’s optical and isn’t as secure as that of the iPhone but the in-display fingerprint scanner comes back to the rescue and is every bit secure as it can possibly get.
Performance and the software optimization on both of the devices is not an issue over here, as every single app, multi-tasking and everything that you might do on your smartphone, both pass with flying colors. Part of which is due to the ample amount of RAM available, the iPhone with 4GB of RAM and the Huawei P30 with even the base variant coming in with 6GB of RAM handles multitasking with ease. To put this aspect into words, these are two of the best smartphones you can currently get your hands on. Which means, a tie here as well.
Cameras
With all that out of the way, there’s the camera, which has always been a strong suit for the Apple offerings but when it comes to the brand that has definitely the name that crushes DXO mark scores. The Huawei P30 with the triple camera array with a 40MP f/1.8 primary, 8MP telephoto lens with f/2.4 aperture that gives it 3x optical zoom and a tertiary 16MP f/2.2 ultrawide sensor with 117 degrees field of view has to be one of the most versatile approaches and is more practical than the dual 12MP f/1.8 primary and 12MP f/2.4 telephoto lens as a secondary.
Let’s see how the camera fares in the use case scenario, while the iPhone is good at macro shots, the Huawei P30 slaughters the iPhone with its Super Macro mode lets you get even closer to the subject, the AI integration on the Huawei P30 is as good as it gets and is consistently smart for scene recognition which means regardless of how much of a camera noob you might be, Huawei has you covered.
Shot on Huawei P30
Moving on to the Landscape shots, are all about the dynamic range i.e. how the camera handles the highlights and shadows. No matter what, when it comes to dynamic range, the iPhone XS shots are pretty balanced and beats the Huawei P30 and it’s the only camera segment where it takes a lead over the P30.
Then we have the portrait shots, here again, the ball goes into Huawei’s court with P30 doing a better job at isolating the subject from the background than the iPhone XS. Be it edge detection or the overall clarity and color accuracy, it’s the P30 that takes the lead. Plus, the ability to zoom in 5x even for the portrait shots is something that the iPhone can’t do. Both the devices have telephoto lenses to their backs and it’s the same story here as well.
Shot on iPhone XS
The iPhone XS’ 2x optical zoom stands no competition against the Huawei P30’s 3x optical zoom, which when combined with the digital zoom gives P30 the ability to zoom up to 30x and if you are wondering yes it can click the moon. Which proves the point that Huawei P series stands for photography and the P30 is no joke.
The video is an entirely different story though, the iPhone XS kicks right back with support for 4K 60fps and OIS, this won’t make much of a difference if you’re not into videography.
Which means photography: Huawei and video: iPhone.
Battery
Do I really have to say this? No matter how good iPhones are, the battery has to be the major issue that has plagued iPhone users forever now. The iPhone XS is no exception either. Underneath the hood, there’s a 2,658mAh battery on the iPhone XS which is no match for the 3,650mAh battery on the Huawei P30. And since 7.5W fast charging and wireless charging on the iPhone XS is no match for the 22.5W charging on the Huawei P30. This is where the Huawei P30 takes the lead and wins over the iPhone XS.
Verdict
Regardless of which side of the ecosystem you belong to, there’s no denying that Android smartphones have gotten so better over the past years that the margin of discrimination between an iPhone and an Android smartphone that costs much less than that of the iPhone has been reduced to a fine line and this comparison proves it. If you ask me, the Huawei P30 is a more practical device and more value for money than the iPhone XS (P.S. The Huawei P30 still retains the 3.5 headphone jack).
