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Both Huawei and Sony released very compelling flagship smartphones in the last couple of months. Huawei’s arrived in April, while Sony’s landed in May. In this article, we’ll compare those two handsets, the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra vs Sony Xperia 1 VI. Both of these phones are very compelling in their own right, but also very different at the same time. They’re both camera-centric, though.
Before we get started, do note that both come in global variants, but the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra does not include Google services. It comes with Huawei’s services, so without Google apps and the Google Play Store. As per usual, we’ll first list the specs of both devices and then move to other categories. We’ll go over their designs, displays, performance, battery life, cameras, and audio performance.
Specs
Huawei Pura 70 Ultra vs Sony Xperia 1 VI, respectively
– Screen size:
6.8-inch LTPO OLED display (flat, adaptive 120Hz, HDR, 2,500 nits max brightness)
6.5-inch LTPO OLED display (flat, adaptive 120Hz, HDR)
– Display resolution:
2844 x 1260
2340 x 1080
– SoC:
Huawei Kirin 9010
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
– RAM:
16GB (LPDDR5X)
12GB (LPDDR5X)
– Storage:
512GB/1TB (UFS 4.0)
256GB/512GB (UFS 4.0)
– Rear cameras:
50MP (f/1.6-f/4.0 variable aperture, 23mm lens, 1-inch type sensor, sensor-shift OIS, PDAF, retractable lens), 40MP (ultrawide, f/2.2 aperture, 13mm lens), 50MP (telemacro, f/2.1 aperture, 90mm lens, 3.5x optical zoom, OIS, PDAF, 5cm macro)
48MP (wide, f/1.9 aperture, 24mm lens, 1.12um pixel size, dual pixel PDAF, OIS), 12MP (ultrawide, f/2.2 aperture, 123-degree FoV, 1.4um pixel size, dual pixel PDAF), 12MP (telephoto, f/3.5 aperture, 170mm lens, 1.0um pixel size, dual pixel PDAF, 3.5x-7.1x continuous optical zoom, OIS, 4cm macro)
– Front cameras:
13MP (wide, f/2.4 aperture, autofocus)
12MP (wide, f/2.0 aperture, 1.22um pixel size, 24mm lens)
– Battery:
5,200mAh
5,000mAh
– Charging:
100W wired, 80W wireless, 20W reverse wireless, 18W reverse wired (charger included)
30W wired, 15W wireless, 5W reverse wireless (charger & cable not included)
– Dimensions:
162.6 x 75.1 x 8.4mm
162 x 74 x 8.2mm
– Weight:
226 grams
192 grams
– Connectivity:
5G (only China), LTE, NFC, Wi-Fi, USB Type-C, Bluetooth 5.2
5G, LTE, NFC, Wi-Fi, USB Type-C, Bluetooth 5.4
– Security:
In-display fingerprint scanner & facial scanning
Side-facing fingerprint scanner
– OS:
Android 12 with EMUI 14
Android 14
– Price:
€1,499+
€1,399+
– Buy:
Huawei Pura 70 Ultra (Amazon)
Sony Xperia 1 VI (Amazon)
Huawei Pura 70 Ultra vs Sony Xperia 1 VI: Design
These two phones both look different and feel entirely different in the hand. The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra is made out of aluminum and vegan leather. The Sony Xperia 1 VI combines aluminum and glass. Huawei’s handset comes with a quad-curved glass on the front, and its vegan leather backplate is proportional to that. The phone is very comfortable to hold and use, while it’s also not as slippery as the Sony Xperia 1 VI.
The Xperia 1 VI has flat sides all around, with a pattern on them. The back plate and front side are flat, with very slight curves on the edges. The Xperia 1 VI also has less rounded corners than the Pura 70 Ultra. Both smartphones include flat displays. The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra has a centered display camera hole. The Xperia 1 VI does not, but it has thicker top and bottom bezels because of it.
The physical buttons sit on the right-hand side of both phones. In addition to standard ones, the Xperia 1 VI also has a shutter key in the lower portion of its right side. On the back, they have considerably different camera islands. The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra’s is in the top-left corner, and it has an interesting shape and overall look. The Xperia 1 VI has a smaller camera island in the top-left corner, its cameras are vertically-aligned.
The two devices are almost identical in terms of height. The Pura 70 Ultra is slightly wider, and they’re almost the same in terms of thickness. Do note that the Pura 70 Ultra has a noticeably larger display, though, 0.3 inches larger. More on that soon. Both smartphones come with an IP68 certification for water and dust resistance. Both feel premium in the hand, but the Pura 70 Ultra is less slippery thanks to its design and design materials.
Huawei Pura 70 Ultra vs Sony Xperia 1 VI: Display
The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra includes a 6.8-inch 2844 x 1260 LTPO OLED display. That panel is flat, and it supports an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz. This panel can project up to 1 billion colors, and HDR content is supported. The peak brightness here is 2,500 nits. The screen-to-body ratio on the Pura 70 Ultra’s display is around 89%. Kunlun Glass (Basalt-tempered) protects this display.
The Sony Xperia 1 VI, on the other hand, has a 6.5-inch fullHD+ (2340 x 1080) LTPO OLED display. This panel also has an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz. It can project up to 1 billion colors, and HDR content is supported. The display aspect ratio is 19.5:9, while the screen-to-body ratio is around 86%. The Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection from Corning is included.
Both of these panels are great. They offer vivid colors, deep blacks, and great viewing angles. They’re also both sharp enough, even though the Pura 70 Ultra has an advantage in that regard. The Pura 70 Ultra is also sharper, while the two displays are similar in terms of the maximum brightness they can achieve. Well, on paper the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra does get a bit brighter, but in practice, they’re mostly on par. The touch response is good on both. Chances are you’ll be happy with either of these two panels.
Huawei Pura 70 Ultra vs Sony Xperia 1 VI: Performance
The Kirin 9010 fuels the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra. That is Huawei’s chip made by SMIC, and it’s a 7nm processor. The Sony Xperia 1 VI is fueled by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 from Qualcomm. That’s a 4nm processor. The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra includes 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM. Sony included 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM inside of its smartphone. Both devices utilize UFS 4.0 flash storage.
Needless to say, the chip inside Sony’s smartphone is more powerful. The US ban did affect Huawei’s ability to use specific processors but don’t write off the Kirin 9010 just yet. Why? Well, because it performs great here. It is noticeably worse in benchmarks, but for the vast majority of intents and purposes, it does a great job. Using the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra was a great experience. Navigating through the phone was very smooth, and the same goes for multitasking, opening apps, consuming multimedia, and so on. The same can be said for the Xperia 1 VI, as the performance was great in almost every way.
Things change a bit in the gaming department. Non-demanding games will run fine on both, truly demanding ones, well, that’s a different story. The Xperia 1 VI does throttle CPU and GPU with truly demanding games, but that’s not something you’ll actually notice on the performance side of things. The Xperia 1 VI will do a better job with such titles than the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra. The processor difference will be noticeable. In all other ways, however, they both offer very smooth performance.
Huawei Pura 70 Ultra vs Sony Xperia 1 VI: Battery
There is a 5,200mAh battery included inside the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra. Sony’s flagship, on the other hand, carries a 5,000mAh battery. Despite the fact the Pura 70 Ultra has a larger battery, the Xperia 1 VI has a smaller display and a less sharp one. That does play a role in the battery life department, well, at least based on the results the two phones provided. They both offer good battery life, but the Xperia 1 VI has the edge.
You can technically go over the 7-hour screen-on-time mark on both phones, as long as you’re slightly careful. Games and other demanding tasks will affect that, of course. The Xperia 1 VI has proven to have around 20% better results in terms of battery life, though your mileage may vary, of course. The point is, the vast majority of you won’t have absolutely any complaints about the battery life on either one of these phones. Both are rather solid in that regard. We also did not notice excessive drainage on mobile data either.
When it comes to charging, the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra easily trumps the Xperia 1 VI. It supports 100W wired, 80W wireless, 20W reverse wireless, and 18W reverse wired charging. It also includes a charger in the box. The Sony Xperia 1 VI supports 30W wired, 15W wireless, and 5W reverse wireless charging. It does not include a charger or a charging cable in the retail box. The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra charges faster in every way, a lot faster.
Huawei Pura 70 Ultra vs Sony Xperia 1 VI: Cameras
Both of these phones include three cameras on the back. The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra has a 50-megapixel main unit (variable aperture, sensor-shift OIS, retractable lens), a 40-megapixel ultrawide unit, and a 50-megapixel periscope telephoto camera (3.5x optical zoom, macro). The Xperia 1 VI is backed by ZEISS, and it has a 48-megapixel main camera, along with a 12-megapixel ultrawide unit (123-degree FoV). A 12-megapixel periscope telephoto unit (3.5x-7.1x continuous optical zoom, macro) also sits on the back.
When it comes to camera performance, both devices shine, basically. These are some of the best-performing camera smartphones in the market at the moment. They both provide detailed, sharp, and well-balanced images. The Pura 70 Ultra does have a slightly warmer tone to its images, but both are great when it comes to the final product. Both prefer to keep things rather close to what you actually see. They also do a fantastic job with HDR shots, though the Pura 70 Ultra has a slight edge in such conditions.
Their secondary cameras follow the color science of the main shooters really well. When the light goes away, the results are visibly below the main shooters, but still very, very good. Macro photos from the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra in particular are outstanding. Low-light photos from the main cameras are great on both phones. Both devices control the noise very well and also manage to pull out a ton of details in such shots. The Xperia 1 VI does better when it comes to video recording, though.
Audio
Both smartphones include a set of stereo speakers. The thing is, the ones on the Xperia 1 VI are noticeably louder. Both sets of speakers do a fine job of balancing out the audio, however. The quality coming from both is very good.
The Xperia 1 VI also includes an audio jack, while the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra does not. You can utilize its Type-C port, though, if needed. The Pura 70 Ultra is equipped with Bluetooth 5.2, while the Xperia 1 VI offers Bluetooth 5.4.