On Thursday, Huawei unveiled a letter on the Chinese X-like social media platform Weibo to announce the Pura 70 Series Pioneer Program, a scheme for people to purchase devices from its latest mobile phone series without holding a launch event. The new range was launched with minimal marketing, in a similar approach to the one the Chinese tech giant took when launching the Mate 60 series last August. The Pura 70 Pro/Ultra models went on sale in China on Thursday, while the Standard/Pro+ models will be available on April 22.

Huawei’s flagship lineup is currently categorized into the Mate and Pura series. The Mate line focuses on high-end flagship devices and targets business users, while the Pura range leans towards imaging capabilities and aesthetic design.

Why it matters: Huawei intentionally chose April 18 to launch the Pura 70 series, as it marks the 12th anniversary of the launch of Huawei’s first Pura series device, the Ascend P1. The latest Pura series smartphones are equipped with Huawei’s self-developed Kirin chip, an effort to counteract US chip sanctions.

Details: Similar to the Mate 60 series, Huawei’s Pura 70 series hit the market without a launch event. The first batch of Pura 70 series products sold out within minutes on Huawei’s e-commerce platform. A number of tech bloggers have managed to acquire the Pura Pro and Pura Ultra models first hand for phone performance tests, but Huawei has not publicly disclosed the specific chip details of the Pura 70 smartphone series.

• The tech blogger Digital Chat Station revealed that the processors in the Pro and Ultra models are both identified as the Kirin 9010. The Kirin 9010 processor achieved a single-core score of 1,442 and a multi-core score of 4,471 on Geekbench, a cross-platform benchmarking tool used to measure and compare the performance of CPUs and GPUs across various computing devices. For comparison, the iPhone 12 Pro obtained a single-core score of 2,101 and a multi-core score of 4,936 on Geekbench.
• The Kirin 9010 adopts the same 2+6+4 architecture design as the Kirin 9000s (Mate 60 series), with two cores clocked at 2.30GHz, six cores clocked at 2.18GHz, and four small cores clocked at 1.55GHz. It seems to be a slight upgrade over the Kirin 9000s, the blogger said.
• The Pura 70 series features a distinctive triangular camera module on the rear, along with Huawei’s self-developed HarmonyOS 4.2 operating system. The premium Ultra model supports BeiDou satellite network functions, including text messages, image messages, and satellite calls. 
• The Ultra model also boasts a mightier camera setup with a 1-inch main sensor with retractable lens and variable aperture. Its camera system offers a 50MP 1-inch primary sensor, a 40MP ultra-wide sensor, and a 50MP macro telephoto shooter.
• In terms of pricing, the Ultra model comes in two storage variants: 16GB + 512GB priced at RMB 9,999 ($1,382), and 16GB + 1TB priced at RMB 10,999 ($1,520). The Pro model is available in three versions: 12GB + 256GB priced at RMB 6,499 ($898), 12GB + 512GB priced at RMB 6,999 ($967), and 12GB + 1TB priced at RMB 7,999 ($1,105). 
• Currently, the Pura 70 series phones are limited to sale in the Chinese market. The market intelligence firm TechInsights predicts that Huawei’s smartphone shipments in China will exceed 50 million units in 2024, with its market share increasing from 12% in 2023 to 19% in 2024. The Pura 70 series is expected to ship over 10 million units in 2024, positioning it as a major competitor to the iPhone 15 and 16 series, according to TechInsights.

Context: The Huawei P series was rebranded as the Huawei Pura range on Monday, with the Pura 70 series becoming the first device under the new name. Huawei did not explain the meaning of Pura. However, “Pura” in Spanish translates to “pure” or “clean”, and it can also mean “genuine” or “true” in certain contexts.