If there's one smartphone that has truly impressed us so far this year, it has got to be the Huawei P30 Pro[1] (Review[2]). Until now, it has been the only smartphone in the market to offer 5x optical zoom and an equally impressive 10x hybrid zoom. Then there's its maddening 50x digital zoom capability.
However, all this breakthrough engineering comes at a rather steep price of Rs. 71,990 in India. The phone did make a good case for itself considering it was the only option out there with such camera capabilities, and we can see why Huawei was charging this premium. However, with the ongoing trade ban with the US, the future of Huawei[3] smartphones seems murky at best. Which begs the question — does it still make sense to plonk down so much cash on a phone that has a rocky future? And are there any worthy alternatives to it?
Incidentally, Oppo[4] has been teasing its long optical zoom technology for a few years and during the Mobile World Congress this year, finally unveiled it. Cut to a few months later and we already have the first fruits of this labour — the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom[5] (Review[6]). With a starting price of just Rs. 39,990, the phone features flagship-level specifications but more importantly, it has 6x optical zoom, 10x hybrid zoom, and 60x digital zoom. Going by its pricing, the Reno 10x Zoom has the OnePlus 7[7] (Review[8]) and OnePlus 7 Pro[9] (Review[10]) as direct competitors, but considering its camera capabilities, we think the Huawei P30 Pro is also a target.
So how...