SpecEagle review · Huawei

Huawei P50 review: Snapdragon 888 4G flagship with True-Chroma image engine.

SpecEagle Editorial·Aug 2021·$729
Overall
78/100
Class rank
#129 of 206
Tier
Flagship
Buy?
At the right price
The verdict, up front

Why the P50 mattered

The P50 launched as the first phone with HarmonyOS 2.0 — Huawei's home-grown OS replacing Android in name if not in foundation — and proved the company could keep its camera leadership running even with Snapdragon 888 4G silicon imposed by US sanctions.

01Display

82/100

82/100 trails the 85-point cohort average for flagship phones of 2021.

TypeOLED, 90Hz, 1500 nits peak
Size6.5 inches
Resolution1224 x 2700 px

02Camera

88/100

At 88/100 this is one of the strongest camera showings among flagship phones of 2021 — 10 points above the cohort average.

Main50 MP True-Chroma sensor with OIS
Ultrawide13 MP, f/2.2
Periscope12 MP, f/3.4, 5x optical, OIS
Selfie13 MP, f/2.4

03Performance

80/100

80/100 trails the 83-point cohort average for flagship phones of 2021.

ChipsetSnapdragon 888 4G (5nm Samsung)
CPU1x X1 @ 2.84 + 3x A78 + 4x A55
GPUAdreno 660

04Battery

76/100

76/100 trails the 79-point cohort average for flagship phones of 2021.

Capacity4100 mAh
ChargingSuperCharge 66W wired

05Build

82/100

82/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2021.

What works
  • HarmonyOS 2 introduced cleaner UI vs EMUI
  • Camera ranked DXOMark #1 at launch
  • IP68 sealing
What doesn't
  • Snapdragon 888 4G — no 5G allowed under sanctions
  • No Google Mobile Services
  • Heavy 4G ceiling hurts resale
Cross-shop it against
Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
$1200 · score 89/100

How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 206-phone cohort of flagship devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .