Opinion | Hands-on user reviews of the Huawei P20 Pro claim the device's cameras may not be as good as critics say

Update 26/04/18: A commenter has brought it to my notice that there's a chance the users in question may have had faulty units, or may have been running on outdated versions of the firmware without proper image processing optimization. Huawei also has a habit of releasing different versions of its firmware across various regions. The Honor 7X, for example, had its gyroscope and wide aperture mode deactivated in some regions. We may have a similar case on our hands. Something of this sort is entirely possible, and a lot likelier than any case of foul play.

Original Article

The Huawei P20 Pro is widely considered to be the best camera smartphone on the planet. The device brought its A-game in that department by doing something no device has done in recent memory—feature three rear sensors. The numbers are impressive no doubt, but it would seem a few users who recently got their P20 Pro units don't share that opinion.

"I came from a pixel 2, that dam* hdr on pixel really is a game changer," one user said on the Huawei subreddit. "For some reason the p20 pro doesn't produce great pics in average lighting, the pics come out soft and feel like they came from a cheap phone." [sic]

"...Auto images simply suck," yet another user said. "Sometimes they're dull non-HDR poor dynamic range images with flat colors apart from the sky." This particular user went on to supply evidence supporting his statement.

The P20 Pro's 40 MP + 20 MP + 8 MP tri-rear camera lineup is impressive on paper, and review videos have shown it performing amazingly well, especially in low-light conditions. Users seem to think otherwise, though, and that raises a multitude of questions: Is this a case of reviews having a tint of bias? Or is there a chance review units have slightly different hardware than retail ones? 

Or are the users cited above way off the mark entirely? Photography isn't an exact science, after all, and its evaluation is mostly subjective. Who knows?