Honor 30 Pro+ launches with Kirin 990 and 50 MP IMX700; debuts in second on DxOMark

Launched today in China, the Honor 30 series comes in three flavours. Following Huawei's naming schemes, Honor has named the flagship in the series the 30 Pro+. The device looks unmistakably like the P40 Pro, but the huge HONOR branding spanning its glass back will remind you and everyone else of what smartphone you have. It may not be to everyone's tastes, but it is giving us 90s era Moschino vibes.

There are many differences between the Honor 30 Pro+ and its Huawei P40 siblings though, not least the camera hardware that Honor has included. According to DxOMark, the Honor 30 Pro+ has the same 50 MP 1/1.28-inch sensor found on the P40 Pro. The IMX700 lacks OIS on the Honor 30 Pro+, though. Limitations apply to the telephoto sensor, too. While the Honor 30 Pro+ and P40 Pro share the same optically stabilised telephoto sensor, the former captures images at 8 MP to the latter's 12 MP. The Honor 30 Pro+ must also make do with 16 MP ultra-wide and a 2 MP depth sensors, which are both technically inferior to the equivalents in the P40 Pro.    

Despite the differences in camera hardware, DxOMark has awarded the Honor 30 Pro+ a score of 125, three points shy of the P40 Pro. According to DxOMark, the Honor 30 Pro+ has hardly "any real weaknesses".

The Honor 30 Pro+ is available with up to 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage. The company is yet to announce global pricing or availability, but the device starts at CNY 4,999 (~US$708) for 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage. If you want 12 GB of RAM, then you will need to get the CNY 5,499 (~US$779) model instead. Like the P40 series, the Honor 30 Pro+ comes with Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) instead of Google's equivalent. In practice, this that the Honor 30 Pro+ does not have any Google apps, including the Play Store.