If you got two Android fans and asked them to take 10 paces, turn and shoot a photo, one would probably have a Google Pixel as their creative weapon of choice and the other would have a smartphone from Huawei in their hands. 

Why? Well, since their release, the Google Pixels and Huawei's Mate, as well as their 'P' series, have been raved about by those who use a smartphone as their everyday camera. The Pixel 2 (XL) and the Huawei P20 Pro were incredibly popular on release and still produce excellent images but they've now been overshadowed by the Google Pixel 3 (XL) and the Huawei Mate20 Pro - both announced during the latter part of this year. 

As they are both great smartphones, with excellent camera specs, we thought we'd put Google against Huawei in a battle to see which Android giant makes the best phone for photographers. We reckon it'll be a close call but there's only one way to find out so come with us as we compare several of the smartphone features and, most importantly, the image quality of each device. 

You can also use the below to navigate more sections of this feature: 

• In The Hand
• Screen 
• Camera
• Photo Quality
• ISO 
• White Balance
• Low Light
• Video Quality
• Battery
• Processor 
• Other Features
• Size & Weight
• Price 
• ePHOTOzine Ratings 
• Our Pick

 

In The Hand

 

Before you say it - yes, we know, the Huawei Mate20 Pro is more like the Google Pixel 3 XL (in terms of size) but as we've said, a lot of the other specs for the Google Pixel 3 and 3 XL versions are the same (more importantly, the cameras) so we're comparing the smartphones we've had our hands on. Plus, the screen on the Huawei Mate20 Pro is only .89-inch bigger than the Google Pixel 3 anyway.

Right, that out of the way, let's talk about the smartphones in more detail...

Both the Google Pixel 3 and Mate20 Pro feel and look like premium smartphones with enough technology built in to please the most demanding of users. 

The Huawei Mate20 Pro has excellent build quality, feels very solid and there are some nice design touches, such as a red power button. The black and twilight versions have a smooth glossy back, that is slippery and prone to fingerprints. The green and blue versions have a slightly textured back that is designed to be slightly less slippery, as well as disguise fingerprints. Whichever phone you pick, you're going to want to buy a case (or skin) for the phone to protect against scratches and damage, which is a shame, as you then end up hiding the phone in an ugly case. Unfortunately, this is unavoidable these days if you want the phone to survive being accidentally dropped.

Even though the Huawei Mate20 Pro has a big screen it's quite thin as the edges of the screen are curved down to the metal frame and the back is curved, too. 

Bezels have got smaller on the Google Pixel 3 which makes the overall design more modern and slick. Plus, previously, Google Pixel smartphones had a metal/glass back design but this has been exchanged for a complete glass back. The only metal you now find on the device is in the frame which remains aluminium but it's been improved to offer more rounded edges/corners - a trend we're seeing from nearly all smartphone creators. We have to say we really do like the look of the Google Pixel 3 - smart, compact and trendy. 

As you expect, the screen does smudge easily with fingerprints but there doesn't seem to be a way around this. Of course, to protect the Google Pixel 3 further, you can always pop it in a case. Although, the back doesn't mark quite as easily as some other smartphones. 

 

Winner: It's a draw! There's no clear winner as they both have nice little touches. 

 

The Screen

Huawei Mate20 Pro 

 

The 6.39inch curved OLED screen on the Huawei Mate20Pro has an impressive resolution of 3120x1440 resolution, however, the phone can intelligently switch between different resolutions in order to save power. Whichever screen resolution you pick, the phone will automatically adjust the text and icon size so that nothing is ever too small. The screen curves down at the edges on the left and right of the screen - this isn't an issue, but you do notice it when taking photos with straight edges in the edges of the photo. There's also a top notch, which some don't like, but you can disguise this by switching the notch off so a black bar runs across the top instead. 

 

Google Pixel 3

You might be thinking that a smaller smartphone means a smaller screen but in fact, you get a 5.5-inch FHD+, 2160x1080, 18:9 screen built into the Google Pixel 3 which is plenty big enough for viewing photos. The display is also sharp, bright and colour reproduction is excellent. There's no top-notch eating into the screen either which some will prefer. The bezels are a little thick when compared with the Huawei Mate20 Pro but the screen is much flatter at the edges than the Mate20 Pro's screen which we prefer. 

 

Winner: The Huawei Mate20 Pro because it has thinner bezels and more screen controls built in. Although, the rounded edges of the screen are a little annoying and we prefer the flatness of the Google Pixel 3's screen. 

 

The Camera 

 

With the Huawei Mate20 Pro, if you look at the cameras going from 16mm equivalent ultra-wide-angle, all the way to 81mm equivalent telephoto, you have a 5x optical zoom range available which is impressive! There's also a triple camera built into the rear which is two more cameras than the Google Pixel 3 has on the back. 

Here's a quick overview for you:

• 16mm f/2.2 equivalent ultra-wide-angle lens, 20mp sensor 
• 27mm f/1.8 standard lens, with larger 40mp 1/1.7inch Quad Bayer sensor
• 81mm f/2.4 telephoto lens, with 8mp sensor (outputs 10mp images), with OIS

Of which Huawei has labelled as:

• 0.6x Ultra-Wide-Angle (16mm equivalent)
• 1x Standard (27mm equivalent)
• 3x Telephoto (81mm equivalent)

You also have 5x 'Hybrid' zoom, which is meant to be 'lossless' digital zoom, giving 135mm equivalent. The ultra-wide-angle camera also offers 2.5cm macro focus, for impressive close-ups. There are manual controls, as well as an ISO range from ISO50 all the way up to ISO102400 (when using the main camera). You can shoot raw images, and these are saved as AdobeDNG files. On the front, there's a 24mp f/2.0 "Selfie" camera.

As for the camera app, you find the main shooting modes along with a whole host of additional shooting modes, including slow-mo, panorama, monochrome, AR lens, light painting, HDR, time-lapse, Filter, 3D panorama, watermark, documents, underwater, good food, as well as the option to download more. 

There are so many shooting features and options that it's easy to get lost in the camera app. For most people using the basic photo mode will be straightforward, and with Master AI switched on you won't have to worry about changing settings, the camera will work it all out for you, automatically detecting the scene and optimising settings for you. If you do want more control, you can switch to the manual mode where, among other things, you can adjust ISO. 

Huawei Mate20 Pro

 

With so many smartphone companies racing to add more-and-more cameras into their devices, you wouldn't have been surprised to see the Google Pixel 3/Google Pixel 3 XL with multiple lenses but Google is bucking the trend and sticking with just one rear camera. They have, however, opted to add dual front cameras so you can get more people in your group selfies. Of course, Google Pixel developers work hard to add new tricks to their devices and the Google Pixel 3 is no different with improvements under the skin of the device and the addition of useful options such as a 'Top Shot' feature. Google has also introduced a new "Night Sight" mode that combines a number of photos, for much improved low-light shooting. 

The main camera on the Google Pixel 3 is a 12.2mp f/1.8 shooter and on the front is an 8MP, f/2.2, ultra-wide-angle, fixed focus and f/1.8 wide-angle front-facing camera. Optical & electronic image stabilisation are built in along with optical and digital zoom. 

There are no major changes within the camera app but it's easy to use and there are plenty of interesting modes built in. Although, there isn't a Pro mode which some will miss but you can download third-party apps that give you access to such controls. 

 

Quick Summary:

• Huawei Mate20 Pro: Leica Triple Cameras (Rear), 20mp f/2.2 Ultra-Wide-Angle Lens, 40mp f/1.8 Standard Lens, 8mp f/2.4 Telephoto Lens, AI IS, 24mp f/2.0 selfie camera, Dual-tone LED flash, 2.5cm macro focus, Super HDR, personalised bokeh.
• Google Pixel 3: Main camera - 12.2MP, f/1.8 rear camera,  Optical & electronic image stabilisation, front cameras - Dual 8MP, f/2.2, ultra-wide-angle, fixed focus and f/1.8 wide-angle front-facing camera, optical and digital zoom, Digital bokeh and post-capture ability.

 

Winner: Going on what's written down on paper, not comparing actual image quality (we'll do that next), the Huawei Mate20 Pro has to win simply because of the number of cameras and camera app features it has to offer. 

 

Photo Quality 

Photos from the camera built into the Huawei Mate20 Pro have bright saturated colours, and exposure is reliable - some may find the colour saturation too much at times. The background blur / wide-aperture mode can produce some reasonable results, although they don't quite match a camera with a larger sensor. When using the portrait mode you can adjust the "Beauty level", switch "Artistic Bokeh" on and off, and adjust lighting modes. The dual LED flash performs well, as long as your subject isn't too far away from the camera. The night mode lets you shoot at shutter speeds up to 7 seconds without the use of a tripod!

There is some distortion, but nothing too concerning, and detail is good using the main camera (in 10mp mode), with the camera producing images that have more detail than competing 12mp smartphones. Raw files are recorded as AdobeDNG files and stored in DCIM/Camera/RAW. Raw images taken with the main camera are 40mp images and are roughly 76MB in size.

There are minimal signs of vignetting, and images taken in good light show low levels of noise. Focus is generally quick and reliable, although sometimes struggled in low-light. The ultra-wide-angle lens offers very close focus, down to 2.5cm. 

The telephoto lens offers optical image stabilisation, and this tends to give a stable image, if you wait a second or two for the image to settle. The telephoto camera often gives a less saturated image and can struggle to focus on closer subject. So you may need to take a few shots, and you'll most likely need to edit the photos to match the same colour saturation as the main camera. 

 

Huawei Mate20 Pro - Super Macro Mushroom | 1/100 sec | f/2.2 | 4.0 mm | ISO 64

 

The selfie camera claims to be a 24mp camera, however, the selfie camera is fixed focus at a relatively close distance, so care needs to be taken to ensure that the subject(s) are at the optimum distance, as otherwise, they'll be out of focus due to being too close, or too far away from the camera. The selfie camera can use the screen as a flash if it's dark enough. Results look average and don't really look like they've been taken with a 24mp camera.

What we like about the Google Pixel 3 camera, apart from its ability to capture sharp, detailed images with accurate colour, is how consistent it is at doing that. We're not saying we didn't take a bad photo but Google has worked hard to build-in technology that makes it hard to do so. There isn't a dual lens but the portrait mode is really good adding a lovely amount of blur to backgrounds to make portraits 'pop'. This mode very rarely added blur to wrong parts of the image which is impressive. Another impressive feature is 'Top Shot' which allows you to choose from several frames so you can ensure you share the best photo possible. The Google Pixel 3 also suggests which frame, it thinks, is the best to speed the process up. This feature was particularly useful at a CrossFit competition where hitting the shutter button at the right part of a lift was particularly tricky. 

As before, HDR+ combines a number of images to produce images with better dynamic range and motion autofocus helps to keep moving subjects in focus by locking onto the subject you tap on. 

One area the Google Pixel 3 did struggle was indoors where light levels were a little lower so some detail is lost and on grey days, some detail can also become soft. 

When it comes to selfies, they're bright, sharp and offer accurate colour reproduction so will keep the most avid Instagram user happy. Portraits captured with the rear lens are good, but can often show too much detail on a subjects face.  

 

Google Pixel 3 - Woods | 1/297 sec | f/1.8 | 4.4 mm | ISO 56

 

The option to switch to the lens with a wider field-of-view when taking selfies is useful for when you want to get more of the background in the frame or have a group of people you want to pose with but do be careful how you hold the smartphone as you can get some weird distortion which won't create flattering portraits. Is it revolutionary? No, but it did make us go 'o, that's cool'. 

A bonus for those who like to shoot in RAW - you now can so you have the option to shoot JPEGs or RAW.

The Google Pixel 3 has what Google is calling a 'Super Res Zoom' built in and for anything up to 2x, it's almost as good as an optical zoom but go any further and you'll lose detail quickly. It certainly performs better than expected but it's still not brilliant. The Night Sight mode makes it possible to take photos in very low-light, and still get impressive results, whether using the smartphone handheld or on a tripod. We compared this against a number of other smartphones, and found it to give some of the best results, with particularly impressive detail captured.

The Huawei Mate20 Pro has an automatic panoramic mode, where you simply press the shutter release button and pan the camera from one side to the other. Results are good and well stitched together, and the camera produces a high-resolution image, around 30mp.  The Google Pixel 3 also has an automatic panoramic mode and the panorama is full of vibrant, but not too bright, colour, it's stitched well and detail levels are good. The panorama mode is also really easy to use and works as any standard panorama mode does on smartphones. 

Take a look at the images we've captured with both smartphones below. 

 

Winner: This is a tough one as the images produced by both smartphones are excellent but if we had to choose, the Huawei Mate20 Pro would win (just) simply on versatility and the options you have while out taking photos. 

 

Sample Photos: 

 

Huawei Mate20 Pro Sample Photos

 

Google Pixel 3 Sample Photos

 

Huawei Mate20 Pro Lens test images

 

Google Pixel 3 Lens test images

 

ISO Comparison

 

Huawei Mate20 Pro - Using the standard camera, noise performance is good up to ISO400, where noise starts to become visible. At ISO800 and ISO1600 noise is visible but is quite fine. At ISO1600 colour saturation drops off. At ISO3200 noise increases more, and gets quite ugly at ISO6400. At ISO12800 and above, the shutter speed is limited, with the fastest shutter speed available being 1/15s - so you'll need to be in really low-light conditions to need these settings. The results are reasonable considering. 

When using the telephoto camera, noise is noticeable at every ISO setting, so ISO50 or ISO100 is the best choice here. Noise performance from the ultra-wide-angle camera is good until you get to the highest ISO speed, ISO3200, which should be avoided. 

 

Google Pixel 3 -  You can use an app such as Lightroom to adjust ISO but when you do, you don't get the benefit of Google's noise reduction and clever modes so it's not really a fair test. When using the main camera app in our studio and adjusting the light levels, the Google Pixel 3 did handle noise levels well. Even the test chart that shows ISO549 still has a decent amount of detail, although it has degraded a little when you compare it with the shot captured at ISO79 and ISO106.

 

Winner: Huawei Mate20 Pro as the Pro mode gives you access to ISO settings and the overall results were better (the Google Pixel 3 had a weird colour cast). 

 

Huawei Mate20 Pro  | ISO 100

Google Pixel 3  |  ISO 106

 

 

Huawei Mate20 Pro  | ISO 400

Google Pixel 3  |  ISO 549

 

 

White Balance Comparison

 

Huawei Mate20 Pro - Auto White Balance (AWB) performs well in all lighting conditions, whether using Tungsten lighting, Fluorescent lighting or mixed lighting. The only way we could get a result that wasn't good, was by selecting the fluorescent white balance setting, which gave a magenta/orange colour cast to the image. 

Shooting at 40mp you can get slightly more detail, however, the JPEG processing and noise reduction reduces detail noticeably, and to get the maximum detail from images you are best shooting raw. For many, this will make the 40mp mode too much hassle, and for most people, it's best simply to stick to the 10mp mode. The camera struggled to focus correctly for some of these shots, so we had to reshoot them a number of times. 

 

Google Pixel 3 - The camera performed well under most lighting situations but the Fluorescent Preset is a little warm. The camera also gives a range of white balance presets, although the white balance cannot be set manually without the use of another app.

 

Winner: Huawei Mate20 Pro as the Pro mode gives you access to white balance options but overall, both smartphones handled white balance well, apart from the fluorescent white balance setting which was a little warm with each smartphone. 

 

AWB Mixed Lighting

Huawei Mate20 Pro   |  AWB Mixed Light

Google Pixel 3  |  AWB Mixed Light

 

Low Light

Low light used to be something smartphones really struggled with but with new algorithms and better cameras, this is slowly becoming a thing of the past. Google has introduced a new "Night Sight" mode that combines a number of photos, for much improved low-light shooting, and it works with or without a tripod. In fact, it's designed to work without a tripod (and will automatically detect if you have the phone on a stable surface).

The Huawei Mate20 Pro's night mode can shoot 6 or 7-second exposures hand-held. The camera will automatically merge a number of photos reducing noise, and aligning the image to avoid camera shake and this mode can be used with the ultra-wide-angle and wide-angle cameras.

 

Handheld Night Mode - Huawei Mate20 Pro

Handheld Night Sight - Google Pixel 3

 

Huawei Mate20 Pro - Handheld the camera has struggled to produce a sharp, blur-free photo. On a tripod, the camera will extend the 5-6 second exposure up to 25-26 seconds! The level of detail isn't great though, with images look particularly soft, compared to the other cameras we've used. 

 

Tripod Night Mode  - Huawei Mate20 Pro

Tripod Night Sight - Google Pixel 3

 

Google Pixel 3 - Handheld results are good, without being too over the top, although the colour is quite strong. On a tripod, there isn't a massive difference, however, the camera has reported using a lower ISO speed. With the night sight mode, Google says that the EXIF data isn't entirely accurate as the mode uses a combination of photos and merges them together. The level of detail captured is impressive, although there is more noise in the sky in the image. 

 

Huawei Mate20 Pro, Night (Handheld) | 4 sec | f/1.8 | 4.0 mm | ISO 800 

 

Google Pixel 3, Low-Light (Normal photo mode) | 1/25 sec | f/1.8 | 4.4 mm | ISO 444
 

Winner: The Google Pixel 3 Night Sight mode gives a great balance between a normal looking photo and a night photo, with extra detail. In fact, the Pixel 3 gives the best result when compared with multiple smartphones, not just the Huawei Mate20 Pro, thanks to "Super Res" technology. 

 

Video Quality 

 

Huawei Mate20 Pro

4K video uses electronic image stabilisation, making video much more stable than without, although there can be some weird distortion at the edges as you pan and move the phone around. Focus was disappointing, particularly when using the 3x telephoto camera - where it simply refused to focus correctly on a number of occasions. The wide-angle and ultra-wide-angle cameras performed much better, but care needs to be taken to ensure the focus is correct. The 4K videos often used different frame rates, which will be frustrating if you want to combine a number of different videos later. 

You can record FullHD video at 60 or 30fps. High-speed video is available, recording FullHD video at 120fps, or 720p video at 240 or 960fps. The selfie, front-facing camera can record FullHD video.

 

 

Google Pixel 3

Both the front and rear camera capture 1080p and 720p video but the rear camera offers higher frame rates and also shoots in 4K at 30fps. A mixture of OIS and Electronic Stabilisation is used when shooting video which helps keep footage steady. 

Additional videos can be found on the ePHOTOzine YouTube Channel.

 

 

	Huawei Mate20 Pro	Google Pixel 3
4K Video	Yes	Yes
Full HD Video	Yes	Yes
Image Stabilisation	Electronic apart from on telephoto lens	A mixture of OIS and Electronic Stabilisation
Slow-Motion Video	Yes	Yes

 

Winner: Google Pixel 3 as the Huawei Mate20 Pro sometimes struggled with focus and IS didn't work as well as it should. 

 

Battery

• Huawei Mate20 Pro: 4200mAh 
• Google Pixel 3:  2915mAh 

 

Processor

• Huawei Mate20 Pro: Kirin 980 - GeekBench: 3383 Single Core, 10092 Multi-Core and AnTuTu: 300763, (258205 without performance mode).
• Google Pixel 3:  Snapdragon 845 - GeekBench: 2381 Single-Core, 8331 Multi-Core and AnTuTu: 250642.

 

Other Features 

	Huawei Mate20 Pro	Google Pixel 3
MicroSD Slot	Yes	No
Water Resistant	Yes	Yes
Headphone Socket	No	No

 

Size & Weight 

• Huawei Mate20 Pro: 157.8mm x 72.3mm x 8.6mm
• Google Pixel 3: 145.6mm x 68.2mm x 7.9mm

 

Price 

• Huawei Mate20 Pro: £899
• Google Pixel 3: £739

 

Ratings

 

Huawei Mate20 Pro

"The Huawei Mate20 Pro is a true flagship smartphone, pushing the boundaries of what's considered possible, with a stylish design, in-screen fingerprint reader, face recognition, 3D scanning, impressive battery life, extremely fast processor, plenty of storage and more. With three cameras it offers a variety of shooting possibilities, and will certainly keep the majority of people very impressed."

Highly Recommended - 

 

Google Pixel 3

"The Google Pixel 2 was good but the Google Pixel 3 is better. If you want a smaller sized smartphone that captures excellent images, you can't go too far wrong with the Google Pixel 3."

Highly Recommended - 

 

 

To compare the 2 smartphones further, have a look at the specs table below. 

We have more smartphone comparisons which include putting the specs of the Honor 8X against the Honor 7X, comparing the Google Pixel 3 XL against the Google Pixel 2 XL and seeing if the Apple iPhone 8 Plus stands up against the OnePlus 6. 

If you're interested in another brand that can still capture good photos, have a look at our 'best gear' section of the site where we list the 'Best Camera Phones For Photography 2018' and the 'Top Budget Camera Phones For Photography'.