The Huawei P11 may feature a triple-lens 40MP camera setup and a 24MP selfie shooter

by Milen Yanachkov

Dec 06, 2017, 4:10 AM

Leaked promo image by one of Huawei's creative agencies

Ever since Huawei partnered with Leica to build the optics and camera software for the P9, the company has been paying great attention to camera quality, even when it comes to mid-range offerings from its Honor sub-brand.

A new leak suggests that Huawei may be hard at work on a beastly camera setup for the next entries in its flagship P-series. According to a promotional image allegedly made by one of Huawei's creative agencies, the Huawei P11 may feature a 40MP Leica co-developed triple-lens camera setup with 5x hybrid zoom. Yes, three lenses on the back, 40MP resolution, 5x zoom, and a 24MP front-facing camera to boot.

But that's not all! The promo also portends a dedicated "Pro" night mode that will take full advantage of the "new sensor and optics," which themselves are said to be capable of capturing "100% more light." There's no word yet on how big the camera sensor itself may be, or what aperture(s) will be utilized, but it's a safe bet that the performance boost will come from a clever the combination of hardware and software to deliver better results. Seeing as how low-light performance is still one of the more problematic areas for smartphone cameras, this is great news, provided it's true of course.

#Kirin970, the world's first mobile AI chip with dedicated NPU, giving you incredible AI power in the palm of your hand. #HuaweiMobileAI pic.twitter.com/ylvDUF34ae
— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) September 2, 2017

Speaking of that, Huawei will be heavily relying on on-device AI to improve photo quality. The new Kirin 970 SoC that will power the P11 and other Huawei phones in 2018 sports a dedicated NPU (Neural Processing Unit), which is partially dedicated to offloading demanding image processing tasks from the CPU. In fact, one of the leaked images specifically touts a "Pro AI camera assist feature," capable of things like "scene recognition" and "auto framing." We don't know what this entails exactly, but it is possible that Huawei's AI-powered tech might be capable of processing images on a per-scene basis, depending on what you're photographing, by cross-referencing your shot to a pre-existing database of other images and applying suitable changes automatically. As for auto framing, this could be a feature that helps you frame better shots by taking into account different objects in the scene and guiding you in how to position them for more eye-pleasing results (at least composition-wise).

source: Evan Blass (@evleaks)

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9 Comments

6. S4NDY

Posts: 277; Member since: Mar 14, 2016

Its 20+12+8mp triplecamera (40mp) like other Huawei flagship phones have 32mp camera 20+12

posted on Dec 06, 2017, 12:32 PM 0

5. rsiders

Posts: 2060; Member since: Nov 17, 2011

This certainly sounds interesting. I hate to like what Google is already doing with computational photography cause it just seems like a cheat code but the results speak loudly for themselves. I think a large sensor with decently sized pixels at about 20mp paired with computational photography would yield the best results. It's amazing to see the evolution of these tiny sensors in our pockets and I'm all for something new. I really wish Nokia would just revive that old 41mp sensor with the horsepower our phones have today and new processing algorithms. I just think now is the time to do it with how powerful the cops are.

posted on Dec 06, 2017, 10:42 AM 0

7. rsiders

*with how powerful the chips are.

posted on Dec 06, 2017, 1:36 PM 0

9. Furbal unregistered

Would be great to see what the sensor could do with the newer ISP's

posted on Dec 06, 2017, 2:40 PM 1

4. KingSam

Posts: 1543; Member since: Mar 13, 2016

Huawei cameras are amazing for stills! This is gonna be interesting.

posted on Dec 06, 2017, 7:03 AM 1

3. hemedans

Posts: 763; Member since: Jun 01, 2013

Eero salmelin should be credited for this. NOKIA and cameraphone fans they know him as co developer of pureview technology, Him and Juha are mind behind revolution of smartphone camera. Now he is director of Huawei Imaging and Video Technology at Huawei. you think it is coincidence now Huawei can compete with Likes of samsung and Apple in Camera department?