Huawei lets cameras speak for themselves

Live comparisons replace specifications in the sales pitch.

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. is relying on live camera demonstrations instead of technical specifications to persuade Asia-Pacific consumers that its flagship smartphones deliver more accurate colours.

The company launched the HUAWEI Pura 90s Series, HUAWEI FreeClip 2S, and HUAWEI MatePad Air in Kuala Lumpur on 14 July, and is rolling out the demonstrations at its experience and flagship stores across the region.

Customers are invited to photograph the same scene using both their own phone and a Huawei device before comparing the results.

"I can almost 100% guarantee that what you'll notice is that there's going to be a color difference from your current phone to what you're seeing with your own eyes, while the Pura is able to represent or actually capture and render what you're seeing with your eyes in the same way," Andreas Zimmer, product head at Huawei Consumer Business Group, told Retail Asia in an interview.

Zimmer said Huawei chose the format because camera colour accuracy is difficult to communicate through technical specifications alone. A side-by-side comparison lets customers judge the results themselves rather than rely on marketing claims.

The demonstration also reflects how Huawei develops products for the Asia-Pacific region.

"We don't have a specific product just for Asia, or just for the Asia-Pacific region, but we make sure that we recognize the needs in each market, and translate those needs into product features," Zimmer said.

He pointed to food photography as one example, saying it is more popular across Asian markets than in Europe. Huawei's cameras use artificial intelligence (AI)-based scene recognition to adjust settings automatically based on the subject being photographed, helping reproduce colours more naturally.

Zimmer said colour accuracy became the focus of the in-store demonstration because it is one of the most difficult camera features to explain without letting consumers experience it firsthand.

Huawei's continued product momentum is underpinned by its long-term R&D strategy.

The company invested $28.4b (CNY192.3b) in R&D in 2025, equivalent to 21.8% of total revenue — its highest ratio to date. Over the past decade, cumulative R&D investment has topped $204.1b (CNY1.382t). As of end-2025, roughly 114,000 employees, or 53.7% of Huawei's workforce, were engaged in R&D.