Huawei unveils new Pura 70 smartphone series

Potential customers try out display models from Huawei‘s latest Pura 70 collection at the brand’s global flagship store in MixC World, Nanshan District, today. The Pura 70 series has four variants: the 70, the 70 Plus, the 70 Pro, and the 70 Ultra. The Pro and Ultra versions are available to customers in Huawei’s bricks-and-mortar and online stores starting today. Wang Haolan

Huawei Technologies Co. on Thursday started sales of its highly anticipated new smartphone series as the Shenzhen-based tech giant continues to make a comeback in the domestic device market.

Exactly 12 years after launching its flagship phone series, Huawei unveiled its latest premium smartphones, the Pura series, which has four variants.

The Pura 70 Ultra and Pura 70 Pro are available to customers for Thursday’s sale, while the Pura 70 Pro+ and Pura 70 are slated for sale starting April 22.

Huawei said the Pura 70 Ultra and Pura 70 Pro are the firm’s first smartphones incorporating its self-developed large language model (LLM), Pangu.

Potential buyers check out Huawei smartphones at the company's flagship store in Shenzhen in this file photo. Xinhua

The smartphones run on HarmonyOS, the operating system Huawei developed as a replacement for Google's Android.

The starting price for Pura 70 series is at 5,499 yuan (US$760.06) and scales all the way to 9,999 yuan for an Ultra edition.

The Pro and Ultra versions were sold out at Huawei's official online store just a minute after the sales started , while some units are still available for purchase at its bricks-and-mortar shops. Hundreds of Huawei fans have lined up at the firm’s flagship stores across the country in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, according to media reports.

A Huawei posting on Weibo unveils the teaser video for the new Pura 70 series. File photo

In a bid to prevent customers from onselling the phones at a higher price, buyers were asked to register their new phones at some Huawei stores Thursday.

The Pura 70 launch generated strong interest on Chinese social media, with the device shooting to the top of social media trending lists shortly after its introduction Thursday morning.

Huawei teased the Pura's sale this week in a rebranding campaign, renaming it from simply “P” in a video.

In the video, Richard Yu, Huawei's executive director and CEO of its consumer business group, said that the Huawei P series is officially rebranded as Huawei Pura. The Pura 70 will be the first product of this new series.

The Huawei P series has a history of 12 years, starting with the first model, the Ascend P1. Initially part of the Ascend brand, the P series focused on imaging performance.

As time has progressed, Huawei's various series of products have evolved. The D series has evolved into the Mate series, the P series has transitioned into a more youthful flagship series focusing on imaging, and the G series became the Nova series with a focus on style.

Visitors to AWE 2024 try out Huawei smartphones at the company's booth at the expo in Shanghai last month. Xinhua

Now, the P series, aimed at younger users, has been renamed as the Pura series, continuing to center on imaging technology with a greater focus on camera functionality, while the Mate series emphasizes performance and business features to target working professionals.

"In 2012, we launched the Huawei P series smartphones. The history of the Huawei P series is the history of mobile imaging development, as well as the evolution of technological aesthetics. We use innovative technology to expand the boundaries of mobile imaging and integrate more art and culture. Today, the Huawei P series is upgraded to Huawei Pura, starting afresh in a completely new form. We will always adhere to integrating technology, style, and art into our products," said Yu in the video.

Huawei caused quite a stir with launch of the Mate 60 Pro, its first 5G handset in three years, in August last year, drawing attention around the world for its use of a Chinese-made processor, the 7-nanometer Kirin 9000S.

The Mate 60 has turned out to be very popular in China and several customers in Shenzhen said that even right now they still need to wait for more than one month for their phones after they place an order.

According to a report from research firm Counterpoint, Huawei outsold other vendors including Apple, Vivo, Xiaomi and Oppo in the first six weeks of 2024, with unit sales rising by 64%. Meanwhile, Apple's iPhone sales in China fell 24% during the same period and Vivo, Xiaomi and Oppo dropped 15%, 7% and 29%, respectively.