Huawei is getting a lot of flak after falsely claiming that one promo image was taken using its P9 smartphone. The truth is, the photo was actually shot using a DSLR setup valued at $4,500.
The Chinese smartphone manufacturer previously featured the image on its Google+ page, with the intent of showcasing the high quality of the Huawei P9 smartphone's dual-camera system. The picture was beautifully taken, highlighting great color balance, sharpness, contrast and dramatic lens flare.
Google+ actually provides the EXIF metadata of every photo uploaded in its system, revealing that the Huawei P9 smartphone's camera was not as powerful as the makers wish potential buyers to believe.
Although Huawei did not exactly state that the photo was captured using the mobile device, it strongly suggested that their product at least has the same capabilities. The image came with a caption, describing how they managed to catch a beautiful sunrise with the female model, Deliciously Ella.
The company continued that the Huawei P9 smartphone's dual Leica cameras allow shooting in low light conditions a pleasure. They closed by inviting potential users to reinvent smartphone photography and share their sunrise pictures with them.
Android Police discovered that the promo image was actually taken using a Canon EOS 5D Mark III with an EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens, which is quite an expensive setup.
Huawei explained to The Verge that the promo image was professionally taken while filming a Huawei P9 smartphone advert, and was supposedly shared to inspire their community. The company stated that they realized how they should have been clearer with the image captions and that they never intended to mislead. They apologized for the confusion and removed the image from the platform.
TheNextWeb wrote that Huawei insinuated that its P9 smartphone can have the same results as the powerful DSLR camera when taking photos in low light conditions, which is absurd. Furthermore, the image was not a low-light photo.
Even if Huawei was merely hinting that the product's dual cameras can come close to the results of a Canon EOS 5D Mark III, there is a huge gap between the powerful and quality of the two devices. Overall, Huawei went way overboard in trying to market its hardware. So far, a lot of people in the mobile community have already accepted the company's recent apology.
More updates and details on the Huawei P9 smartphone and its features are expected soon.