It’s only been a short(ish) three-week wait, but Huawei’s Pura 90s smartphone series has officially launched in South Africa, following global and regional launches last month. The Huawei Pura 90s Pro and Pura 90s Pro Max are the latest additions to Huawei’s local offering, with starting prices of R20,000 and R27,000 respectively.
The new Pura has arrived
Huawei has opted for a smaller launch this time, skipping the base and ‘Plus’ models that we’ve seen in the past. If you’ve been holding out for your upgrade, the Pro and Pro Max should offer you enough.
For starters, they are the first smartphones from the company to officially support a 5G connection, since the US mucked up plans for Huawei in 2019. The new ability comes from the Kirin 9030S SoC (system-on-a-chip), a chip produced by HiSilicon, a fabless semiconductor company wholly owned by Huawei.
That said, the focus (if you’ll excuse the pun) with the new Pura devices is their camera capabilities. The Pro ships with three sensors in the rear array: a 50MP main shooter, a 50MP macro telephoto snapper, and a 12.5MP ultra-wide-angle camera. The Pro Max ups that to a 200MP telephoto, 50MP main, and a 40MP ultra-wide-angle.
Batteries have also received updates, with the Pro and Pro Max both sporting 6,000mAh cells inside. Thankfully, this isn’t Europe, where you’d have to settle for less. The Pro pairs its SoC with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of non-expandable storage, while the Pro Max also comes with 12GB of RAM but double the storage (512GB).
Also notable is the upgraded software on top of all that hardware. For the first time in years, Huawei has updated the Android version upon which its EMUI is based. Android 12 is out, and Android 16 is the new base. Welcome to 2026, Huawei.
As is usually the case with Huawei products, if you order your new Pura 90s on Huawei’s online store before too long, you’ll get a discount and maybe some free stuff. Everyone likes free stuff, right?
