The Camon 30 Premier 5G is one of the unexpected highlights of MWC 2024, the flagship smartphone from Chinese vendor Tecno. The company announced a major camera upgrade for the Camon 30 Premier without actually announcing the smartphone itself.
I said then that the Camon 30 Premier might be the best rival to the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, which was also announced at the show. That’s how impressive the camera demo was.
Fast forward to early April and Tecno is ready to launch three of the four phones that are part of the Camon 30 series. Camon 30, Camon 30 5G, and Camon 30 Pro 5G will be available in early April. The Camon 30 Premier 5G will then be released later this month.
These devices will start shipping to buyers in the coming weeks, but that’s bad news for most Android fans considering purchasing one of the four devices. The Camon 30 series isn’t widely available, so you’ll probably never see one in person.
Buying Camon 30 is a hassle
The three Camon 30 mobile phones launched by Techno on Tuesday will first go on sale in Africa. More markets will follow. The Camon 30 Premier 5G will then be in stores in the coming weeks. The phone is expected to launch in other markets in the coming months, but the U.S. will not be participating in the rollout.
Pricing details for all four devices were not disclosed as they vary by region. Tecno operates in over 70 of his regions, with a focus on emerging markets.
Still, even if it wasn’t easily available, the Camon 30 phone is an interesting addition to this year’s lineup of new Android devices. What’s particularly interesting is Tecno’s continued focus on photography.
Mobile photography is in focus
The Camon 30 Pro 5G isn’t quite the same as the premier model teased by Tenco at MWC. But it should come with an interesting camera setup.
Here we’re looking at the main 50-megapixel Sony IMX890 1/1.56-inch sensor with optical image stabilization (OIS), F/1.88 aperture, and 1.0μm pixel size. The sensor supports “industry-leading pixel fusion technology” to improve low-light photography.
The second camera is a 50-megapixel wide-angle and macro lens that allows you to get as close as 2.5 cm to your subject.
On the front, a 50-megapixel eye-tracking autofocus front camera supports 4K60fps video recording. The Camon 30 5G and Camon 30 also have the same front-facing camera hardware, but the selfie video performance is not the same.
Camon 30 specs
But mobile phones are more than just cameras. You want to provide reliable performance. The Camon 30 Pro’s spec sheet suggests that’s the case. The phone features a 6.78-inch 144Hz AMOLED display, MediaTek Dimensity 8200 Ultimate 5G chip, 24GB RAM (12GB of which is expandable memory), 512GB flash storage, a nine-layer “gaming-grade” cooling system, and 5,000 mAh. battery.
This high-capacity battery supports 70W charging and can charge from 0% to 50% in just 16 minutes. According to Techno, this battery will withstand 1,600 charge cycles and will maintain more than 80% battery status for at least four years.
The cheaper Camon 30 5G and Camon 30 are powered by the Dimensity 7020 5G and Helio G99 chips and share most of the specifications of the Camon 30 Pro 5G. The 9-layer cooling system is not included in the entry model.
Camon 30 series phones are available in a variety of colors including Alpine Snowy Silver, Icelandic Basaltic Dark, Uyuni Salt White, Emerald Lake Green, and Sahara Sand Brown. Some models use “industry’s first suede Tech-Art leather” on the back, while others feature rock glass. In terms of overall size, the Camon 30 Pro 5G weighs 189 g and is only 7.7 mm thick (excluding the camera protrusion).
What about AI features?
Finally, the Camon 30 series wouldn’t be a true 2024 Android smartphone without talking about genAI features. Tecno said in the announcement that the Camon 30 series phones will support various AI-powered features. Social Turbo is his marketing name for one such feature. This should also work with third-party video calling apps and allow users to change their voice, background, or apply beauty filters.
AI Erase feature allows you to remove unwanted objects from your photos. This is the new standard for Android photography.
Another highlight of the Camon 30 series is Universal Tone support. According to Techno, this feature is a multi-skin tone imaging technology that utilizes cutting-edge AI.
The Camon 30 Pro 5G is equipped with a unique AI trick: the industry’s first AIGC portrait feature. This means that with the help of AI, you will be able to generate all kinds of portrait shots for different scenes and social media needs. Yes, these are not real photos, but AI-generated content trained on users’ selfies.
