Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd introduced P30 Pro with a unique “Moon mode” function. P30 Pro software allows users to take close-up shots to the Moon, capturing unexpectedly refined details of its surface.
However, a Chinese technology critic claims that Huawei’s phones actually “painted in pre-exesting imagery” onto photos of the Moon taken with the phone. Moreover, that the taken photos aren’t present in the original shots, with no instructions from the company users do not know what to do.
“It is impossible for these details, added using the phone’s algorithm, to be captured under the model’s original image-taking capacities, yet Huawei has attributed all the nice visual effects of the Moon images to P30 Pro’s 50x zoom capabilities,” Peng Lin, the founder and columnist at the Chinese technology review site said in a 25-minute video posted on his Weibo account.
Peng has called for Huawei to clearly show in its promotional material as well as on the phone when users access the Moon mode. He also said that he would be filling a civil lawsuit to Huawei as an “individual consumer” after he quits his jobs.
This isn’t the first time happen to Huawei has been levied. In April, Wang Yuekun, another tech columnist has similar issues against the Huawei phone based on self-conducted experiments, Wang said that parts of the moon photos were effectively “photoshopped” by the phone’s algorithms. However, Chinese tech giant Huawei said at the time that the Moon mode only “recognizes and optimizes details in an image,” however “does not in any way replace the image.”
Huawei did not respond for comment.
Smartphones have even more depended on artificial intelligence (AI) to develop the quality of photos they capture. Technologies such as Apple, Samsung, and Huawei are all using computational photography, where users can capture images by using digital techniques not possible with a traditional camera.
Filling lawsuits against Huawei are rare in China, where Huawei has been long known as an outstanding example of the country’s technological skill by Beijing. Ren Zhengfei, Huawei’s founder said that Huawei would not lean on nationalist popularity, and it is open to worldwide trade despite the escalating tensions between China and U.S.
Due to the trade war U.S. national security long-held worries about Huawei, even though people in China have called the Huawei as a symbol of the country’s resilience against of pressure from outside the Middle Kingdom.
“It has almost become a kind of ‘political correctness’ to be supportive of Huawei while avoiding any criticism towards it these days,” said one of the most up-voted comments under the news on WeChat.
U.S. firms have been banded from doing business with Huawei since May. Ren said Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd is likely to see its revenue fall $30million more than the next two years.
A news agency reported that the company is looking at a tumble in sales between 40 million to 60 million units this year in the trade spats.