Sony Xperia 1 VIII vs Huawei Pura 90s Pro Max

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.5-inch Sony Xperia 1 VIII (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5) that was released on May 13, 2026, against the Huawei Pura 90s Pro Max, which is powered by HiSilicon Kirin 9030S and came out 2 months after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Sony Xperia 1 VIII
  • 2.4x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (3842K versus 1622K)
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 2048GB
  • 2.8x faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 3522 and 1269 points
  • More energy-efficient CPU – Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
  • Supports Dolby Atmos sound technology
  • Weighs 30.5 grams less
  • Includes a 3.5 mm headphone audio jack port
Reasons to consider the Huawei Pura 90s Pro Max
  • Comes with 1000 mAh larger battery capacity: 6000 vs 5000 mAh
  • Delivers 26% higher peak brightness (1786 against 1417 nits)
  • The rear camera has a 4x optical zoom
  • Supports higher wattage charging (100W versus 30W)
  • Waterproof body (IP69 classification)
  • Has a 0.4 inch larger screen size
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • 16% higher pixel density (460 vs 396 PPI)
  • Has a built-in infrared port

Review

Evaluation of Sony Xperia 1 VIII and Huawei Pura 90s Pro Max crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
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Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your country’s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
12 / 256 GB
VS
12 / 256 GB
25.1
(Mediocre)
Value Index
28.3
(Mediocre)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type OLED OLED
Size 6.5 inches 6.9 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1308 x 2880 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 -
PPI 396 ppi 460 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes Yes (1-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 1500 nits -
Max rated brightness in HDR 2200 nits -
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10
Touch sampling rate 240 Hz -
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus 2 Kunlun Glass 2
Screen-to-body ratio 86.5% 90.7%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming
Display tests
RGB color space 97.5% -
PWM 240 Hz -
Response time 1 ms -
Contrast ∞ Infinity -
Peak brightness test (auto)
1417 nits
1786 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3]

Design and build

Height 162 mm (6.38 inches) 164 mm (6.46 inches)
Width 74 mm (2.91 inches) 77.1 mm (3.04 inches)
Thickness 8.3 mm (0.33 inches) 8.1 mm (0.32 inches)
Weight 200 g (7.05 oz) 230.5 g (8.13 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP69
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber Vapor chamber
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black, Silver, Gold, Red Black, Gold, Orange, Purple
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-button Yes, in-button
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Chipset specifications of Sony Xperia 1 VIII and Huawei Pura 90s Pro Max
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 HiSilicon Kirin 9030S
Max clock 4610 MHz 2700 MHz
CPU cores 8 (2 + 6) 8 (1 + 3 + 4)
Architecture - 6 cores at 3.63 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Performance
- 2 cores at 4.74 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Prime
- 4 cores at 1.62 GHz: Taishan v124 Little
- 3 cores at 2.15 GHz: Taishan v124 Mid
- 1 core at 2.7 GHz: Taishan v124 Big
L3 cache 12 MB 4 MB
Manufacturing TSMC SMIC
Lithography process 3 nanometers 5 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Da Vinci
GPU
Graphics Adreno 840 Maleoon 935F
GPU shading units 1536 768
GPU clock 1300 MHz 933 MHz
FLOPS ~3993.6 GFLOPS ~1433.1 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Sony Xperia 1 VIII and Huawei Pura 90s Pro Max
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
28578
Compute Score (GPU) 28578 4481
Single-core score 3522 1269
Multi-core score 9923 4424
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
3842882
CPU 1085245 601782
GPU 1325452 300105
Memory 568742 374029
UX 863443 346833
Total score 3842882 1622749
Samples Less than 3 Less than 3

Memory

RAM
RAM size 12 GB 12 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Memory clock 5300 MHz -
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 256 GB 256 GB
Storage type UFS 4.0 UFS 4.1
Memory card MicroSD No
Memory card max size Up to 2048 GB -

Software

Operating system Android 16 Android 16
ROM - EMUI 16
OS size 45 GB -
OS updates 4 years -
Security updates 6 years -

Battery

Capacity 5000 mAh 6000 mAh
Max charge power 30 W 100 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes Yes (80 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Bypass charging Yes -
Fast charging Yes (50% in 30 min) Yes (60% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:25 hr 1:02 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing - 09:34 hr
Watching video - 17:56 hr
Gaming - 05:39 hr
Standby - 88 hr
General battery life

Main camera

Matrix 48 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution 8000 x 6000 8192 x 6144
Zoom Optical, 2.9x Optical, 4x
Flash LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 120FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 120 FPS (1080p) 960 FPS (1080p)
Lenses 1) Standard: 48 MP
2) Telephoto: 48 MP
3) Ultrawide: 48 MP
1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 200 MP
3) Ultrawide: 40 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 48 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/1.9 f/1.4 - 4.0
Focal length 24 mm 24 mm
Sensor Sony IMX888 -
Sensor size 1/1.35" (≈ 0.74 inch) 1/1.28" (≈ 0.78 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron -
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 48 MP 200 MP
Aperture f/2.8 f/2.6
Focal length 70 mm 89 mm
Sensor Sony IMX 906 -
Sensor size 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch) 1/1.28" (≈ 0.78 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron -
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 48 MP 40 MP
Aperture f/2.0 f/2.2
Focal length 16 mm 13 mm
Sensor Sony IMX906 Omnivision OV40A
Sensor size 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch) 1/1.7" (≈ 0.59 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 1 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

Selfie camera

Megapixels 12 megapixels 13 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 4160 x 3120
Aperture f/2.0 f/2.0
Focal length 24 mm -
Sensor Sony IMX663 CMOS
Sensor size 1/2.9" (≈ 0.34 inch) -
Pixel size 1.22 micron -
Autofocus No Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 6.0 6.0
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.1
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort Yes Yes
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No Yes
Network
Number of SIM* 1 2
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack Yes No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes No
Speakers test
Max loudness

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced May 2026 July 2026
Release date June 2026 August 2026
Launch price (MSRP) $1499 $1149
Sensors - Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Not included Yes, 100 W
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Sony Xperia 1 VIII is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
8 (72.7%)
3 (27.3%)
Total votes: 11

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