Huawei Is Hoping This Weird Three-Camera Phone Will Challenge the iPhone

The name Huawei may not mean much to the average iPhone user, but the Chinese telecommunications company is hoping to change that today with a new flagship smartphone.

Huawei (pronounced "Wah Way"), which just so happens to be the world's largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer, today announced the P9, a 5.2-inch Android smartphone with dual cameras on the rear-facing side (in addition to the standard front-facing one for selfies). Great! But does that actually matter in day-to-day use, or is it merely a flashy gimmick designed to get press for a day?

By teaming up with @Leica_Camera #HuaweiP9 takes smartphone photography to the next level #OO pic.twitter.com/wjRkfZpSZU
— Huawei Device (@HuaweiDevice) April 6, 2016

Both cameras are 12 megapixels—you can see them clearly in the embedded tweet above—but only one of them is a traditional color sensor like you'd find on most other smartphone cameras. The other is a monochrome sensor, which captures about three times more incoming light than color sensors. If you believe Huawei and Leica, the venerable German camera company that helped design the dual-lens camera (which in and of itself is a big deal), the dual camera setup should dramatically improve low light performance, or the kind of photos you might take at the bar while out with your friends.

Huawei isn't the only smartphone maker to boast a dual-camera setup. LG's G5, which was announced in February, similarly has a dual-camera setup, which early reviews haven't exactly showered with praise: Android Police, an Android enthusiast website, called the setup merely a "novelty" that doesn't compare favorably to cameras found in other flagship smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S7. HTC rolled out similar technology in 2014 with its One M8, which added a second depth sensor to its main camera that let users change the focus of photos after they had been taken. That, too, was largely cast aside by critics as a mere gimmick.

Huawei may not be a household name, but it's quietly been producing smartphones primarily aimed outside of the US going back five years. The Chinese company scored a bit of a coup last year when it was tapped to produce Google's Nexus 6P, which won just about universal praise for its high-end design and low price (it debuted at $499).

But its ambitions extend beyond creating well-received reference devices like the Nexus 6P that are largely marketed toward the Android faithful, telling The Wall Street Journal that it wants to become "number one as a premium smartphone brand." Whether the P9 helps achieve that is as yet unclear, if no other reason than Huawei has only announced overseas price and release date (roughly $680, April 16). You'll of course likely be able to pick one up from online outlets like eBay, but until you can stroll into Best Buy to pick one up it may only exist in the minds of hardcore Android enthusiasts.