Huawei was caught trying to pass off DSLR camera shots as selfies taken by the Nova 3 camera, in the latest case of mobile phone false advertisements.
This is not the first time that Huawei has been found to have engaged in deceptive marketing practices, which is a shame because it takes away from the Chinese smartphone manufacturer's accomplishments.
Huawei Nova 3 Advertisement Caught Cheating
An advertisement for the Huawei Nova 3 showcases the smartphone's camera through a couple taking selfies in various situations. In one scene, the male actor takes a selfie with the female actor while she was getting ready to go out, and the Nova 3 camera's artificial intelligence technology made the woman look like her makeup was done.
Sarah Elshamy, the female actor, uploaded several behind-the-scenes photos of the advertisement on her Instagram account. One of the pictures, as Android Police spotted, revealed that the selfies taken by the Nova 3 were instead taken by a DSLR camera.
The controversial photo, which has since been deleted from Elshamy's account, showed the male actor extending his arm to look like he was taking a selfie. However, the Nova 3 was not in his hand. Instead, a DSLR camera was positioned where the smartphone should be, and presumably, taking the photo that was used in the advertisement.
The advertisement does not explicitly state that the featured pictures were taken by the Nova 3, but the appearance of crosshairs and the "AI" text on the photos made heavy implications. Customers may be pushed to purchase the Nova 3 based on the advertisement, so using DSLR photos instead of the actual pictures taken by the smartphone is considered deceptive.
Smartphone Cameras vs DSLR
This is not the first time that Huawei was caught to have used a DSLR camera in its smartphone marketing, as a Huawei P9 photo uploaded two years ago on its Google+ page was discovered to have been taken using a Canon EOS 5D Mark III. Huawei has also been found to have edited away bezels on Huawei P8 renders.
Huawei should try better to avoid such false advertising allegations, as it takes away from the company's accomplishments, which includes the Huawei P20 Pro being named the best smartphone of 2018 by the European Image and Sound Association. Huawei also recently beat Apple to move up to second place in terms of global smartphone sales, and is catching up fast to market leader Samsung.
