The Chinese smartphone maker has been embroiled in a controversy after one of the models for a Nova 3 commercial shares photos showing a DSLR image was used in an ad showcasing the phone’s camera.
Huawei has once again been caught playing fast and loose with its advertising materials after news that it misrepresented the photography capabilities of its mid-range Nova 3 series emerged.
The ad in question, which seems to have been aimed at promoting the company’s latest midrange offerings in the form of the Nova 3 and 3i among Arabic-speaking audiences, came under scrutiny after one of the models involved in its making shared some behind-the-scenes photos.
Sarah Elshamy, the female model in the above commercial, shared the incriminating photo on her Instagram page yesterday, though it has since been removed. The picture shows a photographer holding a DSLR taking a shot that the advert makes users believe was taken by the Nova 3i’s dual 24+2MP selfies cameras, aided by its AI module aimed at beautifying images.
Elshamy’s Instagram, however, revealed that the image was taken using a professional camera, with the Nova 3 nowhere to be seen. The outstretched hand that was supposed to be holding the phone is…simply empty.
The company’s chicanery also brings into question the AI capabilities of the company’s smartphones which Huawei has made such a focal point of its advertising. If the images were snapped using a DSLR, it’s quite likely that the image shown in the ad was not modified by the phone’s AI technology at all or, even worse, was edited using professional-grade photo-editing software.
Either way, it’s not a good look for the company and it’s unfortunately also not the first time they’ve been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Back in 2015, the company used Photoshop to artificially thin the bezels of its P8 and P8max handphones, while a year later it was caught using similar tactics when advertising a camera sample from its P9 flagship that was actually taken on a $4,500 Canon DSLR.
Source: Android Police, Reddit via Engadget
