The forgotten smartphone: Huawei Ascend Y530

September 19, 2021 Luisa Rey

Huawei has been active in the smartphone market for many years. In 2014, the Huawei Ascend Y530 was added to the portfolio. We discuss this smartphone in this edition of ‘The forgotten smartphone’, because years ago this device was indispensable on the streets.

Huawei Ascend Y530

Huawei was not only active in the more expensive segment, with devices such as the Huawei Ascend P6; Huawei also had plenty to offer in the cheaper segment. An example of this was the Huawei Ascend Y530. This smartphone was recognizable as a real Huawei and was released in the affordable segment. A segment in which we also encountered the Moto G from Motorola, for example.

The Huawei Ascend Y530 came with a 4.5 inch display, which was an average screen size seven years ago. This provided a resolution of 854 x 480 pixels. The Chinese manufacturer gave the smartphone a Snapdragon 200; a 1.2GHz dual core processor. If we look at the list of specifications, we also see 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage space. You could expand this memory with a memory card. There was a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, 0.3MP VGA front camera and a 1750 mAh battery. Although Android 4.4 KitKat was already out, the Ascend Y530 was equipped with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean.

Nice all those specifications; how was the device in practice? The Huawei Ascend Y530 had the advantage of expandable storage space, a replaceable battery and an interesting price. There was also criticism. The battery life was nothing to write home about. Despite the large screen, it was not the best quality. Furthermore, users experienced the limitations of the processor, which could not handle everything at the same speed.

Huawei also released the Y530 in the Netherlands. The smartphone was especially popular in the prepaid segment. About 150 euros had to be paid for the device.