Tecno introducing its own take on Pixel’s ‘Real Tone’ feature for its phones

Damien Wilde | Feb 20 2025 - 12:00 am PT

Fledgling smartphone company Tecno has unveiled its own unique take on the Google Pixel “Real Tone” function to help its devices produce more color-accurate skin tones for all users.

While Google has the edge with a snappy name, Tecno’s Multi-Skin Tone Color Restoration Engine will debut alongside the upcoming Camon 40 series of devices, which are expected to be unveiled at MWC 2025 in Barcelona within the next few weeks. This technology enhances existing technology that has been developing on Tecno devices for several years.

The Chinese smartphone maker hopes that this will ensure that when using the new camera system, you’ll get accurate skin tone representation. In simple terms, Camon 40 handsets will use a new/updated image model which utilizes a color card with 372 patches and “enhancements” to this new color engine. The new database catalogs a wider array of skin tones, with a specific focus on regions including Southeast Asia, South Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.

Tecno went even further by working with the University of Leeds in the UK and Dar Al-Hekma University in Saudi Arabia to customize a region-specific color card with 186 Saudi skin tone patches. The sample images show the differences above, which are subtle but notable nonetheless. While Google has concentrated on computational photography and AI-driven adjustments, Tecno appears to be emphasizing a combination of comprehensive datasets and refined algorithms.

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So while it is similar to how Real Tone works on Pixel phones its a unique take and there are always multiple ways to do the same thing. Google’s own Image Equity Initiative was the original driving force behind this change, and having other Android OEMs offer more inclusive camera systems is only a good thing.