Honor 9 is now official with 6GB RAM, Kirin 960 SoC and Dual Camera

Huawei has officially announced the new Honor 9 smartphone in the home country. Honor 9 — the successor to the last year’s Honor 8 (review), adapts the same-yet-improved metal build with glass back. That was obviously one of the major factors the Honor 8 was praised globally.

The new Honor 9 is powered by the latest proprietary system on chip from the flagships Mate 9 and Huawei P10. The system has also got a powerful memory of 6GB RAM along with a separate 4GB variant. However the former will be available in both 128GB and 64GB internal storage options while the latter has only 64GB storage. Expandable storage is there as well.

The phone features a 5.15-inch screen with FHD resolution of 1920×1080 pixels. The display is calibrated for a DCI-P3 color space like iPhone 7 and Samsung Galaxy S8. Interestingly Android O brings support for this color space in addition to AdobeRGB and Pro Photo RGB, and Huawei just aligned up itself with the competitive offerings.

Dual Camera on this thing has similarities with iPhone 7 Plus configuration. It brings an actual 2x optical zoom with a telephoto lens on a camera. The phone, however, features a setup of 12 megapixels and 20 megapixels camera sensors. On the front, there’s an 8-megapixel selfie shooter.

Just like previously as Honor 8 gave a hard time to its own flagship siblings like Huawei P9, Expect Honor 9 to give the same thing to Huawei P10. Seriously you get more useful features inside a glossy and shiny yet premium glass body than inside a metal one. In fact, you pay far less than the high-end Huawei P10. How far? well around $200 difference for same 4GB/64GB variant of both Honor 9 and Huawei P10. Honor 9’s camera doesn’t have optical image stabilization unlike Huawei P10. Nor you will have Leica optics or Leica smart effects in the Honor 9.

Honor 9 Specifications

• Display: 5.15″ FHD 1980 x 1080, 428 PPI pixel density
• Processor: HiSilicon Kirin 960 chipset with 2.4GHz Octa-core
• GPU: Mali-G71 MP8
• OS/Software: Android 7.0 Nougat / EMUI 5.1
• Memory: 4GB/6GB RAM
• Storage: 64GB/128GB internal + expandable microSD
• Dual Camera: 12MP RGB + 20MP Monochrome camera setup with a 2x telephoto lens
• Front Camera: 8MP front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture
• Connectivity: 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, Huawei pay support, 3.5mm audio jack and USB Type-C port, GPS, GLONASS
• Sensors: Fingerprint sensor, Proximity
• Battery: 3200mAh battery with fast charging
• Colors: Black, Seagull Gray, Charm Sea Blue, Amber Gold
• Price: Check after the break

Price and Availability

The new Huawei Honor 9 will be available in three models/variants and will cost accordingly.

• 4GB + 64GB: CNY 2299 (~$338 or PKR ~35,500)
• 6GB + 64GB: CNY 2699 (~$397 or PKR ~42,000)
• 6GB + 128GB: CNY 2999 (~$441 or PKR ~46,500)

Honor 9 will be available from June 16, in China from vmall as well as from other local retailers. Customers will have option to choose from three colors: Charm Sea Blue, Seagull Gray, Amber Gold.

Availability in other regions will be disclosed later in respective regions.