Huawei’s Honor division is clearly out to disrupt the runaway sales of Xiaomi in India with the latest addition to its budget lineup – the Huawei Honor 9N. Typical of Huawei, the Honor 9N is the name Indians will call a device that is known as Honor 9i 2018 in China.
Last year, the Huawei Mate 10 Lite was launched in India as the Honor 9i. Honestly, it would make sense for India to get the Honor 9i 2018 model, but instead, the Honor 9N has been launched in the third leading smartphone market in the world.
So, what’s with the Honor 9N? Let’s find out.
Huawei Honor 9N specs
- 5.84-inch 19:9 FHD+ LCD display
- Kirin 659 processor
- 3GB or 4GB RAM
- 32GB, 64GB or 128GB expandable storage
- Dual 13MP + 2MP main camera
- 16MP front camera
- 3000mAh battery
- Android 8.0 Oreo
The Honor 9i 2018 has been around since June and given that the newly launched Honor 9N is the same device, you get everything intact. The only thing that has changed is that India gets an extra storage option, totaling to three with up to 128GB on the high-end variant.
The Huawei Honor 9N has some design similarities with the Honor 9 Lite. In fact, the device looks like the Honor 9 Lite with a display screen of the Honor 10 because of the notch. We still don’t know if the device has a software tweak that hides the notch like we’ve gotten used to seeing on devices that have this form factor, but it’s likely to be added as an update if not present out of the box. It is this notch that houses what promises to be a great 16MP selfie shooter, a feature that tells a lot about which market this device is targeting.
Related: The best Android phones under $100
Due to the minimal bezels, you are getting a device with an impressive 19:9 aspect ratio, a 5.84-inch display screen and an overall footprint that is just 149.2mm tall. Flipping around the phone reveals a dual-lens camera on the back with a primary 13MP sensor backed by a 2MP unit for depth sensing. There’s also a fingerprint scanner in the middle of the phone’s upper third, a location many would consider ideal.
Under the hood, Huawei has once again turned to the tried and tested Kirin 659 for the raw power alongside two RAM options of 3GB and 4GB, where the latter is mated with either 64GB or 128GB of internal storage. Why Huawei would opt for this chipset when the Kirin 710 is around still amazes us, but then again, the Honor 9N is just a rebadged Honor 9i 2018 that is already powered by the Kirin 659 chipset. Still, the Kirin 659 is no slouch, only that it has been around for quite some time and during its existence, it has featured on a multitude of Huawei and Honor phones, much like the Snapdragon 625 from Qualcomm.
Related: Android P update release roadmap
To keep the Honor 9N alive is a 3000mAh battery unit that, unfortunately, is charged via a microUSB port, but for such a budget phone, there isn’t much to complain about, especially since you are also getting the 3.5mm audio jack.
Huawei Honor 9N price and availability
Speaking of a budget phone, the Huawei Honor 9N is exactly that. The phone has a price tag of just INR 11,999 for the base model while the 4/64GB and 4/128GB variants can be yours for INR 13,999 and INR 17,999, respectively. Although launched, the Honor 9N won’t be available for purchase in India until July 31 and will be sold exclusively via Flipkart.
It’s likely that this same device could be sold in other markets under a different name, much like what happened with the OG Honor 9i that sold in most markets as the Huawei Mate 10 Lite. However, for now, it’s still unclear if and when this will materialize. But of course, we’ll be here to let you know about any updates on this subject.
