Honor’s X series phones may be inexpensive, but they also try to give users as many high-end features as possible. Last year’s 8X and 8X Max pulled off this trick rather well, and now, after a quiet launch in China in July, we can reveal a few details about the next phone in the series.
The Honor 9X will come to Europe, and while we can’t tell you much about it right now officially, we can show you its striking rear panel, and talk about what the Chinese version of the phone features as a hint of what’s to come.
Honor’s a big fan of designs reflecting the phone’s name. The View 20 which launched earlier this year had a V pattern on the back, and the 9X appropriately has an “Dynamic X Design” within this Sapphire Blue colorway. We’ve also seen a black version of the handset, but that’s got a plain glossy surface instead of the holographic one you can see below. This, by coincidence, is exactly what Google’s done with the black Pixel 4, eschewing the matte finish of the white and orange models.
You’ll also notice on the back the camera array and fingerprint sensor. Again, we can’t talk about the specific details of these, but according to GSMArena, the Chinese version of the phone uses a 48MP main camera and a 2MP depth sensor, with a 16MP camera on the front in a pop-up module. For reference, the 8X from last year featured a 20MP main sensor and 2MP depth sensor, with a notch-based 16MP selfie camera.
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The Chinese specs also mention that version of 9X uses a 6.59-inch display, runs Android 9 on a Kirin 810 processor backed up with 4, 6 or 8GB RAM and 64 or 128GB storage, and a 4,000 mAh battery. While these specs give a good guideline of what the 9X is like as a phone, the exact SKUs can change between regions dramatically, so we may get one or both of these versions, or even a completely different version tailored to the market it’s being sold in. Be sure to check back here soon when Honor fully launches the 9X when we can confirm what the European version features exactly. (As for the U.S., it's unlikely that the Honor 9X will make it to that country, as Honor is owned by Huawei, and that Chinese phone make has been at the center of the U.S.-China trade war.)
Honor’s also got some new wearables to show off. Firstly, its Sport Pro wireless earphones share many similarities with the Huawei Freelace earphones, launched earlier this year at the same time as the P30 and P30 Pro. These include an integrated USB-C connector for charging and quick pairing with Honor or Huawei phones, a 14-hour playback time and a magnetic switch which automatically pauses your music and sets your headphones into standby mode. What’s different is the Sport Pro's sports focus, which means winged ear gels for a more secure fit while running, and a replacement of some of the plastic materials for woven fibers for better comfort while working out.
The other Honor wearable is a sports version of the Honor Band 5, called appropriately enough the Honor Band 5 Sport. This also swaps out materials, switching the normal plastic strap for one made of recycled water bottles. Within the band, you get six-axis motion tracking, and the option to take the main part of the Band 5 Sport off the strap and attach it to your shoe, which then lets it track your running and jumping in great detail. This plus the existing tracking options from the Band 5 are meant to give you even more information about how well you’re exercising, and hopefully let you improve your skills or avoid injury. We don’t have any images of the Band 5 Sport to show you right now, but we’ll be sure to update you when we have them.
