Huawei has had great success in their past P-series handsets thanks to its impressive feature set and competitive pricing. The company is looking to keep the ball rolling with the recent launch of the latest member of the Huawei P-series lineup, the Huawei P9.
Based from what is stated on its specs sheet and seemingly countless product shots of the Huawei P9 from its maker and numerous publications, it seems that Huawei is on the right track on keeping its hot streak going with their latest smartphone.
There is an undeniable resemblance between the new Huawei P9 and its predecessor, the Huawei P8, when it comes to design. The former inherits the same straightforward design and aluminum chassis of its precursor, which played a huge role in the success of the P8 in the Android scene.
As expected from a newer model, the Huawei P9 has received some notable improvements in the processing department. The new smartphone is now equipped with the new HiSilicon Kirin 955 chip that does most of the heavy-lifting for the P9. The octa-core processor is backed by a Mali-T880 MP4 GPU which handles the graphics duty.
But despite all of the advancements that the P9 has to offer, both in its design and feature set, what really swept the tech scene off its feet is the handset’s dual rear camera setup which is co-engineered by Leica, an iconic brand in the photography industry which is synonymous to quality.
We have yet to test the capabilities of the Huawei P9’s rear cameras ourselves, but based from the numerous sample shots that have been taken since its launch, the images looks very promising. Despite having an identical resolution, the two cameras at the back of the Huawei P9 differ in feature and purpose.
Only one of the two cameras (the snapper on the left) shoots colored pictures, while the other one (right) only snaps black and white stills. The dedicated monochrome camera serves another purpose too, and that is to boost the detail and contrast of the picture when both cameras are in use.
The secondary camera also opens a lot of doors of creative composition. It can recreate, up to some degree at least, the shallow depth of field of a super-fast (and usually super expensive) camera lens and it allows users to select the focus even after the shot was taken.
Huawei P9 specs:
OS | Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) |
Processor | 2.5GHz HiSilicon Kirin 955 octa-core processor |
Memory | 3GB/4GB |
Display | 5.2 inch IPS-NEO LCD screen, 1080 x 1920 | Corning Gorilla Glass 4 |
Storage | Expandable 32GB/64GB on-board storage |
Camera | 2x 12-megapixel rear camera with phase-detect AF and dual-LED flash + 8-megapixel front camera |
SIM | Optional Dual-SIM, 4G/LTE |
Battery | 3,000mAh |
Weight | 144g |
Dimensions | 145 x 70.9 x 7 mm |
Others | Fingerprint scanner, USB Type-C port, dual-band Wi-Fi AC, Bluetooth 4.2 LE with A2DP, and NFC |
Color | Ceramic White, Haze Gold, Mystic Silver, Prestige Gold, Rose Gold, and Titanium Grey |
The new Huawei P9 is expected to make its way to 29 different countries on starting next week. The pricing for this new smartphone starts at €599 for the 3GB RAM and 32GB variant. The 4GB and 64GB model, on the other hand, is priced at €649.