Huawei Nova 9 is an Honor 50 without GMS and it’s coming to Malaysia on 8th November

[ UPDATE 08/11/2021 20:30 ] The Huawei Nova 9 is officially launched in Malaysia with a price tag of RM1,999. Pre-orders are now available with freebies worth up to RM829.

===

Huawei is launching its Nova 9 smartphone in Malaysia next Monday just two months after the local release of the Nova 8. The new device looks identical to the Honor 50 but it comes with a few ommissions.

Huawei Nova 9 Malaysia Launch

At the moment, there are no pricing and pre-order details for the new smartphone but it will be available via Huawei’s online store as well as Shopee and Lazada. To find out more, the local Huawei Nova 9 launch event will be streamed live at 8pm on the 8th of November 2021.

As part of the launch, Huawei is also running a stream and win contest where you’ll stand a chance to win a Huawei FreeBuds 4 worth RM599 by playing the Huawei Nova 9 song in JOOX for 9 hours during the contest period from 29th October to 4th November 2021. One winner will be selected and it will be announced via JOOX in-app messages.

Huawei Nova 9 specs

The Huawei Nova 9 will be offered in 2 colours – Starry Blue and Black. In terms of design, it looks like a carbon copy of the Honor 50 that was launched with a starting price of RM1,699. Upfront, it gets a 6.57″ OLED display that pushes a Full HD+ resolution (2340×1080 pixels) and a 120Hz refresh rate. Under the hood, it runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 778 that’s mated to 8GB of RAM and comes with 256GB of internal storage.

In the camera department, the Nova 9 gets a 50MP f/1.9 main camera that uses an RYYB sensor instead of a 108MP shooter that’s included in the Honor 50. The device also gets an 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera and two 2MP cameras for macro and depth effects. For selfies, the Nova 9 gets a 32MP selfie camera that sits in a tiny punch-hole.

The device is equipped with 4,300mAh battery which supports Huawei’s SuperCharge 66W via USB-C. According to Huawei, you can get a full charge in 38 minutes, while a quick 18-minute charge on the cable is enough to push 60% charge.

Since Huawei is currently facing restrictions by the US, the device doesn’t support 5G and it lacks Google Mobile Services as well as access to the Google Play Store. Out of the box, the Nova 9 runs on EMUI 12 based with Huawei Mobile Services. Users can discover and download apps via the Huawei AppGallery. You can learn more about the new Nova smartphone on the official product page.

The Huawei Nova 9 is expected to be a tough sell unless it is priced competitively below the Honor 50 which comes with 5G and access to Google’s apps and services. As a comparison, the Nova 8 was launched in August for RM1,899 which appears to be outpriced by other serious 5G phone contenders like the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G and the Xiaomi Mi 10 T. If you’re in the market for a flagship-class phone, the Xiaomi 11T is the best value for money contender at the moment with a starting price of RM1,699.