Huawei has debuted the Nova 12 series in Malaysia, the Chinese giant’s new premium midrange smartphone lineup. These new devices bring about Qualcomm Snapdragon platforms—albeit without 5G—with three different models all offering their own unique design that Huawei says aims to appeal to the younger demographic.
Huawei Nova 12 series Malaysia pricing and availability
The Huawei Nova 12s is the ‘flagship’ model in this series, priced at RM1,999 for its single configuration with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Then there’s the Huawei Nova 12 SE, also packing 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage with a RM1,499 price tag.
Both devices are already available for pre-order from the Huawei Malaysia website as well as the official Huawei store on Shopee and Lazada. If you pre-order the Nova 12s from now till 12 April, you’ll also get a free Huawei Watch GT 3 SE and gift pack worth RM988, while pre-orders of the Nova 12 SE from now till 5 April get a Huawei Band 8 and gift pack worth RM308 instead.
As for the Huawei Nova 12i, the baby of the family retails for RM1,299 and comes with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. There won’t be any pre-order period for the Nova 12i though, with it instead hitting shelves on 20 April onwards. Early birds will also be able to snag a free Huawei Band 8 and a gift package worth RM308 while stocks last.
Huawei Nova 12s specs
Starting off then from the top of the product stack is the Huawei Nova 12s, which comes in three colour options: Blue, White and Black, with the first two also featuring a unique, fashion-inspired print texture on the back. It’s display meanwhile is a 6.7-inch OLED display pushing an FHD+ resolution with a 120Hz refresh rate, full coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut and a Display Turbo feature for AI-powered HDR.
Under the hood, you’ll find a Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G system-on-chip—the 4G-only variant of this processor of course. That gets mated to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, with the Nova 12s also debuting with EMUI 14, Huawei’s latest version of EMUI. Huawei claims that EMUI 14 delivers more on privacy and security, as well as higher levels of personalisation. As expected though, the Huawei Nova 12s—along with the other new Nova 12 series devices for that matter—will not come with Google Play Services.
In the camera department, you’ll find a main 50MP, f/1.9 ‘ultra vision’ main camera flanked by a secondary 8MP, f/2.2 ultrawide with macro capabilities as well as a laser focus sensor. Those of you who love selfies though would appreciate the 60MP, f/2.4 front-facing camera that has a 100° wide angle with 4K video capabilities.
Other features of note here include 4,500mAh battery with 66W SuperCharge Turbo 2.0 fast charging; Huawei claims that this is able to juice the Huawei Nova 12s back to 62% in just 15 minutes, with a full charge taking twice as long. There’s also stereo speakers, an in-display fingerprint sensor and support for WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 and NFC wireless connectivity. The Huawei Nova 12s weighs in at just 168g, and measures 6.88mm thick.
Huawei Nova 12 SE specs
As for the Huawei Nova 12 SE, the middle child of the series gets a 6.67-inch, OLED display pushing an FHD+ resolution along with a 90Hz refresh rate and full coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut. The entire device weighs in at 186g, and measures just 7.39mm thick.
The Huawei Nova 12 SE also comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 system-on-chip powering it, mated to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Just like the Nova 12s, the Nova 12 SE comes with EMUI 14 out of the box, with no Google Play Services onboard. Keeping the lights on meanwhile is a 4,500mAh battery with support for 66W SuperCharge Turbo 2.0 fast charging that can get a full charge in. just 32 minutes.
Huawei have also kitted out the Nova 12 SE with a triple rear camera setup, consisting of a main 108MP, f/1.9 camera, an 8MP, f/2.2 ultrawide shooter and a 2MP, f/2.4 macro sensor. Up front, the Nove 12 SE gets a 32MP, f/2.5 camera for all your selfie needs. There’s no 5G support of course, but you do get WiFI 5, NFC and Bluetooth 5.0 wireless connectivity.
Huawei Nova 12i specs
Lastly, we have the Huawei Nova 12i. This is perhaps the most visually distinctive of the bunch, as rather than a small camera bump off to one side, the Nova 12i gets a large circular camera island on the back complete with a ‘Star Orbit Ring’ around it. Sitting in the middle of it though is a 108MP, f/1.9 main camera flanked by a 2MP, f/2.4 depth sensor. In front meanwhile you get an 8MP, f/2.0 selfie shooter.
As for its display, the Huawei Nova 12i comes with a 6.7-inch, IPS LCD display that pushes an FHD+ resolution with a 90Hz refresh rate. It’s powered by the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 system-on-chip as the aforementioned Nova 12 SE, with 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage and EMUI 14 installed out of the box.
Other features of note include a 5,000mAh battery with support for 40W SuperCharge fast charging that can get the Nova 12i to 62% in just half an hour. You’ll also find a side mounted fingerprint sensor and support for WiFi 5, NFC and Bluetooth 5.0 wireless connectivity. The Nova 12i measures 8.4mm thick, and weighs in at 199g.
