Honor will be unveiling several new devices at its upcoming event that’s taking place next week. This would include the Honor 9X Pro which will be heading to Malaysia soon. Ahead of the launch, we managed to get a quick preview of the new mid-range device and this is Honor’s first smartphone with Huawei Mobile Services.
The Honor 9X Pro is essentially the upgraded version of the Honor 9X which was launched a few months ago. On the surface, it looks quite similar as it features a 6.59″ FullView display that pushes a Full HD+ resolution. The rear has a 3D curved glass panel that features a reflective X pattern. For a more upmarket look, the device gets a side-mounted fingerprint sensor similar to the Honor 20 series, and the side frame gets a nice matte finish.
Under the hood, the 9X Pro runs on a 7nm Kirin 810 processor which comes with its own dedicated NPU for AI-oriented tasks. For better thermal management, the device also gets liquid cooling. The device can be configured up to 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and up to 256GB UFS 2.1 storage. For further expansion, it also supports microSD card expansion up to 256GB.
For taking pictures, the hardware appears to be unchanged from the standard 9X. It has a 16MP pop-up selfie camera, while the rear gets a triple-camera setup. This consists of a 48MP main camera (Sony IMX586), an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens and a 2MP depth camera. Because of the upgraded processor that comes with a more capable ISP, the 9X Pro is capable of pushing ISO up to 102400 (Honor 9X: ISO 25600) and it also gets a 48MP AI Ultra Clarity mode. On top of that there’s also AIS 2.0 stabilisation that allows you to capture handheld photos clearly.
Powering the device is still a 4,000mAh battery and it supports 10W charging via USB-C. If you wish to use your own headphones, it still comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack. In terms of connectivity, it supports Bluetooth 5.0 but it lacks 5GHz 802.11ac WiFi support. Out of the box, it runs on Android 9 with EMUI 9.1 skin on top and we are told that Android 10 is coming soon.
For Malaysia, Honor will be offering a single variant that comes with 6GB RAM + 256GB of storage. In terms of colours, there’s only a single Phantom Purple option for our market. Since this is an HMS device, you won’t find Google apps and services pre-installed. Instead, it will ship with Huawei’s AppGallery. The local Malaysian launch is expected to take place soon.
We don’t have the local pricing details yet and as a comparison, the current Honor 9X is priced at RM999. The 9X comes with 6GB RAM + 128GB of storage.
