HONOR X9 Hands-on

Along with the Magic4 Pro, HONOR Philippines has also brought to the country the HONOR X9. This is a mid-range smartphone with a 6.91-inch screen, quad-rear cameras, and powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 chipset. Here’s our first impressions.

Right out of the box, we can immediately tell that HONOR X9 is a huge device. It’s actually taller and wider than the Magic4 Pro by a few mm. But this is not to say that the X9 is uncomfortable to handle. We actually find this more wieldy thanks to the much thinner and lighter body at 8.05 mm and 189 g.

The screen is also larger at 6.91-inches but with a flat screen and 2388 x 1080 resolution. However, it’s still an immersive screen as the bezels are very thin and only has a tiny hole for the 16MP selfie camera.

On the right, there’s the volume buttons and the power/lock button that also doubles as the fingerprint scanner. They’re easy to reach as they’re placed near the middle.

Up top, we have the earpiece and microphone.

Down below are the SIM card tray, microphone, USB-C port, and loudspeaker.

Flip it on its back and you’ll see the round camera module similar to the Magic4 Pro. Housing it is the 64MP main, 8MP ultra-wide, 2MP macro, and 2MP bokeh cameras, and the LED flash.

From this side, you can see the Titanium Silver colorway of the curved back panel with a nice frosted glass finish, which can hide smudges and fingerprints. It also adds a premium look and feel to the device. It actually has the look and feel of a thin flagship smartphone and not of a mid-range.

Powering the HONOR X9 is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 680, which is a year-old 6nm chip with a maximum clock speed of 2.4GHz, an Adreno 610 GPU, up to 8GB RAM and up to 256GB of storage. For the battery, we have a 4,800mAh capacity with 66W fast charging. No 5G connectivity, though, so it can be a bummer if you need it.

The HONOR X9 with 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage is priced at PHP 14,990USD 255INR 21,655EUR 243CNY 1,860.

HONOR X9 specs:
6.91-inch (2388 x 1080) IPS display
90Hz refresh rate
Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 SoC
Adreno 610 GPU
6GB, 8GB RAM
128GB, 256GB storage
Quad-rear cameras:
• 64MP F1.8 main
• 8MP F2.2 ultra-wide
• 2MP F2.4 macro
• 2MP F2.4 bokeh
16MP F2.45 front camera
Dual-SIM
4G LTE
WiFi 5
NFC
Bluetooth 5.0
GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, Galileo
Fingerprint scanner (side)
USB-C
Magic UI 4.2 (Android 11)
4,800mAh battery w/ 66W SuperCharge
166.07 x 75.78 x 8.05 mm
189 g