Huaweis Honor 9X Pro loses Google apps, but gets an updated processor
The GSMA might have cancelled Mobile World Congress, but that hasn't stopped companies like Sony and Huawei from announcing new hardware this week. In the case of Huawei, it has also detailed new devices from its low-cost Honor sub-brand.
To start, the company has an update to the Honor 9X called the Honor 9X Pro. The Honor 9X came out outside of China this past October, so the 9X Pro doesn't feature too many enhancements over its predecessor. The phone's most notable hardware upgrade is a new, more power-efficient Kirin 810 processor. Huawei says the 9X Pro's chipset features a custom-designed GPU the company claims will lead to better gaming performance.
However, the biggest difference between the two phones doesn't have anything to do with hardware. Instead, it's all about software. The 9X was one of the last Huawei phones to skirt the company's ban in the US, so it came with access to Google services. That's not the case with the 9X Pro.
Like all of Huawei's new phones, it won't have access to the Play Store or Google-made apps like Gmail. Instead, you'll need to use Huawei's AppGallery to download any applications you want to install on the phone. At the moment, the AppGallery isn't a one-to-one substitute for the Play Store. The Honor 9X Pro will also ship with EMUI 9.1 -- which builds on Android 9, not the current version of the operating system.
Otherwise, the two phones are nearly identical. Like its predecessor, the Honor 9X Pro features a 6.59-inch IPS LCD. Internally, it includes a 4,000mAh battery and 6GB of RAM to support its new chip. For taking photos, there's a 48-megapixel main camera, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. On the front of the phone, there's a 16-megapixel pop-up selfie camera. That's the same set of cameras that came with the 9X.
If you can get past Huawei's software situation, the Honor 9X Pro might make a decent phone for the price. It will make its way to France, Germany, the Netherlands, Egypt, Saudia Arabia and Malaysia next month and cost €249 (approximately $270).
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