Today, December 23, two new “stars” were born in China, as Huawei launched the successors to the Nova 7 series, all but one of which got released in the Philippines.

(Update, August 12: The Huawei Nova 8i and Nova 8 have been priced in the Philippines! See how much they are and what the preorder freebies are here.)

(Update, 6 p.m., August 5: The Huawei Nova 8i, Huawei Nova 8 global version, and Huawei MatePad 11 have been launched in the Philippines! And the tablet will go on sale first. Details here.)

(Update, August 3: The Huawei Nova 8i, Nova 8, and MatePad 11 are finally launching in the Philippines! Save the date.)

Yes, the Huawei Nova 8 and Huawei Nova 8 Pro are now official, a month after the company introduced the Huawei Nova 8 SE with MediaTek Dimensity 720 and Dimensity 800U 5G chips. Scheduled to go on sale starting December 30, they come with the following price tags:

• Huawei Nova 8 5G
  • 8GB + 128GB: ¥3,299 (around P24,243 or $505)
  • 8GB + 256GB: ¥3,699 (P27,182 or $566)
• Huawei Nova 8 Pro 5G
  • 8GB + 128GB: ¥3,999 (P29,386 or $612)
  • 8GB + 256GB: ¥4,399 (P32,301 or $673)

The two Nova smartphones have this oval-shaped camera module on the back, which makes them look different from many of the handsets that were released this year. Inside is a 64-megapixel main sensor assisted by 8-megapixel ultra-wide and 2-megapixel macro and depth sensors.

Both have curved OLED screens with under-display fingerprint readers, too. However, the regular Nova 8 Pro’s panel is bigger at 6.72 inches instead of just 6.57 inches; has a higher resolution at 2,676 x 1,236; and features up to 120Hz refresh and 300Hz touch-sampling rates. The Pro’s screen also has a dual punch hole for its 32-megapixel primary and 16-megapixel ultra-wide selfie cameras. By comparison, the regular version has one for its 32-megapixel selfie shooter.

Today, we finally got an answer to our question about the chip powering the devices, too. It turns out that the Huawei Nova 8 and Huawei Nova 8 Pro use a Kirin 985, the same one inside the Huawei Nova 7 5G and Huawei Nova 7 Pro 5G. Other features include EMUI 11 and batteries rated up to 4,000mAh with support for 66 watts of fast charging, which should allow them to be fully charged in approximately 35 minutes.

When will the newly launched smartphones be available outside China — in markets such as the Philippines? Huawei hasn’t revealed anything about an international release just yet, but we’re hoping to hear something about it in the first quarter of 2021.

Huawei Nova 8 5G specs

• 6.57-inch curved OLED with punch-hole display, 2,400 x 1,080 resolution (20:9), 90Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch-sampling rate
• Octa-core HiSilicon Kirin 985 processor with 5G
• 8GB RAM
• 128GB/256GB storage
• Quad 64-megapixel, f/1.9 (main); 8-megapixel, f/2.4 (ultra-wide); 2-megapixel (macro); and 2-megapixel (depth) rear cameras
• 32-megapixel, f/2.0 front camera
• Fingerprint reader (under-display)
• Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.1, and GPS
• 3,800mAh battery with 66-watt fast charging
• EMUI 11 based on Android 10

Huawei Nova 8 Pro 5G specs

• 6.72-inch curved OLED with dual punch-hole display, 2,676 x 1,236 resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, 300Hz touch-sampling rate
• Octa-core HiSilicon Kirin 985 processor with 5G
• 8GB RAM
• 128GB/256GB storage
• Quad 64-megapixel, f/1.8 (main); 8-megapixel, f/2.4 (ultra-wide); 2-megapixel (macro); and 2-megapixel (depth) rear cameras
• Dual 32-megapixel, f/2.4 (main), 16-megapixel, f/2.0 (ultra wide) front cameras
• Fingerprint reader (under-display)
• Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, and dual-frequency GPS
• 4,000mAh battery with 66-watt fast charging
• EMUI 11 based on Android 10

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