Huawei's Honor brand to make comeback in PH with this phone

Should we call 2018 the year of the smartphone-brand comeback? After Xiaomi, Huawei sub-brand Honor is scheduled to return to the Philippines this month.

It has set its eyes on partnering with Shopee Philippines, choosing to offer its first product offering in the country — the Honor 9 Lite — on the e-commerce site. The launch is slated for April 25, which is just two days from now.

First announced in China in December 2017, the Honor 9 Lite was released in India in January for as low as ₹10,999 (roughly P8,673 or $166) and in European countries the following month. It will join the Huawei Nova 2i and the ASUS ZenFone 5Q on the short list of quad-camera phones that are being sold in the Philippines.

On its front is a 13-megapixel sensor paired with a 2-megapixel one for selfies with bokeh effect, and on the back is another pair of sensors with the same megapixel counts.

The Android Oreo-based device’s 5.65-inch screen is on-trend, what with a tall, 18:9 aspect ratio. Underneath the hood is a Huawei’s HiSilicon Kirin 659 chipset paired with up to 4GB of RAM and as much as 64GB of built-in memory. Rounding out the specs is a 3,000mAh battery.

Honor 9 Lite: Official product video

We don’t know if Honor is bring the two configurations here. Or if all color variants — Midnight Black, Sapphire Blue, Glacier Gray, Navy, Seagull Gray, Magic Nightfall, and Pearl White — will be available in the Philippines. Guess we’ll find out in two days’ time. Hopefully, we’d know by then if Honor is going to release the new Honor 10, which is essentially a much cheaper Huawei P20.

In case you didn’t know, Honor-branded smartphones were first offered in the country in 2015. According to a former Huawei executive, they cannibalized Huawei-branded handsets because of their lower prices. The management had wanted to strengthen main brand’s presence first, thus the decision to pull out Honor from the Philippines in 2016.

5.65-inch LCD display, 2,160 x 1,080 resolution (18:9)
Octa-core HiSilicon Kirin 659 processor
3GB/4GB RAM
32GB/64GB expandable storage
13-megapixel + 2-megapixel rear cameras with LED flash
13-megapixel + 2-megapixel front cameras
Fingerprint reader (rear-mounted)
3,000mAh battery
Android 8.0 Oreo

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Alora Uy Guerrero

Editor-in-chief: Alora Uy Guerrero has 22 years of experience as an editor for print and digital publications such as Yahoo. She took time off journalism to manage OPPO’s digital-marketing campaigns. When not busy with her babies, she’s working on Revü, a passion project — or probably traveling or obsessing over her favorite bands, movies, TV shows, and basketball teams.

Honor 9 Lite specs

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Alora Uy Guerrero