ANDRIOD AUTHORITY
China-based Huawei makes and sells a lot of different smartphones, and it can get quite confusing for consumers who might want to buy one for themselves. There are plenty of choices for people who want to spend more to get the latest and greatest from Huawei. However, there are also excellent phones from the company that are in the more affordable mid-range category, and still more that can be bought with very little money.
That’s why we made an effort to go through all of the current and most recent Huawei phone models in order to find the best ones you can buy, no matter how much money you have to spend. As you will see, there’s a wide variety of devices to choose from, but we think there are some stand out products that are excellent choices if you are looking for your next phone.
One quick notice of clarification: We are concentrating on phones in this article that just have the Huawei branding. This list does not feature phones with Huawei’s Honor brand. Without further ado, let’s jump in and look at the best Huawei phones on the market right now.
Best Huawei Phone – all-around
Huawei P10 and P10 Plus
The Huawei P10 and P10 Plus, which launched earlier this year, are the successors to the company’s highly successful P9 and P9 Plus phones. Both devices pack in a lot of high end hardware in relatively average sized phones. The Huawei P10 uses a 5.1-inch IPS LCD display with a 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, while the P10 Plus is a bit bigger, with its 5.5-inch IPS LCD display and a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440.
Inside, both phones use Huawei’s home-grown 2.4 GHz octa-core Kirin 960 processor. The P10 has 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of onboard storage, while the P10 Plus comes with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. Both devices also have microSD card slots, which lets owners expand the storage of those phones up to 256 GB.
The Huawei P10 and P10 Plus both have Leica-branded camera sensors, and both have horizontal dual camera set-ups in the back. The P10 has a 12 MP color sensor and a 20 MP monochrome sensor, along with an f/2.2 aperture. The P10 Plus have the same camera sensors in the back as the smaller P10, but it has a different f/1.8 aperture. Both phones have 8 MP front-facing cameras that also come from Leica.
Both phones have a solid metal construction and are also pretty thin at 7 mm, which also makes them very light and easy to handle compared to other phones of similar sizes. Huawei also moved the fingerprint sensor to the front of both of these phones, in a change from previous handsets which placed the sensor on the back. Both the P10 and P10 Plus use Huawei’s most recent EMUI 5.1 interface.
Battery life for both devices is quite good, with the smaller P10’s 3,200 mAh having plenty to spare after a day of use in our tests. The larger P10 Plus, and its 3,750 mAh battery, got through a day’s worth of work on a single charge. Both also charge up quickly with Huawei’s own charger. We found that we got close to half of their battery amount when charging up the devices in about a half hour.
While these Huawei phones are not quite perfect, we think that the Huewei P10 and P10 Plus are about as close as you can get considering all the features given for such a good price.
Specifications
Huawei P10
- 5.1-inch display with 1,920 x 1,080 resolution
- Octa-core Kirin 960 at 2.4 GHz
- 4 GB of RAM
- 64 GB of on-board storage, microSD expansion up to 256 GB
- 12 MP and 20 MP rear camera sensors, 8 MP front camera
- Non-removable 3,200 mAh battery
- Android 7.0 Nougat, EMUI 5.1
- 145.3 x 69.3 x 6.98 mm, 145 g
Huawei P10 Plus
- 5.5-inch display with 2,560 x 1,440 resolution
- Octa-core Kirin 960 at 2.4 GHz
- 4 GB or 6 GB of RAM
- 64 GB or 128 GB of on-board storage, microSD expansion up to 256 GB
- 12 MP and 20 MP rear camera sensors, 8 MP front camera
- Non-removable 3,750 mAh battery
- Android 7.0 Nougat, EMUI 5.1
- 153.5 x 74.2 x 6.99 mm, 165 g
Read More
- Huawei P10 and P10 Plus pricing and availability: what we know so far
- Huawei P10 and P10 Plus officially announced: everything you need to know
Huawei phones – Honorable mentions
Huawei Mate 9
The large 5.9-inch display on the Huawei Mate 9 is the standout feature on this phone. However, it also has some heavy duty hardware inside, along with a design that features large, narrow vertical bezels and a slim profile that should make it easier to hold and handle compared with other phones that have the same display size. Plus, it has access to Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant after a software upgrade. While many people may be put off by its sheer size, others may appreciate the larger display screen. Without a doubt, this is one of the best Huawei phones on offer right now.
Get the Huawei Mate 9 for $580
Best Huawei Mid-Range Phone
Huawei P10 Lite
Launched earlier this year. the Huawei P10 Lite packs in some respectable hardware inside its 5.2-inch display, but at about half the cost of the regular P10 and P10 Plus. The biggest difference in the specs is that the P10 Lite has the slower Kirin 658 chipset rather than the 960 found in the P10 and P10 Plus. Also, there just a single 12 MP rear camera sensor with the P10 Lite, versus the dual camera setup for the P10 and P10 Plus.
However, the P10 Lite still manages to pack in either 3 GB or 4 GB of RAM (depending on your specific region) along with 32 GB of onboard storage, which of course is also expandable via its microSD card slot. It has a 3,000 MhA battery with fast charging support. which should last most people with a full day’s charge. The fingerprint sensor is placed on the back of the P10 Lite and the phone comes with Android 7.0 and Huawei’s own EMUI 5.1 UI out of the box. The phone has a metal frame, but lacks a physical home button on the bottom.
Again, the cost for the Huawei P10 Lite is pretty reasonable at around $279, but you still get plenty of performance for a much lower price than the company’s current high-end phones.
Specifications
- 5.2-inch display with 1,920 x 1,080 resolution
- Octa-core Kirin 658 at 2.1 GHz
- 3 GB or 4 GB of RAM
- 32 GB of on-board storage
- 12 MP rear sensor, 8 MP front camera
- Non-removable 3,000 mAh battery
- Android 7.0 Nougat, EMUI 5.1
- 146.5 x 72 x 7.2 mm, 146 g
Read More
Huawei phones – Honorable mentions
Huawei Nova and Nova Plus
The Huawei Nova and Nova Plus phones launched in 2016. The Nova has a 5.0 inch display with 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of storage and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor. The Nova Plus packs a 5.5 inch display, but has most of the same hardware specs inside as the smaller Nova. Keep in mind that both of these phones were recently superseded by the Nova 2 and Nova 2 Plus, but so far those devices are only available in China. We will update this post when the Nova 2 and Nova 2 Plus become more widely available.
Get the Huawei Nova for $305 / Get the Huawei Nova Plus for $211
Huawei P9 Lite
Best Huawei Budget Phones
Huawei P8 Lite (2017)
If you live in the UK and parts of Europe, you have been able to purchase the oddly named Huawei P8 Lite (2017) for several months now. You can get the phone for just £185 without a contract in the UK, while folks in other parts of Europe can buy it for €240 without a contract.
What do you get for that small amount? Well, don’t expect things like dual camera or lots of RAM or storage. The P8 Lite (2017) includes a 5.2-inch Full HD display, along with Huawei’s Kirin 655 processor, 3 GB of RAM and 16 GB of onboard storage. It also comes with a 12 MP rear camera and an 8 MP front-facing selfie camera. Finally it has a 3,000mAh battery, a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, and Android 7.0 Nougat with Huawei’s EMUI 5.0 user interface. All of that is in a cheaper plastic frame, rather than the metal frames found in the company’s higher end phones, which explains part of its lower price tag.
If you really like Huawei’s products, but don’t want to spend a ton of money, this phone might be the one you are looking for. However, it has not been officially released in the US so you might find it hard to purchase if you are from North America. Hopefully, the phone will make its way to the States soon.
Specifications
- 5.2-inch Full HD display
- Octa-core Kirin 655 processor
- 3 GB of RAM
- 15 GB of on-board storage
- 12 MP rear sensor, 8 MP front camera
- Non-removable 3,000 mAh battery
- Android 7.0 Nougat, EMUI 5.0
- 146.5 x 72 x 7.2 mm, 146 g
Read More
- Huawei says it beat Apple in global smartphone shipments in late 2016
- Huawei must pay up to avoid sales ban in the UK
Huawei phones – Honorable Mentions
Huawei Y5 2017
This is a pretty bare bones recent smartphone from Huawei. It has a 5-inch 720 x 1,280 display, with just 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of onboard storage. You will also find a MediaTek quad-core MT6737T processor running at 1.4 GHz, along with an 8 MP rear camera and a 5 MP front facing camera and Android 6.0 Lollipop is installed. If you really want to snap this up, Amazon in the US is currently selling the phone for $179, but if you want to wait to get a cheaper Huawei phone, you might want to wait until the P8 Lite (2017) makes its way stateside.
Huawei Y3 2017
Much like the Huawei Nova 2 and Nova 2 Plus, the Huawei Y3 2017 was first announced pretty recently in May of this year, and is only available for sale in certain markets like China at the moment. The Y3 2017 is even more bare bones than the Y5 2017 model, with just 1 GB of RAM and only 8 GB of onboard storage. The 5-inch display has a tiny resolution of 480 x 854, and it comes with a MediaTek quad-core processor running at just 1.1 GHz. It comes with Android 6.0 Lollipop out of the box, along with an 8 MP rear camera and a small 2 MP front-facing camera. Finally, there’s a 2,200 mAh battery inside.
There’s no word on when this phone will reach North America, if indeed it does make it over to the States. If it does, we will update this post with the correct pricing. Based on its hardware specs, we would think this could be priced below $150.
Conclusion
Source: ANDRIOD AUTHORITY