X

Honor 9X and 9X Pro feature notchless HD displays and pop-up selfie cams

The new phones come amidst continued political turbulence for parent company Huawei.

Justin Jaffe Managing editor
Justin Jaffe is the Managing Editor for CNET Money. He has more than 20 years of experience publishing books, articles and research on finance and technology for Wired, IDC and others. He is the coauthor of Uninvested (Random House, 2015), which reveals how financial services companies take advantage of customers -- and how to protect yourself. He graduated from Skidmore College with a B.A. in English Literature, spent 10 years in San Francisco and now lives in Portland, Maine.
Expertise Credit cards, Loans, Banking, Mortgages, Taxes, Cryptocurrency, Insurance, Investing. Credentials
  • Coauthor of Uninvested (Random House, 2015)
See full bio
Justin Jaffe
2 min read
honor-20-pro-white
Honor

Chinese phone brand Honor continues to deliver innovative phones with advanced camera technology that sell for hundreds less than those produced by Apple, Samsung or Google. The 9X Pro, announced Tuesday, features a 48-megapixel pop-up selfie cam, a trio of rear cameras that includes an 8-megapixel wide-angle lens and an edge-to-edge HD display. And you could buy three of them for the price of one iPhone XS Max.

The Honor 9X series will succeed the Honor 8X, which CNET described as "a super-cheap iPhone XS Max, in all the best ways." And the new base model starts at the same price -- 1,399 yuan, which converts to roughly $205, £155 or AU$285. But you probably won't have the chance to buy the Honor 9X or 9X Pro anytime soon in the US or a handful of other countries. Honor's parent company, Huawei, has been blacklisted by the Trump administration due to national security concerns, and its networking equipment has been shunned by Britain, Australia and New Zealand. 

honor-9x-pro-01
Honor

In the US, Best Buy stopped selling Huawei phones, although you can still buy some models on Amazon or through the Honor site. On Monday, the company laid off hundreds of research employees at its Futurewei subsidiary located in offices throughout the US. 

As such, it's not clear when or if you'll be able to buy the new Honor 9X and 9X Pro in the US -- and that's too bad, because the specs are pretty compelling. In addition to the pop-up camera and 6.6-inch full HD display, you get other cutting-edge features including CPU liquid cooling, at least on the 9X Pro model. 

Honor 9X and 9X Pro specs

  • Kirin 810 processor (with liquid cooling on the 9X Pro model)
  • 6.59-inch "all-view" edge-to-edge display with 92% body-to-screen ratio
  • 48MP rear camera with an f/1.8 aperture
  • 8MP wide-angle camera (9X Pro only)
  • Supports up to 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage (9X) and 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage (9X Pro)
  • MicroSD card slot
  • Side-mounted fingerprint sensor
  • 4,000-mAh battery rated for 10 hours of life
  • Colors include black, blue, red (Honor 9X) and black or purple (Honor 9X Pro)
  • Available for preorder now, shipping on July 30

Mobile Guides

Phones
Foldable Phones
Headphones
Mobile Accessories
Smartwatches
Wireless Plans
Mobile coupons