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Huawei's next Honor phone launches Aug 16, possibly with two cameras

Rumors amassing in the past few months point to this mystery phone being a dual-camera Honor 8. We'll know for sure in mid-August.

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Huawei's official invite contains tantalizing hints.

Huawei

Huawei is stepping up to summer's big phone rivals with the launch of a new Honor-brand phone. The invitation just hit my inbox for an August 16 event to be held here in San Francisco at 7 p.m. PT. Why yes, of course we will be there to cover the announcement live!

Huawei doesn't typically host events for its global phones in San Francisco. Its last big-name device, the Huawei P9 (which has two cameras), was revealed in London, with a second event a few weeks later in Shanghai. The introduction of this phone in San Francisco could help Huawei capture more of the press it needs to push its brand awareness deeper in the US, a mature market that Huawei's been working to crack for years.

The company isn't ready to share details about the handset yet, but rumors have been churning about a device called the Honor 8, code-named Faraday, and the invite has a few of juicy little hints that seem to support the rumors.

First, the supposed name, Honor 8. There's an 8 in the invitation, perched on its side in a stylized way that makes it look like a pair of binoculars.

The same image also hints at dual 12-megapixel camera lenses for this high-end phone, another rumored feature, because the joined circles could also look like lenses.

Third -- and I could be reading into this, but that's half the fun -- the date. The eighth month, August, can certainly hint at the phone's name. But 16 is also a multiple of 8 and there are two "16s" on this invite, which could also reinforce the two camera lenses. One "16" stands for the event date and one represents the year, sure, but maybe there symmetry here has a double meaning. After all, Huawei did choose to write 8.16.16 rather than spell out the event date as August 16, 2016.

We'll find out more soon enough. For a look at Huawei's two-camera system, check out our review of the Huawei P9.

Watch this: The Honor 8 has dual cameras for extra-sharp photos