A few days apart, the two now independent companies, Huawei and Honor presented their smartphones, respectively Nova 9 and Honor 50. Externally, these two mobile phones are very similar and moreover, they share also almost all of their technical sheet. For what ? Quite simply because a few months ago, Honor was a subsidiary of the Chinese group Huawei. The latter was forced to sell Honor to a Chinese consortium and now independent as a company. However, you should know that the development of a smartphone takes between 6 and 18 months, depending on the model. Also, it is therefore normal that the development of this common mobile was initiated before the separation between Huawei and Honor. The Honor 50 is the brand's first smartphone since its independence. In the long term, the manufacturer promises us new designs (as well as configurations).

An identical design down to the appearance of the photo lens unit

To begin, let's look at the design of the Honor 50 and Nova 9. They offer exactly the same dimensions and the same weight, i.e. 160x73 ,7x7.77 mm for 179 grams. The lines are identical with rounded edges on both and a curved screen that gives the impression of having a high-end smartphone in your hands. The back is different between the two smartphones.

Indeed, the Nova 9 is available in two variants. The first finish is black, very shiny and the other benefits from a coating that the manufacturer does not hesitate to bring closer to the appearance of snowflakes: starry blue. The reflections of light come to give it different colors.

For its part, the Honor 50 is available in black (also extremely shiny), in green (very dark) and with a coating that is reminiscent of crystal. Another finish is also available, but exclusively on the manufacturer's site, the Honor Code which takes up the brand's logo with shiny reflections.

Also read: Quick start of the Honor 50

Huawei Nova 9

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What are the technical differences between the Honor 50 and Huawei's Nova 9

The one of the main technical differences is the presence of a Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 5G chip in the Honor 50 while it is a 4G version of the Snapdragon 778G installed on the Huawei Nova 9, the manufacturer not being able to use the American 5G technologies. As you have understood, this implies that the Honor 50 is 5G compatible, which is not the case with the Nova 9.

Also, the other difference is the main photo sensor. Indeed, the Honor 50 uses a 108 megapixel lens while the Nova 9 is equipped with a 50 megapixel module. The other sensors are identical, namely an 8 megapixel lens for the wide-angle and two other sensors of 2 megapixels each.

The screen is strictly the same on both devices, a 6.57-inch 120 Hz HDR curved AMOLED with fingerprint reader under the screen. The Honor 50 is offered in two configurations with 6 or 8 GB of RAM while the Nova 9 is only available with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal memory where the Honor 50 is offered with 256 GB which can be interesting when you know that it is not possible to insert a memory card in either one.

Honor 50

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GMS versus HMS

Finally, the reason for the separation of Honor and Huawei was the impossibility for the latter to use Google Mobile Services and to be able to draw from the Google Play Store to download applications.

Now that Honor is independent, the company can use GMS and therefore offer users a full Google experience, which is not the case with the Nova 9, which requires you to go through the App Gallery to download applications and, if necessary, ask the search engine Petal Search if apk installation files would be available on the web to install applications that may be missing. If you have Google connected objects at home, choose the Honor 50 but if you have Huawei devices, the Nova 9 is ideal, because it communicates particularly well with the brand's other objects within the HarmonyOS ecosystem. Also read: Quick start of the Huawei Nova 9