Huawei Nova 3 vs Honor Play

Comparing the Huawei Nova 3 vs Honor Play across performance, display, camera, battery, storage, expert reviews and user rating to help determine the better smartphone.

Here is the summary of the results:

Performance: Both Huawei Nova 3 and Honor Play run at the same processing speed of 2.36 GHz.

Display: Both Huawei Nova 3 and Honor Play offer the same screen size of 6.3 inches and feature the same IPS LCD display.

Rear Camera: Both Huawei Nova 3 and Honor Play feature a 16 MP primary rear camera.

Front Camera: Huawei Nova 3 offers a higher front camera resolution with 24 MP, while Honor Play offers 16 MP, making Huawei Nova 3 better for front camera photography.

Battery: Both Huawei Nova 3 and Honor Play offer the same 3750 mAh battery capacity.

Storage: Honor Play offers higher internal storage with 64 GB, while Huawei Nova 3 offers 128 GB, making Honor Play the better option for storage.

Expert Review: Honor Play receives a higher expert rating of 8 from the editorial team, while Huawei Nova 3 is rated 7.

User Rating: Honor Play receives a higher user rating of 4.4, while Huawei Nova 3 has a rating of 4.2.

Huawei Nova 3

₹22,490

(Discontinued)

Honor Play

₹21,999

(Out of Stock)

Summary

Release Date

22 Aug, 2018

06 Aug, 2018

14 May, 2026

Performance


HiSilicon Kirin	HiSilicon Kirin	Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
Octa Core (upto 2.36 GHz)	Octa Core (upto 2.36 GHz)	Octa Core (upto 4.61 GHz)
6 GB RAM	4 GB RAM	16 GB RAM

Display


6.3 inches (16 cm)	6.3 inches (16 cm)	6.82 inches (17.32 cm)
IPS LCD	IPS LCD	AMOLED
1080x2340 px (FHD+)	1080x2340 px (FHD+)	1440x3168 px (QHD+)
N/A	N/A	144 Hz Refresh Rate

Rear Camera


16 MP Wide Angle Primary Camera	16 MP Primary Camera	200 MP Primary Camera (upto 3.7x Optical Zoom)
24 MP Wide Angle Camera	2 MP Depth Camera	200 MP Telephoto Camera
N/A	N/A	50 MP Ultra-Wide Angle Camera

Front Camera


24 MP + 2 MP	16 MP	50 MP

Battery


3750 mAh	3750 mAh	6600 mAh
Fast Charging	Fast Charging	100W Flash Charging
No Wireless Charging	No Wireless Charging	Wireless Charging

Storage

128 GB	64 GB	512 GB
N/A	N/A	UFS 4.1

Expert Review

7.0/10

Read Expert Review

8.0/10

Read Expert Review

8.7/10

Read Expert Review

Pros

Impressive camera performance
Attractive colour gradient back
Capable processor

Impressive performance
Great value for money
Good display quality

Stellar and versatile three-lens camera system
Excellent performance
Bright and crisp 2K AMOLED display

Cons

Battery life could have been better
Presents mild heating issues while playing demandi

Battery life could have been better
Low-light camera performance

Battery life could have been better
Very expensive with camera kit
No shortcut key

User Ratings

4.2/5

(642 ratings)

4.4/5

(14,374 ratings)

4.6/5

(29 ratings)

Benchmarks (The higher, the better)

N/A	N/A	3,977,648 AnTuTu Score
N/A	N/A	15h 10m Battery Life (PC Mark)

Compare Prices

Not Available in any store

₹159,999

@ Amazon

Video

3 More Videos

8 More Videos

1 Video

User Feedback

General

Launch Date

N/A

Aug 06, 2018

(Official)

May 06, 2026

(Official)

Operating System

Android v8.1 (Oreo)

Android v16

OS Updates

N/A

5 Year

Security Updates

N/A

7 Year

Custom UI

EMUI

Origin OS

Performance

Performance Rating

Good

Best In Class

Chipset

HiSilicon Kirin 970

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SM8850-AC

Processor

Octa core

2.36 GHz, Quad core, Cortex A73 1.8 GHz, Quad core, Cortex A53

Octa core

4.61 GHz, Dual core, Oryon 3.62 GHz, Hexa Core, Oryon

Co-Processor

N/A

Architecture (The higher, the better)

64 bit

Fabrication (The lower, the better)

N/A

3 nm

Graphics (GPU)

Mali-G72 MP12

Adreno 840

RAM

6 GB

4 GB / 6 GB

16 GB

RAM Type

N/A

LPDDR4X

LPDDR5X Ultra

Performance Test Results

AnTuTu Score (The higher, the better) AnTuTu benchmark measures overall performance of a phone by stress-testing CPU, GPU, RAM, etc.

N/A

3,977,648

Bootup Time (The lower, the better)

N/A

14.0 s

Gaming Test Results

Wild Life Extreme (The higher, the better) Wild Life Extreme is a classic mobile benchmark; it renders in 4K to test the peak performance of a wide range of devices.

N/A

6,450

Battery Drain* (The lower, the better)

N/A

7.0 %

Heating* (The lower, the better)

N/A

21.7 %

* after 30 mins of gaming

Display

Display Rating

Excellent

Best In Class

Display Type

IPS LCD

AMOLED

Screen Size

6.3 inches (16 cm)

6.82 inches (17.32 cm)

Resolution

1080x2340 px (FHD+)

1440x3168 px (QHD+)

Peak Brightness

N/A

4500 nits

Refresh Rate

N/A

144 Hz

Aspect Ratio

19.5:9

19.8:9

Pixel Density

409 ppi

510 ppi

Screen to Body Ratio (calculated)

84.02 %

82.98 %

89.7 %

Screen Protection

N/A

Yes

Bezel-less Display

Yes with notch

Yes with punch-hole display

HDR 10 / HDR+ Support

N/A

Yes

Screen to Body Ratio (claimed by the brand)

N/A

94.49 %

Design

Height

157 mm

157.9 mm

162.98 mm

Width

73.7 mm

74.2 mm

76.81 mm

Thickness

7.3 mm

7.4 mm

8.19 mm

Weight

166 grams

176 grams

232 grams

Build Material

Back: Mineral Glass

Frame: Metal
Back: Metal

Back: Glass

Rear Camera

Rear Camera Rating

Good

Best In Class

Resolution

16 MP
Primary Cameraf/1.8 Wide Angle27 mm focal length CMOS image sensor

16 MP
Primary Cameraf/2.2Back-illuminated sensor BSI CMOS image sensor

200 MP
Primary Camera105x Digital Zoom 3.7x Optical Zoomf/1.8535 mm focal length LYT 901 0.7µm pixel size

24 MP
f/1.8 Wide Angle Camera27 mm focal length

2 MP
f/2.4 Depth Camera

200 MP
f/2.67 Telephoto Camera85 mm focal length 1/1.28" sensor size

N/A

50 MP
f/2.0 Ultra-Wide Angle Camera14 mm focal length

Autofocus

Yes Phase Detection autofocus Continuous autofocus

Yes Phase Detection Autofocus Continuous Autofocus

Yes

OIS

N/A

Yes

Flash

Yes LED Flash

Yes Dual LED Flash

Image Resolution

4616 x 3464 Pixels

N/A

Settings

Exposure compensation ISO control

N/A

Shooting Modes

Continuous Shooting
High Dynamic Range mode (HDR)

N/A

Camera Features

Digital Zoom
Auto Flash
Face detection
Touch to focus

Digital Zoom
Auto Flash
Face detection
Smile detection
Touch to focus

105 x Digital Zoom
3.7 x Optical Zoom

Video Recording

3840x2160 @ 30 fps

4k @30 fps

8k @30 fps
4k @30/60/120 fps
Full HD @30/60/120 fps

Front Camera

Front Camera Rating

Very Good

Best In Class

Resolution

24 MP
f/2.0 Primary Camera26 mm focal length CMOS

16 MP
f/2.0 Primary CameraCMOS

50 MP
f/2.45 Primary Camera

2 MP
Depth Camera

N/A

Flash

N/A

Yes Screen flash

Video Recording

1920x1080 @ 30 fps

N/A

Battery

Battery Rating

Very Good

Excellent

Capacity

3750 mAh

6600 mAh

Battery Type

Li-Polymer

Li-ion

Quick Charging

Yes Fast Charging

Yes 100W Flash Charging

Wireless Charging

N/A

Yes 40W Wireless Charging

Battery Test Results

Battery Life (PC Mark) (The higher, the better) PCMark Battery benchmark measures battery life of a phone with various activities such as web browsing, photo editing, writing, video editing, etc.

N/A

15h 10m

Charging Time (20% to 100%) (The lower, the better)

N/A

0h 36m 0s

Storage

Internal Storage

128 GB

64 GB

512 GB

Storage Type

N/A

UFS 4.1

Expandable Storage

Yes Up to 256 GB

N/A

Network & Connectivity

SIM Slot(s)

Dual SIM

SIM Type

SIM1: Nano SIM2: Nano (Hybrid)

SIM1: Nano SIM2: Nano

Network Support

5G Not Supported 4G

5G 4G

VoLTE

Yes

SIM 1

4G Bands:

TD-LTE 2600(band 38) / 2300(band 40) / 2500(band 41) / 2100(band 34) / 1900(band 39)
FD-LTE 2100(band 1) / 1800(band 3) / 900(band 8) / 850(band 5)

4G Bands:

TD-LTE 2600(band 38) / 2300(band 40) / 2500(band 41) / 2100(band 34) / 1900(band 39)
FD-LTE 2100(band 1) / 1800(band 3) / 900(band 8) / 850(band 5)

5G Bands:

FDD N1 / N2 / N3 / N5 / N7 / N8 / N12 / N18 / N20 / N25 / N26 / N28 / N66
TDD N38 / N40 / N41 / N48 / N77 / N78 / N79 / N80 / N81 / N83 / N84 / N89

N/A

4G Bands:

TD-LTE 3500(band 48) / 2600(band 38) / 2300(band 40) / 2500(band 41) / 2100(band 34) / 1900(band 39) / 3500(band 42) / 3700(band 43)
FD-LTE 1700(band 66) / 2100(band 1) / 1800(band 3) / 2600(band 7) / 900(band 8) / 700(band 28) / 1900(band 2) / 1700(band 4) / 850(band 5) / 700(band 17) / 850(band 18) / 850(band 19) / 800(band 20) / 1900(band 25) / 850(band 26)

SIM 2

4G Bands:

TD-LTE 2600(band 38) / 2300(band 40) / 2500(band 41) / 2100(band 34) / 1900(band 39)
FD-LTE 2100(band 1) / 1800(band 3) / 900(band 8) / 850(band 5)

4G Bands:

TD-LTE 2600(band 38) / 2300(band 40) / 2500(band 41) / 2100(band 34) / 1900(band 39)
FD-LTE 2100(band 1) / 1800(band 3) / 900(band 8) / 850(band 5)

5G Bands:

FDD N1 / N2 / N3 / N5 / N7 / N8 / N12 / N18 / N20 / N25 / N26 / N28 / N66
TDD N38 / N40 / N41 / N48 / N77 / N78 / N79 / N80 / N81 / N83 / N84 / N89

N/A

4G Bands:

TD-LTE 2600(band 38) / 2300(band 40) / 2500(band 41) / 2100(band 34) / 1900(band 39) / 3500(band 42) / 3700(band 43) / 3500(band 48)
FD-LTE 2100(band 1) / 1800(band 3) / 2600(band 7) / 900(band 8) / 700(band 28) / 1900(band 2) / 1700(band 4) / 850(band 5) / 700(band 12) / 700(band 17) / 850(band 18) / 850(band 19) / 800(band 20) / 1900(band 25) / 850(band 26) / 1700(band 66)

Wi-Fi

Yes Wi-Fi 4 (802.11 b/g/n) 5GHz

Yes Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac) 5GHz

Yes Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 be/ax) MIMO

Wi-Fi Features

Mobile Hotspot

Wi-Fi Direct Mobile Hotspot

Bluetooth

Yes v4.2

Yes v6.0

GPS

Yes with A-GPS Glonass

NFC

N/A

Yes

IR Blaster

N/A

Yes

Multimedia

Audio Jack

3.5 mm

USB Type-C

Sensors

Fingerprint Sensor

Yes

Fingerprint Sensor Position

Rear

On-screen

Fingerprint Sensor Type

N/A

Ultrasonic

Other Sensors

Light sensor Proximity sensor Accelerometer Compass Gyroscope

Compare Prices

Not Available in any store

₹159,999

@ Amazon