“With a 6.5-inch display, the 8X comes in as one of the largest smartphones on the market”

Huawei’s sub-brand – Honor – has been offering some of the best mid-range smartphones in India through its X series. The last launch in this range came in the form of the Honor 7X (review), which was among the first few phones to bring the bezel-less display in the sub-Rs 15k segment. Today, the brand has launched its successor, aptly dubbed as the Honor 8X (first impressions). And just like its predecessors, the smartphone brings a powerful combination of beauty and brains. A comparison between these two smartphones is like studying the generation gap, and that is exactly what we have done. Stay with us to find out how technology has evolved in under an year. 

Honor 8X vs Honor 7X: what’s different

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The Honor 7X came at a time when the all-metal unibody designs were ubiquitous. Hence, the device is constructed out of a single slab of metal with two antenna bands running along the top and bottom edge on the rear. In contrast, the Honor 8X is in line with the design language being followed in 2018 and flaunts a shiny glass-sandwich design with a unique two-tone finish on the rear panel. Also, the antenna bands have vanished since the glass body doesn’t hinder the reception, unlike the metal construction.

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Both the Honor 7X and 8X also represent the trending display designs as per the timings of their launch. The Honor 7X is equipped with a 5.93-inch display with a resolution of 2,160 x 1,080 pixels and an 18:9 aspect ratio. The Honor 8X on the other hand, is more future-ready as it comes with a massive 6.5-inch FHD+ display. However, despite the ginormous screen, the phone is pocketable as it comes with slimmer bezels thanks to the display notch up top and a 19:9 aspect ratio.

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The smartphones differ from each other in terms of performance as well. The Honor 7X comes with the HiSilicon Kirin 659 chip ticking at its core paired with 4GB RAM. The smartphone is being offered in two storage variants – 32GB and 64GB. In contrast, the Honor 8X gets the latest Kirin 710 SoC, which is the successor of the Kirin 659 chipset. The latest processor has been fabricated using 12nm die size, which maintains a balance between performance and battery efficiency. Furthermore, the 8X is being offered in three RAM and storage configurations: 4GB + 64GB, 6GB + 64GB and 6GB + 128GB.

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The differences between the siblings extend to the imaging department as well. Both smartphones get a dual-camera setup on the rear with the secondary camera being a 2-megapixel depth sensor. However, the Honor 7X boasts a 16-megapixel primary shooter, whereas the Honor 8X comes with a 20-megapixel main camera. In the selfie department too, the 8X gets an upper hand with a 16MP snapper as compared to an 8MP sensor on its predecessor.

Lastly, the Honor 8X gets a bigger 3,750mAh battery compared to the 3,340mAh cell inside the 7X.

Honor 8X vs Honor 7X: what’s same

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With these two smartphones differing from each other in every department, one is justified in wondering what possibly could be common in two. For starters, both smartphones come with Honor’s proprietary EMUI interface out of the box. While Honor 8X comes with Android Oreo as the base, the global rollout for the same started for Honor 7X earlier this year. Moreover, while the display is different aesthetically, they both use IPS panels with full HD+ resolutions. 

Apart from this, the smartphones also share an identical set of connectivity features, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, micro-USB port and a 3.5mm audio socket. 

Pricing and availability

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As for the availability, the Honor 7X is already up for grabs in India on Amazon India and the official website of Honor. The smartphone is being offered in hues of Black, Gold and Blue, and will set you back Rs 12,999 for the 32GB option, and Rs 15,999 for the 64GB variant. As for the Honor 8X, the smartphone can be picked up for Rs 14,999 for the base model, Rs 16,999 for the 6GB RAM + 64GB storage model and Rs 18,999 for the top-end version. It will go up for sale in India starting October 24th on Amazon India and official store of Honor.

There’s no doubt that the 8X is a significant upgrade and will be competing well against the likes of the Realme 2 Pro (review) and Xiaomi Mi A2 (review).