Honor 9X Pro global launch set for February 24th, will come without Google Mobile Services

Honor 9X Pro is confirmed to launch globally on February 24th. The company has also confirmed that the smartphone will ship with the Kirin 810 SoC and will also be the first phone to ship with Huawei Mobile Services instead of the Google Mobile Services, thanks to the US trade ban on Huawei. The smartphone is also expected to come with a pop-up selfie camera on the front and vertically-aligned triple cameras at the back. Since it’s the Honor 9X Pro global variant, the specifications might be different. Honor will likely announce the MagicBook laptop on February 24th as well

What is Huawei Mobile Services?

Huawei Mobile Services or HMS for short is Huawei’s in-house alternative to the GMS (Google Mobile Services). Huawei has been developing its HMS core since following the US trade ban which is preventing the company from using Google services. HMS offers a suite of apps and services such as Huawei Mobile Cloud, Huawei AppGallery, Huawei Video, Huawei Browser and so on that are essentially alternatives to Google’s own suite of apps and services. Since the Honor 9X Pro will be the first global variant from the company to ship with HMS, it will be interesting to see how consumers respond to the smartphone without core Google apps and services on board.

Honor 9X Pro specifications

Honor 9X Pro sports a 6.59-inch full HD+ display with 2,340 x 1,080 pixel resolution, 19.5:9 aspect ratio and 2.5D curved glass on top. It is powered by the Kirin 810 AI SoC coupled with up to 6GB RAM and 128GB storage that is further expandable up to 512GB via microSD card. The handset was launched in China with EMUI 9.1 custom skin on top, but the global variant should run on Android 10-based EMUI 10. The handset is also expected to support for GPU Turbo 2.0 and liquid cooling.

In terms of optics, the Honor 9X Pro features a triple camera setup at the back consisting of a 48MP primary sensor, a 2MP depth camera and an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens with LED flash. For selfies and video chats, it has a 16MP shooter for selfies and video chats. There is a traditional fingerprint sensor and face unlock for security. Connectivity features include 4G VoLTE, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0 LE, GPS + GLONASS, and USB Type-C. The Honor 9X Pro houses a 4,000mAh battery with fast-charging support.