Huawei has announced the Honor 9 Lite, a watered-down version of the Honor 9 from 2017, although it strangely has one or two extra features that the more premium model does not. While the company has released other Lite series phones in the past, they’ve mostly been limited to India and the Middle East. But the Lite 9 will be heading west, with a European release for £199.99 today.
If the price didn’t already tip you off, the Honor 9 Lite is a decidedly midrange phone, with a weaker processor, less RAM (3GB versus 4GB), less internal storage (32GB versus 64GB), and worse connectivity options (Micro USB instead of USB-C) than the Honor 9. Like the Honor 9, the Honor 9 Lite features two rear cameras, but where the 9 had two 20-megapixel shooters for monochrome and full-color shots, the 9 Lite just has a single 13-megapixel lens; the second 2-megapixel lens is used only for depth mapping.
That brings us to the biggest difference between the two phones: the front-facing camera. The Honor 9 Lite features the same 13-megapixel / 2-megapixel depth-sensing setup as it does on the back, unlike the Honor 9, which has just a single 8-megapixel lens. The Lite also features a newer, bezel-reducing design and a larger 5.65-inch screen, although when all is said and done, pixel density is the same as the Honor 9.
Still, for £199.99, the Honor 9 Lite doesn’t seem like a bad phone. While it’s definitely not as powerful as the original Honor 9, the reduced price might make it worth considering if you’re looking for a cheaper phone.