Huawei has confirmed a June 15 release date in the Philippines for the Huawei P9 and the Huawei P9 Plus. The Chinese phone manufacturer has also confirmed the price for both devices to be Php 23,990 for the P9 and Php 29,990 for the P9 Plus.
Though the P9 and P9 Plus both sport the same trademark Leica co-engineered dual camera, the P9 Plus features a slightly bigger screen (5.5″ Super AMOLED with Gorilla Glass vs 5.2″ IPS), more battery life (3400 mAh vs 3000 mAh), and an NFC sensor.
Both smartphones are powered by the Huawei-owned HiSilicon Kirin 955, the top-of-the-line SoC that sports an octa-core processor with two quad-core clusters running at 1.8 GHz and 2.5 GHz, as well as a Mali-T880 MP4 GPU.
The Android powered smartphones both run on version 6.0 (Marshmallow) with Huawei’s own trademark Emotion UI version 4.1 layer running on top.
As a flagship smartphone, the Huawei P9 and P9 Plus uses dual cameras to improve image quality, with one camera dedicated to capturing monochrome images. The camera takes two photos – one with the regular camera, and another with the dedicated monochrome camera.
It then uses software interpolation to improve image quality, resulting in more detailed and sharper images with less noise – the holy grail of digital photography. The addition of manual controls make the P9 an attractive smartphone for DSLR users.
This may be the first time that Huawei is introducing a dual-camera solution, though other smartphone manufacturers have tried similar tricks, notably the LG G5 and the HTC One M8. The upcoming Apple iPhone 7 is also rumored to contain a dual rear camera, though it is yet to be confirmed if the second camera will feature dedicated monochrome sensor like the Huaewi P9 / P9 Plus or a wide-angle lens like the LG G5.
Huawei P9 (EVA-L09, EVA-L19, EVA-L29) technical specifications
| Dimensions | 145 x 70.9 x 7 mm (5.71 x 2.79 x 0.28 in) |
| Weight | 144 g (5.08 oz) |
| Display | 5.2″ 1920×1080 IPS |
| SIM | Nano-SIM (single or dual) |
| OS | Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) + EMUI 4.1 |
| Chipset | HiSilicon Kirin 955 |
| CPU | Quad-core 2.5 GHz Cortex-A72 & quad-core 1.8 GHz Cortex-A53 |
| GPU | Mali-T880 MP4 |
| Memory | 3/4 GB RAM, 32/64 GB ROM |
| Expansion | microSD, up to 256 GB (uses SIM 2 slot) |
| Camera | Rear: Dual 12MP f/2.2, Leica optics, PDAF, dual LED flash / Front: 8MP f/2.4 |
| Battery | 3000 mAh non-removable |
| Features | IR, NFC (EVA-L09), fingerprint sensor, fast charging via USB type-C |
| Colors | Ceramic White, Haze Gold, Rose Gold, Titanium Grey, Mystic Silver, Prestige Gold |
| GPS | A-GPS, Glonass, BDS |
| Price | Php 23,990 ($520) |
| Availability | June 15, 2016 |
Huawei P9 Plus (VIE-L09 / VIE-L29) technical specifications
| Dimensions | 152.3 x 75.3 x 7 mm (6.00 x 2.96 x 0.28 in) |
| Weight | 162 g (5.71 oz) |
| Display | 5.5″ 1920×1080 Super AMOLED, Gorilla Glass 4 |
| SIM | Nano-SIM (single / dual) |
| OS | Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) + EMUI 4.1 |
| Chipset | HiSilicon Kirin 955 |
| CPU | Quad-core 2.5 GHz Cortex-A72 & quad-core 1.8 GHz Cortex-A53 |
| GPU | Mali-T880 MP4 |
| Memory | 4 GB RAM, 64 GB ROM |
| Expansion | microSD, up to 256 GB (uses SIM 2 slot) |
| Camera | Rear: Dual 12MP f/2.2, Leica optics, PDAF, dual LED flash / Front: 8MP f/1.9 |
| Battery | 3400 mAh non-removable |
| Features | IR, NFC, fingerprint sensor, fast charging via USB type-C |
| Colors | Haze Gold, Quartz Grey, Ceramic White |
| GPS | A-GPS, Glonass, BDS |
| Price | Php 29,990 ($650) |
| Availability | June 15, 2016 |