HONOR, the former Huawei sub-brand now gone independent, has for the past few years been bouncing between releasing affordable mid-range handsets and premium flagship devices as well as a few foldables.
Recently, the brand unveiled the all-new HONOR 90 and 90 Lite, a decidedly more upmarket device than its predecessors, at an event in Dubai ahead of its release in various countries in the Middle East & Africa region.
Following on from the HONOR 80 and HONOR 70 series handsets, the HONOR 90 series is positioned as a content creation device with a particular focus on vlogging. To this end, the brand made sure to highlight the device’s 200MP main camera sensor.
While not the first upper mid-range handset to sport a 200MP camera, the realme 11 Pro+ 5G beat HONOR on that front, it is poised to be the first upper mid-range handset to be available in South Africa with such a high megapixel count.
Complementing the 200MP sensor are a 12MP ultrawide and macro camera with f/2.2 aperture and a 2MP depth camera with f/2.4 aperture. Up front, you’ll find a 50MP camera with f/2.4 aperture.
For the most part, I’ve found the camera on the HONOR 90 to be more than capable. It creates shots that are vibrant and bold and definitely showcase a more visually pleasing image with the AI functionality turned on.
Shooting in low light and nighttime conditions isn’t great with images appearing somewhat grainy and suffering from some ghosting. This isn’t to say that the HONOR 90 is useless in these conditions but it certainly would’ve benefited from optical image stabilisation (OIS).
Video is crisp and stable with the device able to shoot in either 4K at 30 fps or 1080 (or 720) at either 30 or 60 fps.
While the camera app isn’t as rich with video recording options as other handsets might be, opting instead for the basic but most used features one might need, one of the standout features is AI Instant Movie. This automatically cuts and edits your recorded footage and adds music to create a short-form video much like what you’d find in CapCut or TikTok.
The other standout feature is Solo Cut. First introduced with the HONOR 70, Solo Cut lets you capture and output two separate HD videos of both the full view and the selected subject in either portrait or landscape.
Arguably my favourite feature is AI noise reduction which dampens unwanted background noise in your video, highlighting only human voices. My only wish is that you didn’t have to wait until you’ve started recording to be able to turn this function on.
One of the marquee features of the HONOR 90 is one that you can’t see but has a potentially huge impact on your eye health. The 6.7-inch, 1.5K AMOLED display is a “0 Risk Eye-Comfort Display” according to HONOR. This is because the handset is the first phone in the world to boast a 3840Hz PWM dimming cycle rate that helps minimise strain on your eyes.
Powering all of this is a 5000mAh battery with 66W fast charging and a Snapdragon 7 gen 1 “Accelerated Edition” chipset.
Alongside the HONOR 90, the brand also unveiled the HONOR 90 Lite – featuring a rear 100MP triple camera system, 6.7-inch Edgeless Display, 13GB (8+5) RAM + 256 ROM storage, 4500mAh battery – HONOR Watch 4, and the HONOR Pad X9.
According to HONOR MEA President, Daniel Wang, both the HONOR 90 and HONOR 90 Lite will be coming to South Africa in September, however, device configuration, pricing, and exact availability were not provided.
| Honor 90 5G | Honor 90 Lite 5G | |
| Display | 6.7-inch AMOLED (2664×1200) | 6.7-inch LTPS LCD (2388×1080) |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 (Accelerated Edition) | MediaTek Dimensity 6020 |
| RAM | 8GB or 12GB (region dependant) | 8GB |
| Storage | 256GB or 512GB (region dependant) | 256GB |
| Battery | 5000mAh (supports 66W fast charging) | 4500mAh (supports 22.5W charging) |
| Rear Camera | 200MP Ultra-Clear Camera (f/1.9) 12MP Ultra Wide and Macro Camera (f/2.2) 2MP Depth Camera (f/2.4) | 100MP Main Camera(f/1.9) 5MP Ultra Wide & Depth Camera(f/2.2) 2MP Macro Camera(f/2.4) |
| Front Camera | 50MP (f/2.4) | 16MP (f/2.45) |
| Connectivity | 5G, WiFi 6, Dual SIM (SIM 2 is eSIM capable), Bluetooth 5.2 | 5G, WiFi 5, Dual SIM (no eSIM support), Bluetooth 5.3 |
| Colours | Diamond Silver, Midnight Black, Emerald Green, Peacock Blue | Cyan Lake, Titanium Silver, Midnight Black |
