Honor 50: New smartphones with Google apps revealed

The former Huawei subsidiary Honor has unveiled its new smartphone generation. The Honor 50 series is visually very reminiscent of the Huawei P50, but it features Google services. However, there is no concrete date for the release in Europe yet.

Three new Honor 50 smartphones unveiled

The Chinese manufacturer Honor is repositioning itself after the separation from Huawei. A whole three smartphones of the Honor 50 series have been announced, at least one of which should find its way to Germany in the course of the year. The best news: Since the manufacturer is not subject to the US embargo, the smartphones come with Google apps and services.

The Honor 50 SE marks the lower end of the range, joined by the Honor 50 and Honor 50 Pro. A refresh rate of 120 Hz and Android 11 including Magic UI 4.2 are included in all three smartphones.

The Honor 50 SE offers a 6.78-inch diagonal LCD screen with a resolution of 2,388 x 1,080 pixels. In terms of rear-facing cameras, the entry-level model relies on 108 pixels, which is supported by an ultra-wide-angle camera with 8 megapixels and a macro camera with 2 megapixels.

According to the manufacturer, the MediaTek Dimensity 900 is used as the SoC, and 8 GB of RAM is also installed. In terms of storage, there is a choice between 128 GB and 256 GB, while the battery offers 4,000 mAh and can be charged wired with 66 watts.

Honor 50 and Honor 50 Pro with technical refinements

The specifications of the big brothers Honor 50 and Honor 50 Pro look considerably higher-quality. In both devices, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G processor and an Adreno 642L GPU do their work, 8 GB or 12 GB of working memory are available.

Honor 50

The cheaper Honor 50 relies on a 6.57-inch FullHD+ OLED display with a resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels and 120 Hz refresh rate. 5G is supported as well as Dual WLAN ax and Bluetooth 5.2. The 4,300 mAh battery is charged via USB Type-C port, 66W SuperCharge is also supported.

A quad-camera is supposed to provide good pictures on the back: Honor installs a 108-megapixel camera as the main sensor, which is supported by an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera as well as a 2-megapixel macro camera and a 2-megapixel camera for deep shots. Selfie fans will also be happy about a front camera that resolves with 32 megapixels.

Honor 50 Pro

The top model Honor 50 Pro is even better positioned. Here, the Chinese manufacturer relies on a 6.72-inch FullHD+ curved AMOLED display with a resolution of 2676 x 1080 pixels and 120 Hz refresh rate.

256 GB of storage is standard, and most of the specs are the same as those of the regular Honor 50, with the exception of the front-facing cameras, where the manufacturer adds a second selfie camera with a 12 MP ultra-wide-angle sensor. Honor advertises the 50 Pro with special modes for vloggers, thanks to which videos can be recorded with the cameras on the front and back simultaneously.

Surprisingly, the battery of the Honor 50 Pro turns out smaller and has to cope with a capacity of “only” 4,000 mAh. However, a speed of 100 watts is supported in return, which charges the device from 0 to 90 percent in just 20 minutes.

Price and availability

It is currently unclear when the devices of the Honor 50 series will make it to Germany and how high the manufacturer will set the prices in this country. The devices are already available in China and are priced at around 310 Euros for the Honor 50 SE, 350 Euros for the Honor 50 and 480 Euros for the Honor 50 Pro – but without taxes.

At least the Honor 50 will also come to Germany, but it looks rather black for the Honor 50 SE. The manufacturer might save the announcement for the MWC 2021 in Barcelona, which starts on June 21.