
Huawei Nova 5 Series Comes with New Chipset and Quad Camera
Huawei on Friday announced at a launch event in Wuhan, China, its new Nova 5 phone.
The standard Huawei Nova 5 is the first to ship with Huawei’s new 7nm Kirin 810 chipset. The new, octa-core chipset offers two 2.27Ghz Cortex-A76 cores and six 1.88Ghz Cortex-A55 cores. The SoC also packs a Mali-G52 GPU for improved graphical performance. An included NPU is bringing dedicated AI silicon to Huawei’s mid-range chipsets for the first time.
The new series also incldues the Nova 5 Pro, with one of the main differences being the use of a Kirin 980 flagship chipset (2x Cortex A76 2.27GHz + 6xCortex A55 1.88GHz, Mali G52 820MHz) instead of the Kirin 810 SoC. In addition, the Nova 5 has 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, while the Nova 5 Pro has 8GB of RAM and can be configured with up to 256GB of storage.
The Huawei Nova 5 series also features a quad rear camera setup, offering a 48MP main camera, 16MP ultra-wide shooter, 2MP depth sensor, and 2MP macro camera. A 32MP f/2.0 camera in a waterdrop notch handles your selfies. The new series offers a 6.39-inch full HD+ OLED screen ( 2340 x 1080, 403 PPI) with an in-display fingerprint sensor.
The new series also supports 40 watt fast charging, taking you to 50 percent in 15 minutes, or 85 percent in 30 minutes.
The Huawei Nova 5 Pro starts at 2,999 yuan (~$436) for the 8GB/128GB model, while the 8GB/256GB variant will set you back 3,399 yuan (~$494). The standard Nova 5 is only available in an 8GB/128GB option for 2,799 yuan (~$407).
Huawei also announced the a third addition to the Nova 5 series in the Nova 5i, offering a punch-hole display, Kirin 710 chipset (4x Cortex-A73 2.2GHz + 4x Cortex-A53 1.7GHz) , and a 4,000mAh battery. The Nova 5i also offers a 24MP main camera, 8MP ultra-wide snapper, 2MP macro lens, and 2MP depth sensor. It has a 6.4" TFT LCD IPS screen (FHD+ 1080x2310), 6GB/8GB RAM, 128GB ROM.
The Nova 5i starts at 1,999 yuan (~$291) for the 6GB/128GB model, and 2,199 yuan (~$320) for the 8GB/128GB variant.
The smartphone launch comes as Huawei continues to face an uncertain future outside of China after Google suspended its Android license last month, meaning that it’s unclear how long these phones will continue to receive Android updates. It’s also uncertain if and for how long these phones would have access to the Google Play Store if they’re released outside of China.
100 million smartphones shipped this year as of end-May
At th launch event, Huawei consumer business group’s smartphone product line president He Gang said that his company shipped 100 million smartphones this year as of May 30.
Huawei has been hit by devastating curbs ordered by Washington, which threatens to cripple its supply chain.
Founder and chief executive Ren Zhengfei said on Monday the ban could cost the company $30 billion in revenue this year, and that smartphone sales outside China already dropped 40 percent in the past month.