Honor 9A non-Google smartphone to launch globally on June 23

Honor, earlier this year, took a bold step of launching its first non-Google smartphone in India, the Honor 9X Pro. More than the smartphone, the highlight was it’s App Gallery, which like Google Play Store, allows customers to download third-party apps. However, the firm will be expanding its list of non-Google smartphone portfolio with the Honor 9A. The device has already launched in China and in Russia before that so the specifications are already out. What remains to be seen is the price.

The handset maker will be revealing Honor 9A’s price on June 23 in a digital briefing on YouTube at 2PM CET (5.30P IST). And it says that this is a global launch.

Honor 9A specifications

The handset has a 6.3-inch HD+ display. Running on MediaTek Helio P22 processor, Honor 9A comes with 3GB of RAM. It has 64GB built-in storage and supports expandable storage via microSD card. It's powered by a 5,000mAh battery. On the back, it has dual cameras including 13-megapixel and 5-megapixel sensors. There's also a fingerprint sensor on the back panel. For selfies, it has an 8-megapixel camera.

This handset is also expected to run Huawei’s App Gallery. But that shouldn’t be a deal breaker though. When talking to HT Tech back in May, the smartphone maker said that Indians might not face a massive change or feel they are missing out on something since it has onboarded 95% of India's top 150 applications to the AppGallery. These include communication apps like Airtel, Truecaller to MapMyIndia and entertainment apps such as Hungama Play, MX Player and others. And since most of us now use e-commerce apps, you get PayTM, Zomato, Groffers, Flipkart, Zara, HDFC and others on the list as well.