Huawei launched the Nova 7i successor on schedule in Malaysia yesterday. It’s part of the already established Nova 8 line but features Qualcomm silicon instead of the Kirin 985 chip. The 8i edition also rocks cutting-edge fast charging and an edge-to-edge screen. Let’s take a look.
Qualcomm acquired U.S. permission to sell 4G System-on-Chips to Huawei. Under the new deal, Huawei is now using Qualcomm chipsets for their lower-end phones. So, the Huawei Nova 8i has the entry-level Snapdragon 662 at its heart.
It’s powered by a 4300 mAh battery and 66W SuperCharge. Huawei promises a full top-up in just 38 minutes. Plus, software tweaks ensure all-day battery life. EMUI 11, based on Android11, runs on the Huawei Nova 8i right out of the box. But it’s stripped of Google services.
The Nova 8i design is heavily inspired by the Huawei Mate 30 Pro. It sports the same ring-shaped camera housing, containing a matrix of four cameras. The LED module flanks the camera. And the shell elegantly curves along the edges. You can pick from Interstellar Blue, Starry Black, and the shimmering Moonlight Silver at a mid-range Huawei mobile price tag.
The display is a 6.67” IPS LCD with trimmed off bezels that give it a 94.7% screen-to-body ratio. Huawei Nova 8i delivers a full HD resolution and responds with a 180Hz touch sampling rate. A 16MP front camera is embedded inside a widened hole punch. On the back, we find a 64MP wide camera, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens, and a pair of 2MP macro and depth sensors.
Huawei Nova 8i comes in a single 8GB+128GB configuration for a starting price of RM 1299 (~ Rs. 49,700.) Following this debut, the phone should head to more Asian markets in the future.
