OnePlus 5 gets a tough competitor in Honor 8 Pro

Amidst all the hype and hoopla regarding OnePlus 5, another Chinese smartphone maker Huawei has launched its much-anticipated device- Honor 8 Pro in India priced at Rs 29,999. The device will be exclusively available to Prime members on Prime Day starting 6 PM on July 10th with the open sale starting on July 13.

Honor 8 Pro's cutting-edge processing power, long lasting battery life, 14.47cm 2K display, and dual rear camera packed into a thin 6.97mm body makes it a tough competitor to recently launched OnePlus 5. Huawei, however, believes that its phone should be compared to the iPhone 7 Plus and HTC U 11, not just the OnePlus 5.

"With the Honor 8 Pro, we set out to push the boundaries on all fronts. The Honor 8 Pro offers market-leading specifications by pushing the boundary of smartphone design, providing 2K display, extra-long battery life, dual camera setup and delivering powerful performance to ensure best experiences across the scenarios that today’s smartphone users care most about," said P Sanjeev, Vice President Sales, Huawei India-Consumer Business Group.

The metal-bodied dual-SIM Honor 8 Pro comes in two colour options—midnight black and navy blue and weighs 184gms. It has a higher resolution of 2,560x1,440p and pixel density of 515ppi with 5.7-inch display. The smartphone runs on the latest 16NM Kirin 960 octa-core processor which is based on 16-nanometer architecture and has four ARM A73 CPU cores and four A53 CPU cores. Notably, this is almost at par with the OnePlus 5’s Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 octa-core chip which is based on 10-nanometer architecture and has 8 Kyro 280 CPU cores.

Huawei has clubbed the Kirin 960 with 6GB RAM and is offering 128GB internal storage which is expandable to another 128GB via microSD card. This not only makes it equipped for future but also puts it at par with the OnePlus 5 which offers 6GB RAM in the 64GB storage model. The 128GB variant which comes with 8GB RAM costs Rs 37,999 but that takes the flagship out of the budget segment.

For photography enthusiasts, there is a 12+12-megapixel dual-lens camera. The two lenses work in tandem to always deliver the perfect shot. The camera’s wide aperture range (f/0.95–f/16) delivers the DSLR-like depth of field effects for both photo and video shooting.

The device also supports 4K video recording, encoded in the efficient H.265 codec, which produces files twice as small as its predecessor. Thanks to the EMUI 5.1, Highlights- a new feature co-developed with Go Pro, intelligently organizes photos by category and automatically generates video stories that are easily customizable. The smartphone packs massive 4000 mAh battery provides 2 days of regular use, and almost 1.44 days of heavy use.

The Honor 8 Pro will be exclusively available to Prime members on Prime Day starting 6 PM on July 10th on Amazon priced at Rs 29,999 for the 6+128GB storage variant and will be available in Midnight Black and Navy Blue color options. The device will be bundled with a 9V/2A fast charger, standard USB-C cable in a box that can be used as a VR headset. The Honor 8 Pro will come with 12 months service warranty along with Honor’s best-in-class after sale facilities offering additional peace of mind for the consumer.

With Honor 8 Pro's specs and price, OnePlus surely has some tough competition in the Indian smartphone market.