The Huawei P9 smartphone has just launched in the UK.
The phone, which looks very similar to the Apple iPhone, features a sleek unibody case and dual rear-camera setup developed in partnership with Leica.
The P9’s dual-lens 12 MP camera allows users to capture “both vivid colours and striking black and white images,” thanks to its two sensors and Huawei P9’s merging algorithm, which combines the colours taken by the RGB sensor with the detail of the monochrome sensor.
And, unlike the iPhone, the P9 has a smooth-rear-case – without a camera bump.
The phone runs on Android Marshmallow 6.0, features a 5.2 inch full HD display with a 9 MP front-facing camera, and is powered by Huawei’s latest Kirin 955 chipset – offering 125 per cent better GPU performance and 70 per cent greater power efficiency than its predecessor.
It comes packed with a 3,000 mAh battery which works with a 16nm low power chip – providing users with 56 hours of music playback, 12 hours of HD video viewing, 8 hours of 4G browsing and 20 hours of calling over 3G.
The P9 is also the first smartphone to feature a triple antenna setup, one at the top and two at the bottom.
Huawei hopes that the P9 will help establish itself in the high-end, premium smartphone sector in the UK. It is now available for British consumers to purchase from EE, O2, Three, Vodafone and Carphone Warehouse.
James Jie, Managing Director of UK&I, Huawei Consumer Business Group, comments: “This is the first Huawei device to be ranged across all of the major UK sales channels and we look forward to seeing great take up from consumers.
With the P9, in collaboration with Leica, we are looking to firmly establish the Huawei brand within the high-end, premium sector in the UK.
We have challenged the norm with this device, reinventing smartphone photography, and we see it as the next step in a visual revolution, which we are sure our customers will value.”
Oliver Kaltner, CEO, Leica Camera AG, commented: “Leica and Huawei share an uncompromising commitment to imaging excellence, and our partnership will put outstanding photography into the hands of more consumers around the world.
“We are deepening our collaboration to give users a more optimal smartphone photography experience.”
Mobile Choice reviewed the P9 and concluded that it “fulfills every need of smartphone buyers who want to spend upwards of £400 to buy a phone.”
The Editor of Mobile Choice praised the phone for its sleek design and features:
“Beautifully built, seamless juxtapositioning of metal and glass and the slim and light body cloak a superfast processor, one of the best fingerprint sensors I have seen, great RAM and expandable memory. Just like Samsung did with the Galaxy S7, Huawei have hit the ball out of the park with the P9 which isn’t just a step up from the P8 but a reimagined flagship.
So, yes. You should most definitely buy this phone.”