Honor 9X launches globally in the face of uncertainty

Most companies would have caved under the pressure of being snubbed by the US. ZTE definitely did when it was in that same position. Huawei, however, has remained defiant and proceeds like nothing's wrong and its subsidiary Honor is similarly putting up a strong face. Even in light of certain difficulties, Honor is launched the Honor 9X to markets outside of China. Given the specs and the price it comes with, some might wish things aren't the way they are today.

To be clear, Honor is launching the Honor 9X in Europe, not the Honor 9X Pro that we just reviewed. You'd be excused if you got confused because the two are almost exactly identical inside and out. The only significant differences are in the Kirin 710F processor and the lower memory options of 4GB RAM/64GB storage and 6GB RAM/128GB storage.

Everything else, however, is nearly the same, which means the Honor 9X also gets that gorgeous bezel-less and notch-less 6.59-inch 2340x1080 FullView display. That's, of course, thanks to the 16 megapixel motorized popup camera. You even have the same triple cameras on the back, with the 48 megapixel main shooter, 8 megapixel wide-angle camera, and 2 megapixel depth sensor.

Except for some performance considerations, and probably some AI-driven camera magic, the Honor 9X will perform just as well as the Honor 9X Pro. Unfortunately, it also has the same critical flaw of missing Google Play Store, something that Honor is unsurprisingly silent about. While it's not much of a big deal in China, the lack of access to Android's main app store, not to mention Google's apps, will surely bite even in Europe.

The Honor 9X is launching in Russia for 18,990 RUB, roughly $300. The Netherlands will also get its hands on the smartphone and we'll update this piece with Euro pricing when it does. It is definitely a steal, considering the features and specs, if only Honor could fix that major problem.