Huawei has just announced that its very first smartphone with a display camera hole will be announced on December 17. The phone in question is the Huawei Nova 4, which is also something that the company confirmed, along with the device’s release date. All of this got confirmed via an image that Huawei shared via its official Weibo (Chinese social network) profile, and this phone will get announced in China, and it will become available in China, first, that’s for sure. The phone will make its way to other markets after that, as its predecessor did, the Huawei Nova 3. It is worth noting that this will be a mid-range smartphone, unless Huawei makes some considerable changes in its strategy, as its “Nova” series of devices belong in the mid-range sector, it has been that way since the very first “Nova” phone arrived.
Along with the announcement date and the name of the device, Huawei also confirmed the phone’s design, well, the design of the phone’s front side, at the very least. If you take a look at the provided image, you will be able to see that this phone will sport a display camera hole in the upper-left corner, while its display will feature rounded corners. A very thin “chin” will be included below the phone’s display, and other than that, this phone will sport no bezels. The power / lock and volume up and down buttons will be placed on the right-hand side of this smartphone, while chances are that the phone will be made out of metal and glass, that will be the most probable outcome. That is pretty much everything that the company revealed this time around.
Background: The Huawei Nova 4 actually surfaced in a teaser a while back, while it also appeared in real life images a couple of days ago as well. The device appeared during the 18th birthday of a well-known Chinese singer called Jackson Yee (which was filmed and available online). That appearance was probably planned by Huawei, though, as that is probably the reason why the company handed that phone to Mr. Yee. That is not unusual for the Chinese market, companies tend to use their spokespersons to market their phones even before they go announced, even TV ads appear on TV before some phones get announced, which is definitely not a custom in the west. In any case, the device was encased in that TV appearance, so we did not really get to see the full design of the phone. In addition to the fact it was encased, this appearance was planned, so the phone’s back side was not shown at all.
As already mentioned, the Huawei Nova 4 will be a mid-range smartphone, just like its predecessor. The Huawei Nova 3 shipped with the Kirin 970 64-bit octa-core processor, which, truth be said, was Huawei’s flagship SoC in time, but considering that the phone got announce back in July… well, that processor has been out in the market for around 9 or 10 months at that point. That being said, it will be interesting to see what SoC will Huawei utilize in the Huawei Nova 4, as the Kirin 980 is now available, but the company will probably want to keep the Nova 4 in the mid-range segment of the market, which means that the inclusion of the Kirin 970 is more likely. Huawei already introduced several flagship smartphones recently, so chances are that the Huawei Nova 4 will not ship with a flagship SoC as well, despite the fact it will sport a brand new design language.
The Huawei Nova 4 is expected to arrive in both 4GB and 6GB RAM variants, just like its predecessor, while it will probably sport two cameras on the back, it may even include the same sensors as the Huawei Nova 3, 16 and 24-megapixel cameras. 24 and 2-megapixel cameras may be included on the front side of the device, while pretty much everyone is expecting to see Android 9 Pie pre-installed on this smartphone. The device is expected to sport a rather large display, as the Huawei Nova 3 arrived with a 6.3-inch panel, so the Huawei Nova 4 will probably sport a display that is similar in size to its predecessor’s. The device will also include a large battery, we still don’t know what unit will it sport exactly, but chances are its capacity will be somewhere between 3,700 and 4,000mAh. That battery will not be removable, but it will support fast charging, though Huawei probably won’t include wireless charging in this smartphone, at least that’s what’s expected. The phone will arrive in both single and dual SIM variants, while it will probably sport an IPS LCD display.
Impact: Huawei is probably using the Huawei Nova 4 to test out its new design, to see whether consumers will like it or not, before the company implements it in its upcoming flagships, the Huawei P30, and P30 Plus. It seems like Huawei may become the very first company to release a smartphone with a display camera hole, even though the Galaxy A8s is expected to arrive in the near future as well. Many other companies are preparing such smartphones, the OPPO R19 surfaced a while back sporting a centered display camera hole, which probably means that the OnePlus 7 will sport such a design as well. LG had patented a design with display holes as well, same goes for ZTE, though those two companies will take a somewhat different approach, it seems, as LG patented a dual display hole, while ZTE intends to include an earpiece in the display. In any case, we will see plenty of smartphones with display holes next year, and it seems like most of them will use those display holes in order to implement a front-facing camera, or in some cases, front-facing cameras. It remains to be seen if the Huawei Nova 4 will be the first such smartphone, but considering that the device will become official on December 17, it will probably become available for purchase in China soon after that, which means it will become available at the end of this month.