A new iteration of Huawei’s Y6 (2019) affordable smartphone is on the way and will feature a downgraded battery compared to the 2018 version, based on a recent FCC listing spotted by Android Headlines. The difference between the two handsets is minuscule, with the new battery listed on the documentation at 2,920mAh while the current Huawei Y6 ships with a 3,000mAh power supply. That 80mAh change may or may not make a big difference in the final hardware depending on the software optimizations and which version of Android the device ships with. There’s also no USB Type-C for the 2019 Huawei Y6. Instead, a micro USB cable is shown in one of the FCC tests, which might equate to a more budget-friendly phone but will probably hinder charging and data transfers with the device too.
There aren’t too many other details given away by the associated documentation that’s currently available but one diagram does show the position of the FCC label alongside certification by TÜV Rheinland designating the smartphone as a ‘low blue light’ device. That should help ensure the display is decidedly less harmful over long periods of time. BDS, Glonass, and GPS radios are on-board in the new Huawei Y6 for location tracking as well as Bluetooth 5.0 and Wi-Fi 2.4GHz for local connections. FM radio is listed too alongside a list of network bands that could be incomplete as of this writing. That likely means that a 3.5mm headphone jack will be included in the frame of the device. The only networks that are currently shown as supported are GSM 850, PCS 1900, WCDMA bands 2 and 5, and LTE bands 5 and 7.
A slight improvement over its predecessors
Judging the Huawei Y6 (2019) solely on the information that’s available in its FCC listing, Huawei appears to be approaching the updated budget device more slowly than its flagships. The handset will almost certainly feature some improvements but the overall shape shown in the diagram and the reduced battery capacity seem to indicate those won’t be big changes. A newer processor than the 1.8GHz octa-core Snapdragon 450 SoC used in the 2018 version Huawei launched last April could be among the improvements alongside a potential bump up from the 2GB RAM found in the 5.7-inch 2018 Huawei Y6. The previous version also shipped with a somewhat paltry 16GB of storage, so both RAM and storage capacity is long overdue for an increase. A 13-megapixel primary snapper was installed on the back of the prior iteration with a 5-megapixel selfie shooter be found up front. Those are still respectable for a modern budget smartphone but could ultimately stand to be shifted for the better too.
Optimizations may negate downsized battery
Documentation for the new handset is still limited so there’s no way to know for sure if Huawei plans to unveil the device any time soon. The company may hold off until April as it did with the prior iteration. Setting that aside, if a newer SoC is used and software optimizations are put in place, the deviation in battery capacity may not have too much of an impact. Huawei has already updated some of its handsets to its latest Emotion UI (EMUI) OS overlay founded on Android 9 Pie and that will bring significant improvements to power saving features. So the new Huawei Y6 could still have a better screen-on time and overall lifespan per charge than its Android 8.0 Oreo-powered predecessor.
