Chinese tech giant launches flagship P9, P9 Plus smartphones

Huawei has solidified its position as the third biggest smartphone manufacturer, behind Apple and Samsung, thanks to its affordable and often feature packed devices.

Now the company has launched a new device that will be a part of its flagship P series and the standout feature is a dual-camera setup that was developed in partnership with veteran German camera-maker, Leica.

At first glance, the newly-launched P9 doesn’t look very different from its predecessor, the P8. It is a bit less angular, a shade thicker at 6.95mm (compared to 6.4mm) but generally not very adventurous in its design - which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

The P9 is thin, light, very well-built (before you start with the chinko rants) and covered in aluminum to deliver that premium feel.

The front of the device is dominated by an almost edge-to-edge display, coming in at 5.2-inches, and is an IPS panel of full HD resolution at 1920x1080pixels.

There is also a fingerprint sensor on the back, a USB Type-C port on the bottom and, like I said earlier, the standout dual rear-facing cameras.

READ: Huawei P8: Light in motion

The device is powered by Huawei's latest Kirin 955 octa-core processor paired with 3GB or RAM and 32GB of internal storage. There is also a 64GB variant with 4GB of RAM and both support microSD cards of up to 128GB.

Also, the P9 sports a 3000mAh battery, Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow out of the box under Huawei's Emotion UI (version 4.1).

Unlike the P8, the P9 will not get a "Lite" version but instead will get a larger P9 Plus that sports a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED 1080p display and larger 3400mAh battery. It will also have a 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage as standard in addition to some value-added features such as an IR emitter for controlling other gadgets, stereo speakers, a pressure sensitive display and rapid charging.

The P9 with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage will be available in Asia and Europe from April 16, 2016, for roughly $684, while the 4GB/64GB version will carry a $738 price tag. The P9 Plus will launch in Europe and Asia for about $850.

There is no information yet on when it will be available in other parts of the world, and Nigeria, but stay with Pulse Tech to keep you updated. Also, trust us to bring you a review of the device if we do get a unit to play with.