Honor X9c Smartphone Review – Honor announced the new Honor X9c smartphone in November 2024, and it went on sale later that month. Honor’s smartphones are usually available globally and this one is no different. It is currently available on sale in Singapore and Malaysia and more regions will follow. The Honor X9c is a modern smartphone designed for Gen-Z users, so it features a curved screen, 5G connectivity, and other popular technologies.
In terms of design, this phone looks similar to other Honor phones, especially due to the curved nature of the phone and the rounded camera module on the rear side. It’s a flashy design that is present in most Honor phones, which the company hopes will impress Gen-Z users. Let’s begin with a detailed review of the Honor X9c smartphone and find out if this smartphone is worth purchasing.
Table of Contents
Honor X9c Smartphone Review
Highlights
- The Honor X9c smartphone features a 6.78-inch curved AMOLED display with support for a 120Hz high refresh rate.
- The chipset inside the Honor X9c is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 5G SoC, which is capable of reaching clock speeds of up to 4×2.2 GHz.
- The Honor X9c smartphone arrives with Android 14 with a MagicOS 8 user interface for more customization options.
- The Honor X9c has a 108MP dual rear camera system, while the selfie camera has a 16MP sensor.
- The smartphone has a 6600mAh battery with 66W wired fast charging support.
Design and Display
The Honor X9c features a great design considering the price point it has launched at. Usually, cheaper phones don’t focus on the design too much but that’s not the case here. This phone looks quite nice due to the shiny design and matte finish of the paint job. Speaking of paint, the phone is available in Titanium Purple, Titanium Black, and Jade Cyan colors.
The two Titanium colors have a shiny appearance on top of a matte texture, while the other color features a design pattern. The Honor X9c body is made out of new materials entirely, which makes it quite solid and won’t break easily. In fact, Honor boasts about its strength and says the phone has increased resistance to shatter even if the phone drops from up to 2m height.
Apart from that, the phone is also protected by IP65 dust and water splash resistance, so it should be fine in light rains. However, you shouldn’t take a dip in the pool with this smartphone. As for the display, the phone has a 6.78-inch curved AMOLED screen with support for 120Hz high refresh rate.
This is a curved AMOLED panel with support for up to one billion colors and FHD+ resolution, so it will provide a superb viewing experience. This panel can also get as bright as 4000 nits under direct sunlight, which is significantly bright and you will have no issues using it outdoors.
Memory and Internal
The Honor X9c features the Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 5G chipset, which is capable of reaching clock speeds of up to 4×2.2 GHz. Launching any apps or games, including Facebook, WhatsApp, Snapchat, and more, will be quite fast on this chipset. However, it’s not that fast, and other phones in the same price range offer better chipsets.
Now, let’s talk about gaming. The Adreno 710 GPU can run games such as PUBGm, CODm, Summoners War, Black Desert Mobile, and even Genshin Impact at relatively smooth framerates. Also, the smartphone is 5G-ready and can deliver gigabit-level download speeds and low latency during online gaming.
For memory and storage, the Honor X9c is available in three configurations: 8GB+256GB, 12GB+256GB, and 12GB+512GB of RAM and internal storage. Choose the storage configuration carefully since it cannot be expanded later. There’s no microSDXC card slot. The smartphone also comes with Android 14 with a MagicOS 8 user interface for more customization options.
Camera
Honor has equipped the Honor X9c with a 108MP dual rear camera setup. The 108MP main camera manages to capture some decent shots with good picture quality. These shots have decent detail levels and an accurate color tone. The main camera performance is more than decent but the same cannot be said for the secondary camera. The second camera consists of a 5MP ultra-wide sensor, which performs terribly and there is a ton of noise in the shots, even in daylight. We were expecting more, considering it’s an Honor smartphone. Therefore, the only usable rear camera is the main camera.
The selfie camera is actually quite good. It has a 16MP sensor, which is quite decent, and manages to capture selfies with fine details, high dynamic range, and proper color tone. The faces of the subjects in the images appear quite detailed and their skin texture looks quite good. For video recording, the rear camera can shoot videos at a maximum resolution of 4K@30FPS, while the selfie camera can only record at 1080P@30FPS.
Battery and Others
The Honor X9c has a 6600 mAh battery that can provide 1 – 3 days’ worth of battery life with light usage that includes some texting, watching videos, Instagram, camera, and more. This great battery life is only possible due to the use Silicon Carbide battery, which has the potential to hold a higher charged capacity.
Achieving 2 or even 3 days of battery life is not surprising with this phone. However, playing games all day will drain the battery faster, so keep that in mind. The smartphone also supports 66W wired fast charging, which can fully charge the smartphone in around 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Apart from that, the smartphone has support for Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.1, an under-display fingerprint sensor, NFC, stereo speakers, and a USB Type-C connector for charging. The smartphone costs $331 (Rs 27,990 in India) approx.
Honor X9c Specifications Detail
Down below you can see the full specifications of the Honor X9c smartphone.
| Specifications | Honor X9c |
| Network | 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G |
| Announced | November 2024 |
| SIM | Dual SIM |
| Dimensions | 6.41 x 2.97 x 0.31 inches |
| Weight | 189 g |
| Size | 6.78 inches |
| Display | AMOLED 1B colors 120Hz 4000 nits brightness ~437 PPI density |
| Protection/Others | IP65M water/dust resistant Drop-to-concrete resistance from up to 2m |
| Resolution | 1224 x 2700 pixels |
| OS | Android 14, Magic OS 8 |
| Chipset | 4nm – Qualcomm SM6450 Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 |
| CPU | Octa-core 4×2.2 GHz Cortex-A78 4×1.8 GHz Cortex-A55 |
| GPU | Adreno 710 |
| Card slot | No |
| RAM | 8GB, 12GB |
| Internal | 256GB, 512GB |
| Camera | 108 MP (wide), PDAF, OIS 5 MP (ultrawide) LED flash, panorama, HDR Max – 4K@30fps |
| Selfie | 16 MP (wide) Max – 1080p@30fps |
| Loudspeaker | Yes (stereo speakers) |
| 3.5mm jack | No |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct |
| Bluetooth | 5.1, A2DP, LE |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS |
| NFC | Yes (market/region dependent) |
| Infrared port | Yes |
| Radio | No |
| USB | USB Type-C 2.0, OTG |
| Sensors | Under display fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass |
| Battery | Si/C 6600 mAh 66W wired Reverse wired |
| Colors | Titanium Purple, Titanium Black, Jade Cyan |
| Expected Price | $331 (Rs 27,990 in India) approx |
Conclusion
The Honor X9c is a fantastic 5G smartphone from Honor. It has delivered a great experience in many aspects. The design is quite good and looks quite eye-catching. The body of the phone is also more resistant to scratches and shatter. It even has protection against dust and water splashes. The display is absolutely fantastic and is the best part of the smartphone.
It can get extremely bright and provides a vivid viewing experience, thanks to the curved nature of the screen. The chipset is also quite decent with great gaming performance. The battery life and charging speed are also quite good. Even the main rear and selfie cameras are quite good. Essentially, it delivers a good experience in many aspects, but it is not without its cons.
The first con is the lack of a more powerful chipset. Don’t get us wrong; the chipset inside the HONOR X9C is quite decent, but other smartphones in the same price range offer a much better chipset. The second con is the lack of any decent secondary rear cameras. The third and last con is the pricing. This smartphone doesn’t perform close to what it costs.
The design, display, battery, and charging speed are fine but the build quality, performance, and camera are quite inferior compared to other phones in the same price range. Considering the price, we cannot recommend this phone at the moment. However, when the price drops, it will be a fantastic choice.
For the moment, we would rather recommend the Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 Pro Plus, which comes with far better build quality, camera, chipset, and more. However, it costs a bit less than the HONOR X9C. However, the final decision is up to you, so it is better to choose a smartphone based on your needs and requirements.
