Excited about the Honor 10? It’s the successor to the beautiful Honor 9, and the company’s first flagship phone after the excellent Honor View 10. In keeping with tradition, Honor has revealed the phone in China first, where it’s called the Glory 10; but we won’t have to wait long until the phone is shown off internationally. Here’s everything we know about the upcoming Honor 10.
Glory 10
Honor has announced the Glory 10 smartphone in China, which we expect to be representative of the Honor 10 when it’s revealed in the U.K. on May 15. Shown on stage at an event in Shanghai, the Glory 10 has a 5.84-inch screen with a notch at the top, which like the Huawei P20 can be hidden from view depending on your preference, and an almost invisible fingerprint sensor inside the phone’s chin.
The glass body comes in several colors, including two with vivid, color-changing hues which in the translated Chinese launch material are referred to as “phantom blue” and “mirage purple.” They’re joined by more standard gray and black versions.
Huawei’s Kirin 970 processor powers the phone, which also means the Neural Processing Unit (NPU) is on board, providing fast artificial intelligence features in the operating system and the camera. Honor says the AI will enhance photographs, smooth out video, speed up documents, and plenty more. The Glory 10 has 6GB of RAM, and Android 8.1 with the EMUI 8.1 user interface.
The dual-lens rear camera has a 24-megapixel main lens and a 16-megapixel secondary lens, with phase detection autofocus and an f/1.8 aperture on both. The camera includes several features we’ve seen in the Huawei P20 and P20 Pro, including the studio lighting portrait photo effects, A.I.-assisted composition, and framing advice. The selfie camera has 24 megapixels, and a AI-powered timer system, which seems to improve bokeh-style portrait shots.
A 3.5mm headphone jack remains in place, and a 3,400mAh battery with fast charging provides all the energy. A new audio chip offers 7.1 channels of Hi-Fi sound, plus there is the China-only Huawei Pay mobile payment platform, augmented reality technology for creating different images, and one of the phone’s preinstalled themes has a lock screen game, rather than simple gestures for unlocking.
The Glory 10 comes with either 64GB or 128GB of internal storage, and locally priced at either $415 or $480 depending on which you choose. Pre-orders run between April 19 and April 26, with the phone going on sale April 27. Honor adds the Glory 10, “will be sold in many overseas countries and regions.”
Design
We expect the upcoming Honor 10 to look very similar, if not identical, to the Glory 10 announced in China, which in turn takes some inspiration from the recently released Huawei P20. Prior to the Glory 10’s announcement, a selection of photos leaked by WinFuture.de got the “phantom” color scheme right, but not the angled lens housing on the back of the phone.
A previous leaked image from GSMArena also showed what appears to be the Honor 10. The leaked image shows the dual camera setup — horizontally mounted, rather than vertically — and with rounded sides rather than diamond shaped on the more recent leak. It closely matches the Glory 10.
Specs
Now the Glory 10 is official, we can match the final specs to those revealed when the phone visited local regulatory body TENAA. We learned the Honor 10 will have a 5.8-inch screen with a 2240 x 1080 pixel resolution, the Kirin 970 processor and Android 8.1 Oreo. However, the 4GB/64GB version appears to have become 6GB/64GB for the final model, and the 3,320mAh battery has grown slightly for the official specs. Other details listed on the TENAA site included USB Type-C, stereo speakers, NFC, and a fingerprint sensor.
Camera
The Glory 10 also confirmed the TENAA listing regarding the camera. Honor cameras are not co-engineered by Leica, unlike the cameras on the Huawei P20 and P20 Pro; but the Kirin 970 and AI-enhanced software remain onboard, just like on the Honor View 10.
Release and availability
Now the Glory 10 is official in China, when will it be revealed internationally? It’s not long to wait, as Honor will show the Honor 10 — the global version of the phone — at an event in London on May 15. Honor Sales and Marketing Director Wilkin Lee tweeted out confirmation shortly after the Glory 10 was announced.
Not much longer till the #honor10 global launch. It’ll be the sexiest phone for 2018