Honor India had just launched its latest smartphone, the Honor 9i in the Indian market. While it comes under the Honor 9 series, the Honor 9i is not as powerful as the Honor 8 Pro and that is well expected because the Honor 9 is not yet official here. The Honor 9i rather comes as an upgrade from the Honor 6X based on what it is powered by, but one of the special features of the phone is the four cameras, two on the front and two on the back.
Now, how do the Honor 9i and Honor 8 Pro differ? Here are the major differences between the two smartphones, when it comes to the specifications. Also, do note that it is not really a comparison worth doing but some of our readers asked for it. In this comparison, the Honor 8 Pro will be the clear winner but let us see how.
Design and Display
The design is good on both the devices but while there is a camera bump on the back of the Honor 9i, the Honor 8 Pro has a flat back. Also, while there is a larger screen on the Honor 9i, having the new aspect ratio of 18:9 and lesser bezels keeps it smaller and thus the same size with the Honor 8 Pro.
It is a massive difference with the display. The Honor 8 Pro has the standard 5.5-inch display with the Quad HD resolution, i.e. 2560 x 1440 pixels. The Honor 9i has an 18:9 aspect ratio for its 6-inch display and the resolution here is also different, i.e. 2160 x 1080 pixels. Of course, the newer device has lesser bezels and space around the display and thus, that makes the two phones almost the same in the size but when we talk about the display quality, the Honor 8 Pro has a better pixel density and thus has a sharper display.
Hardware
This is where again the Honor 8 Pro is a leader, by a lot. The Pro comes with the Kirin 960 chipset that is a high-end one and while the Honor 9i does have a good processor powering it, the Kirin 659 comes in the series upgrade to the one that had powered the Honor 6X. The hardware difference is not only in that aspect but with the RAM capacity and storage as well. There is 4GB of RAM and 64GB storage in the Honor 9i while the Honor 8 Pro, on the other hand, has 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage.
Cameras – Rear and Front
It is the number of cameras where the Honor 9i gets an upvote here. There are four cameras, two on the front and two on the back of the Honor 9i, while for the Honor 8 Pro, it is three cameras, two on the back and one on the front. But then, the camera combination on the back is better on the Honor 8 Pro as it comes with two 12-megapixel cameras, one with a color sensor and another one being a monochrome one. The combination on the Honor 9i is a 16-megapixel camera and a 2-megapixel camera for depth sensing. The way these cameras work is also different on both, and if we are to compare the camera quality, it is actually better on the Honor 8 Pro.
For the front cameras, the Honor 8 Pro has a single camera, 8-megapixel shooter and it doesn’t have the support of LED flash. On the other side, the Honor 9i has the dual-lens camera combination on the front, with a 13MP + 2MP combination and the capture quality is actually better, even if we are not talking about the bokeh shots. The soft flash assistance does help with selfies in low light, and that gives this phone an advantage over the high-end Honor 8 Pro.
Overall, even though there is a 2MP camera for depth sensing on the Honor 9i, the blurring of the background is not as natural on the Honor 8 Pro.
Battery
The battery capacity is better on the Honor 8 Pro as it comes with a 4000 mAh battery, while the Honor 9i comes with the 3340 mAh battery. Also, while both support the same charging speeds, it is known that the optimization done by the chipset on Honor 8 Pro helps in a far better battery life and standby when compared to the newly launched Honor 9i.
Overall, this comparison proves one point – the Honor 9i is no match to the Honor 8 Pro when it comes to what is offered. Only a couple of factors where it takes the lead is with the front camera and the heating issues that are seen on the Honor 8 Pro. Still, there is a huge difference in the display quality, the performance, and even with the hardware that is included. The battery is another factor where the phone beats the mid-range Honor 9i.
If you have no bar on the budget, you know what to choose. For the selfie lovers and the ones who do have a lot in mind about the heating, the 9i shouldn’t be a bad choice.
