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Honor’s newest ‘ultra tough’ smartphone, the HONOR X9c 5G, has arrived in the Philippines, and as usual, the company is highlighting its enhanced durability yet again.
It even secured a Guinness World Record for that matter. No, that world record didn’t refer to it being the toughest phone, but for the greatest number of people performing a phone drop test at the same time.
Despite all those flashy marketing, how does it fare against last year’s HONOR X9b 5G in terms of raw specs? Let’s find out.
| 6.78-inch 1.5K Curved AMOLED | 6.78-inch 1.5K Curved AMOLED |
| 2700 x 1224 pixels, 120Hz | 2652 x 1200 pixels, 120Hz |
| 4000-nit (HDR) peak brightness | 1200-nit peak brightness |
| Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 |
| 4nm, 8-cores, up to 2.2GHz | 4nm, 8-cores, up to 2.2GHz |
| 12GB RAM | 12GB RAM |
| 256GB storage | 256GB storage |
| Dual rear cameras: | Triple rear cameras: |
| - 108MP f/1.75 main, OIS, EIS | - 108MP f/1.75 main |
| - 5MP f/2.2 ultrawide | - 5MP f/2.2 wide and depth |
| - | - 2MP f/2.4 macro |
| 16MP f/2.45 selfie shooter (pill-shaped notch) | 16MP f/2.45 selfie shooter (hole punch notch) |
| Dual nano-SIM | Dual nano-SIM |
| 5G, 4G LTE | 5G, 4G LTE |
| Wi-Fi 5, 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac |
| Bluetooth 5.1 | Bluetooth 5.1 |
| GPS/ AGPS/ GLONASS/ BeiDou/ Galileo | GPS/ AGPS/ GLONASS/ BeiDou/ Galileo |
| USB Type-C (USB 2.0) | USB Type-C (USB 2.0) |
| NFC | NFC |
| Under-display fingerprint sensor, face unlock | Under-display fingerprint sensor, face unlock |
| IP65 dust and water resistance | IP53 splash and dust resistance |
| SGS 5-star drop resistance | SGS 5-star drop resistance |
| Dual stereo speakers | - |
| MagicOS 8.0 (Android 14) | MagicOS 7.2 (Android 13) |
| 6600mAh Si/C battery | 5800mAh battery |
| 66W charging (wired) | 35W wired charging |
| 162.8 x 75.5 x 7.98 mm | 163.6 x 75.5 x 7.98 mm |
| ~189g | 185g |
| Titanium Purple, Titanium Black, Jade Cyan | Sunrise Orange, Midnight Black, Emerald Green |
HONOR X9c 5G’s advantages:
- Brighter, slightly crisper display
- Better primary camera (now with OIS)
- Stronger ingress protection
- Dual stereo speakers
- Bigger battery with silicon-carbon tech
- Faster charging
HONOR X9b 5G’s advantage:
- Addition of macro lens
Design
Looking at its design, there is one minor change. While the X9c’s camera island is still circular in shape, the camera sensors are now found at the center instead of placing them on the outlines from the X9b. This design update gave it a more polished look and a sense of premium.
The X9c remains the same size as the X9b, although the new model gets a stronger ingress protection—an IP65 rating (previously, IP53). This means it can now withstand water jets combined with dust resistance.
Display
Flip to the front, and the X9c retains the 6.78-inch 1.5K curved AMOLED display.
It comes with minor improvements, such as a slight bump in screen resolution and higher HDR peak brightness of 4000 nits. However, such incremental changes won’t be very noticeable to the naked eye.
What’s more obvious, though, is the pill-shaped notch housing its 16-megapixel selfie camera, but Honor didn’t specifically mention what else is inside of that notch.
For biometrics, the X9c uses the same optical under-display fingerprint sensor.
Chipset
Powering the X9c is the same chipset as its predecessor, the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1.
With this, we can expect similar performance in processing power. While it does have a higher ANTUTU score—up by over 100,000 points—there’s barely any difference in terms of real-world use cases.
Memory and Storage
For config, the sole option for the X9c is the same as before—12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. No microSD card slot to be seen here.
Cameras
In the camera department, this is where the X9c shines, although flexibility is a bit compromised. The new model ditched the 2-megapixel macro lens and, in exchange, brought optical image stabilization to its 108-megapixel main sensor.
This is surely a welcome change, as personally, I don’t find myself using the macro lens much often.
As mentioned earlier, the 16-megapixel selfie camera is also a carryover.
Battery and Charging
Other notable improvements to the X9c are its larger 6600mAh battery pack (from 5800mAh) and a faster 66W of charging (previously, 35W).
The X9c adopts silicon-carbon battery technology hence the larger capacity for the same thickness. If this is the first time you heard of it, then we recommend watching our short explainer about silicon-carbon batteries.
Connectivity and Other Features
Software-wise, the X9c runs on the newer Android 14 out of the box, with MagicOS 8.0 on top. It’s not the latest version, however, as Android 15 has already been released.
Another welcome upgrade is the addition of dual stereo speakers, which were lacking in its predecessor.
Price
Finally, let’s talk about the price.
We are glad to report that the HONOR X9c maintains the retail price of PHP 16,999 (12GB+256GB).
It polishes the design, adds a dash of practicality with stronger build and battery upgrades, and offers a more capable camera experience for the same price.
If you liked the X9b, you would surely appreciate the X9c—though it’s not a must-upgrade situation. But for those new to the HONOR X-Series, then the HONOR X9c offers a well-rounded experience that’s really ‘tough’ to ignore.
Interested to know more about the two phones? Well, feel free to read their individual full reviews below:
