Huawei is like the Bose of the mobile phone world. Because of U.S. “sanctions”, the company has rarely talked about what powers their devices (much like how Bose never discloses the drivers in their headphones). I mean, we all know the SoC, but it is never openly discussed. This remains true with the new Huawei Nova 14 Ultra, the range-topper of the Nova 14 series. “Nova” is stylized as “nova”, btw. The series also includes a Pro model and the standard 14.
The Huawei Nova 14 Ultra [CH] comes with a 6.81-inch LTPO 3.0 OLED display that boasts a peak brightness of 5,500 nits. That’s so bright you might start using it as a flashlight. It runs HarmonyOS 5.0 and packs a 5,500 mAh silicon-carbon battery with 100W fast charging. Oh, and it’s got IP68/IP69 rating and two-way satellite communication (in China), so it’s ready for anything short of space travel.
As for imaging, it has a variable aperture 50 MP main shooter, a 50 MP periscope telephoto, a 13MP ultrawide, and not one but two front-facing cameras: 50 MP ultrawide and 8MP telephoto. Yes, even your selfies get optical zoom now. Powering all this is the Kirin 8020 chip, which no one’s officially talking about—but let’s just say it’s a slightly chilled version of the Kirin 9020.
If that’s too much phone, the Nova 14 Pro steps down with a smaller 6.78-inch screen, slightly lower-spec cameras, and an IP65 rating. Still solid. The base Nova 14 tones things down further with a 6.7-inch OLED, a less fancy Kirin 8000 chip, and a single selfie camera, but it still gets the same massive battery and 100W charging.
The Nova 14 Ultra starts at 4,199 yuan [CH] (~US$582), while the Pro starts at 3,499 yuan [CH] [~US$485], and the base Nova 14 at just 2,699 yuan [CH] [~US$375]. They all share the same battery and fast charging but differ in display size, camera specs, and durability—only the Ultra gets full flagship treatment (but of course!).
Images: Huawei [CH].