You read it right. Huawei’s nova family has a new generation barely a year after the nova 15 series debuted. In fact, the nova 15 family had barely finished assembling before the nova 16 series came knocking.
The new model flaunts a 6.84-inch OLED display with a 2,856 × 1,320 resolution, an adaptive 1–120 Hz LTPO refresh rate, and up to 6,000-nit dynamic peak brightness. Kunlun Glass keeps the screen from becoming modern art after an unfortunate encounter with the pavement. Huawei claims the entire phone is 10 times more resistant to drops than the nova 15 with regular glass.
Around the back is where Huawei has gone megapixel shopping. The camera lineup comprises a 200 MP RYYB main camera with OIS, a 50 MP RYYB periscope telephoto camera offering 3.7x optical and 100x digital zoom, and a 50 MP ultrawide macro camera. The front does not feel neglected either, packing a 50 MP portrait camera and Huawei’s Red Maple color sensor.
Powering everything is the Kirin 9010S running HarmonyOS 6.1, supported by an ultra-thin vapor chamber integrated into the aluminum frame. Storage options range from 256 GB to 1 TB.
Despite measuring just 7.1 mm (0.28 inch) thick, the nova 16 Pro squeezes in a 7,000 mAh battery with 100 W wired charging. At 218 g (7.69 oz), however, nobody will mistake it for a feather. Wireless charging did not make the cut.
Other highlights include IP65 protection, stereo speakers, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, NearLink, Beidou satellite picture messaging, and enough AI photo-editing tricks to make Photoshop nervous.
The Huawei nova 16 Pro is available in China from 3,899 yuan [CH] (about US$548).
Images: Huawei [CH].
