- The Huawei nova 3i smartphone, featuring four cameras, is being released today, August 8, 2018.
- Its four cameras — 24MP and 2Mp at the front; 16MP and 2MP at the back — are AI assisted.
- Just a week ago, the Chinese manufacturer overtook Apple as the world's largest smartphone vendor.
The Huawei juggernaut rolls on today with the release of the nova 3i smartphone which features no less than four cameras.
And that's probably not even its most distinguishing feature.
When it launches in Australia on August 23, the nova 3i will be bundled with 128GB of built-in memory. And one of the largest batteries in its class, at 3340mAh, sits just shy of the capacity of Samsung's S9 battery.
Those four cameras — 24MP and 2Mp at the front; 16MP and 2MP at the back — are AI assisted.
And there's more …
Huawei are including a pair of $150 (US dollars) Freebuds for a total of $445 on the pre-launch offer. That's less than half of what you'd have paid for the 64GB version of the Galaxy S9 back in February.
Given that, it's not surprising that barely a week ago, the Chinese manufacturer overtook Apple as the world's largest smartphone vendor.
"Our mantra has always been to create products with innovations that enrich the lives of our users," Larking Huang, Managing Director of Huawei Australia said, "but our mission has always been to make cutting edge technologies more widely accessible."
In the second quarter of 2018, Huawei shipped 54 million handsets, up 41% on the same quarter in 2017.
The P20 series alone accounted for seven million units shipped — five times more than its predecessor, the P10 — helping Huawei snare a 15.8% share of the global market.
Huang called the P20 "arguably the best camera smartphone in the world right now". But the nova 3i's four cameras come coupled with the aid of a Kirin 710 AI processor.
Huawei claims that will help the rear camera to differentiate between more than 500 scenarios across 22 categories, and optimise them for the best type of shot before you even push the button.
The front camera maps out facial features in 3D and applies lighting effects "to recreate stunningly beautiful portraits".
You'll also get the now standard emoji face overlay, fingerprint and face unlock sensors, and dual SIM support that you'd expect from a high-end smartphone these days.
Except the nova 3i is less than $445. The Freebud deal kicks in if you order it from JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman, Mobileciti, Bing Lee and Officeworks between now and launch day.
Obviously, this is all the hard-sell detail straight from Huawei itself. But we're intrigued enough by all you get for that price point to give the nova 3i a good workout ourselves, which we plan to do, and report back to you by the August 23 release date.
The future of very capable smartphones looks… affordable.
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