Android Gamer: Huawei announces the P9 and P9 Plus in collaboration with Leica

It wasn’t long ago that Huawei announced that it would be partnering with Leica to create collaborative devices together. Today brings us the first results of that collaboration, with the new Huawei P9 and P9 Plus. The Huawei P9 is a powerful device that places a heavy emphasis on its cameras, with Huawei touting it as setting a new standard in mobile photography. Let’s dive right into the specs and see what we’re working with here.

5.2-inch 1080p display
Kirin 955 octa-core processor, four cores at 2.5 GHz, four cores at 1.8GHz
3GB/4GB RAM
32GB/64GB storage
Dual-lens 12-megapixel rear camera
8-megapixel front-facing camera
Fingerprint scanner
3000mAh battery
Android 6.0 Marshmallow with EMUI 4.1 overlay

Resting on specs alone, the P9 is impressive. While it may not boast quite as powerful of specs as some of the latest flagships, it instead touts its superiority as a device for mobile photography. The key feature is the dual-camera setup that Leica and Huawei have utilized. This consists of one 12-megapixel RGB sensor, which is designed to maximize the capture of color. The other camera is a 12-megapixel monochrome sensor, which excels at picking up details. The P9 then combines the shots from both cameras into one incredibly crisp, vivid and accurate photo.

Additionally, users can capture stunning monochrome photos by only using the monochrome sensor. Huawei has made sure that it holds its end of the partnership up as well, by packing the P9 with Huawei’s Hybrid Focus technology. This set-up focuses by combining laser focusing, contrast focusing and depth calculation focusing, for which the phone has a dedicated processor, to ensure fast, accurate and consistent focusing.

Huawei has also announced the P9 Plus, which differs from the P9 in three different ways, shown below.

5.5-inch 1080p Press Touch display
3400mAh battery
Dual-IC Rapid Charge, which delivers six hours of talk time in just ten minutes of charging

Both devices will initially be launching throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia on April 16. The P9 will be priced at either €599 or €649, depending on which storage and RAM configuration you choose. The P9 Plus is a bit higher priced, at €749. While the P9 and P9 Plus are both more expensive than many other devices, the pricing structure is still fair considering the Leica technology in use, as Leica products typically cost thousands of dollars.

What do you think of the Huawei P9 and P9 Plus?