A top Huawei executive has unveiled the launch date of the Honor 8 smartphone.
Rumors about Huawei Honor 8 have been doing the rounds in the tech space for many months and previous rumors suggested July 5 as the launch date of the handset. Huawei Honor 8 has also appeared on China's Telecommunication Equipment Certification Center, or TENAA, which pointed at a sooner than later launch.
Now, Zhao George, president of Business at Huawei, has shared an image on Weibo that confirms July 11 as the official launch date of the mobile phone. The press event for the Honor 8 will be held at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center in China and the event will start at 6:30 p.m. local time.
The upcoming Huawei offering is expected to sport a 5.2-inch display with a resolution of 1,080 x 1,920 pixels. Speculations are rife that a Quad HD version of the device is also in the works.
The smartphone may run on an octa-core Kirin 950 or Kirin 955 processor clocked at 2.3 GHz and 3 GB or 4 GB of RAM. The handset may be equipped with two 12-megapixel rear-facing cameras with LED flash and an 8-megapixel selfie camera.
The Honor 8 may come with 32 GB / 64 GB / 128 GB of onboard storage, which can be expanded with a microSD card. A 2,900 mAh battery is estimated to power the Honor 8.
The majority of the smartphones launched in 2016 come running on Android 6.0 Marshmallow straight out of the box. The Honor 8 is also said to run on Google's latest mobile operating system.
Fingerprint scanning is becoming a norm in new-generation top-end mobile phones. To be at par with rivals, the Honor 8 will have a round fingerprint sensor, which will allow users to keep their handsets safe and unlock the device with ease.
The Huawei mobile phone may measure 145.5 x 71 x 7.45 millimeters, or 5.73 x 2.8 x 0.29 inches, and weigh 153 grams, or 5.4 ounces.
At launch, the Honor 8 may bear a starting price tag of about $300.
According to an International Data Corporation (IDC) report, Huawei was the third largest smartphone vendor in the world (based on shipment) in Q1 of 2016 after Samsung and Apple.
"Huawei's continued domestic dominance, combined with a growing presence outside of China, enabled it to capture the number 3 position worldwide in 1Q16," says IDC. "Huawei's two-pronged approach with a focus on both premium and entry-level devices proved successful in China as well as in many developed European markets."
It remains to be seen if the Honor 8 is able to attract customers and help Huawei retain its position in the worldwide smartphone market.
Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns | Flickr
