The Honor 90 is a midrange phone with some flagship highlights – most notably its 200MP 1/1.4-inch main camera sensor
(Image credit: Honor)
The Honor 90 launches in the wake of a string of solid camera phones from the once-Huawei brand. Specifically, over the last couple of years, the flagship Magic 4 Pro and Magic 5 Pro performed very well in our reviews, while the midrange Honor 70 packed strong performance for the price.
For 2023, Honor's skipping the Honor 80 and jumping straight to the Honor 90, a 200MP camera phone with a DxOmark best-in-class-rated screen, and the first phone we've tested to seemingly take design inspiration from a napkin – at least in its Diamond Silver color option.
Launching in the UK and across Europe, the Honor 90 starts at £449 (around $570), making it one of the lowest-cost options around to sport Samsung's 200MP ISOCELL HP3 sensor.
Measuring 1/1.4-inch, it's larger than most sensors in the phone's price bracket – and that high pixel count is matched with a wide f/1.9 aperture and PDAF.
As for the secondary cameras, the 12MP auto-focusing ultra-wide is also a macro camera, and there's a 2MP depth camera. Also of note: a 50MP front camera and Honor's introducing a new "Ultra-Clear Portrait Mode".
(Image credit: Honor)
As for what makes the Honor 90 DxOmark-winning, the 6.7-inch quad-curved screen is a 1.07 billion color display with 100% DCI-P3 coverage. For anyone who's concerned about eye fatigue, Honor's leading the charge with 3840Hz Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) Dimming, and the screen's also smooth with a 120Hz dynamic refresh rate.
Honor's also loading the phone up with all the right certifications, from TÜV Rheinland Flicker Free, to HDR10+, as well as Amazon Prime Video HDR and Netflix HDR Certification – excellent for streaming fans.
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While we got our hands on the Diamond Silver version, which has a pattern on the back that looks like nothing but a dinner napkin to us, you can also pick it up in Emerald Green, Midnight Black, and Peacock Blue.
For the price, the Honor 90 looks rich with its curved glass back (despite our napkin quip), and while its frame is plastic, the phone looks and feels premium.
(Image credit: Honor)
As for the Honor 90's internals, a midrange Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 Accelerated Edition keeps things chugging, and the phone runs Android with MagicOS 7.1, Honor's own UI, which is very similar to Huawei's EMUI. Unlike Huawei phones, though, Honor devices run with full access to the Google Play Store, so you can expect excellent app support.
While the Honor 90 misses out on wireless charging, it does pack a large 5000mAh battery and fast 66W charging, as well as loads of storage and RAM, starting at 256GB/8GB for £449, and capping out at 512GB/8GB for £499.
If you like the look of the Honor 90, you can order it right now in the UK and across Europe.
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Basil Kronfli is a freelance technology journalist, consultant, and content creator. He trained in graphic design and started his career at Canon Europe before moving into journalism. Basil is also experienced in video production, independently running the YouTube channel TechEdit, and during his time at Future, he worked alongside the Digital Camera World team as a senior video producer.
