The Honor 50 series is now official in China and ahead of its international release Honor has confirmed what we’ve all be waiting to hear Google Mobile Services are coming back to Honor smartphones.
Honor has “the option to have Google Mobile Services (“GMS”) preinstalled on compatible devices, in accordance with Google’s licensing and governance models,” Honor told The Verge. “Consumers will be able to experience Honor smartphones and tablets equipped with GMS.”
After Huawei was placed on the US entity list in 2019, it was no longer able to include Google apps and services on devices. That policy covered Honor devices until Huawei sold the brand last year. Google also had to lock out Huawei from receiving Android updates, which meant the phone maker had to switch to an open-source version. Huawei has started rolling out a replacement operating system called HarmonyOS.
The Honor 50 devices are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 778G 5G chipset. The Honor 50 and 50 Pro each have a 120Hz screen, though the latter’s is slightly larger 6.72 inches instead of 6.57 inches.
The phones both have a quartet of rear cameras: a 108MP main camera, an 8MP wide-angle camera, a 2MP macro camera and a 2MP depth camera. The Honor 50 has a 32MP front-facing camera, while the Pro model uses both that and a 12MP ultrawide one.
The selfie camera has been downgraded to a 16-megapixel shooter and the rear setup ditches the 2-megapixel depth sensor. However, the 108-megapixel main camera, 8-megapixel ultra-wide, and 2-megapixel macro cameras are still there.
Last on the list of features is a 4,000mAh battery with 66W fast charging support. The latter enables a 75% charge in 20 minutes.
