The mid-range Huawei Y9 Prime (2019) lands in SA from 1 August

Huawei may be in a spot of bother at the moment but that doesn’t mean the company’s just going to fold up shop and go home. The pending launch of a new mid-range smartphone, the Huawei Y9 Prime (2019), is a testament to that. Stuff was present at a media event where the Chinese company showed off its first pop-up selfie camera smartphone to land in SA and it sure looks like Huawei’s here to stay.

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Huawei’s Y-series smartphones used to be classed as entry-level devices but, with the launch of the Huawei Y9 Prime (2019), have crossed over into mid-range territory. And not just because Huawei’s opted to ditch the notch in favour of a pop-up selfie camera. No, the Huawei Y9 Prime (2019) features the sort of specs you’d expect from a mid-range — at a price that’s… almost reasonable. The Y9 Prime will feature an RRP of R5,400, according to the company.

Enjoying a spec-tacle

And for the price, you’re looking at the company’s Kirin 710F processor, backed by 4GB of RAM and a huge 128GB of internal storage. Those are just the main specs, but they justify the jump from budget to mid-range.

The rest of the specs aren’t bad at all. There’s a huge 4,000mAh battery, which makes sense given the 6.59in HD IPS display and the processor/graphics tech. Huawei’s actually overdone the battery here, we reckon, so it should do just fine on the day-to-day. The rear three-camera arrangement offers users a 16MP wide sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide sensor, and a 2MP depth sensor. Not bad at all for something in the middle of the road.

Notch this space

But it’s the 16MP pop-up selfie cam that really caught our attention. Huawei claims that the pop-up sensor is mighty speedy and that it will retract itself in the event of a fall. We saw both of those things in practice, the latter helped along by a rubber band. But it was the strength test that blew us away.

Huawei reckons the Y9 Prime can support up to 15kg using nothing more than the pop-up sensor, something that we actually went and put to the test. Not with the full 15 kilos, however. We used 10kg instead. The results are… impressive. But, just in case you’re still worried about the fate of your sensor, Huawei’s offering the Y9 Prime (2019) with a free sensor replacement, should it go south in the first two years. The company says that the sensor is rated for 100,000 pop-ups and -downs, though, so unless you somehow manage to snap it off, you probably won’t need to take Huawei up on their offer.

Want one? You don’t have long to wait. The Huawei Y9 Prime (2019) launches in South Africa from 1 August, at an RRP of R5,400. There’s no contract info available for the smartphone just yet.