Which one is the better buy?

While Huawei never said that the Nova 3 was a proper budget flagship, one look at its specs sheet tells us that it’s capable of giving more expensive flagships (even Huawei’s own P20) a run for their money. Curiously enough, the Nova 3 will be going up against Honor’s own budget flagship, the Honor 10, in stores. Lest you forget, Honor is a sub-brand of Huawei, and the company is essentially pitting two phones under its umbrella against each other.

Which one is better specs-wise? Let’s take a quick look at with this comparo:

Honor 10 Specs

• HiSilicon Kirin 970 octa-core processor
• 4GB RAM
• 5.84-inch Full HD+ display, 2160×1080 resolution
• 128GB of expandable storage (up to 128GB)
• 16-megapixel f/1.8 RGB and 24-megapixel f/1.8 monochrome rear cameras with PDAF, Dual Tone LED flash, and AI Camera
• 24-megapixel f/2.0 front camera
• Dual SIM (Hybrid Tray)
• 4G, LTE, VoLTE
• WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC
• GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
• Fingerprint sensor
• USB Type-C
• 3400mAh battery
• Android 8.1 Oreo (EMUI 8.0)

Huawei Nova 3 Specs

• 2.4GHz HiSilicon Kirin 970 octa-core processor
• Mali-G72 MP12 GPU
• 6GB of RAM
• 6.3-inch Full HD+ IPS LCD display; 1080 x 2340 resolution, 19.5:9 aspect ratio
• 128GB of expandable storage (up to 256GB via microSD)
• 16-megapixel main rear camera (f/1.8) + 24-megapixel B/W camera (f/1.8), PDAF, EIS
• 24-megapixel main front camera + 2-megapixel depth sensor
• 4G, LTE (Dual SIM, Hybrid Tray)
• WiFi, Bluetooth
• GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
• Fingerprint scanner
• Facial Recognition
• Android Oreo 8.1 with EMUI 8.2
• 3750mAh Battery with Fast Charging

Internals: same processor, almost the same configuration

Both the Nova 3 and Honor 10 are powered by Huawei’s latest AI-powered chip, the Kirin 970. The Kirin 970 is essentially flagship-level hardware, as it’s the same processor used in the P20, P20 Pro, the Mate 10 and the Mate 10 Pro.

Looking at the nitty gritty of the hardware, however, you’ll see that the Nova 3 has 2GB more RAM compared to the Honor 10 which only has 4GB. Storage-wise, both phones have 128GB of storage with expansion for more, though the Nova 3 can fit a higher capacity microSD card than the Honor 10.

Both phones have EMUI on board, and both run on top of Android 8.1.

Display: both have notches, but the Nova 3 has a bigger screen

Both phones sport notched screens, but in terms of sheer size, the Nova 3 wins over the Honor 10. The Nova 3 has a 6.3-inch Full HD+ IPS LCD display, which is substantially more than the 5.84-inch Full HD+ display that’s on the Honor 10.

The Nova 3 also has a better screen-to-body ratio since the fingerprint scanner is on the back and not the front like the Honor 10.

Camera: Rear camera specs are identical, though the Nova 3 has more cameras overall

Interestingly enough, both phones have the same specs on their rear cameras on paper: a 16-megapixel color camera and 24-megapixel monochrome camera, paired with a f/1.8 aperture lens with PDAF and EIS. Both phones have AI and scene detection baked into them, so theoretically they both should perform the same when subjected to identical shooting conditions.

The Nova 3 wins in the selfie department, at least if you’re counting the total number of cameras. It has a 24-megapixel main front camera paired with a 2-megapixel depth sensor, while the Honor 10 only has a 20-megapixel front camera.

Battery: the bigger phone has a bigger battery

As expected the Nova 3 has a bigger battery at 3750mAh compared to Honor 10’s 3400mAh battery. It’s no surprise since the Nova 3 is physically larger than the Honor 10, and thus has more space in its chassis.

Both phones have fast charging thanks to Huawei’s SuperCharge Tech.

Verdict: The Nova 3 looks to be the winner, but the Honor 10 has a lot to offer

There’s a lot of similarities to the Honor 10 and the Nova 3. Aside from the same beautiful glass backs, both phones sport the same processor and storage options as well as the same camera configuration on the rear.

The Nova 3 has a slightly bigger display, battery, additional front-facing camera and more RAM than the Honor 10, but all of those extra features comes with a higher Php 2K price tag compared to the Honor 10.

We’re not sure if the identical camera modules on the rear of both phones will yield different results, so stand by for that particular article next week.