Huawei P9 vs Huawei P9 Plus: What's The Difference -- Specs Compared

How does Huawei’s latest flagship stack up against ITSELF?

Huawei's had its eyes on taking as big a slice of the smartphone consumer pie as it possibly can for some time now, but is of course attempting to break into an industry dominated by some very big names such as Apple, Samsung, and LG. In recent months the firm has really upped its game, however offering some very compelling hardware running Google's Android OS quite capably on its own Kirin processor architecture. The real 'sit up and pay attention' model was the Huawei Mate 8 launched in 2015 with excellent performance and astounding battery life. This year, the firm has followed up with the Huawei P9 and Huawei P9 Plus, two flagship devices (the latter a larger phablet) aimed to take the LG G5, Samsung Galaxy S7 and Apple's iPhone series head on

And of course, an important thing in the modern smartphone market is having some kind of distinctive USP to make your product that little bit fresher than the competition. In Huawei's case for the P9 series the heavy hitting feature is the dual-camera setup using some very interesting technology co-developed with Leica.

The P9 is a serious upgrade over the P8. It’s CPU alone boast a 100% speed increase. But besides the display size, how do the two phone stack up? We took a look to find out.

Huawei P9 vs Huawei P9 Plus: Specs

Here’s the specs for the Huawei P9:

Display: 5.2in display with a 1920×1080-pixel resolution at 423ppi
Dimensions: 145mm x 70.9 mm x 6.95 mm
Weight: 144 grams
Storage: 32 or 64, plus support for microSD cards up to 128GB
Memory: 3 or 4 GB RAM
Processors: Kirin 955 2.5GHz 64-bit ARM-based processor
Front camera: 8 MP with laser auto focus
Rear camera: Dual 12 MP with laser auto focus
Battery life: 3000 mAh
Colors: Rose Gold, Prestige Gold, Titanium Grey and Mystic Silver

And here’s the specs for the Huawei P9 Plus:

Display: 5.5in display with a 1920x1080 resolution at 401ppi
Dimensions: 152.3mm x 75.3 mm x 6.98 mm
Weight: 162 grams
Storage: 64, plus support for microSD cards up to 128GB
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Processors: Kirin 955 2.5GHz 64-bit ARM-based processor
Front camera: 8 MP with laser auto focus
Rear camera: Dual 12 MP with laser auto focus
Battery: 3400 mAh
Colors: Haze Gold, Quartz Grey, Rose Gold and Ceramic White

The smaller P9 comes in two storage options—32GB and 64GB—while the Plus only comes in one—a 64GB model. But we won’t ding the Plus for the lack of a smaller model. People who usually want bigger phones want more storage anyway. Besides, each phone can take microSD cards up to 128GB, so there’s more than enough storage to go around.

When it comes to RAM, the regular and Plus P9 vary slightly. If you get the the 32GB P9 it comes with 3GB of RAM, while if you opt for the 64GB P9 it comes with 4GB of RAM. As for the P9 Plus, it only comes in one RAM offering: 4GB. As for processors, the both P9s feature the exact same CPU: Huawei’s new Kirin 64-bit processor, which is 100% faster than the processor in the P8.

When it comes to battery, the P9’s 3000 mAh battery is a bit smaller than the 3400 mAh one found in the P9 Plus. However, given the Plus needs to power a larger display, both phones end up having similar battery lives.

Huawei P9 vs Huawei P9 Plus: Design & Build

Each flagship sport the same material design: precision-engineered aluminum with a good selection of color options. As can be expected, the smaller P9 has a physically smaller body, but as for thinness, the 5.2in P9 is only a hair thinner—by 0.03mm—than the P9 Plus.

Huawei P9 vs Huawei P9 Plus: Display

From the outset, the displays don’t appear THAT different. Sure, the P9 has the smaller 5.2in display and the P9 Plus offers a 5.5in display. Both both have the same resolution: 1920×1080. However, due to the same resolution fitting into two different sized displays, the smaller P9’s display is actually a bit crisper at 423ppi vs 401ppi for the Plus.

But the Plus strikes back in a few areas. First, it has a Super AMOLED display, which means its colors should be more vibrant. Second, the Plus also has Press Touch display—think of this a similar to Apple’s 3D Touch display. The Press Touch display can sense two different levels of pressure.

Huawei P9 vs Huawei P9 Plus: Cameras

When it comes to the cameras, both offer almost the exact same specs—and they kick ass. The P9 and P9 Plus both feature a dual-camera Leica lens in its rear camera. That’s right, there are TWO 12MP cameras on the back, leading to pictures that approach DSLR quality. As for front facing cameras, the each sport 8MP lenses, but the P9 Plus offers laser autofocus on the front camera while the regular P9 does not.

Huawei P9 vs Huawei P9 Plus: Verdict

It’s a tough call. While both phones are very similar in many important aspects, I’m going to have to pronounce the P9 Plus as the winner. It’s got a Super AMOLED display that supports Press Touch and also offers laser autofocus on the front camera. If you’re indifferent between the screen sizes, the 5.5in P9 is the way to go.