Huawei launches the Nova 3 and Nova 3i in India as Amazon exclusives

Huawei is continuing its onslaught in the Indian market currently dominated by Xiaomi and Samsung. The Chinese tech major has announced two new Huawei phones for the Indian market — the Nova 3 and the Nova 3i. Huawei plans to target both the midrange and the 'affordable flagship' territory with these models. Both smartphones feature 6.3-inch FHD+ LTPS displays with a notch and a quad-camera setup.

Sporting almost the same internals as the P20 Pro such as the Kirin 970 SoC, 6 GB RAM, and 128 GB storage, the Nova 3 aims to take on the OnePlus 6 and the recently launched Asus Zenfone 5Z, which sport the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC. Internals notwithstanding, the Nova 3 also borrows the color shifting back panel from the P20 Pro. The phone comes with a 16 MP + 24 MP f/1.8 dual camera setup at the back featuring the Sony IMX576 sensor. There is a dual camera setup in the front as well with a 24 MP main sensor and a 2 MP depth sensor. A decent 3,750 mAh battery helps power the Nova 3 through the day.

Next up is the Huawei Nova 3i. The Nova 3i is the first Huawei phone to sport the Kirin 710 SoC, which was announced as Huawei's answer to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 710. The Kirin 710 also sports a dedicated neural processing unit (NPU) as its elder cousin, the Kirin 970, and its capabilities are utilized to improve the shooting prowess of the phone. The Nova 3i features a 16 MP + 2 MP rear camera setup and the same 24 MP + 2 MP selfie setup as the Nova 3. The phone comes with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage and is powered by a 3,340 mAh battery. 

Rear camera and SoC differences aside, both the Nova 3 and the Nova 3i feature a lot in common. Both support Huawei's GPU Turbo out of the box and run on EMUI 8.1 based on Android 8.1 Oreo. They also support dual SIM dual VoLTE — an essential feature in the Indian market and expandable memory up to 256 GB.

The Huawei Nova 3 retails for ₹34,999 (US$509) while the Nova 3i is priced at ₹20,990 (US$305). Both phones will be available in Iris Purple and Black color variants. The phones are being sold as Amazon exclusives and pre-ordering entails a cashback of ₹1,000 (US$14.55). Additional launch offers include an additional ₹2,000 (US$29) exchange discount, no-cost EMIs, and ₹1,200 (US$17.45) cashback from Reliance Jio with additional 100 GB data. The Nova 3i will start shipping from August 7 while the Nova 3 will be available from August 23.

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