As expected, Huawei unveiled its Nova 16 series with four members in China today. The top dog in the rotation is the Nova 16 Ultra, and it brings an impressive set of cameras and ample battery capacity.
The Nova 16 Ultra is equipped with a 7,000 mAh battery, which supports 100W wired, 50W wireless, and up to 7.5W reverse wireless charging. The phone also has IP68 and IP69 ingress protection ratings.
On the front, the Nova 16 Ultra features a 6.84-inch LTPO OLED with FHD+ resolution and a 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate. The panel features Kunlun Glass protection and is rated at a maximum local brightness of up to 6,000 nits. There is a 50MP front-facing camera housed inside the pill-shaped cutout along with a 1.5MP spectral sensor. The fingerprint scanner is located on the right side, above the power button.
Under the hood, we have Huawei’s in-house Kirin 9010S chip. This is the same SoC that made its debut on the Pura 80 last year. It comes with the ability to send and receive text messages over Beidou satellites, with support for satellite communications in China.
Nova 16 Ultra gets Kirin 9010S chip
On the back, the Nova 16 Ultra brings an interesting camera island that is wrapped in vegan leather. We have two large cutouts that house a total of three cameras as well as a spectral sensor and LED flash.
200MP main camera
As far as hardware is concerned, the headliner is a 200MP RYYB main sensor (1/1.28″). It has an f/1.8 aperture and OIS capabilities. Huawei has also added an 88mm-equivalent 50MP telephoto lens with 3.7x optical zoom. The third shooter is a 50MP ultra-wide-angle macro lens with an f/2.2 aperture.
The Nova 16 Ultra comes with Huawei’s HarmonyOS 6.1 out of the box and comes in blue, white and black colors.
nova 16 ultra colors
Prices start in China CNY 4,699 ($695/€596 converted) for the baseline 256GB storage trim, while the top-tier 1TB version costs CNY 5,799 ($857/€735 converted). Shipments there are expected to begin from June 6.