Huawei launched the nova 16s Pro and nova 16s outside China on September 2 at its product event in Munich. Also launched at the event were the Watch GT 7 and the 4.7mm MatePad Pro 12. Both the nova 16s and nova 16s Pro come with a 7,000mAh battery, 100W charging, a 50MP periscope zoom and 5G on Huawei’s own Kirin chips. European pricing starts at €599 for the nova 16s and €749 for the nova 16s Pro, about KES 90,000 and KES 112,500 respectively.
The “s” marks an export model. The nova 16 and nova 16 Pro went on sale in China on June 1 running HarmonyOS. The global versions run EMUI 16, based on Android 16, and as with the Pura 90s Pro Max we covered in July there are no Google Mobile Services. No Play Store, no Gmail, no YouTube app, no Google Maps. Apps come from Huawei’s AppGallery, and anything that leans on Google to log in needs a workaround or will not run.
The nova 16s Pro
Huawei’s specification page names the Kirin 9010S, with 12GB of RAM and 256GB or 512GB of storage. The screen is a flat 6.84-inch LTPO OLED at 2856 by 1320 pixels, 1Hz to 120Hz, with 2160Hz PWM dimming. Huawei quotes 6,000 nits peak, measured on 1 percent of the panel. Across 20 percent of the screen it is 4,000 nits.
The camera is the reason to pick the Pro. The main sensor is 200MP, 1/1.28 inches across, f/1.8 and optically stabilised. All three rear cameras use Huawei’s RYYB colour filter, which replaces a normal sensor’s green pixels with yellow ones to gather more light. The 50MP periscope is a stabilised 3.7x zoom. The 50MP ultrawide covers 118 degrees and focuses to 2.5cm. A 1.5MP multispectral sensor, which Huawei calls a True-to-Colour camera, sits on the back and another beside the 50MP front camera. They read the ambient light so skin tones come out right. Huawei claims 120 percent better colour accuracy and does not say against what.
The rest:
- 7,000mAh, 100W wired, no wireless charging
- Aluminium frame, Kunlun Glass front, IP65
- Side-mounted fingerprint reader, infrared blaster, NFC, stereo speakers
- Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, 5G, USB-C at USB 2.0 speeds
- 163 by 78 by 7.1mm, 218g, in Isle Blue, Breathing Crystal and Starry Black
The nova 16s
The standard phone is not a straight rebadge. The Chinese nova 16 uses the Kirin 9010S, the same chip as the Pro. The global nova 16s drops to the Kirin 8020, a lower tier of Huawei silicon. Huawei’s specification pages do not explain the change.
The screen is a 6.68-inch flat OLED at 2800 by 1280 pixels and a fixed 120Hz, with 5,500 nits peak. The cameras are an unstabilised 50MP f/1.9 main, a stabilised 50MP RYYB periscope at 3.3x, a rear True-to-Colour sensor and a 50MP front camera. There is no ultrawide. Battery, charging, IP65, fingerprint reader and connectivity match the Pro. It is 159.6 by 75.5 by 7.3mm, 199g, and adds Sky White. Storage is 256GB or 512GB with 12GB of RAM. The 512GB nova 16s is €699, about KES 105,000, and the 512GB Pro is €849, about KES 127,500.
Price and the Kenya question
Europe pays far more than China, where the nova 16 Pro sells from CNY 3,900, about KES 75,000, and the nova 16 from CNY 3,000, about KES 58,000.
Huawei Kenya’s last phone launch that we covered was the nova Y70 in June 2022 at KES 25,000. Since then it has launched only watches and tablets here. At least one of the two phones is expected to reach South Africa though. In Kenya, Huawei has been silent on smartphones, we can’t expect these here. The Watch GT 7 and MatePad Pro 12 are likelier to reach Huawei Kenya’s shelves first.
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