Honor just unveiled a new budget smartphone in Malaysia, the Honor 9X Lite. At a glance, this device looks strikingly similar to the Honor 8X, which is…no coincidence. In fact, the 9X Lite is basically a refresh of the 8X – it was released back in 2018 – with an upgraded camera system.

While that means the 9X Lite doesn’t look particularly modern with a large notch at the top of the screen, it does come with one big benefit: it still ships with Google Mobile Services. Out of the box, the phone will be pre-installed with a range of essential Google apps, including the Play Store, Gmail, Maps, and even YouTube.

Besides that, the dual camera system of the 9X Lite is also slightly better now. Instead of the 8X’s 20MP f/1.8 primary sensor, the 9X Lite comes with a superior 48MP f/1.8 shooter, which should be able to capture better-looking images. The second lens, on the other hand, is a 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor.

Now, even with the upgraded sensor, the dual camera configuration of the 9X Lite still pales in comparison to its competition. After all, smartphones at this price point feature triple – or even quad – camera setups now with more focal lengths and features. While we reckon the 9X Lite’s camera performance will still be serviceable, don’t expect too much out of it.

Powering the 9X Lite is the familiar Kirin 710 chipset. This processor is said to be equivalent to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC in terms of processing power, and even though it’s a two-year-old chip now, it should still be able to provide a reasonably good level of performance for comfortable day-to-day use.

Battery life of the 9X Lite should be alright as well. It’s packed with a 3,750mAh battery, and while that’s not a particularly generous capacity, Honor says that it can return a day’s worth of use on a single charge. Given that this device is based on an older model, charging is done via a microUSB port; no USB-C connection here.

Other specifications of the 9X Lite include a 6.5-inch 2340 x 1080 LTPS LCD screen, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, a microSD card slot that can accomodate cards up to 512GB, a rear fingerprint sensor, and EMUI 9.1 based on Android 9 out of the box.

The Honor 9X Lite is now available for purchase in Malaysia. Retailing at RM699, two colours of the smartphone are offered in our market: Emerald Green and Midnight Black.