Huawei has been teasing a new release for a while now and the Huawei Nova 4 is finally here. Leaked photos showed a display hole ala the Samsung Galaxy A8s, and now that it's finally here it's confirmed that, yes, there is a display hole on the top left of the device for the camera. Display holes are the next attempt at a fully bezel-less smartphone, with the screen wrapping around the camera instead of a cut out at the top of the display. Functionally, they're the same as a corner notch, but they don't look like one which adds to their appeal.

The Huawei Nova 4 isn't just a device that pioneers a new design we'll likely see a lot of in 2018. No, it also features flagship specifications including a 48MP triple rear camera, possibly the highest in a smartphone yet. Huawei has really been pushing camera performance as of late, and the Nova 4 is no different. There's also a Kirin 970 onboard combined with 8GB of RAM.

Huawei Nova 4 XDA Forum

Is the inclusion of a display hole here an indication of things to come? It's a lot less unsightly than a notch, and it functions more or less the same. It's probably the best way to have a bezel-less display on a smartphone without implementing some form of sliding camera mechanism. The earpiece is housed above the display, which is also likely where other sensors are too.

Huawei Nova 4 Specifications

Huawei Nova 4 Performance

The Huawei Nova 4 packs the HiSilicon Kirin 970 system-on-chip, a chipset heralded for its AI performance. It's certainly no slouch in day-to-day tasks either and is a contributing factor in what grants Huawei smartphones excellent battery life. It'll handle basically anything you throw at it, and coupled with 8GB of RAM it should have no trouble holding your applications in memory either. The Kirin 970 has a Mali G72 GPU, which is, admittedly, considerably weaker than the Adreno line of GPUs from Qualcomm. As a result, game performance may be a little bit weaker than what you're used to. It should still be fine though and should be more than adequate for the job. 128GB of storage with MicroSD card support ensures that you won't run out of space either. Finally, the Huawei Nova 4 comes with EMUI, which is going to be a little bit heavier on the system than something closer to stock Android like OxygenOS. It's based on Android Pie, so you'll get all of the latest and greatest features.

Huawei Nova 4 Display

The display on the Huawei Nova 4 is a 6.4-inch 2310x1080 IPS LCD display. This is ultimately where the biggest change is, with a display hole in place of a notch. As mentioned above, it's functionally the same as a notch as it can't really allow a user to make use of more screen real estate, but it arguably looks nicer than a notch and takes up slightly less space.

The display is 1080p, the bare minimum resolution for a flagship display. The lack of AMOLED may be disappointing to some, but it's not as if that is usually a deal breaker. Flagship IPS displays nowadays are just as good as AMOLED displays, with the only difference being the lack of deeper blacks.

Huawei Nova 4 Camera

Huawei's cameras in the last year or two have been nothing short of excellent, with the Huawei Nova 4 not looking to buck that trend. The 48MP camera included should allow Huawei to, yet again, work their low light magic. Coupled with that, are two other cameras as well, coming in at 16MP and 2MP. Their exact function is unknown at this time, but it's impossible to deny that the company is pushing their cameras as defining features of their smartphones. While it's always best for real-world camera samples to come out before deciding whether this is your next camera-phone, it's a safe bet to say that this will be one of the best cameras on a smartphone once it launches. Huawei has had no trouble getting it right before, and with better hardware, there's no reason to assume that they won't get it right again.

Huawei Nova 4 Battery

Yet another usual win for Huawei, the Huawei Nova 4 should have excellent battery life. That's thanks to the 3,750 mAh battery in tandem with the power efficient Kirin 970. It should have no trouble getting you through a day of use, and it'll charge fast as well at 18W (9V, 2A).

Huawei Nova 4 Pricing and Availability

The Huawei Nova 4 is set to launch in China at a price of 3,399 Yuan, around $492. While it hasn't been announced in Europe yet, it's expected to launch soon after given that its predecessor did.

Note: Huawei has stopped providing official bootloader unlock codes for its devices. Therefore, the bootloader of the Huawei Nova 4 cannot be unlocked, which means that users cannot flash Magisk/TWRP/AOSP-based custom ROMs.