HONOR V10 unveiled in China with 18:9 display, Kirin 970 chip and Android 8.0 Oreo

HONOR has unveiled its latest marquee device, the HONOR V10. The HUAWEI sub-brand debuted the phablet-sized device at an event in Beijing, giving us our first look at the phone’s design, spec list, and features ahead of an expected European launch on December 5th.

These days you can’t call yourself a proper flagship smartphone unless you’re packing slimline bezels, and the HONOR V10 mostly delivers in this regard. As with Huawei’s Mate 10 family, the HONOR V10 packs a “FullView” display with an 18:9 aspect ratio.

The screen itself is a 5.99-inch LCD panel with a 1,080 x 2,160 resolution (Full HD+). This isn’t a true bezel-less display though, in fact, the phone even has space to fit in a front-facing fingerprint scanner despite the relatively high screen-to-body ratio.

On the internal hardware front, the HONOR V10 comes equipped with HUAWEI’s custom octa-core HiSilicon Kirin 970 chipset as standard. There are also three variants that mix up the RAM count and storage capacity. These come in at 4 GB / 64 GB on the base model and 6 GB / 128 GB at the top-end. Storage is also expandable up to 256 GB across all variants.

While it ditches the Leica branding, the V10 also features HUAWEI’s now-standard dual-camera suite. The module consists of a 16 MP color and 20 MP monochrome sensor pairing. Unfortunately, there’s no OIS, but it does have Real-Time Scene and Object Recognition functions thanks to HUAWEI’s AI tech.

This carries over to the 13 MP selfie snapper that is utilized for the phone’s facial recognition security mode. At the reveal event, HONOR representatives reportedly claimed that the AI will notice when another person is using the phone and will obscure all incoming calls and notifications.

In addition, the V10 runs Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box with HUAWEI’s EMUI 8.0 skin over the top. It also packs a respectably-sized 3,750 mAh battery with support for fast charging (from zero to 50% in half an hour, HONOR claims), and sticks with a traditional 3.5mm headphone jack.

What it doesn’t have, however, is waterproofing — a caveat that makes HONOR’s decision to stage the V10’s first ever promotional video for the Chinese market in a swimming pool more than a little baffling. You can see this in action below.

HONOR phones tend to have an eye-popping aesthetic that shuns subtlety for bright colors and brash design. The metal-bodied V10 tones this approach down slightly, but only if you’re looking at the Black version. If you’re looking to turn some heads, you’ll want the Aurora Blue, Gold, or Red model.

Consumers in China can pick up the device starting from CNY 2,699 (around $409) from December 5th. Chances are that’s also when we’ll hear HUAWEI’s broader release plans at an HONOR-themed event being held in London, UK.

What do you make of the HONOR V10? Let us know in the comments.