There is plenty of competition in the Indian mid-range smartphone market, with brands like iQOO, Motorola, and Realme actively launching new phones, all pushing performance and features at attractive prices. Honor, meanwhile, has chosen a slightly different path with the Honor X9c 5G, focusing on durability, display quality, and long-lasting battery life. Positioned as the successor to last year’s Honor X9b, the X9c isn’t a radical departure but rather a refined variant with a few targeted upgrades. Let’s take a closer look at how the phone performs across design, display, performance, and cameras.
8Display and Audio
The Honor X9c sports a 6.78-inch curved AMOLED display with a 1.5K resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. The standout figure is its claimed 4,000 nits peak brightness, a massive jump from the 1,200 nits on the X9b. While real-world brightness doesn’t quite reach those marketing claims, outdoor legibility is excellent, and colours appear vibrant with good sharpness at 437ppi. Honor has also added 3,840Hz high-frequency PWM dimming for improved eye comfort during extended use.
Slim bezels contribute to an immersive viewing experience, although the pill-shaped cut-out for the selfie camera does intrude slightly. One notable drawback is the lack of HDR support for streaming, which limits the display’s potential despite its strong specifications.
On the audio front, the phone includes stereo speakers that get reasonably loud. Dialogue and vocals are clear, but highs can sound sharp at max volume, and bass response is lacking compared to some competitors. On the plus side, there is support for Hi-Res audio over wired and wireless connections.
