HONOR X9c 5G Review | Geek Lifestyle

“The Toughest Made Tougher”. That’s HONOR Philippine’s campaign slogan for their all new tough phone, the HONOR X9c 5G releasing just a few days after the new year. Insane release date aside, HONOR pulled out all the stops in trying to create some insane scenarios for the HONOR X9c 5G to withstand – everything from boiling, smashing through concrete, and dropping it on a helicopter. They’ve come a long way, marketing stunt-wise, from the first X9 series phone, the HONOR X9a 5G. Back then the reinforced glass was all they could promise as being shatter-resistant, now 3 generates after HONOR touted an all angle drop resistance for the newest member of the X9 series.

Improved toughness aside, can the HONOR X9c 5G stand on a sea of new midrange phones, especially those that are coming in for 2025? Well, we’re about to find out.

Geek-sthetic

HONOR kept pushing the design of their devices and we’ve seen some spectacular artistic choices from past releases but the HONOR X9c 5G is one of the most beautiful midrange phones we’ve ever seen. For this iteration, the brand decided to forgo the faux leather back plate for a more metallic and stone-like finishes. We have with us their hero color, the Jade Cyan with a special printing design that gives it a 3D-like effect when exposed to light. The light green-cyan color compliments the cool marble-like finish giving it a more luxurious feel than it should.

This is complemented with the fluted ring bezels surrounding the familiar circular camera module from the series. While the bezel ridges seem smaller this time around, it’s still a welcome sight adding more nuances to the overall design. In fact, the brand is so adamant in making the connection with their fluted bezel and the original inspiration – that from the Rolex Oyster Perpetual—that they even incorporated the watch brand in their pre-order promotion. Yup, you can actually win a Rolex Datejust when you pre-order a unit. Another insane thing to add to the long list of insane marketing gimmicks these guys are pulling. I love it!

Binge-Watching Factor

The HONOR X9c 5G is adorned with a very familiar 6.78” curved AMOLED screen – almost similar to that of its predecessor. The only difference is the slightly smaller screen-to-body ratio thanks to the slimmer curved bezels it has. Hey more screen = better for binge-watching.

The HONOR X9c 5G is also equipped with 120Hz refresh rate support for buttery movements and stutter-free viewing and comes with an increased brightness of up to 4000 nits so viewing anything on the phone – even under the blazing sun – is very possible.

For eye comfort, the phone has a high PWM Dimming that was once only reserved for the H-series line. Yup, for the first time, the HONOR X9 Series is getting up to 3840Hz PWM Dimming for absolute eye comfort.

Lastly, to truly immerse yourself in whatever it is you’re watching, the HONOR X9c 5G is equipped with a dual-speaker array — something that should be a staple for midrange phones nowadays (you’ll be surprised how there are still some that scrimp on this).

Gaming Prowess

Much like its predecessor, the HONOR X9c 5G also runs with on a 4nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chipset and an Adreno 710 GPU. These are further supported by 12GB of RAM with up to 12GB of additional VRAM support if needed (total of 24GB RAM) and a large 256GB internal storage.

Playing your favorite mobile games is a breeze on the HONOR X9c 5G (as long as you temper the graphic settings on some). For Mobile Legends: Bang-Bang, while the phone defaults on High for both graphic and framerate, you do have the option to push it to Ultra for both. We tried it and so far, we didn’t feel any slowdown, although at ultra graphics the phone did start to heat up much faster.

For Genshin Impact, however, we urge you to stick with the phone default setting (low) as tinkering as we felt a bit of stutter once we increased the graphics to medium and/or the fps to 60. At default setting, however, everything is buttery-smooth.

Geek Photoshoot Capabilities

On paper, it seems that HONOR compromised a bit on the rear camera module as what once was a triple camera setup only became a dual camera configuration this time around. This cannot be further from the truth.

While the HONOR X9c has a 108MP main + 5MP ultrawide shooter, it does come with an OIS support and AI-ready features out of the box. The OIS adds a huge boost especially for low-light situations while the AI-support help clean the images further.

Here are some sample shots:

Color profile for the HONOR X9c 5G leans a bit on the cooler side of things but if you want it to punch some color, turn the AI button on and it should create a warmer/ more saturated profile for you. What I do appreciate is how accurate the colors tend to be. Nothing is overly saturated or dull and you can really play around with your shots more.

For low light the OIS really helps steady your shots for clearer night photography. You can temper the night time portrait shot beautification as well as the standard setting might be a bit too aggressive especially in cutting out the subject from the background. With a bit more fine-tuning from the AI, it should work flawlessly.

The HONOR X9c 5G also comes with AI Magic Eraser out of the box as well lending for more options to help you achieve that perfect shot.

As always, explore various pre-installed photo filters to bring out your creativity further.

We’ve come a long way for midrange phones to be able to create more than serviceable images and the HONOR X9c 5G is proof of that.  Once upon a time, these images can only be achieved with flagship phones that are 3-4x the price point of midrange greats like this.

Everyday Reliability

You’ve seen the marketing stunts and we’ve tested the phone ourselves and we can say, unequivocally, that the HONOR X9c 5G is one of the toughest phones we’ve ever gotten our hands on. Enjoying a 5-Star All-Angle Ultra Tough Drop Resistance and claiming the No. 1 Spot in DxoMark’s Battery ranking (scoring a high 164 points against competition), the HONOR X9c aims to power you through your day through even in the harshest of environments.

We published an article diving deeper into how HONOR was able to create such a tough device, but in essence the tech wizards at HONOR reinforced pretty much everything they can reinforce on the phone. From tougher, more shatter-resistant curved AMOLED, to a bendable cover case, even to additional padding on internal pieces, the guys from HONOR ensures that what you’re getting is a very sturdy device. It also enjoys an IP65M rating for dust and water-resistance so yeah, if you drop your phone in a puddle, it should still run well.

In fact, to further showcase the phone’s toughened survivability amidst extremely scenarios (temperature, drops, etc.) the guys at HONOR tasked us and a bunch of other media and KOL’s to subject the phone in drop tests and even boil tests. To push the craziness even further, the phone is now a Guinness World Record holder for the most number of people conducting a drop test on a single location. To top it all off, HONOR Philippines dropped the HONOR X9c 5G 500-feet above the air. Suffice to say, the phone survived all of these (please do not try to recreate these insane torture test on your own — especially that 500 foot drop).

For a phone that’s relatively thin, they were able to squeeze in 6600mAh of battery in it. Yes, you read that right: 6600mAh. According to the brand, it should last you 3 days on average use before you can drain it. On actual use, we’d peg it at a day and a half or a bit more. That’s still a lot even though we subjected it to a couple of gaming sessions, binge-watching a few Netflix shows and YouTube videos here and there and a whole lot of internet surfing and communication.

If you run out of juice, the HONOR X9c 5G is equipped with a 66W SuperCharger that can get your phone up and running after about 70 minutes of charging. And before you complain over those charging minutes, we should remind you that it does have 6600mAh of battery.

Final Geek Lifestyle Verdict

While the internal chipset and configuration of the HONOR X9c 5G isn’t that far removed from its older sibling, the HONOR X9b, the nifty safety improvements, additional OIS feature on the AI camera module, and added VRAM makes this a far more superior offering than previous generations. Is it enough to warrant to an upgrade? If you just bought the HONOR X9b then you could potentially skip this release as the HONOR X9c feels just like the HONOR X9b 5G and is more akin to a fully-realized version of the previous generation. However, if you missed out on any of the HONOR X9 series from the past then yes, we highly recommend this device especially if you’re the type that tends to be a little bit more carefree with your gadgets. Added protection aside, the additional quality of life improvements make this a solid option considering the price sits just right at Php 16,999 – exactly the price of the HONOR X9b 5G when it came out.

If you’re itching to get your hands on one, we urge you to place your orders during the pre-order period so you don’t just get the benefit of getting some cool freebies but you also stand the chance to win a Php 650,000-worth Rolex Datejust Anniversary Black Dial only until January 24, 2025!

Itching to get your hands on one? Here are some helpful links:

To know more about the HONOR X9c 5G, head over to HONOR’s Official Page and Social Pages.

HONOR X9c 5G Specs:

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 5G Processor (4nm)
• Adreno 710 GPU
• 12GB RAM (+12 GB VRAM)
• 6.78-inch AMOLED display, 120Hz refresh rate, 4000 nits peak brightness and 3840Hz PWM Dimming
• Super Double Tempered Glass AGC DT star2 Plus protection (Display + Camera)
• 256GB storage
• 108MP f/1.75 main w/ OIS + 5MP f/2.2 ultrawide rear camera setup (AI Camera)
• 16MP f/2.5 wide front camera
• 3G, LTE, 5G Dual SIM
• WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, fingerprint under display, USB Type-C
• 6600mAh battery with 66W SuperCharge Support
• Android 14 with Magic OS 8.0
• IP65M Dust & Water-Proof Rated
• Jade Cyan, Titanium Purple, Titanium Black
• Price: PHP 16,999