Huawei nova 12 Ultra and nova 12 Pro arrive with variable aperture and satellite connectivity

As promised, Huawei unveiled the nova 12 series today at an event in China. The lineup includes four smartphones - nova 12, nova 12 Lite, nova 12 Pro, and nova 12 Ultra. We'll talk about the Pro and Ultra models in this post, so those interested in the vanilla and Lite versions can head here.

The Huawei nova 12 Ultra is built around a 6.76" LTPO OLED with a screen refresh rate of 1-120Hz and a resolution of 2,776x1,224 pixels. It supports 1B colors and has a P3 wide color gamut. The display is protected by Kunlun Glass and has a center-aligned pill-shaped notch for two cameras - 60MP ultrawide (100˚ FOV and autofocus) joined by an 8MP unit (2x optical zoom) for portraits.

The nova 12 Ultra's rear panel is covered with faux leather and has a 3D embossing of Huawei and nova branding. The back cover also sports an elliptical camera island housing an LED flash, a laser focus sensor, a 50MP primary camera, and an 8MP ultrawide camera. The primary camera has a physically variable aperture of F/1.4~4.0 with RYYB color filter array, while the ultrawide unit has an FOV of 112˚.

The nova 12 Ultra runs HarmonyOS 4 and has up to 1TB of storage onboard. Huawei hasn't mentioned the processor on its official website, but it's believed to be the Kirin 9000S.

The smartphone also has satellite calling and messaging supported by a two-way Beidou satellite messaging system, and fueling the entire package is a 4,600 mAh battery that draws power through a USB-C port at up to 100W.

The rest of the Huawei nova 12 Ultra's highlights include an in-display fingerprint scanner, dual-band GPS, NFC, and stereo speakers.

The Huawei nova 12 Pro is the nova 12 Ultra with one extra color option, more weight (198 g vs. 201 g), and no faux leather back. The Pro model also has lower base storage and doesn't have a 1TB option.

The Huawei nova 12 Ultra comes in 512GB and 1TB storage options, priced at CNY4,699 ($660/€600/INR54,700) and CNY5,499 ($770/€700/INR64,020), respectively. The nova 12 Pro is offered with 256GB and 512GB storage costing CNY3,999 ($560/€510/INR46,560) and CNY4,399 ($615/€560/INR51,200), respectively.

Huawei nova 12 Ultra

Both phones are up for pre-orders in China through VMall, but the Pro will go on sale starting January 5, 2024, while the Ultra will be available beginning January 12, 2024.

Huawei nova 12 Pro

Source 1, Source 2 (both in Chinese)