UPDATE: Renders of the Nova 8 SE surfaced, showing a camera bump reminiscent of the one found on the Nova 7i, along with an OLED display with a waterdrop notch and in-display fingerprint scanner.
With the Kirin 9000-powered Mate 40 Series speculated to be the last Huawei phones to use Kirin processors for now, the shift to MediaTek processors might be happening starting with the upcoming Nova 8 series. If the “refreshed” Nova 7 SE, which uses a Dimensity 800U is not enough to convince you, new reports about the upcoming Nova 8 SE further supports this.
According to these reports, there will be two versions: one with a Dimensity 720 processor, and another with a Dimensity 800U chip. RAM and storage has not yet been disclosed, though the Nova 8 SE will reportedly get a 3800mAh battery with 66w wired charging—similar to the one used on the Mate 40 Pro.
The cameras are expected to be the same as the Nova 7 SE: 16-megapixel selfie snapper and a quad-rear camera setup: 64-megapixel main camera, 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, and a pair of 2-megapixel cameras. The display is most likely the same at 6.53-inches, though there’s no word if it is an IPS or AMOLED panel.
The Nova 8 SE is expected to launch sometime in November in China. Do take these reports with a grain of salt, as Huawei might actually have a good supply of Kirin processors for the Nova 8 SE.
To recap, MediaTek was able to secure permission to supply chips to Huawei last August.