HONOR adds a 100-megapixel camera upgrade and a bigger battery to the X8a. But is it really an upgrade over the X8?
After the announcement of the X9a 5G in Southeast Asia, it was a matter of time before we got news of another variant under the X-series. That has happened, as HONOR has made the X8a official in the UK. While the X9a 5G borrows design elements from the X9, the X8a looks practically the same as the X8. So what’s different then?
The main difference with the X8a is that it omits the depth sensor and swaps the X8’s 64-megapixel main camera for a 100-megapixel one–most likely using the same sensor found on the Reno8 T. Despite having roughly the same body, the X8a packs a slightly larger 4500mAh battery inside–while still supporting the same wired charging solution at 22.5w.
The other change on the HONOR X8a is its use of a Helio G88 processor. Announced back in 2021, the Helio G88 is a variation of the Helio G85 that natively supports a 90hz display–which is needed since the X8a uses the same 6.7-inch IPS display found on the regular X8. Unlike with the upgrades in the main camera and battery, we can hardly call the processor an upgrade: the Snapdragon 680 used on the X8 is more power efficient and has higher-clocked cores than the Helio G88.
The X8a is available in the UK for 220 Pounds (~Php 14.6k) for the 6GB/128GB variant, and HONOR lists it as coming soon in Malaysia and UAE, which means this entry-level phone might make it to the Philippines as well.
