Mid-range · 2026

Huawei nova 16

Nobody owns this yet

Our Take

CPU benches near recent upper-mid phones like the Google Pixel 7 Pro

Best for

Strength 100W fast charging, All-day battery (7000mAh)

Extras Reverse wireless charging, Cooling system

Watch out No Google Play

6.68″ AMOLED · 120Hz

9010S 12 / 256 GB

7000 mAh 100W charging

50 MP 2 rear · 50 MP selfie

5G Wi-Fi 6 · NFC

Compare

Full specifications

Display

6.68″ · OLED · 1280 × 2800 · 120 Hz · HDR

OLED + smooth

A clean OLED panel — colours pop and sunlight visibility is solid.

Screen size

6.68"

Panel type

OLED

Resolution

1280 × 2800 px

Refresh rate

120 Hz

Smooth

Eye comfort

2160 Hz PWM

High-frequency PWM

Colour depth

10-bit (1B colours)

10-bit

HDR

HDR Vivid

HDR

Protection

Aluminosilicate glass

Performance

Kirin 9010S

Everyday capable

Daily apps and casual games run smoothly — heavy gaming will drop frames.

Chipset

Kirin 9010S

Current CPU tier

Upper mid-range

AnTuTu

1,013,800

v11

RAM type

LPDDR4X RAM

CPU layout

2xC2T Taishan V121 2.50GHz+6xC6T Taishan V121 2.05GHz+4xC4T Cortex A510 1.50GHz

Software & updates

HarmonyOS 6.1 · 2-year support (brand estimate)

How long the maker keeps shipping HarmonyOS and security updates — the main thing that decides how many years this phone stays current.

Operating system

HarmonyOS 6.1

Software support

2 years of updates (brand estimate)

Updates remaining

~2 years

Camera

50 MP f/1.9 main · 50 MP selfie · 4K video

4K video

A standard camera setup — sharp in daylight, expect noise in low light.

Main camera

50 MP f/1.9

Telephoto

50 MP f/2.6

Front camera

50 MP f/2.4

Slow motion

Yes, 480 fps

Camera extras

optical zoom, RAW, laser AF

Video

4K @ 30 fps

4K video

Battery

7000 mAh · 100 W wired

Plenty

A genuinely all-day battery — comfortably handles streaming and social.

Capacity

7000 mAh

Wired charging

100 W

Fast

Reverse wireless charging

Supported

Reverse charging

Removable

Audio

Stereo

Stereo speakers

Speakers

Stereo

Memory

12 GB RAM · 256 GB

Roomy

RAM

12 GB

Storage

256 GB

Configurations

12/256GB · 12/512GB

Expandable

Connectivity

5G · NFC · Wi-Fi 6

Modern radios

Yes

4G LTE

Yes

NFC

Yes

Contactless

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi 6

Modern Wi-Fi

Bluetooth

6.0

GPS systems

GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, QZSS, Galileo, GPS (L1+L5), BeiDou (B1), Galileo (E1+E5a), NavIC System, QZSS (L1 + L5), Galileo (E1+E5a+E5b)

USB

USB-C 2.0

USB OTG

Yes

3.5mm jack

IR blaster

SIM

1× Nano-SIM

Network bands

4G works on all four carriers — 5G on MTN & Airtel

Radio bands decide whether this phone sees MTN, Glo, Airtel or 9mobile towers — and how strong the signal holds indoors.

M MTN

4G works · 5G works No B20 or B7 — weaker indoor signal, and slower speeds where the network is busy.

Works

A Airtel

4G full · 5G works

Full

G Glo

4G works No B28 — signal can get weak indoors and outside the big cities.

Works

9 9mobile

4G full

Full

The bands Nigerian networks use

B3 main band

M A G 9

B7 extra speed

B20 indoor reach

B28 indoor reach

n78 the 5G band

M A

The dots show which network uses each band. ✓ means this phone has it, ✗ means it doesn't.

All reported bands

2G BC0, B2, B3, B5, B8

3G B1, B5, B8, B19

4G B1, B3, B5, B8, B18, B19, B26

5G n1, n3, n5, n8, n28b, n28a, n38, n41, n77, n78

Build & Design

199 g · 7.3 mm · IP65

Built to last

Height

159.6 mm

Width

75.5 mm

Thickness

7.3 mm

Weight

199 g

IP rating

IP65

Water resistant

Sensors

Fingerprint (side-mounted) · accelerometer · gyro · compass

Sensors

Fingerprint (side-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, compass

Images and battery life estimates from GSMArena

How it stacks up against the rest.

A few phones around the same price, so you can see what this one does better and what it gives up.

Apple iPhone 17e

Trades blows 2 wins 2 losses

Smoother display

120 Hz vs 60 Hz refresh · 1280 × 2800 vs 1170 × 2532 resolution · 6.68″ vs 6.1″ screen

75% larger battery capacity

100 W vs 25 W charging · 7,000 mAh vs 4,005 mAh battery

Lower benchmark score

1.0M vs 2.2M AnTuTu · Upper mid-range vs Flagship tier

Heavier in hand

199 g vs 169 g

Full comparison

Samsung Galaxy S26

Trades blows 2 wins 3 losses

63% larger battery capacity

100 W vs 25 W charging · 7,000 mAh vs 4,300 mAh battery

Starts with more storage

256 GB vs 128 GB baseline

Lower benchmark score

1.0M vs 3.1M AnTuTu · Upper mid-range vs Flagship tier

Less stable camera

No OIS vs OIS · 4K vs 8K @ 30 fps video

Heavier in hand

199 g vs 167 g

Full comparison

Where to buy

We don't have any listings for this phone yet. Try searching on Konga or Jiji.

Search on Konga Search on Jiji

Similar Phones

How each one compares to the Huawei nova 16.

Upper mid-range

Huawei nova 16

Full specifications

Display

Performance

Software & updates

Camera

Battery

Audio

Memory

Connectivity

Network bands

The bands Nigerian networks use

All reported bands

Build & Design

Sensors

How it stacks up against the rest.

Apple iPhone 17e

Samsung Galaxy S26

Where to buy

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