Introduction
Although its not marketed as widely as the P9, the Huawei P9 Plus has enough tricks in its pocket to surpass the P9 fugleman if given the chance.
The P9 Plus builds upon the premium P9 with a bigger AMOLED display, beefier memory and battery, and, of course, its key feature - the pressure sensitive technology or Press Touch as Huawei calls it.
Indeed, the P9 Plus will finally show Huaweis interpretation of the pressure sensitive screen, as the Force Touch-enabled model of the Huawei Mate S (their first phone with it) was harder to find than a long lost pirate treasure.
The Huawei P9 Plus employs a beautiful metal unibody as its P9 sibling, and is powered by the same Kirin 955 chip. There is 4GB of RAM and 64GB storage by default, while the Leica camera setup remains untouched - dual 12MP sensors - color and monochrome. The selfie camer a got upgraded with a wider aperture and auto focus, though, so we could expect better shots especially in low-light.
Huawei P9 Plus key features
- Aluminum unibody
- 5.5" 1080p AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 423ppi
- Press Touch pressure-sensitive display
- HiSilicon Kirin 955 chipset: octa-core CPU (4xCortex-A72 @ 2.5GHz plus 4xCortex-A53 @ 1.8GHz), Mali-T880 MP4 GPU
- 4GB of RAM, 64GB of built-in storage, microSD slot;
- Android 6.0 Marshmallow, Huawei EMUI v4.1 overlay;
- Dual 12MP Leica camera with hybrid AF, color and monochrome sensors, f/2.2 aperture; 1080@60fps video recording
- 8MP AF front camera, f/1.9 aperture; 1080p video recording; wide selfie
- Hybrid DualSIM/microSD card slot (up to 128GB) for the dual SIM model
- Cat. 6 LTE (300/50Mbps); dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct; Bluetooth 4.2 LE; NFC; GPS/GLONASS/Beidou; USB Type-C
- 3,400mAh Li-Ion battery, Rapid charging
Cons
- No 4K 2160p video recording
- Non-removable battery
- Hybrid Dual SIM/microSD card slot limits options on the dual-SIM model
- No NFC for the Dual SIM model
The Huawei P9 Plus specs list continues the long-standing omission of 4K video recording on Huawei phones. We were all but surprised to discover the lack of 4K video recording. People are already getting used to non-removable batteries, and the same goes for the hybrid SIM/microSD dual-SIM solution. So, the P9 Plus really doesnt have any glaring omissions.
The fuss around the Leica-branded cameras is beginning to subside, but in the meantime Huawei has worked to i mprove the P9 and P9 Plus cameras even further with firmware updates so the camera quality is guaranteed by all means. Checking out your photos on the gorgeous AMOLED screen is a treat on its own as well.
So, weve already reviewed the Huawei P9 in detail. Its time see how the P9 Plus does.
Unboxing the Huawei P9 Plus
The Huawei P9 Plus comes packed within a big and thoughtfully designed white box. Inside, you get to unpack the beautiful Huawei P9 Plus and its complimentary 18W wall plug for rapid charging, the USB Type-C cable, and a pair of in-ear headphones with a remote control.
The retail package
Huawei P9 Plus 360-degree view
Physically, the Huawei P9 Plus isnt that much bigger than its P9 sibling. The Plus model spreads at 152.3 x 7 5.3 x 7 mm, which means the extra .3" screen estate bumped the height with 7mm and the width by 4mm.
The incredibly 7mm-thin profile of the Huawei P9 is still present here, but the bigger screen and beefier battery has added extra 18g for a total of 162g.
Design and build quality
Huawei P9 Plus is a beauty you can fall in love with in a heartbeat. But we are somewhat biased, as we already met with the P9 and we knew what we were getting with its Plus flavor. Still, you cant deny Huawei did a great job designing and manufacturing the P9 series.
The Huawei P9 Plus is available in two different layouts - brushed metal and ceramic. We saw the ceramic white model back in April and it felt great to the touch even though it looked a bit like plastic from a distance but you can really tell youre holding a more premium material once you have it in your hand.
Huawei P9 Plus
The brushed metal unit we have here today for our review feels silky smooth due to its somewhat glossy polish, and it looks as gorgeous as any other modern flagship. The brushed pattern is subtle, but enough to boost its beauty, while the lightweight body and slim waistline help minimize the P9 Plus footprint.
The Huawei P9 Plus builds on top of the P9 with a bigger AMOLED screen, Press Touch sensors, and stereo speakers. The bigger body allowed for a beefier battery, too. Everything else is pretty much the same, starting off with the exterior and going deeper into every piece of electronics we cant see beneath the metal unibody.
We really appreciate the dual-camera glass accent - it highlights the premium Leica camera setup and doubles as the perfect hiding place for the top antenna. The other antenna sits behind another band on the back, but its paintjob matches the brushed metal quite nicely.
Huawei P9 Plus may be a 5.5" device, but its far from what wed specify as a phablet, hey, its smaller than the 5.5" iPhone Plus model. The glossy polish on the P9 Plus doesnt help for a secure grip, but its square-ish shape provides more than enough grip when handled by one or two hands. The slim profile makes the P9 Plus barely noticeable in most pockets, which is much appreciated, too.
Handling the P9 Plus
The P9 Plu s is a smartphone of a solid build quality and premium design using high-end materials and processes and you can really tell just by holding it in hand.
The 2.5D glass trend continues, but wed have really appreciated and adequate glass protection to keep the scratches away from the display and the camera.
Controls
The control set on the Huawei P9 Plus is identical to the P9. There is the earpiece, which doubles as a speaker, above the AMOLED display. The selfie camera with auto focus, a bunch of hidden sensors, and a notification LED are also around.
A look at the front • the earpiece
There is nothing below the screen but the Huawei logo.
The SIM and microSD shared slot is on the left, while the right side of the P9 Plus houses the volume rocker and the Power/Lock key.
The left side • the SIM tray • the right side • the power key
The P9 Plus features an IR blaster on top, which paired with the appropriate app, could turn your phone into a universal remote. The secondary mic is also around.
The bottom of the P9 Plus is pretty crowded - here you can spot the audio jack, the primary mic, the USB Type-C port, and the primary loudspeakers grille.
The top side • the IR blaster • the bottom • the loudspeaker
The P9 Plus does a neat trick with its earpiece and loudspeaker. When you hold the phone horizontally, the two drivers output stereo sound, but in portrait mode the top speaker switches to treble while the bottom one plays bass (essentially, forming a two-way speaker setup). You can check the loudspeaker results for more details but its enough to say that we are not big fans of the overly enhanced stereo output when listening to music.
And finally, the dual 12MP snappers and the Leica branding are on the back, stealing the spotlight from the always-on fing erprint sensor. Weve always considered Huaweis interpretation of the fingerprint security feature to be the best. We really like the instantaneous recognition and unlock and the ability to use the sensor as a camera shutter or as a touchpad.
The back with the Leica camera and the fingerprint sensor
A 5.5" 1080p AMOLED display
The Huawei P9 Plus not only brings a bigger 5.5" display to the series, but switches from IPS-NEO to AMOLED technology. The OLED screen must have been thinner allowing Huawei to install a pressure-sensitive layer beneath it while still maintaining the imp ressively thin profile of the P9.
The bigger screen shares the screen resolution with the original P9 - its 1080p. This brings down the pixel density a bit to 401ppi.
Quite expectedly, upon a closer inspection, the Samsung-made AMOLED screen turned out to be made of the same fabric as the other Samsungs gems. A Diamond PenTile matrix revealed itself once we peeked under a microscope.
The screen achieved a respectable maximum brightness of 400 nits, which is close to what the current crop of AMOLEDs offer. There is no light bleeding in the blacks, while the contrast is as excellent and infinte as on any other OLED.
One can argue about the 1080p resolution spread across a 5.5" screen estate, but we sized up the Huawei P9 Plus next to the Galaxy S7 edge and the difference is barely visible with a naked eye. Unless you are planning to strap the device onto a VR setup and look at it from really close, you wont really be able to see any difference.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0.00 | 400 | ∞ | |
| 0.46 | 500 | 1094 | |
| 0.42 | 497 | 1192 | |
| 0.43 | 590 | 1382 | |
| 0.346 | 471 | 13 61 | |
| 0.00 | 433 | ∞ | |
| 0.00 | 392 | ∞ | |
| 0.30 | 426 | 1444 | |
| 0.51 | 628 | 1227 | |
| 0.05 | 358 | 7160 | |
The P9 Plus aced our sunlight legibility test. It scores substantially higher (30%) than the P9, but also outshines the Meizu Pro 6. While the score is not as great as the Galaxy S7 edge, its still among the excellent performers out there.
Sunlight contrast ratio
- Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
4.615 - Samsung G alaxy S7 edge
4.439 - OnePlus 3
4.424 - Samsung Galaxy S7
4.376 - HTC One A9
4.274 - Samsung Galaxy A3
4.241 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
4.124 - Samsung Galaxy Note5
4.09 - Huawei Nexus 6P
4.019 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
3.983 - OnePlus X
3.983 - Oppo R7s
3.964 - Huawei P9 Plus
3.956 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
3.918 - Samsung Galaxy A5
3.895 - Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
3.879 - Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
3.873 - Samsung Galaxy A8
3.859 - Apple iPhone 6
3.838 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
3.817< /li> - Motorola Moto X (2014)
3.816 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
3.802 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
3.789 - Apple iPhone 6s
3.783 - Meizu Pro 5
3.781 - Microsoft Lumia 650
3.772 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
3.756 - Oppo F1 Plus
3.709 - Vivo X5Pro
3.706 - Apple iPhone SE
3.681 - Samsung Galaxy A7
3.679 - Meizu PRO 6
3.659 - BlackBerry Priv
3.645 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
3.53 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode
3.523 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
3.523 - Acer Jade Primo
3.521 - Microsoft Lumia 950
3.512< /span> - Oppo R7 Plus
3.499 - Samsung Galaxy J7
3.422 - Meizu MX5
3.416 - Oppo R7
3.32 - Xiaomi Mi 5
3.24 - Samsung Galaxy J2
3.235 - Sony Xperia X Performance
3.234 - Motorola Moto X Play
3.222 - Huawei P9
3.195 - Lenovo Vibe Shot
3.113 - Motorola Moto X Force
3.105 - LG Nexus 5X
3.092 - Huawei Mate S
3.073 - Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
3.065 - Apple iPhone 6 Plus
3.023 - Sony Xperia X
2.989 - Samsung Galaxy Note
2.97 - Huawei Mate 8
2.949 - LG G5
2.905 - HTC One S
2.901 - Sony Xperia Z5
2.876 - Microsoft Lumia 550
2.851 - Sony Xperia Z5 compact
2.784 - LG V10
2.744 - Xiaomi Redmi 3
2.735 - Sony Xperia M5
2.69 - Huawei P9 Lite
2.679 - Vivo V3Max
2.659 - Xiaomi Mi 4i
2.641 - Sony Xperia XA
2.609 - Xiaomi Mi 4c
2.574 - LeEco Le Max 2
2.567 - Microsoft Lumia 640
2.563 - Lenovo Moto G4
2.544 - Oppo F1
2.528 - Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
2.525 - Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
2.503 - Motorola Moto G
2.477 - Huawei G8
2.471 - Sony Xperia Z
2.462 - Huawei Honor 7
2.406 - Sony Xperia E5
2.386 - ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
2.382 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
2.378 - HTC 10
2.378 - HTC One E9+
2.305 - Alcatel One Touch Hero
2.272 - < span class="label">Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
2.254 - Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
2.253 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)
2.249 - Sony Xperia C4 Dual
2.235 - Motorola Moto G (2014)
2.233 - LG Nexus 5
2.228 - Huawei P8
2.196 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
2.166 - OnePlus Two
2.165 HTC One X
2.158- LG Aka
2.145 - Archos 50 Diamond
2.134 - Xiaomi Redmi Note
2.119 - Acer Liquid X2
2.084 - Huawei P8lite
2.078 - Moto G 3rd gen max manual
2.026 - Xiaomi Mi Max
1.996 - Sony Xperia E4g
1.972 - OnePlus One
1.961 - Meizu m3 note
1.923 - BlackBerry Leap
1.892 - Meizu m2 note
1.892 - HTC Butterfly
1.873 - ZTE Nubia Z9 mini
1.759 - Sony Xperia U
1.758 - Asus Zenfone Selfie
1.68 - Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
1.675 - ZTE Nubia Z9
1.659 - Jolla Jolla
1.605 - Motorola Moto E
1.545 - Sony Xperia M
1.473 - Xiaomi Redmi 2
1.311 - Sony Xperia C
1.283 - Meizu MX
1.221 - Sony Xperia E
1.215
As for colors and accuracy, things went from good to better for the Huawei P9 Plus. On the default mode the screen turned out with good color calibration with an average DeltaE of 5.4. The maximum deviation was at cyan, whil e the whites turned out a bit bluish. All other colors were fine.
When we turned on the Warm color mode, the average DeltaE dropped down to 3.9, which means you can consider the P9 Plus screen as of excellent color accuracy. This mode also fixed the white - the blue tint was gone.
Finally, if you like the punchy colors like on Samsungs AMOLEDs, dont worry - there is a dedicated Vivid mode. It boosts all base colors, and the red one in particular, so you can enjoy punchy colors when you dont need the color accuracy.
Battery life
The Huawei P9 Plus is powered by an ample 3,400 mAh battery, sealed as expected. The P9 Plus supports the so-called rapid charging with a 9V/2A charger, which fills 38% of the battery in 30 minutes and we can confirm this number.
We ran our battery test and the Huawei P9 Plus scored a 69h rating, which means you can count on the battery to last just few hours below 3 days if you do an hour each of calling, browsing the web and video playback a day. Such usage pattern may be somewhat artificial, but weve established it, so our battery results are comparable across devices.
The phone did very on all three separate tests, but was only average when it comes to standby endurance. Standby battery life was gauged in the Performance mode, which does not put any limits on the hardware. The Standard mode will add a couple of hours to the rating, while the Ultra Power Saving will keep your phone alive for quite some time.
There is also the so-called ROG power-saving, which lowers the native resolution down to 720p and will give you more battery life when playing games.
The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case youre interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones weve tested will compare under your own typical use.
Connectivity
Regarding connectivity, the Huawei P9 Plus is properly equipped. Huawei is very proud, and rightfully so, of the Kirin 955s built-in radio support, which includes up to four 2G bands, four 3G bands, and eighteen 4G LTE bands.
Our variant (VIE-L09) comes with a single nano-SIM slot, but you can opt for the dual-SM flavor (VIE-L29) with a hybrid secondary nanoSIM/microSD slot. Its second card can only tap into 2G networks while the first gets the full cellular connectivity.
The P9 Plus supports dual-band 2.4/5.0GHz Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, with Wi-Fi Direct and hotspot capabilities. Bluetooth is v4.2, where interference issues with LTE networks should be fixed.
Theres NFC on board and it is available on both single-SIM and dual-SIM models. In order to get it working on the dual-SIM VIE-L29 device - you have to be using only one SIM card, though. While the NFC option is missing from the dual-SIM Huawei P9, we app reciate that Huawei found a way to keep it on the dual-SIM P9 Plus.
The satellite tranceiver supports GPS, GLONASS, and Beidou, so there isnt a corner in the world where the smartphone wont be able to pinpoint your location.
There is no FM radio though.
A 3.5mm jack provides standard connectivity for wired headphones. There is the new USB Type-C connector for charging and wired connectivity. Mind you, it defaults to charge-only every single time you connect it to a PC, and you have to select manually from the notification shade that you want to do something else.
Finally, the Huawei P9 Plus has an IR blaster on top, which paired with the Huaweis Smart Controller app will turn the phone into a universal remote control for all of your home appliances.
Smart Controller app
Familiar interface with EMUI and Marshmallow
The Huawei P9 Plus runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow, skinned with Huaweis own Emotion UI, in its v.4.1 iteration. Emotion UI has been pretty consistent between versions and recurring Huawei users should feel right at home.
Theres plenty of stuff going on the lockscreen, starting with the alternating cover images - every time you wake up the device, youre greeted by a different wallpaper. Thats if you opt for some of the Magazine unlock styles. You can also go old-school and pick a single image set to be shown on the lockscreen. Whatever you choose, you likely wont be seeing much of it, as the fi ngerprint unlock will take you straight to the homescreen.
If you do decide to wake up the P9 via the power button, you get a large clock with a date, steps counter (if enabled) and a shortcut to the camera. You can also quickly start the camera by a double press of the Volume Down button.
Back to the lockscreen, you can pull up an iOS-style menu from the bottom, where you get yet another camera shortcut, but also quick access to the flashlight, calculator and voice recorder. If youve chosen the magazine style lockscreen, the pull-up menu will give you eight more options for control over the changing covers.
The Lockscreen
Beyond the lockscreen we find a fairly standard Android homescreen with any number of customizable shortcuts between 0 and 5, which are docked at the bottom and are visible on all homescreens. There are eighteen homescreen panes at most, more than enough to house all of your apps since there is no app drawer.
Default homescreen • apps-only homescreen • folders • settings • options
The P9 Plus offers landscape orientation for the homescreens, you just need to enabled it from the options.
Landscape view
A pinch on the homescreen triggers the familiar Overview mode to let you check out and organize the homescreen panes currently in use, remove or add panes as you please. Widgets are available too - its mostly the stock Android ones, but Huawei has thrown in some of its own as well. If you like your homescreens neatly organized, you can enable the shake feature, which will arrange scattered apps starting from the top left.
Theme options are available in the Emotion 4.1 UX. They can s wap your wallpapers, icon pack, and lockscreen style.
Themes • theme settings • icon packs • applying a new theme • another theme
The notification area has two panes - one that holds all notifications sorted in a timeline, and another for all of your quick toggles.
The P9 Plus task switcher lets you swipe up and away unwanted apps. A downward swipe locks the app so that when you hit the Kill all button, it remains open. Thats nifty if you are trying to free some RAM for a particular app or game, but we doubt youll need it with 4 gig of RAM.
Notifications • Expanded notifications • quick settings • toggles rearrangement • pull down to keep
For certain scenarios, like in-car use, you can enable a Simple homescreen mode, which features large tiles for easy tapping. Its not particularly consistent, though, offering simple version of some menus, but not others - the dialler is the same size as in regular mode (in all fairness its fairly oversized to begin with).
Simple homescreen with a tiled interface
Huawei had granular control over app permissions before it was cool, and theres no reason to change that, now that the feature comes as a part of latest Android Marshmallow.
The P9 Plus features a notification center, courtesy of the Phone Manager app, from which you can control which apps can sen d you the three types of available notifications - the shade notifications, the lockscreen notifications and the banner style notifications.
This level of control is also employed when it comes to the app access to network data. The user can control the rights of each application to access either WiFi or mobile data. This can save a lot of traffic and help you optimize your data plan and consumption in an easy and convenient way.
The Phone Manager also features harassment filter, battery manager with power-saving modes, and options to choose which apps to run in the background and which not (protected apps).
Phone Manager †¢ Notification permissions • Notification permissions
As part of the extensive Smart assistance package, you can customize the bottom navigation bar - you can swap the task-switcher and back keys, or even add a shortcut for the notification area. There is also a one-handed UI mode, for easier menu surfing on the go.
You can enable the so-called Floating dock - its a virtual key you can move anywhere on the screen, allowing you to expand it to the primary Android keys - Back, Home, Task Switcher, Lock and Close all running apps. It will help you control your phone with just one hand.
Motion control also plays a significant role on the Huawei P9 Plus. There are flip gestures, as well as picking up, tilting and even things like knuckle detection and drawing. All of those are extensively customizable to your liking as well.
Smart assistance • navigation bar options • floating dock • motion control • motion control
One handed-more is available, as well as scheduled power on and off. The Smart Assistance package also offers Glove mode, and an option to prevent accidental unlocks while the P9 is in your pocket.
Voice control, on the other hand, lets you operate the P9 entirely hands-free. The functionality resembles what we have seen on certain Nexus and Samsung Galaxy devices and boils down to the ability to trigger a voice command, even when the phone is locked, and its scr een is off.
Huawei does this by always listening for a "trigger word", which by default is... "Okay, Emy." Once triggered, the phone wakes up and awaits further voice instructions, like placing a call. Speech awareness is also customizable. The wake-up phrase can be changed, and you can also train the device to recognize your voice better.
Voice control
Huaweis fingerprint recognition has long been among the best available, and thats only gotten better on the P9 series. The sensor is always on, and it will unlock the smartphone and take you to the homescreen in what can be described only as a mere instant. The lightning fast unloc k comes along with a new Level-4 3D figerprint detection technology ranking it among the most secure mobile phone readers on the market.
Press Touch - yay or nay
Huawei P9 Plus is companys second device to feature presure-sensitive screen tech or as Huawei calls it - Press Touch. Their first phone to come with it was the 128GB premium flavor of the Huawei Mate S, but it was sold in quite limited quantities and a hard one to find.
The P9 Plus has almost as wide availability as the Huawei P9, which means it will offer Press Touch to a wider user base.
We consider the Huawei P9 Plus to be the first mainstream Android smartphone to introduce the pressure sensitive display, as both the ZTE Axon mini and Meizu Pro 6 arent available worldwide. And as we mentioned, the 128GB Mate S is a sneaky fella.
Apples 3D Touch is surely useful, but until iOS 10 makes it more useful, its still a gimmick. We werent impress with the Meizus interpretation either, so we are quite curious what Huawei has made for us.
First, lets start with the obvious - a press touch on most of the core apps will pop up a few shortcuts. For example, if you force press on Phone - you will get shortcuts for three favorite contacts and add New Contact option. But there is more to it.
Press Touch on system app icons
If you have popped such menu with shortcuts, you can press firmer and you will initiate the default (or the assigned) action. The Phone app will open the fill form for creating a new contact, the Camera will launch the selfie mode, Messages will start a new message, and so on.
Next - zooming. The zooming gesture works in the gallery, but not in the way we are used to. Zooming doesnt work when you are in the gird of pictures in the Gallery, but when you are viewing a single photo. You can then press touch on it and it pops a magnifying glass, which zooms in or out depending on the level of pressure you apply. Nice! This is probably the best use of the force press weve met so far.
Zooming in gallery • pressing with little pressure • more pressure • maximum pressure (200% zoom)
We have to mention there is no pop-up content with the press touch - not for messages, emails, phone, browser, or gallery. Huawei didnt use the press touch for displaying extra content. No, the company focused on UI convenience.
The P9 Plus relies on an onscreen control keys and Huawei offers you a very clever way to get rid of those for good and yet keep their functionality. You can hide the navigation bar entirely and use force touch at the bottom instead (there are three tiny dots to mark the right spots). You get to keep the whole screen estate for yourself and yet youll always have a way of navigation.
Hiding the navigation bar • there are three tiny dots to mark the spots • pressing on Home
Huawei knew it was on to something with the navigation bar trick, so it added another option - you can assign shortcuts for press touch at the upper left and right corners. No matter where you are, you can always press on one of the corners and launch the phone app, or the camera one, or whatever you decide.
Force shortcuts options • Activating the top right shortcut
By the way, you can tweak the Press Touch levels to your preference from the Settings menu.
Press Touch sensitivity
And these pretty much sum up the press touch functionality. And before any eyes roll in disappointment, let us just remind you Huawei has already done enough with gesture wakeup, the floating dock, motion control options, smart unlock, and many other niceties on top of the standard Android functionality. Perhaps Huawei will add more features further down the road as well.
Performance
The Huawei P9 Plus is powered by the latest in-house developed Kirin 955 chipset, the same one behind the Huawei P9.
The Kirin 955 employs an octa-core processor with four Cortex-A72 cores clocked at up to 2.5GHz and four A53 cores ticking at up to 1.8GHz. The GPU is again a quad-core Mali-T880 MP4.
The P9 Plus model comes with 4GB of RAM by default, unlike the Huawei P9 where you had to pay extra for more storage and RAM.
We already know what to expect from the Kirin 955, but we are always in for surprise, if they are good ones. So, shall we start?
We kick off our benchmark routine with the GeekBench CPU test. The performance of a single A72 core is rather uninspiring compared to the Snapdragon 820s Kryo within the OnePlus 3 and the LG G5, nor does it come close to the Apples Twister CPU.
GeekBench 3 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Apple iPho ne 6s Plus
2527 - OnePlus 3
2383 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
2322 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
2151 - Meizu Pro 6
1905 - Huawei P9 Plus
1892 - Huawei P9
1819 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (S652)
1466 - Huawei P9 Lite
899 - Oppo F1 Plus
857
But dont forget we have four of those A72 cores, and another quartet of lesser A53, but they are the ones to eventually make the difference. And they did - the Huawei P9 Plus outed the best score so far in the multi-core chart. The P9 Plus CPU is about as capable as the Galaxy S7 edge Exynos.
GeekBench 3 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Huawei P9 Plus
6660 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
6600 - Huawei P9
6558 - Meizu Pro 6
6427 - OnePlus 3
5520 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
5437 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (S652)
4759 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
4413 Huawei P9 Lite
3799- Oppo F1 Plus
3242
The compound AnTuTu 6 test ended up with a rather mediocre score despite of the fat processor and 4 gigs of RAM. Thats probably due to the lower-grade GPU, but well talk about that in a minute.
AnTuTu 6
Higher is better
- OnePlus 3
141764 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
140871 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
137420 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
129229 - Meizu Pro 6
99195 - Huawei P9
98069 - Huawei P9 Plus
97392 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (S652)
64591 - Huawei P9 Lite
52768 - Oppo F1 Plus
51299 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
50109
The BaseMark OS 2.0 test paints a slightly different picture, because in addition to CPU, GPU, RAM, and UX, it also gauges web and storage performance, plus overall OS behavior. Here the Huawei P9 Plus scored an excellent mark and is on par with the Galaxy S7 edge and very close to the iPhone 6s Plus.
Basemark OS 2.0
Higher is better
- OnePlus 3
2365 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus2261
- Vivo Xplay5 Elite
2175 - Huawei P9 Plus
2099 - Huawei P9
2068 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
2050 - Meizu Pro 6
1919 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (S652)
1529 - Huawei P9 Lite
1242 - Oppo F1 Plus
1092 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
987
Its the graphics department where Kirins are often not quite up to par, and seeing that nothings changed over the Mate 8 and P9 in this respect, benchmark results are very much the same. While the Kirin 955, same as Helio X25 (Meizu Pro 6), uses Mali-T880 MP4 (4-core) graphics, the flagship Galaxy S7s Exynos utilizes Mali-T880 MP12 (12-core graphics), hence the big difference.
Qualcomms Adreno 530 within the OnePlus 3 and Vivo Xplay5 Elite are the best, though.
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 3
31 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
31 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
29 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
27.9 - Meizu Pro 6
11 - Huawei P9 Plus
10 - Huawei P9
10 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (S652)
9.3 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
4.7 - Huawei P9 Lite
4.6 - Oppo F1 Plus
3.3
GFX 3.1 Car scene (offscreen)
Higher is better
- Vivo Xplay5 Elite
18 - OnePlus 3
18 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
15 - Huawei P9
6.5 - Meizu Pro 6
6.4 - H uawei P9 Plus
6.2 - Huawei P9 Lite
2.8 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
2.5
Huawei P9 Plus runs on 1080p resolution, which gives it an edge over the Quad HD Samsung Galaxy S7 edge, which cuts the gap short and makes more sense for Huawei not to opt for the best GPU on the market. The Adreno 530, Quad HD (Vivo) or not (OnePlus 3), is still on top.
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 3
30 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
27.9 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
15 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
15 - Huawei P9
11 - Huawei P9 Plus
11 - Meizu Pro 6
11 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (S652)
9.1 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
5.1 - Huawei P9 Lite
4.9 - Oppo F1 Plus
3.3
GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 3
18 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
9.8 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
7.8 - Hua wei P9
7.1 - Huawei P9 Plus
6.8 - Meizu Pro 6
6.4 - Huawei P9 Lite
3 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
2.7
BaseMark X GPU test clearly shows the superiority of Galaxy S7 edge and OnePlus 3.
Basemark X
Higher is better
- OnePlus 3
32715 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
32362 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
28480 - Huawei P9
16942 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (S652)
15290 - Meizu Pro 6
15209 - Huawei P9 Plus
15058 - Huawei P9 Lite
7681 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
6754 - Oppo F1 Plus
6204
The newest Kirin SoC wont be catching up with Qualcomm and Samsung anytime soon, as this is not its purpose. Huawei has always pursued consistent performance over chart-topping benchmark results, and there is nothing bad with that.
But the facts cant be ignored - the Huawei P9 Plus, just like the P9, begins to experience tiny, but noticeable lag once you fill its homescreens with apps. App switching isnt smooth either, especially if you are swapping heavy apps. There are also some unexplained stutters which occur in both light and heavy-duty games. It might be the GPU, or may be poor handling of resources.
Anyway, as a flagship-priced smartphone the Huawei P9 Plus has to be judged as such. And its performance is not a flagship one. Yes, its smooth most of the time and handles things properly, but some lag here and there, and mysterious stutter in apps, even though rare, will ruin the flagship feeling quite fast. The P9 Plus definitely deserved better.
Telephony
The Huawei P9 Plus handles voice calls with ease and sound quality doesnt disappoint.
Smart dialing • re cent calls • in-call interface
The P9s stock dialer app is a trinity of tabs bundled together - these include the Dialer, Contacts, and Favorites. The phonebook offers all the usual sorting and display options, it supports multiple accounts, and there are lots of fields available for each contact.
The Huawei P9 scored a Good mark in our standardized loudspeaker test. Our impressions from the speakers sound quality are mostly positive - it produces deep and rich sound, but the default ringtones are rather quiet and you may miss some calls. Perhaps you can load a ringtone of your choosing.
The P9 Plus does a neat trick with its earpiece and loudspeaker. When you hold the phone horizontally, the both pieces out similar sounds simulating a stereo effect, but in portrait mode the top speaker switches to treble while the bottom one plays bass (essentially a two-way speaker or as Huawei calls it - high quality sound).
If you like, you can turn off the Stereo switch from Settings and rely only on the so-called high quality sound.
Naturally, we tested both modes. Indeed, when using the high-quality sound mode (read default, or regular), the P9 Plus outed a score thats a decibel shy of our Excellent mark. If you use the Stereo mode for the landscape view, youll lower the overall loudness to just Good but youll get a very nice stereo effect in return.
We were unable to pass a verdict on which mode is better, but each of those has its pros and cons, and well leave it up to you to choose.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing | Overall score | |
| 65.8 | 65.1 | 64.6 | Below Average | |
| 66.3 | 66.2 | 65.9 | Below Average | |
| 62.4 | 71.0 | 77.8 | Good | |
| 69.5 | 69.3 | 71.1 | Good | |
| 66.9 | 70.0 | 76.9 | Good | |
| 72.1 | 66.6 | 75.6 | Good | |
| 66.0 | 71.5 | 83.2 | Very Good | |
| 71.7 | 73.7 | 81.3 | Very Good | |
| 8 8.9 | 79.3 | 82.7 | Excellent |
App package
The P9 Plus ships with WPS office, which can be used for some basic document editing on the go. It can handle text documents, spreadsheets and presentations as well as PDF files. It can also export to PDF.
WPS office
Phone Manager is Huaweis do-it-all app for keeping control over your phone. It lets you control all sorts of features from call/message privacy and Do Not Disturb settings, to phone optimization and app permissions, to network and battery usage.
The app features a one-touch optimization feature that frees up memory space and gives y ou settings recommendations for maximum battery performance. Its a hell of a slick feature that few manufacturers offer.
Phone manager
Battery Manager is part of Phone Manager and includes a selection of three power plans with varying degrees of feature limitations. From here you can also control which apps can remain active after you send the phone to sleep.
Battery manager
Huawei has bundled the P9 Plus with its Health app, which tracks steps and calculates calories burnt, but can also supposedly count the number of floors youve climbed. A file manager is also present, and it supports batch actions.
Health app homescreen • week view • file manager • file manager • more tools
Finally, there is a Fun Scale app which can measure weight of small objects. It isnt pre-installed on all units for some reason, though. The app allows you to put small objects at the center of the screen and if they weigh between 100 and 400g, it should out you a close enough estimate of their weight. This app uses the pressure sensitive screen tech, of course, but you shouldnt expect it it be that accurate. Its called Fun Scale for a reason.
Fun Scale app
The gallery has Press Touch support
The Huawei P9 Plus gallery app offers a Timeline view, which sorts your images by the date youve taken them. Alternatively, you can opt for the standard Album view with all of your images sorted in different albums.
Opening a single image lets you quickly delete or rotate it, as well as gives you some basic sharing options (including streaming it over DLNA). While you are at it, you can force press anywhere on the picture and a magnifying glass will show you a piece of it zoomed in or out depending on the level of pressure you are applying.
Press Touch zooming with light pressure • more pressure • maximum pressure zooms at 200%
The info icon up top gives some pretty detailed information about the image, including a histogram. Pulling down from anywhere on the screen lets you take a quick photo without leaving the gallery.
Album view • chronological view • viewing an image • detailed info • camera quick access
You can also go into a more capable editor with o ptions for light and exposure adjustments (so you can bring out the shadows or the highlights), filters and beauty enhancements. You can adjust levels and add individual watermarks for time, location, weather, food and mood.
The image editor is quite capable
Video player
When it comes to playing videos, the Huawei P9 Plus default player is pretty b asic. The only available user-configurable option is playback speed. There is DTS enhancement if you are a fan, too.
Simplistic video player with few options
Music player
The Huawei P9 Plus comes with Huaweis custom music player app. It offers four default playlists - songs, artists, albums, folders. You can create your playlists, too. The background of the app changes dynamically to match the album art, which is a nice little touch.
The Now Playing screen is pretty standard, it offers album art and lyrics. There are no equalizers to speak off, but the app does have a few extra features. It would try to pull album art, song info and lyrics automatically for you .
The music player
The P9 Plus has the advantage of stereo speakers on the front over its smaller counterpart. When you hold the phone horizontally, the speakers work as expected - producing a stereo effect (even if its a bit over the top thanks to some silly stereo enhancement they must have in place).
In portrait mode, the top speaker switches to treble while the bottom one plays bass (essentially a two-way speaker). You can check the loudspeaker results for more details.
The Huawei P9 lacks FM radio.
Audio output is very clean, but not loud enough
The Huawei P9 Plus delivered excellently clean output when used with an active external amplifier, getting top marks across the board. Unfortunately, its output loudness was below average so it didn’t get full marks here.
Degradation caused by headphones is minimal with a contained hike in stereo crosstalk and intermodulation distortion plus a slight slip in volume levels. It’s hardly the loudest handset out there, much less in the flagship league, but the P9 Plus fares pretty well in terms of clarity.
And now here go the results so you can do your comparison.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| Huawei P9 Plus | +0.04, -0.01 | -97.4 | 98.9 | 0.0040 | 0.010 | -96.9 |
| Huawei P9 Plus (headphones) | +0.03, -0.38 | -95.8 | 95.9 | 0.0055 | 0.190 | -63.7 |
| Sony Xperia X Performance | +0.01, -0.04 | -95.2 | 90.0 | 0.0038 | 0.011 | -95.1 |
| Sony Xperia X Performance (headphones) | +0.23, -0.17 | -93.2 | 89.3 | 0.0078 | 0.174 | -64.9 |
| LG G5 | +0.01, -0.04 | -92.6 | 92.6 | 0.0051 | 0.0096 | -93.3 |
| LG G5 (headphones) | +0.05, -0.01 | -92.2 | 92.3 | 0.0029 | 0.037 | -50.7 |
| Xiaomi Mi 5 | +0.01, -0.03 | -95.3 | 95.1 | 0.0034 | 0.0065 | -95.1 |
| Xiaomi Mi 5 (headphones) | +0.01, -0.03 | -95.2 | 95.1 | 0.0027 | 0.013 | -71.5 |
| Samsung Galaxy S7 | +0.01, -0.04 | -92.5 | 92.6 | 0.0027 | 0.0078 | -92.7 |
| Samsung Galaxy S7 (headphones) | +0.05, -0.05 | -91.9 | 92.1 | 0.0044 | 0.063 | -73.4 |
| +0.03, -0.04 | -93.5 | 93.5 | 0.0016 | 0.0075 | -73.2 | |
| +0.10, -0.06 | -93.8 | 93.9 | 0.0030 | 0.101 | -68.2 |
Huawei P9 Plus frequency response
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
Dual 12MP camera with monochrome and color sensors
Just like the P9, the Huawei P9 Plus features two 12MP sensors, one is fairly standard and captures color photographs while the other is only monochrome (black & white). The latter lacks a Bayer filter which is used in color cameras. This has enabled the monochrome sensor to capture (up to 3x) more light and so it should fare better in low-light photography.
The Huawei camera app offers manual mode, which has RAW shooting, manual focus, shutter speed and ISO and a few other options. The Pro camera interface is very comfortable, but only if you know how to use it.
There are no marks to suggest that, but all the camera options are hidden in menus you can bring by swiping up or down from the screen (assuming you hold the camera in landscape mode). This may be confusing at first but you quickly get used to it.
The main menu houses all the available shooting modes - Photo, Monochrome, HDR, Panorama, Beauty, and Light Painting. There is also an advanced settings menu, summoned by a swipe from the top.
The camera app and the Leica Film modes • Pro mode • Settings • All shooting modes • Light Painting
Leica designed two additional shooting (film) modes for the color sensor besides the Standard mode - Vivid Colors and Smooth Color. Those are in line with the Leica film camera experience (you even get a Leica shutter sound). The Standard one is, well, the regular color mode; Vivid dials up the colors; while Smooth is somewhere in between. The camera samples explain these best:
Standard • Vivid colors • Smooth colors • Monochrome
The monochrome mode is not just desaturated color photos like all other smartphones shoot, its the real deal. The captured detail is amazing, as is the dynamic range. Check those beautiful B&W shots for yourselves:
Monochrome camera samples
This second camera is used for more than just the occasional dramatic B&W shot, though. It has superior low-light performance, as the lack of an RGB filter on top of the sensor has allowed for a F-stop or more worth of extra light to be captured for the same scenes.
Additionally, the two sensors allow the distance to the subjects to be calculated precisely, which is part of Huaweis Hybrid autofocus (which also includes Laser AF). And since the camera creates a depth map of the scene anyway, it can also leverage this information to recreate a high-quality optical background defocus effect (bokeh).
F-Stop samples: f/1.0 • f/4.5 • f/6.3* f/16.0
We have to applaud Huawei for adding live bokeh preview, so youll always know what the result will be. But in case you are unhappy, you can always edit the focus point post shooting, and you can even opt for some nice wide aperture effects (desaturation, motion blur, film grain, vivid colors, among others).
An f/1.2 sample • desaturated background effect • motion blur background effect
The Light Painting mode shoots at 8MP and has four additional sub-modes - tail light trails, light graffiti, silky water, star track. Whatever the scene, your P9 Plus will first take a picture with the proper exposure settings and then it will capture the light trails of either cars, stars, water or other moving objects. After you finish capturing those, the light trails will be automatically added to your picture. This process produces some stunning results as long as you keep the camera perfectly still while shooting - on a tripod or similar.
Graffiti • Tail Light Trails • Silky Water
And whether you love playing with the Pro mode or not, the P9 Plus is really capable of taking some great low-light images either way.
Low light (auto) • Low light (auto) • Low light (exp. 4s, tripod) • Low light shot (exp. 2s, tripod)
Lets focus on the actual quality now. The Huawei P9 Plus, just like the P9, uses two 12MP Sony IMX286 sensors, the monochrome one lacks a Bayer filter, which is a normal part of any modern camera sensor. The image quality produced by both sensors is theoretically the same, though the absence of the color filter and thus the brighter sensor gives the monochrome pictures an edge over the color ones.
Anyway, we saw the monochrome samples are quite nice. The 12MP color samples came out with more than enough resolved detail, too, high dynamic range, and spot-on colors. The contrast is great as well.
The P9 Plus samples could have benefitted from a little more detail and little less noise, but they still tick all the necessary boxes to be considered flagship grade. And thanks to the high dynamic range we found it unnecessary to use the HDR mode.
Huawei P9 Plus 12MP camera samples
Of course, you may need HDR at some point of your shooting experience. You can check the HDR samples we took below.
HDR off • HDR on • HDR off • HDR on
And finally, check these Vivid and Smooth samples out.
Vivid • Vivid • Smooth • Smooth
The panorama mode is one of the better implementations on the market, switching automatically between portrait and landscape. When shooting in portrait, panoramic images turn out a bit taller than 3,000 pixels and the samples below are about 30MP - not that far from a 180-degree sweep (about 35MP). Stitching is good, exposure is even, its just that the captured detail is a notch less than on the still images.
You can enable Vivid or Smooth modes for the Panorama mode, if you like.
Normal panorama • Vivid panorama
The front camera of the P9 Plus is a bit different than the one found on the P9 - its still an 8MP unit, but with wider f/1,9 lens and autofocus. There is the obligatory beautification feature, which attempts to mask skin blemishes.
If you go for a regular photo, the resolved detail is quite satisfactory, the colors and contrast are great, too. Its one of the better selfie snappers weve met, it also supports screen flash and shoot pleasant selfies almost every time.
8MP selfie samples
You can check out how the Huawei P9 Plus primary camera stacks up against the competition in our Photo compare tool.
Huawei P9 Plus vs. Galaxy S7 edge vs. iPhone 6s Plus in our Photo quality comparison tool
Video recording at 1080p
One of the major flaws of the P9 Plus is that it doesnt support 2160p video recording, when it has become the de facto standard resolution for high-end smartphone camcorders. A lot of users will live just fine without it, but they shouldnt have to at this price point.
Camcorder with Leica Film modes • Pro mode • Settings
The smartphone does support 1080p@60fps, so at least, theres that. Additionally, you get a slow motion mode, where video is recorded at 120fps, but the resolution is just 720p.
The 1080p@60fps videos come out with a bitrate of 34Mbps while the 30fps ones are exactly half that. In either case, audio is recorded in stereo at 192kbps.
There isnt much room for praise in the video department. They lack the detail youd expect from that resolution and the dynamic range is mediocre. The colors are spot-on and the contrast is very good. There isnt any annoying focus hunting either.
Note that you can have the Vivid and Smooth modes in videos, too. Its a pity you cant use the monochrome snapper for capturing videos though.
This is a 1080p at 30fps video sample.
And this is a Full HD video shot at 60fps.
You can check this Vivid video, too.
As usual, weve provided unedited samples straight out of the camera for you to download - 1080p@30fps (14s, 30MB), 1080p@60fps (10s, 42MB).
Be sure to head over to our video compare tool to check where the P9 Plus stands against the rest.
Huawei P9 Plus vs. Galaxy S7 edge vs. Huawei Mate 8 in our Video quality comparison tool
Final words
We liked the Huawei P9 even though it had a few setbacks, so we were already decided on the Huawei P9 Plus - it was going to be likable, too. We knew the P9 Plus will treat us with an AMOLED screen, Press Touch tech, and stereo speakers in exchange for a few extra bucks, so we knew what we were getting into.
Of course, we are always in for some surprises and we got a few with the Huawei P9 Plus. While confirming its beautiful design, awesome camera capabilities, snappy processor, great fingerprint scanner, and useful Emotion UI, we found a few novelties we really liked.
The 5.5" big AMOLED screen is a rea lly nice swap, especially with its Press Touch support. Even though there is no Always-on option, or Quad HD resolution, we still found the screen a worthy upgrade over the P9.
The first surprise came with the Press Touch features. We expected those to be nearly pointless gimmicks as was the case with the Meizu Pro 6 and the first batch of iPhone 6s gestures, but we were wrong. Huawei managed to put the Press Touch to some good use, especially with the navigation bar replacement and the hidden shortcuts in each corner.
Naturally, we were very impressed with the main camera setup - Huawei has geared the phone with an excellent camera and it makes it so easy to become more photographically creative. Huaweis dual-cam and the in-house developed shooting modes, including Leicas, are one of the best innovations to come out this year.
There is the new selfie camera, which we liked. It may not be an Xperia XA Ultra-grade, but Huawei has put the required effort into the 8MP sensor so we can have some great selfies. Now the front camera comes with a wider f/1.9 lens, which means better picture quality in low-light. The snapper is autofocus-enabled, which is a rarity among the front sensors. And the screen acts as a flash, if you need that.
Then we found the earpiece and the loudspeaker to be outing unexpectedly good sound. The stereo effect is awesome in landscape orientation, but in portrait mode the sound was louder and the standalone treble and bass make the P9 Plus sound as high-quality portable speaker. We can imagine quite a few scenarios, where those two would come in handy.
Yes, Huawei P9 Plus inherits a few omissions from its P9 sibling - the lack of proper protective glass for both the screen and the main dual-camera. The weak GPU may be a big deal for gamers or power users, and its probably reason why the P9 Plus cant capture 4K videos.
Huawei P9 Plus key test findings
< ul class="article-blurb article-blurb-findings">The Huawei P9 Plus isnt cheap at about €650 and the competition at the top-tier is quite capable.
For the same cash, you can have the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge which ups the resolution to 1440p and adds some curves. Its GPU is three times as powerful, while its main camera produces often more detail photos and with the proper tweaks in manual mode you can make the same stunning low-light shots, not to mention the superior video recording. The dual Gorilla Glass protection is nice, too.
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
The Apple iPhone 6s Plus is in the same price bracket, and matches most of the the P9 Plus specs. In exchange for a more powerful GPU, youll have to settle with a less inspiring 12MP sensor, but the iOS experience and app count is a tough combination to beat.
Apple iPhone 6s Plus
The OnePlus 3 on the other hand is cheaper, yet it beats the Huawei P9 Plus in every department but the camera. Its camera is very good, its just not P9 Plus good . But if you are not the type to shoot creative photos, then you can save some good €150 and get yourself the one of the best value smartphones on the market right now.
OnePlus 3
Finally, the Huawei P9 is what you need if you like to save some bucks, but not compromise the looks and camera experience, while the Mate 8 phablet will give you an even bigger screen but a less capable camera.
Huawei P9 • Huawei Mate 8
Huawei P9 Plus is easily likable, especially if you like to take creative photos (but less so videos). Huawei makes taking stunning pictures easy for anyone and the creative freedom provided by their camera system is among the be st. Best of all, it comes with a phone, which looks and feels amazing compared to pretty much any other smartphone flagship. The P9 Plus has much to offer to a wide group of users, but its high price tag doesnt seem to take into account the ommision of some high-end features, which weve come to expect from most flagships. But this has never stopped a certain Cupertino company to own the mobile market. The Huawei P9 Plus is the epitome of a flagship-worthy device and it comes from a company on the rise, which will most definitely be going places.
! ( hope useful)
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