Huawei Hi Nova 12z

The Huawei Hi Nova 12z has a standard, non-folding and non-rugged form factor, measuring 162.4 mm in height, 75.5 mm in width, and 7.5 mm in thickness, giving it a notably slim profile. It weighs 185 g and occupies a total volume of 91.959 cm³, reflecting a compact and conventional smartphone build.

The display on this device is a touch-enabled OLED/AMOLED panel measuring 6.67″ with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 px and a pixel density of 395 ppi, delivering sharp and detailed visuals. It supports a 120Hz refresh rate for smoother on-screen motion, and operates as the sole screen with no secondary display present. The panel does not include branded damage-resistant glass, and it lacks support for HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision.

The device is powered by the HiSilicon Kirin 8000 chipset, built on a 5 nm semiconductor process with a CPU configuration of 1 x 2.2 GHz, 3 x 1.5 GHz, and 4 x 2 GHz cores, supported by big.LITTLE technology, multithreading, and 64-bit processing. Graphics are handled by the integrated Maleoon 910 GPU running at 750 MHz, while integrated LTE is also built directly into the SoC. The device comes with 8 GB of LPDDR4 RAM at 2200 MHz and 256 GB of internal storage, with a maximum supported memory capacity of 16 GB, and operates within a thermal design power envelope of 6W.

The main camera is a multi-lens system built around a BSI CMOS sensor, supported by laser autofocus, phase-detection autofocus, touch autofocus, and continuous autofocus during video recording, though optical image stabilization is not present. It records video at 1080p 30 fps, supports slow-motion recording, and comes with a dual-tone LED flash using two LEDs, while RGB flash, HDR10 recording, Dolby Vision recording, and 3D recording are not supported. For still photography, the camera offers a broad set of manual controls including exposure, ISO, focus, and white balance, along with burst mode, HDR, timelapse, and in-camera panorama — though manual shutter speed, 360° panorama, and RAW capture are absent. The front camera is a single-lens 32 MP unit with an f/2.45 aperture, positioned above the display without an under-screen placement, and it does not have a dedicated front-facing flash.

The operating system includes a solid set of everyday usability features, among them dark mode, customizable notifications, widgets, voice commands, sharing intents, split-screen multitasking, and a child lock for restricted access. It also supports multi-user functionality, device tracking, battery health monitoring, and camera/microphone privacy controls, giving users a reasonable degree of management over both security and system behavior. However, the device does not receive direct OS updates from the vendor and cannot be used as a PC.

The device is equipped with a 4500 mAh rechargeable, non-removable battery that supports 66W fast wired charging, with a charger included in the box. A battery level indicator is built in for convenient monitoring, though wireless charging is not supported.

On the audio side, the device supports LDAC for high-quality wireless audio transmission, but it lacks a 3.5 mm headphone jack, stereo speakers, and a built-in radio. Bluetooth codec support is limited to LDAC alone, with no aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, or aptX Lossless available.

The device supports 5G connectivity alongside a dual-SIM configuration, Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n) and Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), and Bluetooth 5.1, with NFC also on board for short-range communication. It uses a USB Type-C port running USB 2.0, but there is no external memory slot, HDMI output, or DLNA certification. For navigation and sensing, it includes GPS with Galileo support, a compass, gyroscope, accelerometer, and barometer, while a fingerprint scanner handles biometric authentication — 3D facial recognition and an iris scanner are not present. Features such as crash detection, satellite SOS, ANT+, a heart rate monitor, infrared sensor, motion tracking, optical tracking, built-in projector, and a stylus are all absent.

The device includes a video light for illumination during video recording, while the display is flat rather than curved and uses neither sapphire glass nor an e-paper panel.