Huawei Nova 12s

The Huawei Nova 12s has a slim profile at 6.9 mm thick and stands 161.3 mm tall with a width of 75 mm, resulting in a total volume of 83.47 cm³. It weighs 168 g, keeping it relatively light for its size. The handset does not feature a rugged build and cannot be folded, and it carries no water resistance rating, meaning it offers no certified protection against moisture or dust.

The Huawei Nova 12s features a 6.7-inch OLED/AMOLED touchscreen with a resolution of 1084 x 2412 px and a pixel density of 395 ppi, producing a sharp and detailed image. The panel operates at a 120Hz refresh rate with a 300Hz touch sampling rate, ensuring fluid scrolling and responsive input. It supports HDR10 for compatible content, though HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and Always-On Display are not available. The screen does not use branded damage-resistant glass, and there is no secondary screen on the device.

The Huawei Nova 12s is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 4G, a 6 nm chipset with an octa-core CPU configuration running at up to 2.4 GHz across 8 threads, supported by big.LITTLE and HMP technologies for efficient workload distribution. It pairs with 8GB of DDR5 RAM at 3200 MHz and 256GB of internal storage, with a maximum supported memory of 16GB, though ECC memory is not supported. The Adreno 642 GPU clocks at 490 MHz and supports DirectX 12, OpenGL ES 3.2, and OpenCL 2, with integrated LTE built into the SoC. The chipset carries a TDP of 5W and includes a 2 MB L2 cache, along with 64-bit support, NX bit, and TrustZone for hardware-level security. In benchmarks, it scores 587,561 on AnTuTu and 11,188 on PCMark Work 3.0, with the PCMark battery benchmark reaching 656 minutes.

The Huawei Nova 12s features a triple rear camera system with sensors at 108 MP, 8 MP, and 8 MP, paired with apertures of f/1.9, f/2.2, and f/2.4 respectively, all built on CMOS technology. The main camera supports phase-detection and laser autofocus, touch autofocus, continuous autofocus during video, and a range of manual controls including exposure, ISO, focus, and white balance, though manual shutter speed is not available. It can record video at 2160p at 30 fps and supports slow-motion recording, HDR mode, burst mode, and in-camera panoramas, while 360-degree panorama, HDR10 recording, Dolby Vision recording, and 3D capture are not supported. Optical image stabilization is absent, optical zoom stands at 0x, and the rear flash consists of a single LED unit without dual-tone or RGB configurations. On the front, a 60 MP single-lens camera with an f/2.4 aperture handles selfies, though it lacks a flash, is not positioned under the display, and does not support HDR10 or Dolby Vision recording. Raw shooting is not available on either camera.

The operating system on the Huawei Nova 12s includes a broad set of privacy and usability features, covering clipboard warnings, location privacy options, and camera/microphone access controls, though Mail Privacy Protection is not present and on-device machine learning is not supported. Users have access to dark mode, dynamic theming, theme customization, focus modes, an extra dim mode, customizable notifications, and widgets, giving considerable control over the interface experience. Practical conveniences include Wi-Fi password sharing, battery health check, full-page screenshots, Picture-in-Picture, split-screen multitasking, sharing intents, app offloading, and the ability to play games while they are still downloading. The system supports offline voice recognition and voice commands, multi-user profiles, phone tracking, and a child lock for parental control. It is free and open source, but does not receive direct OS updates from the vendor, and features such as Live Text, SharePlay, Quick Start, and PC mode are not available.

The Huawei Nova 12s is equipped with a 4500 mAh rechargeable battery that supports 66W fast wired charging, and a charger is included in the box. A battery level indicator is present for monitoring charge status. The battery is not removable, and wireless charging is not supported.

The Huawei Nova 12s includes stereo speakers for audio output but does not feature a 3.5 mm headphone jack, so wired headphones would require an adapter. None of the high-quality Bluetooth audio codecs are supported, including aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless, and LDAC. There is also no built-in radio on this device.

The Huawei Nova 12s supports Wi-Fi 4, Wi-Fi 5, and Wi-Fi 6 alongside Bluetooth 5.2 and NFC, and accommodates two SIM cards with a cellular module onboard, though 5G is not supported. It connects via USB Type-C running USB 2.0 and reaches download speeds of up to 3700 Mbit/s and upload speeds of up to 2900 Mbit/s, while HDMI output and an external memory slot are absent. For positioning, the device includes GPS, Galileo support, and a compass, and its sensor suite covers a gyroscope and an accelerometer, though a barometer, heart rate monitor, infrared sensor, and motion or optical tracking are not present. Security is handled through a fingerprint scanner, while 3D facial recognition and an iris scanner are not included. Features such as ANT+, DLNA certification, satellite SOS, crash detection, a built-in projector, and a stylus are also not part of this device.

The Huawei Nova 12s includes a video light to assist with video recording in low-light conditions. The display is flat rather than curved and does not use sapphire glass or e-paper technology.