Heavily cased Huawei P9 prototype seemingly shows up in the wild

Unlike last year, Huawei’s presence at MWC in 2016 was slightly muted. At least it was for the Android fans among us. The company launched a 2-in-1 Windows tablet/laptop crossover and nothing Android or Chrome-based. But there’s good reason for the Chinese manufacturer’s lack of Google-powered products. If rumors are to be believed, Huawei is preparing to launch its next P-series smartphones at some point in the near future.

Huawei is expected to launch the P9 in similar fashion to the P8 last year; at its own separate event, and with multiple variations of the device. This list of variants is claimed to include a regular, Lite and Max model as well as a high-end version with more RAM and a dual camera. If those initial rumors are accurate, we may have already caught a glimpse of the dual camera-equipped model thanks to a post from Steve Hemmerstoffer.

As is almost always the case with early pre-release leaks, the device is encased in a heavy duty protective plastic case to disguise its design (similar to that concealing the LG G5 a couple of months back). As you can see, it features two camera lenses alongside an LED flash and what looks like a laser-sensor for the autofocus. What’s more, there’s also a rounded square fingerprint sensor.

Comparing to an earlier render based on schematics, we can see that the design of its parts on view match up pretty closely with what was previously expected.

Last year, the Huawei P8 was launched as one of the company’s first premium all-metal smartphones for the international market. Despite its high-end hardware, it wasn’t priced anywhere near as high as comparable phones from the likes of Samsung, LG or HTC. This year, we can expect a similar strategy, except it now joins a list of international phones like those from its sub-brand, Honor, as well as the Mate 8 launched at CES last month.

We don’t yet know what specifications to expect from the P9, but we should be looking forward to a device aimed at competing with the recently-launched Galaxy S7. It’ll more than likely have a screen around the 5.2-inch mark with a resolution of at least 1080p, packed in to an ultra-thin metal body and powered by one of Huawei’s own Kirin processors.