While the the Huawei Nova 9 was unveiled in September, back then it was only announced for China. Huawei has now gone ahead and announced the phone for the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Middle East. 

The Huawei Nova 9 has a lot of tempting tech inside such as a 6.57-inch 1080 x 2340 OLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, a mid-range Snapdragon 778G chipset, 8GB of RAM, and a choice of 128GB or 256GB of storage.

The phone also has a 4,300mAh battery with 66W fast charging, and there’s a quad-lens rear snapper, with a 50MP f/1.9 main sensor, an 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide camera, a 2MP f/2.4 macro one and a 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor. Then on the front there’s a 32MP f/2.0 camera.

Those rear cameras are housed in a distinctive oval camera block with two big circles – a design that’s similar to what we’ve seen on the Huawei P50. The rest of the design here includes a glossy back in Starry Blue that Huawei is calling "Colour No. 9" or Black, and an all-screen front with a punch-hole camera.

There's no Google Apps present on the phone but Huawei has made some good progress with App Gallery, its alternative to Google Play Store.  

Huawei Nova 9 UAE pricing and availability

The HUAWEI nova 9 will be available in the UAE at a price of AED 1,799 in the all-new Colour No. 9 and Black. Pre-orders begin on Huawei’s official website and across select retailers in the UAE on November 4th and include gifts valued at AED 980 including the HUAWEI FreeBuds 3.

You also get Petal One which includes a free 3-month VIP subscription to HUAWEI Music, a free 1-month VIP subscription to HUAWEI Video and a free 1-month Huawei Mobile Cloud 200GB storage. Last but not the least, a 1-year Starzplay Premium Subscription is also included.

• Check out the best Huawei phones
• Everything you need to know about Huawei phones
• These are the best smartphones

While the the Huawei Nova 9 was unveiled in September, back then it was only announced for China. Huawei has now gone ahead and announced the phone for the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Middle East. 

The Huawei Nova 9 has a lot of tempting tech inside such as a 6.57-inch 1080 x 2340 OLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, a mid-range Snapdragon 778G chipset, 8GB of RAM, and a choice of 128GB or 256GB of storage.

The phone also has a 4,300mAh battery with 66W fast charging, and there’s a quad-lens rear snapper, with a 50MP f/1.9 main sensor, an 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide camera, a 2MP f/2.4 macro one and a 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor. Then on the front there’s a 32MP f/2.0 camera.

Those rear cameras are housed in a distinctive oval camera block with two big circles – a design that’s similar to what we’ve seen on the Huawei P50. The rest of the design here includes a glossy back in Starry Blue that Huawei is calling "Colour No. 9" or Black, and an all-screen front with a punch-hole camera.

There's no Google Apps present on the phone but Huawei has made some good progress with App Gallery, its alternative to Google Play Store.  

Huawei Nova 9 UAE pricing and availability

The HUAWEI nova 9 will be available in the UAE at a price of AED 1,799 in the all-new Colour No. 9 and Black. Pre-orders begin on Huawei’s official website and across select retailers in the UAE on November 4th and include gifts valued at AED 980 including the HUAWEI FreeBuds 3.

You also get Petal One which includes a free 3-month VIP subscription to HUAWEI Music, a free 1-month VIP subscription to HUAWEI Video and a free 1-month Huawei Mobile Cloud 200GB storage. Last but not the least, a 1-year Starzplay Premium Subscription is also included.

• Check out the best Huawei phones
• Everything you need to know about Huawei phones
• These are the best smartphones

iPhones are seriously expensive and somewhat fragile gadgets, but Apple has added a feature to help you protect your investment with recent models, dubbed Ceramic Shield.

This is protection for the screen, and it’s an alternative to the Gorilla Glass used on many Android smartphones.

Ceramic Shield is exclusive to Apple phones (specifically the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 ranges) and Apple has made some big claims about it, but what exactly is Ceramic Shield? And just how good is it really? Read on for a deep dive into this tech.

What is Ceramic Shield made from?

Ceramic Shield is made by Corning (the same company as Gorilla Glass), and it’s made by embedding ceramic nanocrystals into the glass through a high-temperature crystallization process.

Beyond this, Ceramic Shield also uses dual ion-exchange, which basically means increasing the size of the ions so they’re more solid.

The combination of these two things makes for tougher glass, which is both more resistant to bumps and scratches, and also more likely to stay in one piece (rather than shattering) if it does get damaged.

But it’s an unusual construction because generally we don’t see ceramics used in screens. That’s probably at least partly because it’s not typically as transparent as normal glass, but that hasn’t posed a problem here, as the ceramic crystals used in its construction are smaller than the wavelength of light – so absolutely tiny in other words.

How tough is Ceramic Shield?

Apple claims that Ceramic Shield is tougher than any other smartphone glass, and that it offers four times better drop protection than previous iPhones.

Sadly, the company hasn’t got more specific than that, but if those claims are true then Ceramic Shield is the best built-in smartphone screen protection you can get.

How does Ceramic Shield compare to Gorilla Glass Victus?

Gorilla Glass Victus (used in the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S21 range) is the latest and greatest version of Gorilla Glass at the time of writing, so it’s the main rival to Ceramic Shield – though both are made by Corning.

Given that Apple claims Ceramic Shield is tougher than any other smartphone glass, that presumably includes Gorilla Glass Victus, but the difference might not be big.

Corning claims that Gorilla Glass Victus is the toughest version of Gorilla Glass it’s ever made, and that it offers two times as much scratch resistance as Gorilla Glass 6, and four times as much as rival aluminosilicate glasses (that being the type of glass that Gorilla Glass is, but not the same type as Ceramic Shield).

Gorilla Glass Victus is also said to offer two-meter drop protection, which presumably means that Ceramic Shield can withstand drops from at least that height as well.

• Need more protection? Check out the best iPhone 13 cases

iPhones are seriously expensive and somewhat fragile gadgets, but Apple has added a feature to help you protect your investment with recent models, dubbed Ceramic Shield.

This is protection for the screen, and it’s an alternative to the Gorilla Glass used on many Android smartphones.

Ceramic Shield is exclusive to Apple phones (specifically the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 ranges) and Apple has made some big claims about it, but what exactly is Ceramic Shield? And just how good is it really? Read on for a deep dive into this tech.

What is Ceramic Shield made from?

Ceramic Shield is made by Corning (the same company as Gorilla Glass), and it’s made by embedding ceramic nanocrystals into the glass through a high-temperature crystallization process.

Beyond this, Ceramic Shield also uses dual ion-exchange, which basically means increasing the size of the ions so they’re more solid.

The combination of these two things makes for tougher glass, which is both more resistant to bumps and scratches, and also more likely to stay in one piece (rather than shattering) if it does get damaged.

But it’s an unusual construction because generally we don’t see ceramics used in screens. That’s probably at least partly because it’s not typically as transparent as normal glass, but that hasn’t posed a problem here, as the ceramic crystals used in its construction are smaller than the wavelength of light – so absolutely tiny in other words.

How tough is Ceramic Shield?

Apple claims that Ceramic Shield is tougher than any other smartphone glass, and that it offers four times better drop protection than previous iPhones.

Sadly, the company hasn’t got more specific than that, but if those claims are true then Ceramic Shield is the best built-in smartphone screen protection you can get.

How does Ceramic Shield compare to Gorilla Glass Victus?

Gorilla Glass Victus (used in the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S21 range) is the latest and greatest version of Gorilla Glass at the time of writing, so it’s the main rival to Ceramic Shield – though both are made by Corning.

Given that Apple claims Ceramic Shield is tougher than any other smartphone glass, that presumably includes Gorilla Glass Victus, but the difference might not be big.

Corning claims that Gorilla Glass Victus is the toughest version of Gorilla Glass it’s ever made, and that it offers two times as much scratch resistance as Gorilla Glass 6, and four times as much as rival aluminosilicate glasses (that being the type of glass that Gorilla Glass is, but not the same type as Ceramic Shield).

Gorilla Glass Victus is also said to offer two-meter drop protection, which presumably means that Ceramic Shield can withstand drops from at least that height as well.

• Need more protection? Check out the best iPhone 13 cases