We were privileged to experience and witness the innovation of all the HONOR X9 series models, from the X9a and X9b 5G to the X9c 5G, known for their extreme durability and the added advanced features from the camera to hardware.
The brand wanted to establish the HONOR X9 series as a leader in the resilient mid-range smartphone market and they even earned a Guinness World Record for “The Most People Performing a Mobile Phone Drop Test Simultaneously” last January 2025. This bold move sent a clear message to its customers that durability isn’t just a claim, but a promise to prove that the phone is built to withstand real-world drops and daily wear while still delivering the best features and performance.
For this review, we got our hands on with the new HONOR X9d 5G, where we share our first-hand experience of the device and find out whether it still stands as one of the best X9 series model this year. We also participated in its durability test event, where it went head-to-head against a Tesla Cybertruck.
Price and availability
The HONOR X9d 5G is priced at Php 17,999 during the pre-order period from January 9 to 23, then Php 18,999 SRP starting January 24, with pre-order buyers receiving a Jisulife Fan 5 and an HONOR Gift Box, plus a chance to win a Tesla Cybertruck in the pre-order raffle giveaway. You can purchase the HONOR X9d 5G in all HONOR Experience Store nationwide, authorized resellers, and online e-commerce partners on Lazada, Shopee, and TikTok Shop.
So, here’s my full, personal experience with the HONOR X9d 5G.
Unboxing
The packaging box of the HONOR X9d 5G is still made of a thick cardboard type material clad in all white color with a matte finish. The design remains simple as well, but the top cover now has a refreshed look with a more prominent model name at the top along with a half-image of the unit.
Once you take off the top cover, you’ll immediately see the phone. Underneath it are a compartment box and another inner tray that hold the other included accessories.
We got the following items:
- HONOR X9d 5G Unit
- SIM Ejector Tool
- Quick Start Guide
- Protective Case
- USB-A to USB-C Cable
- 66W HONOR SuperCharge Power Adapter
We’re glad that a screen protector is already pre-applied, giving us an extra protection against scratches and less worry about buying one separately.
Design and Build Quality
For the new HONOR X9d 5G, the brand went with a fully modern flat design having a flat back, flat display, and also a flat surrounding frame. The corners have smooth rounded edges that feel comfortable in the hand, while being pocket-friendly at the same time to easily slide in and out of your pocket.
The frame, finished in an elegant white gold color is made of durable plastic with the phone’s thickness measuring at 7.76mm thick and weighing 193 grams.
The HONOR X9d 5G comes in three color variants – the classic shade in Midnight Black, the eye-catching Reddish Brown that many will likely prefer, and our review unit in Sunrise Gold.
The Sunrise Gold variant of the HONOR X9d 5G immediately stood out as the rear panel shows a warm white-gold gradient tones covered in a smooth matte finish. As light hits the back panel’s surface and the phone is tilted, we can see delicate brushstroke or cloud-like textures subtly appear, adding depth and character to the design. It’s a look that feels premium without being too flashy, it’s kind of more youthful, refined, and even visually engaging.
With the matte-textured back finish it helps minimize fingerprints and smudges, keeping the phone looking clean even after hours of use.
Another prominent design on every X9 series used for the X9d 5G is the centrally positioned large circular camera module, which the brand describes as the “Star Ring” design. The dual cameras and LED flash are housed within a thick black band covered in glass with additional accent by a stylish gold ring around the edge.
The camera module protrudes slightly, but when the phone is laid flat on a surface, it does not wobble. The design resembles a high-end, watch-inspired look that adds an overall elegant aesthetic to the phone.
Lastly, an HONOR logo and certification marks are put at the bottom.
I usually watch a lot of videos and play mobile games during breaks, and I really appreciate the brand’s choice of a flat design. The phone sits comfortably in my hand even after long hours of use and doesn’t feel slippery, even without the included case.
Speaking of the protective case, it comes with a matte finish in a flat beige-gold color shade instead of a clear case, which sadly hides the back panel’s nice design. One downside is that the case is prone to dye transfer, as it tends to pick up color from the fabrics of my blue denim pants. I also tried cleaning and washing it, but the dye has already set in and won’t come off.
The power button and volume rocker sit on the right side edge that feels responsive when you click it.
At the bottom edge, you’ll find the SIM card tray, microphone, speaker grille, and the USB-C port that supports fast charging and data transfer.
A secondary microphone is placed on the top edge for extra audio pickup, along with an additional speaker grille for a balanced sound output.
The left side edge is completely clean, although some HONOR phones now offer a dedicated AI button in this area. It will be interesting to see if the brand introduces this feature in the next X9 series, let’s see.
The bezels on all sides of the screen are thin, which makes viewing enjoyable while the front camera has a punch hole design at the top center.
Durability Features
I think this phone deserves a separate section on its durability features so we can focus more on them. For the new HONOR X9d 5G, the phone earned its first SGS Triple Resistant Premium Performance certification, which tests it against possible daily situations such as drops, dust accumulation, and water spills.
For unintended drops, the phone is equipped with HONOR Ultra-Bounce Anti-Drop Technology, using a 6-layer drop-resistant structure and aluminosilicate glass on the display. This makes the phone tough and resistant to drops up to 2.5 meters, as well as to scratches.
Dust and water are no problem for the HONOR X9d 5G, which now has IP66, IP68, and IP69K ratings. The IP69K rating is a great addition, as it’s something you usually don’t see on other mid-range phones. Water spills are already manageable for the device, but the IP69K rating adds significant protection as it can now survive high-pressure water jets, extreme heat up to 85°C, and remain submerged up to 1 meter underwater.
During the HONOR X9d 5G event we attended, we were able to experience how tough the phone is against a Tesla Cybertruck. There were several activity challenge areas within the vehicle. We slingshot the phone into the side of the vehicle, dropped it into the cargo bed, and even struck the phone against the hood of the Cybertruck.
So far, the HONOR X9d 5G managed to survive all the challenges. However, to be honest, the activities were too extreme for a smartphone. While it was still working properly, we were able to scroll on the display and open the camera, it did suffer some dents on the frame, even on our review unit. In real-world situations, common accidental drops and water splashes should give you no worries with the HONOR X9d 5G.
I’ve seen our unit experience face-down falls with the display hitting the ground during our video content, and we’re happy it came out with no cracks or shattered glass.
We also advise our readers not to attempt the tests we performed, as the brand reminded us that such activities may affect the phone’s warranty coverage.
Display
The display of the HONOR X9d 5G will not disappoint, it now sports a slightly larger 6.79-inch AMOLED screen. It offers a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz and a resolution of 2640 × 1200 pixels for that sharp visuals and smooth scrolling whether you’re browsing the web or scrolling through social media.
And when I used the phone outdoors under direct sunlight, the display remained visible thanks to its 6,000 nits of peak brightness.
As for color reproduction, the display supports 1.07 billion colors and a 100% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage, making photos and videos appear vivid and vibrant without being oversaturated. You can also enable either the color mode or video enhancer under the display settings to further boost colors, which is great for watching movies or streaming content.
We also noticed that when watching videos on YouTube and adjusting the resolution settings, we were able to select with a 4K video at a maximum of 2160p and 60fps.
For visual health, the HONOR X9d 5G also excels in eye comfort features, making our long viewing sessions during testing easier on the eyes. It includes an Eye Comfort mode, Circadian Night Display, Dynamic Dimming, and 3840Hz PWM risk-free dimming, all designed to help reduce eye strain, especially during our late-night use.
Even when the screen is wet, submerged in water, or exposed under the rain, the display remains very responsive thanks to its intelligent touch optimization. Motorcycle taxi and delivery riders also won’t need to remove their safety gloves just to scroll or tap on the screen, the AI Glove Touch feature ensures screen interaction.
Hardware, Benchmarks, and Performance
Inside the core, the HONOR X9d 5G is powered by the upgraded Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 octa-core processor with clock speeds of up to 2.3GHz and paired with an Adreno A810 GPU.
It comes with 12GB of RAM with support for an additional 12GB through HONOR RAM Turbo. Internal storage offers a generous 256GB, though there is no option for expandable storage via a microSD card.
Sharing our benchmark scores on the HONOR X9d 5G.
- GeekBench 6 CPU: 1124 Single Core / 3089 Multi-Core
- GeekBench 6 GPU: 2885 OpenCL Score
- CPDT: 15 MB/s Write, 585.35 MB/s Read
- PCMark: 13447 Work 3.0 Performance
- 3DMark: 3812 Wild Life (22.83 fps)
Base on the benchmark results, the HONOR X9d 5G delivered consistent and reliable performance. It can handle everyday tasks smoothly from multitasking to gaming. Storage and RAM performance was responsive, keeping app launches and file transfers quick. The graphics showed decent frame rates, making it suitable for light to moderate gaming without issues.
Popular game titles like Call Of Duty Mobile, PUBG and Mobile Legends run with stable frame rates at default to medium settings, while casual games such as Clash of Clan, Candy Crush and more is enjoyable and run effortlessly.
The phone’s dual stereo speakers sounded full and well-balanced, thanks to the smart placement of the speaker grilles. Those Mid and high tones are clearly present, with a slight hint of bass that adds a fairly depth to our audio experience.
You can also boost the volume up to 400%, making it much louder. While audio quality might suffer at maximum levels, this is very convenient for audio calls or online meetings, when you need clearer voice output.
Camera and Photo Samples
Both cameras of the new HONOR X9d 5G sport a similar setup to its previous model. The rear camera system consists of two lenses, a 108MP main camera f/1.75 aperture with optical image stabilization, and a 5MP ultra-wide camera with an f/2.2 aperture. The front camera is equipped with a 16MP lens with an f/2.45 aperture.
Video recording on the rear camera maxes out at 4K at 30fps, while users can also choose 1080p at 30fps or 60fps, and 720p at 30fps. Selfie videos are limited to 1080p and 720p at 30fps only.
It would have been better if the rear camera supported 4K at 60fps and the front camera offered 1080p at 60fps. However, the EIS stabilization works fairly well for casual content creation.
The main rear camera supports 3x lossless zoom, 0.6x for the ultra-wide camera, and up to 10x digital fan-shaped zoom for closer shots.
The camera app is very simple, and I like the imaging menu, which is convenient and provides us an easy access to the other camera options such as flash, HDR, Moving Photo, watermark, aspect ratio, timer, gridlines, and level.
With its IP69K rating, you can use the Underwater mode to capture photos and videos even when submerged in a swimming pool, without worrying about water damage.
The photos captured during daylight using the main camera turned out very well, with images looking sharp, colors vibrant without being overly saturated, and contrast is balanced just right. In indoor settings with strong ambient lighting, we also observed similarly pleasing results.
In low-light conditions, the main camera still manages to capture decent photos. While details can appear slightly soft, noise is kept to a minimum thanks to its image processing, and the shots are very much usable for posting.
The ultra-wide camera can also produce good image quality when shooting in well-lit conditions, although the colors are less vibrant and there is some softness. However, the distortion along the sides is kept to a minimum.
Just like its previous model, the rear cameras do not disappoint us. However, we hope the brand considers increasing the lens resolution of the ultra-wide camera in the next model.
The 16MP front camera is capable of capturing good selfies and groufies, it produced clear facial details with the help of face recognition and natural-looking skin tones, especially in bright ambient lighting or well-lit environments.
0.6x Photo mode, Indoor, Low Lighting
0.6x Photo mode, Indoor, Ambient Lighting
1x Photo mode, Outdoor, Sunny Weather
1x Photo mode, Indoor, Ambient Lighting
Selfie, Indoor, Ambient Lighting
Groufie, Indoor, Ambient Lighting
Portrait mode, Indoor, Ambient Lighting
1x Photo mode, Outdoor, Sunny Weather
Software
The HONOR X9d 5G runs on the latest MagicOS 9 based on the latest Android 15.
It comes with a few pre-installed apps like Booking.com, Facebook, Lazada, LinkedIn, ReelShort, TikTok, Trip.com, and WPS Office. If you don’t need some of these apps, it can be easily deleted. You also get the Google services with the users having access to the extensive suite of applications we usually use like Google Drive, Gmail, Maps, Meet and more.
If you’re the type of user who wants to personalize your phone, this is still very much possible. You can customize themes, icons, wallpapers, and other visual elements such as the Magic Lock Screen to make the device truly your own.
It also comes with integrated Google Gemini for a smart assistant along with the handy Circle to Search feature.
AI Eraser
AI Editing Tools
When I need to enhance my photos, the HONOR X9d 5G has a range of dependable AI-powered editing tools with just a few taps, even for those users with minimal editing experience. The available AI editing tools include:
- AI Eraser removes unwanted objects or people from photos with a single tap,
- AI Cutout isolates your subject, allowing you to easily change backgrounds or.turn them to stickers.
AI Cutout
- AI Upscale improves the clarity in photos that appear soft or low in resolution.
- AI Outpainting expands the edges of your photow by intelligently filling in empty spaces.
AI Outpainting
- AI Face Tune automatically detects and corrects closed eyes in group shots.
Aside from AI editing, the HONOR X9d 5G also offers several useful smart productivity features:
- AI Writing, which helps polish, rephrase, or summarize text
- AI Translate, a handy tool for real-time communication or language interpretation when you’re in another country
- AI Subtitles, which provide real-time automatic captions and translations for audio or video content.
- There’s also Magic Portal, which enables one-tap, drag-and-drop access to cross-app services along the edges of the screen for quick actions like searching, sharing, or navigating without opening multiple apps.
- Lastly, Magic Text allows quick text extraction from images.
If you have several shots taken using the Moving Photo feature in the camera app, you can combine these short motion clips into an animated collage. You can customize it by adjusting the video length, choosing layouts, resizing or repositioning the images, and even adding filters, text captions, and frames.
Battery Life
Another real star of the show on the HONOR X9d 5G is its battery capacity, which sees an even massive upgrade. Coming from the previous model’s 6,600mAh battery, you now get an impressive ultra-large 8,300mAh capacity. Even better, it uses a silicon-carbon battery which enables for faster charging, better low-temperature performance, safety and sustainability.
Plus, the silicon-carbon battery also helps in achieving a thinner design for this phone thanks to its higher energy density.
The phone supports fast charging still with the same 66W wired HONOR SuperCharge, it allows you to top up quickly despite its large battery capacity when you need to plug in.
Despite its massive battery, we were surprised by how fast the phone was able to charge. As shown in our charging time log below, a 30-minute charge already boosted the battery to 45%, then went up to 83% after another 30 minutes. It took us only 1 hour and 19 minutes to fully charge the built-in 8,300mAh battery of this phone.
Charging Time Log
- 09:35 – 09:50 : 24% 15 minutes
- 09:50 – 10:05 : 45% 15 minutes
- 10:05 – 10:35 : 83% 30 minutes
- 10:35 – 10:45 : 94% 10 minutes
- 10:45 – 10:50 : 98% 5 minutes
- 10:50 – 10:54 : 100% 4 minutes
- Total: 1 hour and 19 minutes
In my usage tests, the battery is pretty good as light to moderate use was easily stretched to two full days, while lighter days of use can push the battery close to three days. Even with heavier use such as watching videos for several hours, scrolling thru my social media accounts, and playing games I was able to managed around till the evening on a single charge.
There’s no wireless charging, but the phone does offer a reverse charging feature, which allowed me to juice up my wireless earbuds’ charging case. For me, this is far more practical than the wireless charging, and given the phone’s strong battery life, it’s not something I really missed.
Additionally, there’s an Ultra Power Saving Mode that allows the device to extend usage even when the battery drops to 2%, useful for emergency calls.
What We Like
- Modern Flat Design
- Upgraded Durability Features
- Sharp and Vibrant Display
- Screen Responsive with Gloves or Wet
- Eye Comfort Features
- New Processor
- 8300mAh Battery Capacity
- 66W Fast Charging
- Reverse Charging
- AI Features (Editing, Productivity, and Gemini)
- 5G Ready
- Loud Stereo Speakers
- Price
- Pre-order Raffle a Tesla Cybertruck!!!
What We Want
- microSD Card Support
- Include a USB-C to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter
- Camera and Chipset aren’t flagship-level
- 4K 60fps video
Conclusion
The HONOR X9d 5G, as we already know, boasts an impressive set of durability features that make it one of its main strengths. it’s a phone you can confidently use in everyday situations without worrying about accidental drops or water exposure.
Beyond durability, the HONOR X9d 5G also shines in areas we truly appreciate.
First, the display and design having a large 120Hz AMOLED display is enjoyable for media or gaming consumption, while the new flat design gives the phone a more modern and premium look which fans requested and HONOR listened.
It still has a set of capable dual camera setup that can capture pleasing photos in both daylight and good ambient lighting.
Add its solid performance and the rich AI features, the HONOR X9d 5G proves to be a well-balanced mid-range smartphone for multitasking and productivity that goes beyond toughness alone.
The massive 8,300mAh battery is already a big win for the HONOR X9d 5G. Knowing its large battery capacity, we were a bit worried that charging might take two hours or more. But surprisingly, we were in awe as it was able to reach an impressive 83% charge on its battery in just one hour.
The HONOR X9d 5G isn’t about flashy gimmicks or extreme durability tests done by the brand or even by us across social media feeds. It’s about the peace of mind that comes with knowing the HONOR X9d 5G is one of the most dependable and reliable mid-range phones you can buy right now.
Full Specifications – HONOR X7d 5G
- Price: PHP18,999
- Colors: Sunrise Gold, Midnight Black, Reddish Brown
- Dimensions: 161.9 x 76.1 x 7.76 mm
- Weight: 193g (including the battery)
- Durability: IP66, IP68, IP69K Water Resistance and Full-level Dustproof, HONOR Ultra-Bounce Anti-Drop Technology with SGS Triple Resistant Certification
- Screen Glass Material: Aluminosilicate glass
- Display Size: 6.79-inch HONOR FullView
- Colors: 1.07 Billion Colors, 100% DCI-P3
- Peak Brightness: 6000 nits (max), 800 nits (typical) 1800 nits (HBM type)
- Refresh Rate: 120Hz
- Resolution: 2640 x 1200 pixels
- Eye Comfort Features: Eye Comfort, Circadian Night Display, Dynamic Dimming, 3840Hz PWM risk-free Dimming
- Processor: Qualcomm® Snapdragon 6 Gen4
- CPU: Octa-core, 1xA720*2.3GHz + 3xA720*2.2GHz + 4xA520*1.8GHz
- GPU: Qualcomm Adreno A810
- RAM: 12GB+12GB HONOR RAM Turbo
- Internal Storage: 256 GB
- Camera (Rear): 108MP (f/1.75) Main Camera, 5MP (f/2.2) Ultra-Wide Camera
- Camera (Front): 16MP (f/2.45)
- Video (Rear): 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60fps, 720p@30fps
- Video (Front): 1080p/720p@30fps
- Photography AI Editing: AI Remove Reflection, AI Eraser, AI Upscale, AI Outpainting, AI Cutout, AI Face Tune-Eyes Open, Moving Photo Collage, Moving Photo Share
- Battery: 8300mAh Silicon-Carbon Battery
- Fast Charging: 66W HONOR SuperCharge
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, 2.4G/5G
- Bluetooth: BT5.2 (Supporting BLE, SBC, AAC, LDAC, APTX, APTX HD, AptX Adaptive)
- Headset Type: Type-C
- Data interface: USB Type-C
- Network: Nano-SIM, Dual Stand-by
- Operating System: MagicOS 9.0 (Android 15)
- Sensors: Gravity Sensor, Fingerprint Sensor, Gyroscope, Compass, Acceleration Sensor, Ambient Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor, NFC
