Honor Play 4 vs Honor Play 4 Pro | Specs | AnTuTu | Features Comparison

Recently, this afternoon, Honor Play 4 series released in China. It featured two smartphones, the Honor Play 4 (1799 yuan/253 USD) and the Honor Play 4 Pro (2899 yuan./408 USD). The price difference between the two phones is enormous with a gap of around 150 USD. So, which one to select? That is why we are here to highlight the difference between both smartphones in this Honor Play 4 vs Honor Play 4 Pro.

Honor Play 4 vs Honor Play 4 Pro – Specs Comparison

Phone	Play 4	Play 4 Pro
Dimensions	170 x 78.5 x 8.9 mm	162.7 x 75.8 x 8.9 mm
Weight	213 grams	213 grams
Screen	6.81″ LCD IPS, FHD+	6.81″ LCD IPS, FHD+
CPU	MediaTek Dimensity 800 Octa-core (4×2.0 GHz Cortex-A76 & 4×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55)	Kirin 990 (7nm) Octa-core (2×2.86 GHz Cortex-A76 & 2×2.09 GHz Cortex-A76 & 4×1.86 GHz Cortex-A55)
GPU	Mali-G77 MP4	Mali-G76 MP16
RAM	8GB	8GB RAM
ROM	128GB UFS 2.1	128GB UFS 3.0
Connectivity	5G: Yes (1, 3, 41, 77, 78, 79 SA/NSA)	5G: Yes (1, 3, 41, 77, 78, 79 SA/NSA)
3.5mm audio jack	Yes	No
Camera	Front: 16MP Rear: 64MP + 8MP + 2MP + 2MP (primary + wide-angle lens + macro + depth-of-field)	Front: 32MP + 8MP Rear: 40MP + 8MP (RYYB + telephoto 3x optical zoom)
Battery	4300mAh, 22.5W	4200mAh, 40W, reverse charging
Other Features	None	Infrared temperature measurement
Price	1799 yuan/253 USD	2899 yuan./408 USD

Honor Play 4 vs Honor Play 4 Pro – Display Comparison

Honor Play 4 has a 6.81-inch LCD screen with a resolution of 2400×1080, the screen ratio is 90.33%, and there’s a 16-megapixel front camera. While Honor Play4 Pro is a 6.57-inch LTPS LCD screen, supporting 96% NTSC color gamut and DCI-P3 Color gamut, 2400×1080 resolution, screen ratio 91.46%. On the front are 32MP + 8MP dual cameras.

Honor Play 4 vs Honor Play 4 Pro – Hardware & Performance

Starting with the performance, Honor Play 4 uses the MediaTek Dimensity 800 processor, integrates the M70 5G baseband, uses 4-core A76 + 4-core A55, and the frequency is 2.0GHz. It also integrates the Mali-G77 MP4 GPU, quad-core APU 3.0 AI core.

Honor Play4 Pro uses Kirin 990 processor + Baron 5000 baseband. The CPU is a 2x Cortex-A76 2.86GHz high-performance core, 2x Cortex-A76 2.09GHz middle core, 4 Cortex-A55 @1.86GHz small core. It also integrates Mali-G76 MP16, one big and one small self-developed NPU core.

Also Read: Kirin 985 vs Kirin 990 vs Kirin 990 5G vs Kirin 980 – HiSilicon’s Best SoC Is?

Of course, the strongest performance among the two SoCs is definitely of the Kirin 990, but the MediaTek Dimensity 800 isn’t bad at all. After all, it is also a 7nm A76 large core SoC. We can also see that Dimensity 800 uses the latest G77 version of the Mali GPU, while Kirin 990 uses G76. The only difference where the graphical performance differs is in the core distribution of the GPU where Kirin 990 has an impressive 16 cores, while Dimensity 800 sticks with only 4 cores. Practically, Kirin 990 will play high-end games at 60fps easily, while Dimensity 800 will play high-end games at 25-30 fps only.

In addition, the Honor Play 4 Pro uses LPDDR4X memory and UFS 3.0 flash memory. The UFS 3.0 memory isn’t mentioned on Honor Play 4, so we can assume that it doesn’t have UFS 3.0, but UFS 2.1 instead.

Honor Play 4 vs Honor Play 4 Pro – Connectivity Comparison

In terms of 5G, both support 6 5G frequency bands. Since we have the Balong 5000 in the Pro version, the 5G speed will be better in Play 4 Pro. 

Honor Play 4 vs Honor Play 4 Pro – Battery Comparison

In terms of battery and battery life, Honor Play 4 uses a 4300mAh battery that supports 22.5W super-fast charging, while Honor Play4 Pro has a 4200mAh battery, but supports 40W super fast charging, which is even better. Honestly, despite the 100mAh difference, the Honor Play 4 will have a better battery life not because of the bigger battery but mid-end SoC.

Honor Play 4 vs Honor Play 4 Pro – Camera Comparison

Honor Play 4 features 64MP primary camera lens, 8MP anti-distortion wide-angle lens, 2MP macro lens, and 2MP depth of field lens, and Honor Play 4 Pro uses the 40MP Dual camera with super-sensitive camera + 8MP 3X telephoto lens combination.

Looking at the numbers alone, the Honor Play 4 Pro seems to suffer a bit, but the combination of the 40-megapixel RYYB sensor and the 3x telephoto lens is actually high-end.

Honor Play 4 vs Honor Play 4 Pro – Features Comparison

The Honor Play 4 Pro supports infrared temperature measurement. This is the first time in a smartphone that can detect minus 20 degrees Celsius to 100 degrees Celsius, and the minimum division value is accurate to 0.1 degrees Celsius.

 

Our Verdict

We have a Dimensity 800 mid-end SoC competing with the high-end Kirin 990, UFS 2.1 vs UFS 3.0, front single camera vs front dual camera. However, looking at the rear camera section, in the resolution and numbers alone, Huawei Play 4 Pro suffers a bit since we have 40MP primary camera vs 64MP primary camera, however as we said before, the combination of the 40-megapixel RYYB sensor and the 3x telephoto lens is actually high-end. This leaves us to the display section, where the Pro version could have used the AMOLED display to further justify the price difference. However, if we see not compare the prices of both phones, and look at the price of Honor Play 4 Pro alone, a flagship-level high-end phone around $400 with 5G seems to be the best thing.

So, answering the question, does the price difference between the standard and pro version justified? Somewhat yes, with only a few downsides in the Pro version which is the camera and display.

However, Honor Play 4 will deliver the best price-to-performance ratio, thanks to Dimensity 800, 5G, quad rear camera, and a large battery.

Source (1) in Chinese, (2), (3)