Honor’s Pixel 9a challengers will arrive on May 22

By Andy Boxall Published May 8, 2025

Honor will announce the latest models in its Honor 400 series on May 22, and has released a teaser trailer on its official YouTube Channel. The YouTube Short is brief, but gives away the entire design at the end, along with confirmation at least one of the phones will have a 200-megapixel main camera. Honor has already announced the Honor 400 Lite, which has a 108MP main camera.

There are two phones featured at the end of the YouTube Short, presumably the Honor 400 and Honor 400 Pro, and while there’s a definite family resemblance between them both and the 400 Lite, neither appear to have the “AI Camera Button” found on the side of the 400 Lite. Capitalizing on the trend reinvigorated by the Apple iPhone 16, it’s surprising to see Honor ditch the button on the 400 Series phones with the most capable cameras. 

The silver phone in the teaser is likely to be the Pro model and is equipped with three distinct cameras on the back of a curvy body. The non-Pro 400 Series has two cameras and a sensor or flash unit on the back, and a squared-off, flatter chassis which more closely resembles the Honor 400 Lite. Honor is promoting its AI technology in both phones.

Specification for the next Honor 400 Series phones is unknown, but in a teaser shared on X it seems at least one of the phones will have a telephoto camera, water resistance, and an advanced cooling system. The Honor 400 Lite has an IP64 dust and water resistance rating, a 10x digital zoom, and a MediaTek Dimensity 7025 Ultra processor. It will be interesting to see if Honor continues with MediaTek power on all its 400 Series devices, but rumors have pointed to the non-Pro phone using a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3, and the 400 Pro using the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip.

Honor decided not to launch the 300 Series phones outside China, but has already released the Honor 400 Lite in the U.K. and other regions. The May 22 launch event will be held in London, suggesting it intends to bring the full 400 Series range to the U.K., and most likely Europe too. Honor does not release its smartphones in the U.S.. Honor will compete with highly regarded phones like the Google Pixel 9a, the Samsung Galaxy A56, the Nothing Phone 3a and Nothing Phone 3a Pro, and the OnePlus 13R.