Home > Smartphone comparison > Phone (2a) vs Honor X9c – which one to choose?

Nothing Phone (2a) vs Honor X9c

63 out of 100
Nothing Phone (2a)
VS
62 out of 100
Honor X9c
Nothing Phone (2a)
Honor X9c

Here we compared two mid-range smartphones: the 6.7-inch Nothing Phone (2a) (with MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro) that was released on March 5, 2024, against the Honor X9c, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 and came out 8 months after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory
  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Nothing Phone (2a)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • 30% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (985K versus 760K)
  • Compatible with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networks
  • 21% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1133 and 935 points
Reasons to consider the Honor X9c
  • Comes with 1600 mAh larger battery capacity: 6600 vs 5000 mAh
  • Water-resistant body (IP65 classification)
  • Supports higher wattage charging (66W versus 45W)
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 2750 MHz
  • Slow-motion recording at 240FPS
  • 11% higher pixel density (437 vs 394 PPI)
  • Faster storage type - UFS 3.1 versus UFS 2.2
  • Reverse charging feature
  • The phone is 8 months newer
  • Has a built-in infrared port

Review

Evaluation of Nothing Phone (2a) and Honor X9c crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
DeviceFacts Score
Final comparison evaluation
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πŸ“± Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your country’s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
8 / 128 GB
VS
8 / 256 GB
71.4
(Good)
Value Index
99.0
(Very good)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
Phone (2a)
vs
Honor X9c

Display

Type AMOLED AMOLED
Size 6.7 inches 6.78 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2412 pixels 1224 x 2700 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 19.85:9
PPI 394 ppi 437 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (30-120 Hz) Yes
Max rated brightness 700 nits 4000 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1300 nits -
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ No
Touch sampling rate 240 Hz -
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Glass 5 Tempered glass
Screen-to-body ratio 87.8% 90.7%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming		 - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming
Display tests
RGB color space 99.3% -
PWM 90 Hz -
Response time 1 ms -
Contrast ∞ Infinity -
Peak brightness test (auto)
Phone (2a)
974 nits
Honor X9c
n/a
Sources: NotebookCheck [3]

Design and build

Height 161.7 mm (6.37 inches) 162.8 mm (6.41 inches)
Width 76.3 mm (3 inches) 75.5 mm (2.97 inches)
Thickness 8.6 mm (0.34 inches) 7.98 mm (0.31 inches)
Weight 190 g (6.7 oz) 189 g (6.67 oz)
Waterproof IP54 IP65
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Plastic Plastic
Frame material Plastic Plastic
Colors White, Black Black, Green, Purple
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio
Phone (2a)
87.8%
Honor X9c +3%
90.7%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Nothing Phone (2a) and Honor X9c
SoC
Chipset MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1
Max clock 2800 MHz 2200 MHz
CPU cores 8 (2 + 6) 8 (4 + 4)
Architecture - 6 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A510
- 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A715		 - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 4 cores at 2.2 GHz: Cortex-A78
L3 cache 4 MB -
Manufacturing TSMC Samsung
Lithography process 4 nanometers 4 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) MediaTek APU 650 Yes
GPU
Graphics Mali-G610 MC4 Adreno 710
GPU shading units 256 256
GPU clock 1130 MHz 676 MHz
FLOPS ~578.6 GFLOPS ~346.1 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Nothing Phone (2a) and Honor X9c
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Phone (2a) +21%
1133
Honor X9c
935
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Phone (2a)
2581
Honor X9c +5%
2719
Compute Score (GPU)
Phone (2a) +1561%
4085
Honor X9c
246
Compute Score (GPU) 4085 246
Single-core score 1133 935
Multi-core score 2581 2719
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
Phone (2a) +30%
985261
Honor X9c
760332
CPU 363418 284852
GPU 172332 55762
Memory 158940 201468
UX 290571 218250
Total score 985261 760332
Samples [16 tests] [12 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Phone (2a) +125%
449
Honor X9c
200
Stability 98% 99%
Graphics test 3 FPS 1 FPS
Graphics score 449 200
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Phone (2a)
n/a
Honor X9c
12708
Web score - 12996
Video editing - 7162
Photo editing - 24195
Data manipulation - 10073
Writing score - 15092
Submit your benchmark results

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Nothing Phone (2a)
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-30 (Kaiser)AnTuTu 121001163
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-19 (Vedurijuht2425)AnTuTu 121045921
πŸ“˜ 2026-07-12 (note8techh)AnTuTu 11984744
πŸ“˜ 2026-05-06 (legusk)AnTuTu 111025139
πŸ“˜ 2026-04-13 (Divyanshu Raj)AnTuTu 111006410
Add View all (22)
Honor X9c
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-05-28 (LenslyWhite)AnTuTu 11764283
πŸ“˜ 2026-03-14 (Ааа)AnTuTu 11611007
πŸ“˜ 2026-02-19 (trixeee)AnTuTu 11603217
πŸ“˜ 2026-02-11 (Zver)AnTuTu 11773303
πŸ“˜ 2026-02-07 (Mohammed)AnTuTu 11743177
Add View all (12)

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR5
Memory clock 2133 MHz 2750 MHz
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 256 GB
Storage type UFS 2.2 UFS 3.1
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 14 (Can be upgraded to Android 15) Android 14 (Can be upgraded to Android 15)
ROM Nothing OS 3.0 MagicOS 9.0
OS size 21 GB -
OS updates 3 years 2 years
Security updates 4 years 3 years

Battery

Capacity 5000 mAh 6600 mAh
Max charge power 45 W 66 W
Battery type Li-Po Silicon-Carbon (Si/C)
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging No No
Reverse charging No Yes
Bypass charging - No
Fast charging Yes (59% in 30 min) Yes (50% in 40 min)
Full charging time 1:03 hr 1:15 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 11:32 hr -
Watching video 18:30 hr -
Gaming 06:26 hr -
Standby 148 hr -
General battery life
Phone (2a)
29:55 hr
Honor X9c
n/a
Add your battery life

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 108 megapixels
Image resolution 8192 x 6144 12000 x 9000
Zoom Digital Digital
Flash LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 30FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 120 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 114Β° -
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Ultrawide: 50 MP
1) Standard: 108 MP
2) Ultrawide: 5 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support		 - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 108 MP
Aperture f/1.9 f/1.8
Focal length 24 mm -
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL GN9 Samsung HM6
Sensor size 1/1.56" (β‰ˆ 0.64 inch) 1/1.67" (β‰ˆ 0.6 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 1 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 50 MP 5 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Sensor Samsung S5KJN1 -
Sensor size 1/2.76" (β‰ˆ 0.36 inch) -
Pixel size 0.64 micron -
Stabilization Digital Digital

Selfie camera

Megapixels 32 megapixels 16 megapixels
Image resolution 6528 x 4896 3456 x 4608
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.5
Sensor Sony IMX615 CMOS
Sensor size 1/2.74" (β‰ˆ 0.36 inch) -
Pixel size 0.8 micron -
Autofocus No No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display		 - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5.3 5.1
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG		 - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort No No
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo
NFC* Yes Depends on the region
Infrared port No Yes
Network
Number of SIM* 2 2
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* No No
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* - 18
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos No No
Speakers test
Max loudness
Phone (2a)
88.9 dB
Honor X9c
n/a

Other

Category Mid-range Mid-range
Announced March 2024 November 2024
Release date March 2024 November 2024
Launch price (MSRP) $329 $350
Successor - Nothing Phone (4a) - Honor X9d
Sensors - Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint		 - Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Not included Yes, 66 W
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

If the gaming and connectivity are more important to you, then choose the Nothing Phone (2a). But if the software and design are more of a priority – go for the Honor X9c.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
9 (47.4%)
10 (52.6%)
Total votes: 19

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