It’s been a busy week for mid-range smartphones in South Africa, with Honor launching the X9c and Huawei doing the same for the new Nova 13. At the launch event held yesterday in Sandton, two things about the Nova 13 stood out.

Firstly, the interesting aesthetics of what Huawei calls the Loden Green colourway, one of two colour options the Nova 13 appears in locally (the other being plain old black). Huawei states, “A gorgeous new Dynamic Plaid Texture Design stands out as a blend of vertical and horizontal stripes that create a layered and modern pattern.” It certainly is an interesting look, with this pattern helping to differentiate the Nova 13 from the rest of the mid-range crowd.

Another feature to do so is the 60 MP Ultra-Wide front camera with a 100-degree field of view. If you are keen on selfies, and especially group selfies, this seems to be phone for you. It’s joined by a 50 MP Ultra Vision camera with laser autofocus at the back, alongside an 8 MP ultra-wide (112-degree) and macro cam (2 cm closest focussing distance). On the photography software side, Huawei includes AI Best Expression, which during group shots allows you to select the best expression from each person from the images you have taken.

Finally, there is Huawei's 100 W SuperCharge Turbo, which the company states can charge the Nova 13’s 500 mAh battery to 50% in just ten minutes – a quite impressive task.

The #HuaweiNova13 will be available in SA for R13k, starting in February. Buyers can choose between free earbuds or a smartband extra. pic.twitter.com/HmSUQrnxGf

— TechSmart (@TechSmartZA) January 30, 2025

For the rest of the specs, the mid-range credentials speak for themselves:

• 6.7” FHD+ OLED display with up to 120 Hz refresh rate
• Huawei’s Kirin 8000, Octa-core chipset
• 12 GB of RAM, 256 GB of storage.

Worth remember is that the Nova 13 is not an Android device, instead operating on Huawei’s EMUI 14.2. The phone is also does not include 5G.

Huawei is pitching the Nova 13 at R13k, with either a FreeBuds SE 2 earbuds or Band 9 smartband as a free gift currently on the Huawei shop.

The company also introduced the MatePad 11.5, a 11.5-inch tablet with M-Pencil for R7k, alongside either a wireless keyboard or mouse as free gift.