Honor 90 Gaming Test: How Does it Perform?

Honor 90 is a solid premium mid-range smartphone. From its stylish looks to its gorgeous display and great set of cameras, the Honor 90 has surprised us. Not just that, the phone features a capable Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 Accelerated Edition chipset as well.

The Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 follows the Snapdragon 778G, which powers many mid-range smartphones. The 7 Gen 1 is built on Samsung’s 4nm process and features three clusters of CPUs, comprising an ARM Cortex-A710 prime core, three ARM Cortex-A710 performance cores, and four ARM Cortex-A510 efficiency cores.

The “Accelerated Edition” moniker is present on the chipset of the Honor 90 because the prime core of the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 on it is slightly boosted from 2.4GHz to 2.5GHz.

Qualcomm has not officially revealed which Adreno GPU the CPU is paired with but has claimed over 20 percent faster graphics performance than its predecessor. And that seems to hold true since our comparison between the Snapdragon 778G-powered Poco X5 Pro and the Honor 90 showed us that the 7 Gen 1 indeed brings a significant improvement in both graphics and computational performance. However, it still falls behind competitors like the Dimensity 1200, Dimensity 1300, and Snapdragon 870, especially in terms of graphics.

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Anyway, in this article, I will be focusing on the gaming performance of the Honor 90. I will run some popular graphics-intensive games on the Honor 90 and walk you through the experience.

PUBG Mobile

The first on the list is, of course, PUBG Mobile. It is the go-to shooter game for many mobile gamers out there.

The highest graphics setting you can choose for PUBG Mobile on the Honor 90 is HDR, with the frame rate capable of going up to Ultra.

However, it’s a bit of a bummer that the phone can’t support Ultra HD graphics. You can also set the frame rate to Extreme, but to do so, the graphics need to be set to Smooth.

When playing the game at an Extreme frame rate, I comfortably maintained an average gameplay of 60fps without encountering any noticeable lag or stutter.

If you desire better graphics, you’ll need to play at the Ultra frame rate, which will provide an average of 40fps while still offering a smooth experience. However, I personally prefer the Extreme frame rate of 60fps, regardless of the graphics being set to Smooth.

ALSO READ: Honor 90 Promises to Reduce Eye Fatigue and Promote Healthier Sleep

Genshin Impact

The next game is Genshin Impact, a very resource-intensive title often used as a benchmark for testing smartphones.

Considering that even the top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 defaults to Medium graphics quality when running Genshin Impact, it’s not surprising that the Honor 90 is set to Low graphics quality as its default setting.

However, it’s worth noting that the Dimensity 1300-powered OnePlus Nord 2T also defaults to the Medium setting.

The default setting has the frame rate (fps) locked at 30. When I increased the fps to 45 (and also 60), it couldn’t reach that setting and was limited to an average fps of 35.

Interestingly, even when I set the graphics quality to Medium and High while adjusting the fps to 60, the Honor 90 consistently delivered an average fps of 35.

Since Genshin Impact is an open-world game, having an extremely high fps isn’t as crucial as it is in a shooter game. Therefore, achieving 35 fps on Genshin Impact at high settings is still quite enjoyable. However, I still wish it could achieve a higher fps.

ALSO READ: Honor 90 Review: A Surprise from Honor

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is the third game I tested on the Honor 90. The highest setting the phone allows is the High refresh rate and High graphics. Unfortunately, you can’t set it to Ultra graphics, which are reserved for more powerful devices.

Anyway, the game ran super smoothly. It consistently delivered 60fps of gameplay without a single lag or stutter. The game was as enjoyable as it could get.