Honor has confirmed it will be announcing a new device at IFA 2018 and while we don't yet know what this device will be, many are expecting the Honor Play.

The Honor Play recently launched in China so we already know a little bit about the new big-screened device but how does it compare to the flagship Honor 10? Here is what we know so far about the Honor Play against the all-singing, all-dancing Honor 10.

Honor Play vs Honor 10: Design

  • Honor Play is larger and heavier
  • Honor Play is metal, Honor 10 is glass
  • Honor 10 has under-glass fingerprint sensor

The Honor Play features a large metal body measuring 157.91 x 74.27 x 7.48mm and weighing 176g. In China, it is available in purple, black and blue but the colours may vary for Europe.

There is a notched display with Honor branding beneath it, while the rear has a vertically-aligned dual camera, body-coloured antenna bands across the top and bottom and a circular fingerprint sensor in the middle towards the top.

The Honor 10 is smaller and lighter than the Honor Play, measuring 149.6 x 71.2  x 7.7mm and weighing 153g. It has a glass front and rear with a metal core, rather than a metal rear and it is available in five colours including the striking Phantom Blue finish.

Like the Honor Play, the Honor 10 has a notched display but you'll find the Honor branding on the rear of the device, while an under-glass fingerprint sensor is positioned on the front below the display. There is a dual camera on board again, but it is horizontally-aligned on the Honor 10.

Honor Play vs Honor 10: Display

  • Larger display on Honor Play
  • Sharper display on Honor 10
  • Both likely to be LCD

The Honor Play has a 6.3-inch display with a 2340 x 1080 pixel resolution. This puts its pixel density at 409ppi, which is still sharp but not as sharp as the leading Quad HD displays.

The Play's notched display has an 18.5:9 aspect ratio but it is not yet clear what kind of display it is. It's likely it is standard LCD though.

The Honor 10 has a smaller 5.84-inch display with a 2280 x 1080 pixel resolution. This results in a ever so slightly sharper pixel density of 432ppi compared to the Honor Play.

The notched display on the Honor 10 has an aspect ratio of 19:9 and it's an IPS LCD screen.

Honor Play vs Honor 10: Cameras

  • Honor 10 has higher resolutions and wider apertures
  • Both offer AI Camera
  • Dual rear cameras on both

The Honor Play has a dual rear camera, as we mentioned above. It is a more basic arrangement than on the Honor 10 however, with a 16-megapixel main camera offering an aperture of f/2.2 and a secondary 2-megapixel camera with a f/2.4 aperture. The front is a 16-megapixel f/2.0 fixed focus snapper.

The Honor 10 meanwhile, has a 16-megapixel colour sensor with an f/1.8 aperture coupled with a 24-megapixel f/1.8 aperture monochrome sensor on the rear and a 24-megapixel sensor on the front.

The higher resolutions and the wider apertures mean the Honor 10 will almost certainly perform better than the Honor Play in low light conditions. That said, both devices feature Honor's AI Camera which uses artificial intelligence for automatic scene recognition and image adjustment so you'll get many of the same features.

Honor Play vs Honor 10: Hardware and software

  • Both Kirin 970 processor with 4GB and 6GB RAM models available
  • Honor Play has larger battery 
  • Both have 3.5mm headphone jack

The Honor Play has the Kirin 970 octo-core system on chip with the Mali GPU offering the GPU Turbo feature. In China, the Play is offered in two versions, one with 4GB of RAM, the other with 6GB of RAM, with both offering 64GB of storage with microSD support. It is not yet clear what the Europe specs might be.

There is a 3750mAh battery capacity on board, which supports fast charging and you'll find a 3.5mm headphone jack too. The Honor Play also has a 4D haptic engine which increases vibration across the device, designed to add another dimension to gaming.

The Honor 10 runs on the same processor as the Honor Play and like the Play, there is a 4GB of RAM version and a 6GB of RAM version. Both come with either 64GB or 128GB of storage, though neither have microSD support and only the 4GB/128GB model is available in the UK.

You'll find a 3.5mm headphone jack on the Honor 10 too, but its battery capacity is a little smaller than the Honor Play at 3400mAh. It too supports fast charging though.

Both the Honor 10 and the Honor Play run on Honor's EMUI 8.1 re-skin over Google's Android operating system so you'll get the same user experience across both devices, which includes features like knuckle gesture controls and screen colour temperature controls.

Honor Play vs Honor 10: Price

  • Honor Play likely to be cheaper

The Honor Play has yet to be released in the UK so it currently doesn't have a price. Based on its specifications however, we'd guess it could sit around the £350 mark if it is announced for Europe.

The Honor 10 costs £399 for the 4GB/128GB model in the UK.

Honor Play vs Honor 10: Conclusion

Based on its Chinese specifications, the Honor Play is a powerful big screen device within a slim metal body.

The Play doesn't have the premium camera experience found on the flagship Honor 10, nor does it offer the beautiful body finish that the Honor 10 does but there's a lot of power and a lot of screen.

We will update this feature once we learn whether the Honor Play is the IFA launch from Honor or not and what specifications and price point will be coming to Europe.