What just happened? One week after Samsung debuted the Galaxy A8s in the same market, Huawei has launched the Nova 4 in China. Both handsets feature 'hole-punch' displays for their selfie cameras; a technology that will likely appear in even more phones next year.

Huawei had been teasing the arrival of the Nova 4 and its hole-punch camera for weeks, but Samsung's Galaxy A8s became the first phone with a hole when it debuted in China seven days ago. Huawei's handset packs a 25-megapixel selfie cam and a 48MP ( f/1.8 aperture) + 16MP + 2MP rear camera array. There's also a model that comes with 20MP, 16MP, and 2MP sensors.

Those expecting the company's flagship SoC will be disappointed. The Nova 4 sports the same Kirin 970 chipset found in the Mate 10 and P20 series, rather than Huawei's 7nm Kirin 980, which is used in the Mate 20 series. Other specs include 8GB of RAM, 128GB of internal storage, a 6.4-inch IPS LCD screen with a 2,310 x 1,080 resolution, a rear fingerprint reader, a 3750mAh battery, 18W fast charging over USB-C, and Android 9.0 Pie.

The Nova 4 will cost 3,399 yuan (about $490) or $3,099-yuan ($450) for the model with the 20MP camera. Like the Nova 3, it will probably release in wider Asia and Europe following the Chinese launch. Sadly, a US release looks highly unlikely.

With most Android users still hating the notch, could a less invasive hole-punch eventually replace the cutout made popular by Apple's iPhone X?