Honor Play 50, Play 50m official with similar specifications but different prices

Honor
has silently launched a couple of new smartphones in China — the Honor Play 50 and Honor Play 50m. While both phones boast similar specifications and core configurations, they surprisingly differ in terms of price. Let’s delve into the specifics here.
Honor Play 50, Play 50m Specifications
As we mentioned earlier, the Honor Play 50 and Play 50m share core functionalities and look quite similar. However, they are served differently in terms of color options.
Honor Play 50m
The Play 50 boasts a more diverse palette with Star Purple, Black Jade Green, and Magic Night Black, while the Play 50m stays more classic with Magic Night Black and Sky Blue. With the same design, unsurprisingly, they measure similarly at 163.59 x 75.33 x 8.39mm and weigh approximately 190 grams.
The phones sport a 6.56-inch waterdrop TFT LCD screen offering a 720 x 1612 pixel resolution and a refresh rate of up to 90Hz, ensuring smooth visuals for general use.
Honor Play 50
Under the hood, both the Play 50 and Play 50m run on the Dimensity 6100+ processor and come equipped with the Android 14-based MagicOS 8.0 system. This combination should provide adequate power for everyday tasks and casual gaming.
Camera-wise, the Honor Play series keeps things uncluttered. There’s a single 13-megapixel primary shooter on the back, paired with a 5-megapixel selfie camera on the front. So you shouldn’t expect groundbreaking photography performance, but these will suffice for basic snapshots and video calls.
Keeping things powered up is a generous 5200mAh battery that should provide all-day use for most people. And Honor is offering a minimal 10W charging speed for the devices.
Price and Availability
Price is where the things are different between the Honor Play 50 and Play 50m. The Play 50 starts with a 6GB+128GB configuration for 1199 yuan (~ $165), with an 8GB+256GB version available for 1399 yuan ( ~ $194).
The Honor Play 50m kicks off with a 6GB+128GB model priced at 1499 yuan (~ $207), and its 8GB+256GB counterpart costs 1899 yuan (~ $262).
Although Honor hasn’t explicitly explained the discrepancy in prices, Weibo blogger
WhyLab
suggests that it may be due to variations in distribution channels.
Despite the explanation, the significant gap in prices seems puzzling to us. However, it’s the only insight we’ve come across regarding this matter.