In a span of one and a half years, Tecno Mobile’s camera-centric Camon series has welcomed three new families of phones. The Tecno Camon X and Camon X Pro arrived in the country in April 2018 and we even took the latter for a ride.
Towards the end of the same year, the company unveiled the Camon 11 and Camon 11 Pro and like others before them, it was all about the camera and then some. As I write this, the Tecno Camon 12 series has been unveiled in Nigeria and this time, it has up to three different variants.
Tecno Mobile Nigeria unveiled the Tecno Camon 12, Camon 12 Air and Camon 12 Pro on September 5 at an event in the West African nation, ushering in yet another camera-centric series of phones to pick up from where the Camon 11 duo left off.
As you may have guessed, the Camon 12 Air is the entry-level variant while the Pro gets the flagship tag. As for the standard model, you get a mixed bag.
Features & specifications
The Tecno Camon 12 series is the latest to join the growing number of smartphones in the country with a tri-lens camera. As you’d expect, this is also one of the areas that differentiate the three phones.
The standard and Pro models have the same configuration of 16MP + 2MP + 8MP on the back with Quad Flash. However, the entry-level variant trades the 8MP lens for a 5MP unit. Tecno says the wide-angle lens has a field of view of 120 degrees.
For some reason, the Camon 12 Pro has a smaller battery unit of 3500mAh compared to the 4000mAh unit found in the standard and Air models. I’m not sure why Tecno decided to strip off one feature that would have actually further justified the Pro moniker on the superior model.
Even more interesting is that the Pro gets a slightly smaller display screen and the same HD resolution as the standard and Air models. On the brighter side, you do get an AMOLED panel with in-display fingerprint scanner, up to 6GB RAM, and a superior 32MP selfie shooter on the Pro.
The standard model will be sold in three shades of Dawn Blue, Dark Jade, and Sky Cyan while the Pro will be available in Dawn Blue. It’s not known if the Pro will also get more color variants.
Details about the Camon 12 Air are a little scarce at the moment. So far, the only specs we know are the huge 6.55-inch HD display screen, a tri-lens 16MP + 2MP + 5MP on the back, an 8MP selfie shooter, 3/32GB memory, a 4000mAh battery and it measures 8.15mm thick. We will update this post with more details of the phone when we get them.
Below are the rest of the Tecno Camon 12 and 12 Pro specs:
| Camon 12 | Camon 12 Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | 165.97 x 75.8 x 8.2 mm | 158.6 x 75.5 x 7.8 mm |
| Display | 6.52-inch HD+ (720 x 1600) Crystal Dot Notch Screen | 6.4-inch HD+ (720 x 1548) AMOLED Dot Notch Screen |
| Camera | Main: 16MP+2MP+8MP Triple-lens with Quad Flash Front: 16MP with Dual Flash | Main: 16MP+2MP+8MP Triple-lens with Quad Flash Front: 32MP with Dual Flash |
| Processor | Unknown Octa-core SOC | Unknown Octa-core SOC |
| Memory | 4GB RAM, 64GB storage | 6GB RAM, 64GB storage |
| Operating System | HiOS 5.5 based on Android 9 Pie | HiOS 5.5 based on Android 9 Pie |
| Battery | 4000mAh | 3500mAh |
| Network | 2G, 3G, 4G | 2G, 3G, 4G |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB OTG | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB OTG |
| Color options | Dawn Blue, Dark Jade, and Sky Cyan | Dawn Blue |
Price & availability in Kenya
As already noted, the Tecno Camon 12 trio has been unveiled in Nigeria. However, we still don’t know when they will arrive in Kenya.
In Nigeria, the standard 12 will exchange hands at ₦47,500. This is equivalent to about Kshs 14,000, which makes sense considering the Camon 11 launched here priced at Kshs 15,000. Also, this should leave room for the Camon 12 Air to be priced in the regions of Kshs 12,000, but this is just speculation.
Unfortunately, Tecno Mobile Nigeria hasn’t revealed prices of both the Air and Pro models. But of course, the latter should be the costliest, probably valued at above Kshs 20,000, just like the Camon 11 Pro.
We should find out these details pretty soon. Meanwhile, check out our latest coverage on Tecno Mobile here.
