Honor Band 9 inbound as budget fitness tracker emerges in leaked filing

The company is preparing to skip over the Honor Band 8

The Honor Band 9 has emerged in a Bluetooth SIG filing, hinting that the budget fitness tracker could be close to an official release. 

Two versions of the Honor Band 9 - marked as RH-B19 and RH-B39, as shown below - are referenced in the filing first uncovered on Reddit, which could potentially hint at different case sizes or price points for the first time. 

It's also entirely possible it relates to a China-only NFC version and the non-NFC global version, as we're accustomed to seeing with these kinds of cheaper fitness bands.

Bluetooth SIG

Aside from this, though, and the fact that both will be equipped with Bluetooth 5.3, the filing doesn't tell us much about the Honor Band 9. 

In itself, it's a bit of a surprise to see one being prepared at all.

The Honor Band 7 was the last generation to launch, and Chinese brands don't typically avoid an eighth-gen moniker (as they almost always do with fourth-gen devices, due to the perception of bad luck). 

Instead, the Honor Band 8 being skipped over could be to help align the company's fitness tracker line with Huawei's, which did see a Band 8 version release last year.

The two Chinese companies are no longer officially tied, of course, but the wearable divisions are still very, very closely aligned in design and features. 

Until an official announcement from Honor, we won't know for sure whether that link will remain for another generation. But, thanks to this leak, we now know we probably don't have to wait long to find out.