The Honor Magic 6 Pro is an attractive flagship phone with an amazing camera

The Honor Magic 6 Pro is a phone that genuinely represents the flagship of 2024, building upon previous models and showcasing AI’s promise throughout. The phone is quite appealing because it undercuts Samsung by a significant amount and has great cameras, a screen, and performance.

The Honor Magic 6 Pro can challenge Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S24 Ultra and upend the current high-end smartphone landscape. This isn’t just true in terms of hardware, though, as the Magic 6 Pro boasts a camera system with a range of firsts that may usurp the Samsung flagship’s zoom crown in addition to more sophisticated screen technology. In addition, it has a high-end design, a long battery life, and strong top-end performance—all features that a flagship smartphone in 2024 should have. Though there is nothing fundamentally wrong with MagicOS, Honor’s main flaw is that its GenAI features aren’t quite as sophisticated as initially anticipated, and its iOS inspiration is more apparent than before.

At £1,099, it costs £1,099 more than the £949 Honor Magic Pro, but I understand the price increase—not that anyone likes to see one. Even with its superior camera compared to its predecessor, the Magic 6 Pro is far more capable, and it costs £150 less than the 256GB Galaxy S24 Ultra. Is the hardware robust enough to tolerate Honor’s highly stylized version of Android? The response may surprise you.

Price when reviewed: €1,269.99 | Check price at Amazon

Honor Magic 6 Pro KEY FEATURES

Honor has once again treated us to a cameraphone with incredible specs: the Magic6 Pro, now available worldwide. Great results are promised at both its native focal length and double that with a super-high-res telephoto unit, and the primary camera has a dual aperture lens for a little more control over depth of focus without sacrificing too much low-light performance. Of course, there are all the other excellent features you would anticipate from a truly high-end phone in addition to that camera.

Consider the display as an example. Among its many features are Dolby Vision compatibility, an adaptive fast refresh rate, and an abundance of brightness on the 6.8-inch LTPO OLED. In addition to being cutting-edge, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 has one of the largest battery capacities in its class.

Smaller perks like rapid wired and wireless charging at high speeds, an infrared emitter, and IP68 dust and water resistance are all included in the package. Returning to the imaging hardware, a front camera that is broader than most and has a 3D depth companion should work well for both secure and quick unlocks as well as selfies.

HONOR MAGIC 6 PRO UNBOXING

Upon opening the Magic6 Pro’s slimline package, not much is inside, thus the unboxing experience isn’t really exciting. Apart from the phone, all we received was a USB-C cable. Unlike the Magic5 Pro, our package did not include a case.

Although our review unit did not come with an adaptor, Honor sent us documentation indicating that an 80W charger should be included to meet the phone’s stated maximum charging rating. For more information, check with your store. Alternatively, there might have been a mistake in the documentation.

CAMERA

In terms of technology, the Honor Magic 6 Pro excels in the photography arena, which is noteworthy given the amount of technology included in this year’s flagship. To put it plainly, the Magic 6 Pro is vying for the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s zoom title thanks to a trio of exceptionally good lenses.

Let’s start with the primary camera. With 50MP, it would be simple to disregard, but the megapixel count is just one aspect of camera performance. To achieve this, the primary sensor not only has an “industry-first customized HDR sensor with ultra-large dynamic range” that Honor claims can increase dynamic range by up to 800% when paired with a reasonably large 1/1.3-inch sensor.

Of course, it’s difficult to measure, but it’s evident when I photograph Luna, my German Shepherd. Even though her dark face often appears almost silhouette-like in pictures, the Magic 6 Pro had no trouble capturing every detail that I could see with my unaided eyes.

Additionally, it is one of an increasing number of lenses with variable aperture technology, which enables the sensor to alternate between f/1.4 and f/2.0 in response to the subject being photographed. The primary lens’s close-up photos offer a genuinely DSLR-like appearance, replete with a naturally occurring bokeh that appears far better than software-based substitutes. It also means that the main camera performs exceptionally well in low light because of its larger aperture.

DESIGN AND SCREEN

The jade-green textured back of the Honor Magic 6 Pro that Bloq was sent to review reminds us, for some reason, of the LG G4 that had a leather back panel back in 2015. That level of elegance isn’t present in the Magic 6 Pro, but the crinkly green substance feels good in the hand. The phone has a distinctive appearance that’s enhanced by the large metallic camera bulge with its three black lens cutouts. It’s so noticeable that you can use it as a fingerrest when holding the phone one-handed. If the green is too much for you, there’s also a plain black glass finish available.

Other than the lock button and volume rocker on the right side, this is a typical Android phone with nothing to detract from its sleek design. Speakers are located at either end of the phone, along with the SIM tray and USB-C connector on the bottom.

Sitting on an island within the large 6.8-inch HDR OLED screen, which uses Apple’s LTPO technology to dynamically change its refresh rate depending on what’s going on, the front-facing camera uses face recognition unlocking like a pro, even in the dark. This helps the screen save battery life by not using its full 120Hz capabilities when not in use. When watching HDR material, it can also provide a stunning peak output of 5,000 nits, surpassing the output of the Xiaomi 14, OnePlus 12, Galaxy S24 Ultra, and Pixel 8 Pro.

Even without a case, it isn’t a very light or small phone, but this is easier to overlook given the periscope camera zoom, IP68 dust and moisture protection, and ample amounts of RAM and storage. The cameras and app loading speed are the main reasons for purchasing this phone; nevertheless, the premium weight comes at a cost.

HOW’S THE PERFORMANCE?

About performance-related specifications, Honor has gone all out. In addition to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, it comes with a substantial 12GB of RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage as standard. Comparing that to devices like the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus, which has 128GB of storage at launch, is a significant improvement.

In light of the lack of a microSD card port to allow for future storage capacity expansion, it’s a good thing.

Given the popularity of Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 smartphones like the Galaxy S24 Ultra and OnePlus 12, it should come as no surprise that the Magic 6 Pro is a performance beast that can handle almost anything I throw at it.

This is true not just for everyday use—with buttery-smooth browsing, almost instantaneous program loads, and snappy response times—but also for gaming, and benchmark tests mainly confirm this.

With high-level graphics enabled, the phone could run games like Call of Duty Mobile and Genshin Impact, and given the chipset’s surplus capability, that’s probably going to stay the case for a while. For casual gamers like myself, it will do just fine. It won’t last as long as a dedicated gaming phone like the ROG Phone 8 Pro Edition, though. More on that in a moment. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 also enables on-device GenAI capabilities, which the Magic 6 Pro also utilizes.

Buy it if...

• Outstanding display, complete with Dolby Vision.
• A long-lasting battery with quick wireless charging and charging.
• Like an iPhone, 3D face unlock is functional as well.
• Great close-ups and excellent photo quality from the back cameras.
• Excellent stabilization of videos.

Don't buy it if…

• The ultrawide isn’t very convincing, and the daylight video from the main camera isn’t up to par either.
• Small software errors; unclear when updates will be released.

FULL SPECIFICATION