Honor Magic 6 RSR Porsche Design is the luxury smartphone for the mid-life crisis

The Magic 6 RSR is an ultra-premium phone, with small but significant enhancements to an already great camera system, a beautiful design, and tons of cutting-edge technology crammed in. When we recently evaluated the Honor Magic 6 Pro, we were impressed. It’s a formidable challenger to Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Ultra, with camera performance that frequently outperforms the company’s top flagship.

This remarkable device has now been given the Porsche Design treatment, which has resulted in an ultra-premium look and feel, as well as new functions. Unfortunately, this comes at a high price, but if you want luxury, you will have to pay for it.

It’s the first phone to feature a dual-layer OLED tandem display, a revolutionary LiDAR focusing sensor, and a standout design. With 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, you have an ultra-ultra-flagship. The question is, at a UK pricing of £1599, is the Honor Magic 6 RSR worth your money? I was excited to find out, and after using it as my primary device for almost a week, here’s what I thought.

HONOR MAGIC 6 RSR KEY FEATURES

The Porsche Design Magic6 RSR enhances the ordinary model’s camera system by providing additional autofocusing aid. It consists of a 1200-point LiDAR matrix that allows for focusing speeds of up to 60 frames per second. Perfect for pet photo shoots.

Honor also claims to be using a different and more advanced version of the primary camera sensor, which increases the dynamic range capacity to 15EV. The weather contributed to the test with clouds.

The display on the Magic6 RSR differs from the Magic6 Pro. The dimensions and resolution remain constant, but the dual-layer OLED panel – or Tandem display – promises increased endurance and a slight increase in maximum brightness (not that the non-RSR version lacked in this regard).

We’ll take a look at the Porsche Design Honor Magic6 RSR and compare it to the regular version, focusing on the differences mentioned – sort of a mini-review of the display and its impact on battery life, as well as a brief exploration of the main camera and how it compares to the Magic6 Pro.

HONOR MAGIC 6 RSR PORSCHE DESIGN UNBOXING

The presentation of the Porsche Design edition is, as expected, more premium than that of the ordinary Magic6 Pro. The contrast is now even more obvious than it would have been in prior years, with the Pro transitioning to a phone-only strategy in 2024, but not with the RSR.

The Porsche Design Magic6 comes in a large graphite-colored package that contains more than you may anticipate. The most surprising feature (if you haven’t already seen the Magic V2 RSR unboxing) is the presence of two distinct chargers, one with a UK-style socket (Type G) and the other with a Euro plug (Type F). Each adaptor also comes with its cable. Perhaps all the charges rescued from mainstream Magics were diverted to RSR boxes.

The bundle also includes a snap-on protective case for the phone’s back. It’s coated in a leather-like material on the outside, which appears identical to the Magic V2 RSR casing but is significantly less supple. It’s still really lovely, but the other one is superior. On the inside, the Alcantara or similar material bears a delicate hexagonal design, similar to the phone’s camera island.

CAMERA

The Honor Magic 6 RSR Porsche Design uses the same camera hardware as the Magic 6 Pro but with two important modifications. Instead of using laser autofocus, the RSR employs LiDAR. This reduces autofocus time and enables subject tracking at 60 frames per second. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the 6 Pro on hand to compare, but there is a notable boost in focusing speed compared to my everyday driver, the Vivo X100 Pro.

The other difference is that the dynamic range has been expanded, most likely by software optimization. It can now record up to 15 stops of dynamic range on the primary sensor, compared to the Magic 6 Pro’s maximum of 13.5. It’s a minor difference, given the Magic 6 Pro previously produced fantastic HDR images, but it’s still an improvement.

We’ve already lauded the Magic 6 Pro’s camera performance, and these tweaks simply add to its impressiveness. Photos from the RSR offer exceptionally accurate and natural color renderings, as well as a high level of detail that never appears over-sharp. During the day, it excels at freezing motion, making it ideal for fast-moving objects and sports photography. Large sensors and large apertures on all lenses make it ideal for low-light photography.

The system as a whole is extremely unusual; the main camera has a variable aperture, but it only ranges from f/1.4 to f/2.0. You can see the difference while capturing extreme macro closeups, but you won’t see it most of the time. It’s a fascinating feature, but the Xiaomi 14 Ultra’s f/1.63 to f/4.0 aperture range makes more sense to me.

Next, there’s the 180MP 2.5x periscope zoom. This boasts a higher resolution than any other telephoto camera available, as well as a larger sensor than others. However, the 2.5x reach is significantly shorter than most of the competition, and the high resolution compensates by allowing you to digitally zoom considerably further than normal.

It works to some extent, with results that are equivalent and often preferable to the S24 Ultra at zooms of up to 10x, but it can’t quite match the larger optical focal lengths of phones like the Oppo Find X7 Ultra when you go beyond that. However, at 2.5x, it outperforms the competition, as practically every other phone digitally crops the principal sensor.

Other features include one of the widest ultrawide cameras available, as well as a great selfie camera with a wide field of vision and focus. The primary camera is the most stunning, but each lens performs admirably, and these cameras work well together to provide a versatile package.

For video recording, each camera can capture up to 4K 60fps, and you’ll have more professional options than most smartphones. There’s everything here, including LOG profiles, 24fps possibilities, LUTs, artificial bokeh, and beautification.

DESIGN AND SCREEN

The Honor Magic 6 RSR sticks out from the crowd because of its distinctive hexagonal camera array and sweeping Porsche-inspired fly line running down its spine. I have the Frozen Berry variant for testing, which is even louder and has a high-gloss pinkish-purple color. To be honest, it would not be my first pick; the Agate Grey option has a much more subtle matte texture and is less likely to attract fingerprints.

My primary complaint about super shiny phones is how slippery they are, but happily, that is not the case here. The Frozen Berry variant is easy to handle, and the hexagonal camera’s flat edge serves as a comfortable shelf for your fingertip. However, the naked phone’s grippiness will be of little consequence to most consumers, as a high-quality case is included in the box; I believe most people will use it with the cover installed.

The casing has a synthetic leather back that feels similar to a steering wheel, and stitching down the middle replicates the fly line, adding to the premium automobile interior vibe. It’s a nice addition, especially for the glossy Frozen Berry edition, as it appears to be simple to scuff the shiny rear.

The Magic 6 Pro was already one of the bigger flagships on the market, with a 6.8-inch display and a significant thickness, and while the proportions are essentially the same on this edition, it does become slightly heavier. The Magic 6 RSR weighs 237g and will undoubtedly feel like it’s in your pocket.

Despite its size and weight, the phone is surprisingly comfortable to use. There are smooth curves on all sides, and no harsh corners to bite into your palms, like there are on the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

Aside from the appearance, another notable difference with this model is the usage of a dual-layer tandem OLED display. This is the first phone to use this technology, and the main idea is that it provides incredibly high brightness output without sacrificing durability.

Phone screens are becoming increasingly bright these days, and the Magic 6 Pro was one of the brightest we’d seen thus far. The possible downside of such light output is that the screens are unlikely to live as long as displays with lower brightness levels.

This concept simply layers two OLED panels on top of each other, so if the overall output is 1000 nits, each panel is only running at 500 nits. Honor claims that this means the display will survive 600 times longer than a regular screen and lose less than 1% of its brightness after three years of use.

The display specifications are the same as the Magic 6 Pro. To alleviate eye strain, the display features an adjustable 120Hz refresh rate, 5000 nits peak brightness, and high-frequency PWM dimming. It’s a stunning display that ranks alongside the Galaxy S24 Ultra as one of the nicest smartphone displays I’ve ever used.

HOW’S THE PERFORMANCE?

The Honor Magic 6 RSR Porsche Design is powered by Qualcomm’s flagship SoC, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, so we know it will be a great performer. To take things to the next level, the Porsche Design edition doubles the normal Magic 6 Pro’s RAM and storage to an impressive 24GB and 1TB, respectively.

These types of figures are more appropriate for a high-end gaming laptop than a phone, thus this device should handle any amount of multitasking, gaming, or content creation with ease. In practice, this appears to be exactly the case.

The phone feels fast regardless of what you’re doing. Swiping around the OS is lightning fast, and actions that would ordinarily slow down phones, such as opening a huge image gallery for the first time, are no problem for this device. Will most people detect a difference between 24GB and 12GB of RAM? Not, although it is available for a limited few who require it. In contrast, everybody can benefit from 1TB of storage.

Of course, it’s ideal for gaming. Genshin Impact at maximum settings appears to be a stroll in the park for this handset, and after 30 minutes of crushing up Hilichurls, it was hardly warm.

Buy it if...

• The Honor Magic 6 RSR Porsche Design does not spare any expense. The style is elegant, the specifications are completely maxed out, and the cameras are fantastic.

Don't buy it if…

• MagicOS 8 is largely influenced by iOS, and while it works well in most circumstances, it will take some time to adjust to after using other Android devices.

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