Honor Magic 6 Pro hands-on review: closing the gap

MWC 2024 has kicked off and the tech giants are expected to make some big announcements. Following the global launch of the Magic V2 foldable smartphone in early 2024, Honor has now launched its latest flagship Magic 6 Pro. HONOR says it has improved the smartphone from the ground up, bringing improvements in photography, display, performance and, of course, artificial intelligence (considering it’s 2024). I spent some time with the HONOR Magic 6 Pro and this is my first impression of the device.

Price and availability

Magic 6 Pro starts at £1,099

The HONOR Magic 6 Pro costs £1,099 in the UK for a single configuration with 12GB RAM and 512GB storage. It is available in two colors: black and Epi Green. While there are three additional color options (purple, green, and white) in the company’s home country of China, only two have been released globally.

Public sales of the HONOR Magic 6 Pro will start on March 8, 2024, but if you pre-order the device before it goes on sale, you can get a £250 discount and a free launch bundle worth £359, which includes the HONOR Earbuds X6 , HONOR 100W SuperCharger and HONOR Pad 8.

Honor Magic 6 Pro: Full specifications

Design and display

Magic 6 Pro is one of the best-feeling flagships of 2024

The first thing you’ll probably notice about the Magic 6 Pro is how comfortable it feels in your hand. Honor has equipped the Magic 6 Pro with a quad-curved front display, complemented by a curved back and rounded corners, making it easy to hold — especially compared to phones with sharper edges like the iPhone 15 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra .

The eco-leather back also adds to the grip, which is helpful because at 8.9mm thick and weighing 225 grams, the phone is a bit thick. The Epi Green version I have here has gold-colored metal rails that go around the device. Personally, I don’t like this approach, especially considering how quickly the rails can scratch in just a few days. Also, I miss the protective case that used to come in the box, but Honor no longer includes it.

The most prominent feature on the back is the large camera model, housing the phone’s triple-camera setup (more on that later). In terms of material and durability, the Honor Magic 6 Pro is on par with other flagship products thanks to its IP68 dustproof and waterproof rating. On the front, the smartphone features a nanocrystal shield that offers ten times better protection than regular nanocrystal glass and adds scratch resistance.

Talking about the display, there is a large 6.8-inch LTPO AMOLED screen on the front with a resolution of 1280 x 2800 pixels. The display is curved on all four sides, supports a refresh rate of up to 120Hz, and has a peak brightness of 1,600 nits in high-brightness mode. I wonder why flagship manufacturers don’t use curved displays anymore – the Magic 6 Pro’s display feels great to use, especially when using Android gestures. Outdoor visibility is excellent, and it also has Honor’s usual eye protection functions, such as 4320Hz PWM dimming, day and night display, etc.

camera

Going head-to-head with Samsung

Speaking of cameras, Honor is very proud of the new “Falcon Camera System” on the Magic 6 Pro. The main setup includes a 50MP primary camera with variable aperture (f/1.4 and f/2.0) and OIS. Beyond that, there’s a 50MP ultra-wide-angle sensor with a 122-degree FoV and a 180MP telephoto lens with 2.5x optical zoom, capable of zooming up to 100x – looking to go head-to-head with the Samsung.

From my brief time with the phone, the first phone performed as expected. Photos are clear and detailed, with a slightly warmer edge and vivid colors – exactly what you’d expect from an Honor camera system. However, the zoom camera feels a bit “exaggerated”. Any value above 8x or 10x will result in noisy images. Still, photos taken at 5x zoom are sharp and detailed. I’m skeptical of the 100x claim, but I’ll reserve judgment for a full review.

Honor also uses the Magic 6 Pro to focus on sports photography, claiming that its AI-assisted camera can take clearer photos of moving objects. I can confirm this to some extent; even in windy conditions, the phone can take clear photos of the flowers. Check out some early samples below:

hardware and software

Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, Android 14, AI features: Everything you want

Inside the Magic 6 Pro, you’ll find Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, paired with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. The phone runs MagicOS 8.0 based on Android 14 and comes with a host of AI-based features out of the box. The company has finally launched Magic Portal to the global market with MagicOS 8.0 to simplify tasks with AI.

One use case for Magic Portal demonstrated by HONOR is Google Maps, where users can simply drag and drop text into the app and the map will recognize the address in the message and direct the user to that location – although I haven’t had a chance to try it out yet; HONOR promises an update next month. Other AI features include text recognition in images and gesture recognition.

However, some minor annoyances in Honor’s software remain, such as the lack of an app drawer and the inability to access app information directly from the launcher.Additionally, there are some annoying notifications about battery-draining apps to remind you Daily Which of these apps consume the most battery – once is enough to convey the message.

Finally, speaking of battery, Honor has really taken a leap forward here. The Magic V2 uses a silicon-carbon battery, making it the thinnest foldable, and the Magic 6 Pro now also comes with a second-generation silicon-carbon battery. The Magic 6 Pro comes with a large 5600mAh battery, which impressed me during my brief time with the device. Moreover, as Honor expected, the machine supports both 80W wired fast charging and 66W wireless charging.

first impression

Finally, if Honor’s software can match the superior performance of its hardware, then we could have something truly remarkable. Sound familiar? This was mentioned when I tried out Magic V2 in September 2023, but the software ended up being slightly below expectations. But if the software can truly complement the hardware this time, then Android manufacturers such as Samsung, OPPO, and Xiaomi should pay attention to this.