Honor Magic 8 Pro review: Premium powerhouse

Greatest Costs Right now: Honor Magic 8 Professional

The Honor Magic 8 Professional picks up the place the Magic 7 Professional left off, with a lot the identical design and positioning. It’s a high-end telephone full of a giant digital camera, oodles of AI and ambitions to develop Honor’s place because it competes with large manufacturers like Samsung.

And it appears to be working. In keeping with knowledge from Searchabull, Honor’s search profile was up by almost 40% year-on-year in Q2 of 2025. Honor additionally says that new clients aren’t simply shifting from different Android manufacturers, but additionally ex-iPhone customers.

So there’s one thing of a buzz across the model, which, since its separation from Huawei, has proven no lack of ambition. The Honor Magic 8 Professional continues that development, pushing the digital camera expertise to the subsequent degree and including an AI button that feels quite a bit like Apple’s Digicam Management.

I’ve been utilizing the Honor Magic 8 Professional for a month to get a really feel for this new telephone. Listed here are my in-depth ideas.

Design & Construct

• 161.15 x 75 x 8.4 mm, 213g
• As much as IP69K ingress safety
• Big rear digital camera

There’s no avoiding the truth that the Magic 8 Professional appears and feels similar to the Magic 7 Professional, with an enormous digital camera on the again of the telephone. It’s designed to face out and almost doubles the thickness of the telephone in that space, so it positively received’t be for everybody.

The remainder of the physique is 8.4mm thick, and it weighs 213g, which is about the identical because the Galaxy S25 Extremely, though Samsung’s digital camera doesn’t stick out almost as a lot. Whereas the perimeters of the aluminium body are flat, it’s not as sq. as some rivals, with curves across the fringe of the show. I truly desire this – it makes the telephone simpler to carry and use this bigger telephone one-handed.

New to the design is an AI button, which is positioned in the identical location as Apple’s Digicam Management on current iPhone fashions. This offers new app launch alternatives, alongside the ability button, which presents entry to Gemini on a double press.

The AI button presents quick, lengthy and double press choices, masking digital camera launch, AI display solutions, AI settings agent, AI photographs agent, Honor AI, AI recollections and Google Lens.

Chris Corridor / Foundry

There’s a heavy leaning in the direction of Honor’s AI choices, however in actuality, there’s no good purpose to assign a few of these issues to a fast launch button. It could be nice if Honor expanded the choices to launch something, including extra versatility.

I settled on Google Lens and Digicam Launch, partly as a result of Honor’s digital camera doesn’t mechanically learn QR codes, so having quick entry to Google Lens is helpful.

The standard of the construct is excessive, with IP69K safety that sees this telephone capable of face up to high-power water jets and full submersion. It additionally comes with a factory-fitted display protector, which I’ve left in place and haven’t discovered to hinder use.

Display & Audio system

• 6.71in 120Hz LTPO OLED show
• 6000 nits brightness
• Stereo audio system

There’s just one factor that I don’t like concerning the show, and that’s the big cutout for the entrance cameras. It apes the iPhone expertise (with related Dynamic Island-style options) as a result of it homes not only a digital camera, however a 3D depth sensor too. Meaning it presents nice face unlocking, nevertheless it does take a bit out of the display that I’d fairly not lose.

As I discussed within the design part, there are refined curves to the sting of the show – not like the large curves of yesteryear, however simply sufficient to melt the influence of the sq. edges.

The show is 6.71 inches with a 2808 x 1256 pixel decision, leading to 458ppi, which means it’s good and detailed. There are additionally oodles of correct colors and nice vibrancy. I’ve discovered the auto brightness to be wonderful, whereas this show is rated to 6000 nits at peak brightness, which is spectacular.

Chris Corridor / Foundry

That doesn’t imply that the show hits these highs in common use (the place 1800 nits is the worldwide excessive), however that peak brightness is reserved for delivering HDR punch when referred to as upon. I’ve discovered this to be only whereas viewing photographs, with each Google Images and Honor’s personal Gallery supporting Google’s Extremely HDR, the place pictures get a lift, with brighter highlights coming by for extra influence. That additionally extends to nice efficiency when streaming video content material, for instance, with Dolby Imaginative and prescient on Netflix.

The superb show can be backed by excellent stereo audio system. There are sound choices to spice up the bass or have enhanced immersive listening by the audio system. These are positively price utilizing, with the “premium bass” providing the richest efficiency in my expertise.

There’s additionally help for spatial audio by headphones or simply fundamental stereo – however once more, it’s price testing to see what you like the sound of. The stereo and spatial audio choices do sound fairly completely different.

There’s additionally a fingerprint sensor underneath the show, which is quick to unlock the telephone if that entrance digital camera hasn’t already noticed you.

Specs & Efficiency

• Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
• 12GB RAM and 512GB storage

Powering the Honor Magic 8 Professional is the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, the newest {hardware} from Qualcomm and marking this out as a real flagship telephone. That’s supported by 12GB RAM and 512GB storage. There’s no lack of energy on supply right here.

The result’s a first-class expertise, a telephone that’s clean and responsive in all conditions. I used the telephone in demanding situations whereas at CES 2026, pushing the machine on multi-tasking, utilizing it for lengthy durations of hotspotting, and located that it carried out exceptionally.

I additionally famous that app set up and knowledge downloading have been good and quick, so putting in large video games was much less of a chore than on different units. I put numerous time into Name of Obligation: Cellular on this telephone and located it ran very well, permitting me to persistently dominate the video games I used to be enjoying, choosing up loads of MVP accolades.

There are a few issues on the software program aspect that appear to be they’re efficiency issues – unresponsive swipe actions or sluggish animations. However I consider these to be a part of MagicOS 10 fairly than because of the telephone’s {hardware}.

Chris Corridor / Foundry

Cameras

• 50Mp primary, 200Mp 3.7x telephoto, 50Mp ultrawide
• 50Mp selfie digital camera

Honor’s focus for the Magic 8 Professional could be very a lot on the digital camera. I’ve talked about that it’s bodily big, nevertheless it’s large in specs too. A pair of 50Mp sensors for the primary and ultrawide cameras are joined by the 200Mp 3.7x telephoto, which continues to supply digital zoom out to 100x.

Enhancements to the digital camera over the Magic 7 Professional embrace elevated stabilisation, whereas there are new sensors to spice up low-light efficiency and new picture processing. Video is obtainable as much as 4K 120fps, too.

The efficiency of the Magic 8 Professional’s cameras is mostly superb. It’s going to take some distinctive daylight pictures full of element and dealing with HDR properly. The low-light efficiency is mostly nice, too, though it begins to indicate some flaws in Honor’s setup. Most noticeable was the dealing with of white steadiness underneath synthetic lighting, the place I took numerous pictures with a yellow forged.

Lightening of darkish scenes can result in barely blotchy outcomes, with an inclination to brighten an excessive amount of. Typically I needed to manually pull down the publicity to get the outcome I wished and protect the steadiness of darkish and lightweight. At different occasions, I discovered it to provide nice outcomes straight out of the digital camera.

The zoom is mostly good, and the influence of the stabilisation on supply is immediately felt. I examined it alongside the Pixel 10 Professional and located it a lot simpler to line up pictures at 100x as a result of the stabilisation was so significantly better. Nevertheless, each techniques now use AI at lengthy vary so as to add textures again in – and each telephones lose numerous element on the far finish of the zoom.

I discovered good color consistency throughout lenses, nevertheless. Typically, there’s a color distinction between the ultrawide and primary cameras, however that’s not the case on the Magic 8 Professional. The transition between lenses is good and clean, with choices for 0.5x,1x, 2x, 3.7x, 10x and the free digital zoom as much as 100x.

Every of the steps produces good outcomes – together with the 10x – so this can be a versatile setup. I additionally discovered that 10x zoom in indoor situations might get some good outcomes too, serving to me get nearer to the motion for some pictures whereas working the show floor at CES 2026.

The AI Button doubles as a camera control button, allowing you to launch the camera and then scroll through different zoom levels once the camera is open, while a press will take the photo. This is a useful addition, but I found the location a little awkward to smoothly scroll, while so many people are used to pinch zooming and tapping an on-screen button to capture. It’s fighting muscle memory, and doesn’t actually offer anything new, which is a bit of a problem.

On the AI front, there are editing options from Google Photos as standard, but a whole selection in the Honor Gallery app, too. My favourite is the option to remove reflections from photos through glass. It’s pretty good, cleaning up images nicely, as seen below.

While that’s all positive, I feel that Honor’s camera approach is a bit over the top – and the weakness seems to be in processing. Compared to the Pixel 10 Pro (which gives a lot less physical space to the camera), I’d still take the Google phone – it’s more consistent, better in low light and gives more natural shots. We have a full comparison of the Pixel 10 Pro versus Magic 8 Pro cameras if you’d like to learn more.

Battery Life & Charging

• 6270mAh battery
• 100W wired charging
• 80W wireless charging

The 6270mAh battery in the Magic 8 Pro sounds capacious, and it is: compared to a couple of years ago, it’s colossal. It’s not rated quite as high as the OnePlus 15 with a 7300mAh battery, though, so it would be easy to highlight this as a negative.

The Magic 8 Pro still comfortably beats Apple and Samsung on battery capacity, charging speed and endurance – and that’s not to be sniffed at

The Magic 8 Pro has a silicon-carbon battery, offering 100W wired charging and 80W wireless charging with the right adapters. There isn’t one in the box (which is standard for European markets), but most people will have a high-power charger already. I found the charger for my Lenovo laptop was happy to supply the power, allowing for really fast recharging.

Chris Hall / Foundry

I found the battery life itself to be great, too. I used it for really long days and frequently didn’t charge it overnight – and there was still life in it. Under heavy conditions, still getting through the day is a credit to this phone. Sure, it’s not as capacious as some, but the Magic 8 Pro still comfortably beats Apple and Samsung on battery capacity, charging speed and endurance – and that’s not to be sniffed at.

Certainly, from my point of view, the battery performance is good.

Software & AI

• MagicOS 10 with Android 16
• 7 years of OS and security updates
• Plenty of bloat

If there’s one area that I’d expect the Magic 8 Pro to struggle with, it’s the software. Honor has always been some distance from a clean Android experience, with a lot of additions and changes, as well as duplication through the addition of its own services. In many cases, it’s fine to ignore Honor’s options and stick to Google – in fact, I’d argue it’s advantageous to do so.

Duplication of tools such as a calendar, clock, email, files, documents and more feels like a nod to the world where Honor exists without Google (in China), with these apps bundled in for no good reason. Much of the bloatware can be uninstalled, so it’s annoying rather than ultimately compromised.

Chris Hall / Foundry

Honor also makes wide-ranging changes to the way Android works, with a lot of options for customisation and other tweaks. That allows you to undo some of the stuff that Honor has changed and make sure that you’re getting the phone experience that you want.

Over the time I’ve been using this phone, I’ve been able to get away from the handful of things which annoyed me, but it seems unnecessarily fiddly at times, with lots of options and interruptions that most people don’t need. Little details, like “Do Not Disturb” not being in the Quick Settings, are just irritating to have to go and fix.

Much of the bloatware can be uninstalled, so it’s annoying rather than ultimately compromised

Then we come to AI, something that every brand is keen to put into its phones these days. Google’s Gemini is present and correct, as is Circle to Search and those photo AI features in Google Photos that I mentioned. Honor then adds Honor AI, which comes with a “Photos Agent” to edit and manipulate images, including transforming into a cartoon style or watercolour, for example. It’s a bit of fun, but not something I can see myself using much.

Chris Hall / Foundry

Honor AI also offers the now mandatory “AI memories” area, which you might find chock-full of files that were shared with you. I found it wanted to save files shared on WhatsApp, while it will also collate stuff that you capture using the AI Button – which is basically screenshots. It’s got potential, but feels limited to now.

Then there’s an AI settings agent that basically uses AI to help you with settings on your phone. This can automate some features or take you to the right part of the settings menu, but sometimes, it will just bow out and tell you to do it manually if it doesn’t know what you’re talking about.

So there are changes for the better and changes for the worse on the Magic 8 Pro, but Honor has stepped up the software support to seven years of OS and security updates. This matches flagships from Samsung and Google, which is a good move.

Price & Availability

At launch, the Magic 8 Pro costs £1,099.99, making it cheaper than the £1,249 Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, but more expensive than the £979 OnePlus 15 or £999 Pixel 10 Pro. That makes it look a little expensive.

However, Honor has launched the phone with a “coupon” so it’s available for £899 from Honor direct on the time of writing, together with a complete choice of items, together with a 100W charger. These are restricted, however price leaping at for these on this mannequin. It’s additionally out there at Amazon UK.

As regular, the telephone isn’t out there within the US. See extra options in our full information to the perfect telephones you should buy proper now.

Chris Corridor / Foundry

Do you have to purchase the Honor Magic 8 Professional?

Most likely not, given the energy of the competitors.

The Magic 8 Professional presents a complete flagship telephone expertise, full with in depth software program customisation, a flexible digital camera system, an amazing show, good battery efficiency (with sooner than common charging) and a protracted replace dedication.

Nevertheless, the likes of the OnePlus 15 and Google Pixel 10 Professional/Professional XL will likely be higher all-around selections for most individuals. And naturally, the Galaxy S26 Extremely is prone to be simply across the nook.

Specs

• MagicOS 10, primarily based on Android 16
• 6.71-inch, 1256 x 2808 AMOLED, 120Hz  
• Optical fingerprint scanner  
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset
• 12 GB RAM  
• 512 GB storage 
• 50Mp, f/1.6 primary digital camera
• 200Mp, f/2.6 telephoto digital camera. 3.7x 
• 50Mp, f/2.0 ultrawide  
• 50Mp, f/2.0 selfie  
• As much as 4K @ 120fps rear video  
• Stereo audio system
• Wi-Fi 7
• Bluetooth 6.0
• 6270mAh battery  
• 100W wired charging  
• 80W wi-fi charging  
• 161.15 x 75 x 8.4 mm
• IP68/IP69K licensed  
• 213g
• Colors: Dawn Gold, Sky Cyan, Black