Honor might not be a household brand in the local market, but its certainly a well-established smartphone maker with sizable market shares in the overseas market including China where the company sits second in terms of smartphone sales during the first-quarter of the year, according to Counterpoint Research.
To bring its success to the local market, the company has launched a slew of notable phone models since it’s re-entrance into Singapore back in July last year. Its latest offering, the Honor Magic6 Pro, is among its most ambitious launch that aims at some of the most popular high-end models such as the Galaxy S24 Ultra (Review) and the Apple iPhone 15 Pro.
Having tested the Honor Magic6 Pro for nearly a month, I can safely say that the Magic6 Pro certainly has the caliber to compete at the highest level despite coming with a more accessible launch price.
Honor Magic6 Pro: Design
If you’re a fan of last year’s Honor Magic5 Pro’s design, then trust me, you’ll definitely fall in love with the new Magic6 Pro which bears an uncanny resemblance to its predecessor, albeit a more refined and polished version. The most notable change lies in the revamped ”star wheel” camera design at back which now looks even more outstanding with a new squircle shape frame enclosing the module – giving the phone a distinctive and luxurious outlook.
Aside from that, the Honor Magic6 Pro also gets a new faux leather version in Epi Green colorway that’s available (thankfully!) for purchase in the local market. Compared to classical glass back, smartphone with leather back not only looks more appealing, but also feels more premium to touch. However, like any leather material, you probably have to pay a bit extra care to prevent stains or scratches from building up as that will definitely affect its attractive look.
@playfuldroid Honor Magic 6 Pro full unboxing ? #HonorMagic6Pro #HonorMagic6 #Honor #Smartphone #Unboxing ? Last Dream – Sarklaz
As far as size is concerned, the Honor Magic6 Pro is undoubtedly a hefty device measuring 162.5 x 75.8 x 8.9 mm. Despite that, I still find it pretty comfortable to hold as the edge of the phone offers excellent grip that prevents the phone from sliding off especially when you’re using the phone single-handedly. This is further helped by its textured back which certainly makes the phone feels less slippery as well.
Flipping to the front side, we’ll be looking at a spacious 6.8” LTPO OLED display that provides plenty of screen estate for work and play. Just like any other mobile devices with OLED display, the screen looks vibrant and punchy – making it ideal for streaming your favorite Netflix series or playing games. Specs-wise, you can expect all the best smartphone display features onboard such as an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, impressive 10-bit color depth as well as Dolby Vision support which enhances your overall viewing experience.
The main highlight however, lies in its incredible 5,000 nits HDR peak brightness which ensures the screen remains legible at all time regardless whether you’re using the phone in an indoor or an outdoor environment with strong ambient light. Likewise, those who often use their smartphone during bedtime will be glad to know that the screen also offers ultimate eye protection courtesy of its industry-leading 4,320Hz PWM dimming cycle which helps to alleviate eye strain along with its proprietary Circadian Night Display technology that effectively filters out harmful blue light.
Honor Magic6 Pro: Performance & Battery Life
Under the hood, the Honor Magic6 Pro is powered by Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset that puts the phone on the same footing as any other high-end devices in the market. In terms of performance, you’ll find the chipset to be an overkill for most day-to-day tasks such as replying text messages, scrolling through social media apps or streaming videos.
However, its true potential will be tested when working on more resource-intensive tasks such as video editing or playing fast-paced action games that demand significant amount of processing power from both the CPU and GPU cores. Good news is that the Magic6 Pro did live up to the expectations, delivering smooth and consistent performance even on maximum graphics setting in games like PUBG Mobile.
Performance-aside, its also worth heaping praise on the battery life offered by its respectable 5,600mAh battery which never fails to provide me with at least a day’s worth of power even on days of heavy usage. In the event that the battery runs out, the phone can also be recharged rapidly using its bundled 80W charging adapter that’s able to deliver a full charge from 0 to 100% in around 40 minutes. Yes, you’re not reading it wrong. You do get a charging adapter out of the box unlike most other other high-end devices which no longer include an in-box adapter.
Honor Magic6 Pro: Cameras
Moving on to the most exciting aspect of the Honor Magic6 Pro – it’s camera system. There’s a total of three cameras at the back which include a highly capable 50 megapixels (f/1.4 aperture) main camera, 50 megapixels (f/2.0 aperture) ultra-wide camera as well as a 180 megapixels (f/2.6 aperture) periscope telephoto camera for zoomed shots.
As expected from a top-tier mobile device, the Honor Magic6 Pro’s main camera unit is able to deliver high quality snaps with excellent color profile and details on a consistent basis, even in challenging scenarios. Besides taking impressive stills, the main camera also has the ability to capture dynamic moments with great clarity thanks to the much improved Honor AI Motion Sensing technology that’s able to automatically capture moving subjects in crystal-clear photos, doubling it up as an ideal camera for any sport-based photography.
Even though the main camera alone already sounds impressive enough, it wasn’t even the main highlight of the Magic6 Pro’s camera system. What’s really the game-changing feature here is the new periscope camera which features a whopping 180 megapixels resolution – the highest on a smartphone camera at the time of writing.
@playfuldroid Honor Magic 6 Pro zoom test ? #HonorMagic6Pro #HonorMagic6 #Honor #Smartphone ? Iron Man – Paul Velchev
While the periscope camera only supports 2.5x optical zoom, it works in tandem with the main camera to output 100x digitally cropped photos with respectable clarity that allows the photos to remain legible even at the maximum zoom level (check out the video above to see the Magic6 Pro’s zoom system in full action!).
Finally, for landscape photography, its 50 megapixels ultra-wide camera is yet another capable shooter that’s able to capture flattering-looking photos that appear consistent with the main camera when it comes to color reproduction and details. More importantly, the camera handles edge distortion remarkably well, resulting in photos that look natural.
Honor Magic6 Pro: Verdict
With a starting price of S$1,399, the Honor Magic6 Pro isn’t just one of the most affordable flagship phone, but its also one of the best high-end device you can get in the market. Whether you’re an avid gamer, a power user or a professional photographer, the Honor Magic6 Pro has all the bells and whistles to make it your perfect companion for the next two to three years.
For those who’re interested, the Honor Magic6 Pro is available for purchase in Singapore through Honor’s official store on Shopee, Lazada and TikTok.
