Honor has unveiled its global version of the Honor Magic6 Pro, its flagship for 2024, at Mobile World Congress. The design is a two-halves design, with a thin chassis line and a curved display. This design language has been seen on Honor’s previous handsets and competitors’ leading devices. The first 2024 handsets suggest a shift towards more boxlike and harsh edges for more internal volume, flat screens, and a secure grip. The Magic6 Pro feels like last year’s model when it comes out of the box, with narrow edges and thin buttons. The design language has not changed in 2024, despite the initial preference for the “curve and cutting” design.
The Rear View
The Magic6 Pro smartphone design team has created a unique rear design that stands out with its texture and three-shaped camera island. Available in two colors, the design breaks out of typical smartphone expectations. The raised lip, square squircle, silver washer, and glass-covered surface of the camera island add a touch of style. Honor has successfully incorporated symmetrical elements around the vertical, creating a fresh and exciting look. This approach is likely to be repeated across the 2024 portfolio and iterated into 2025 and beyond, ensuring the Magic6 Pro remains a standout in the smartphone market.
Premium Features and Performance in a Smartphone
The Magic6 Pro is a flagship smartphone that features a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, a battery with a capacity of 5600 mAh, fast charging capabilities (either 80W over wired connections or 66W over wireless connections), an OLED screen with a high refresh rate of 120Hz, and an IP68 certification. It has a high refresh rate of 120Hz, a resolution of 2800×1280 pixels, and a maximum brightness of 5000nits on high dynamic range (HDR) or 1800nits on regular use. During the course of the year, it is anticipated that this standard will be repeated across a variety of mobile devices and manufacturers.
Top-Tier Smartphone Photography
The Honor Magic6 Pro is a smartphone with a 180-megapixel periscope camera lens, offering 2.5x optical zoom, a seamless zoom up to x5, a comfortable detente at x10, and digital up to x100. Its large megapixel count allows Honor to use pixel-binning technology, considering 16 pixels before the software decides on a value for one pixel. The main 50-megapixel lens features a variable aperture for better close-in shots and lower light levels. The device also has a wider dynamic range and a tweaked HDR sensor, particularly noticeable in low light shots. The Honor Magic6 Pro edges out Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Ultra in general camera performance. However, the S24 Ultra camera software is still in flux, so a full comparison is needed. For the average consumer, the Magic6 Pro camera is considered in the top tier of smartphones.
Navigating the Android Experience
Honor’s Android version, MagicOS, has a resemblance to Huawei’s EMUI, but it is not the cleanest and most inconsistent across applications. Honor is leaning towards the artificial intelligence capabilities of the Magic6 Pro in 2024, but some eye-catching features are marked as “coming soon” rather than available out of the box. The eye-tracking facility to help select parts of the user interface will not be available until later in the year. Honor’s generative AI features, MagicLM, are an on-device assistant that works similar to Google Assistant. While there’s nothing wrong with buying a phone with key features that have not yet been released, it’s possible that expectations may not match the reality of the experience. This is a warning for Honor’s Android users.
