A major step up to the midrange non-Pro HONOR 400 that was launched months earlier, the new HONOR 400 Pro offers more serious hardware for a sub-flagship smartphone experience.
In our full review of the HONOR 400 Pro, we’ll see how it compares to other high-end phones on the market and if you can get your money’s worth out of it. Let’s begin.
HONOR 400 Pro Specs
- Android 15, MagicOS 9 (6 years of Android upgrades)
- Dual SIM, Dual Standby
- 6.7-inch 1.5K AMOLED display, 2800 x 1280 pixel resolution, ~460ppi
- 120Hz refresh rate
- 5,000-nit peak brightness
- HDR Vivid, Netflix and Amazon HDR certified
- 3.0GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 octa-core processor
- Adreno 750 GPU
- 12GB RAM
- 512GB internal storage, non-expandable
- 50-megapixel (f/2.0) + 2-megapixel (depth sensor) front cameras
- 200-megapixel (1/1.4-inch, f/1.9, PDAF, OIS) + 50-megapixel (3x telephoto, f/2.4, PDAF, OIS) + 12-megapixel (ultra-wide) rear cameras, LED flash
- Under-display fingerprint scanner, Face unlock
- IP68/69 dust and water resistant
- Stereo speakers
- HSPA+, 4G LTE, 5G
- WiFi 7, tri-band
- Bluetooth 5.4
- GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS, BDS
- NFC
- IR Blaster
- USB-C
- Dimensions: 160.8 x 76.1 x 8.1mm
- Weight: 205g
- Colors: Tidal Blue, Luna Grey, Midnight Black
- 6,000mAh non-removable battery, 100W wired, 50W wireless, 5W reverse wired, reverse wireless charging
Design and Build Quality
The HONOR 400 and 400 Pro have the same design language, with a unique camera island in the shape of a can opener. While they look identical, it’s kind of easy to tell them apart.
For starters, the Pro model is larger as it has a 6.7-inch display, while the non-Pro model is only 6.55 inches. It also has a wider pill-shaped notch due to an extra front-facing camera.
The HONOR 400 Pro is also tougher as it is IP68 and IP69-rated for dust and water resistance. The frame feels really solid, and the clear case — while nothing fancy — provides enough protection for the cameras and the screen. HONOR also pre-applied a screen protector out of the box.
It is one of the widest and tallest phones we’ve seen. Even people with bigger hands might have a hard time reaching the opposite edge of the device.
On the upside, it’s decently thin, and the smooth curves on all four corners and sides make it comfortable to hold, even for an extended period. Like the premium HONOR Magic7 Pro, the HONOR 400 Pro is a well-built and well-designed smartphone.
Taking a tour, we have the said 6.7-inch AMOLED screen on the front with a notch for the 50-megapixel selfie camera and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. The bezels are thin and uniform all around.
The left side is clean, while the right has the volume controls and the lock/power switch. All physical buttons are nice and clicky.
Up top, we have the stereo speaker, noise-isolating microphone, and the IR blaster.
The bottom has the primary loudspeaker and microphone, USB-C port, and the SIM tray for two nano SIM cards.
On the back, there’s the triple camera setup. The one on top is the 200-megapixel main shooter, below it is the 12-megapixel ultra-wide, followed by the 50-megapixel telephoto lens.
The rear has a frosted glass material available in Lunar Grey (the unit we have), Midnight Black, and Tidal Blue. The back panel stays clean from fingerprint marks and smudges, and should also withstand the accumulation of hairline scratches over time.
Display and Audio
The HONOR 400 Pro 5G has a 6.7-inch 1.5K AMOLED display with 2800 x 1280 pixel resolution, and ~460ppi. It also has a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate, 5,000-nit peak brightness, 3840Hz PWM dimming, HDR Vivid, as well as HDR certification for both Netflix and Amazon streaming.
It has vibrant colors and deep contrast, as expected for an AMOLED panel. HDR worked really well on the top platforms, and the screen gets extra bright for outdoor use. Plus, the large display provides ample room for multitasking and an immersive viewing experience.
The stereo speakers have a 200% volume booster, which is more than enough for enjoying content with friends.
As for the sound quality itself, the treble and vocals are clean, and the bass is ample. Together with the big display, it provides a strong and powerful sound, great for gaming and action movies.
Hardware and Performance
The HONOR 400 Pro 5G is powered by a 4nm 3.0GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 octa-core processor, with Adreno 750 GPU, 12GB of RAM with +12GB virtual RAM expansion, and 512GB UFS 3.1 non-expandable storage.
HONOR 400 Pro 5G Benchmark Scores
Sporting one of the most powerful mobile chips in the market today, the HONOR 400 Pro 5G unsurprisingly has solid performance. Multitasking is very smooth, social media browsing is a breeze, taking pictures is quick, and more.
It also handled games with finesse. Genshin Impact ran fine under the Highest render resolution at 60fps, but it did get warm after a few minutes. If you plan on playing for hours, you might want to tone down the graphics quality or frame rate a bit.
PUBG Mobile ran with no issues under HDR graphics at Extreme frames, as well as Call of Duty Mobile, and Farlight84 on Extreme graphics and Very High frames.
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang was seamless under maxed-out settings, as well as Asphalt Legends Unite.
The HONOR 400 Pro will definitely satisfy hardcore gamers. Overheating is also not an issue as long as you stay within the right settings in select titles.
| Game | Graphics Settings |
| Genshin Impact | • Render Resolution: Highest • Visual Effects: High • FPS: 60 |
| Call of Duty: Mobile | • Graphics Quality: Max • Frame Rate: Max |
| PUBG Mobile | • Graphics Quality: HDR • Frame Rate: Extreme |
| Farlight84 | • Graphics Quality: Extreme • Frame Rate: Very High |
| Mobile Legends: Bang Bang | • Graphics Quality: Ultra • Frame Rate: Ultra • HD Mode: Mode |
| Asphalt Legends Unite | • Visual Quality: High Quality • Frame Rate: 120 |
Software and User Interface
The HONOR 400 Pro 5G runs on Android 15-based MagicOS 9. HONOR said that the entire HONOR 400 series will receive six (6) years of Android upgrades and security patches, which is more than enough to future-proof this device.
MagicOS 9 is nice and clean with a few visual improvements over its predecessor. Components are where you need them to be, and the layout is clear. The app drawer has to be enabled in the settings if you want to.
AI is a big part of MagicOS UI, much like everyone else. A personal favorite is the AI Writer, which allowed us to easily write captions, reply to emails, and more. HONOR’s AI Deepfake Detection will help you know if you’re talking to an AI face during video calls.
Also here are AI Magic Text, AI Subtitle, AI Translate, Call Translation, and Magic Portal that let you easily drag and drop media/texts from one app to another.
Google Gemini AI Assistant works as the default virtual assistant, easily accessible by long-pressing the power button.
Circle to Search is also available, which you can activate by long-pressing the navigation bar.
The Create section in the Gallery has features such as AI Instant Movie, which lets you choose clips and photos and stitch them into a short video.
AI Image to Video, a big feature introduced on the vanilla HONOR 400, is also here. It can animate still photos into quick 5-second videos.
A few AI favorites are also in the Gallery app. We have AI Eraser, AI Upscale, AI Cutout, and AI Outpainting.
For security, the optical under-display fingerprint scanner is snappy and accurate. Face unlock is responsive, too, even in dark rooms, and it works even with a mask on.
HONOR leaves you plenty of room to use on the large 512GB of storage, and there’s a built-in storage cleaner that analyzes the system for junk files, unused apps, and duplicate apps and easily cleans them.
Virtual RAM expansion works on its own and there’s no way to modify it. The HONOR RAM Turbo borrows up to 12GB of space from the storage.
HONOR MagicOS is still as good as ever, no complaints here.
Cameras
The HONOR 400 Pro has a camera setup that could easily rival true flagship phones. It has a 200-megapixel 1/1.4-inch main camera with an f/1.9 aperture, PDAF, and optical image stabilization.
It is joined by a 50-megapixel 3x telephoto lens with OIS, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide, and a 50-megapixel on the front for selfies.
It can shoot videos at up to 4K resolution with 60fps and 120fps/240fps slow-motion at 1080p.
Shots from the 200-megapixel main camera look good but not great. Colors are nice, and details are a little sharp, but the dynamic range is a little off with overblown highlights in some of the shots.
Low-light shots looked nice and clean. Dynamic range is not so bad as we head to the night. The details remained sharp, but post-sharpening is quite noticeable.
That same camera is used for the 2x zoom shots, which is great for portraits. Thanks to its ultra-sharp sensor, details still look sharp despite the digital crop. Colors are good, but the image suffers from the same dynamic range issues.
Tap the 3x zoom to start shooting with the 50-megapixel telephoto camera. It has a 68mm equivalent, 135mm for the 6x zoom, and can go up to 1125mm at 50x.
The 3x shots look similar from the main camera. While the exposure could’ve been handled well, sharpness and colors are on point.
The same dynamic range issue persists on the 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera. Still, the overall image quality is great. Details are relatively sharp despite the lower resolution sensors, colors are pleasant, and barrel distortion is not a problem.
Exposure problems seem to subside a bit for selfies, but that’s probably because of how close the frame is to the subject. As expected, the 50-megapixel front-facing shooter captures a lot of details with realistic colors.
Apart from the recurring dynamic range issues, the HONOR 400 Pro has some serious camera hardware that could rival many flagships. Let’s just hope a software update can iron things out.
Battery and Charging
The HONOR 400 Pro is equipped with a large 6,000mAh silicon-carbon battery, complete with 100W wired, 50W wireless, 5W reverse wired, and reverse wireless charging.
It has a great battery life for a high-end phone, but is definitely outdone by other phones that have a battery with a higher density (6,500mAh, 7,000mAh).
The device lasted for 14 hours and 8 minutes in PCMark’s Battery Test and 18 hours and 47 minutes in the 1080p YouTube Video Loop Test.
Charging speeds were unsurprisingly fast. The 100W wired adapter fully charged the device in under an hour. See our full charging test below:
- 15mins: 0-35%
- 30mins: 60%
- 45mins: 84%
- 56mins: FULL
Verdict
The HONOR 400 Pro provides pretty compelling flagship-like hardware for the price. It offers solid performance with its Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 series processor, large RAM and massive storage capacity.
Of course, there’s the big battery complete with incredibly fast wired and wireless charging.
And while the image processing could be better, the capable camera hardware shows great potential.
The HONOR 400 Pro is one of the top contenders for its price point, and should offer an even incredible value if you can get it at a discounted price.
HONOR 400 Pro pricing and availability details
The HONOR 400 Pro 5G has an SRP of Php32,999 in the Philippines. Pre-order units will come with a free HONOR Choice Earbuds Clip worth Php4,999 and HONOR High Speed Fan Vimi Sonic 1 Pro worth Php1,099. It is available in tons of HONOR physical stores, retailers, and through Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop.
Pros
- Feature-packed display
- Good stereo speakers
- Solid performance
- Serious camera hardware
- Extensive software support
- Large battery with fast wired and wireless charging
Cons
- A bit bulky
- Dynamic range issues