HONOR has finally launched its latest flagship device, the HONOR Magic6 Pro, in the Philippines. Since its initial release, the device generated hype for having the best camera on a smartphone, and of course, an array of flagship specs and features.
Today, we’ll test the said cameras to see if it’s really THAT good. In addition, we’ll also check how good it is in other departments like the design, performance, battery life, charging, and more. By the end, we’ll let you know if this is the flagship phone that you should invest your hard-earned money on. So, without further ado, here’s our HONOR Magic6 Pro review.
HONOR Magic6 Pro Specs
- Android 14, MagicOS 8
- Dual SIM, Dual standby
- 6.8-inch LTPO OLED display, 2800 x 1280 pixel resolution, 453ppi
- 1Hz-120Hz refresh rate
- up to 5,000-nits peak brightness
- 3.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 octa-core processor
- 12GB/16GB RAM
- Adreno 750 GPU
- 256GB/512GB/1TB internal storage, non-expandable
- 50-megapixel + ToF front cameras
- 50-megapixel (f/1.4-f/2.0, Laser AF, OIS) + 180-megapixel (f/2.6, 2.5x optical, 100x digital) + 50-megapixel (ultra-wide) rear cameras, LED flash
- Under-display fingerprint scanner, 3D face unlock
- Stereo speakers
- No headphone jack
- HSPA+, 4G LTE, 5G
- WiFi 7, dual-band
- Bluetooth 5.3
- dual-band GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS
- NFC, IR blaster
- USB-C
- Dimensions: 162.5 x 75.8 x 8.9mm
- Weight: 229g
- Colors: White, Purple, Green, Blue, Black
- 5,600mAh non-removable battery, 80W wired, 66W wireless charging
Design and Build Quality
The layout of the HONOR Magic6 Pro looks the same as its predecessor. We still have a large, circular camera island on the back with a triangular camera layout. But the design accents have been revamped to give it a fresh new look.
There’s the new “cushion-shaped” camera island design — as HONOR calls it — and it’s actually the best way to describe it. It has a silver finish that is very reflective and contributes to the overall premium feel of the device.
The unit that I got is the Epi Green colorway, which looks way more interesting than the other available color: Black. This one has a soft leather-like material with the ripples of a classic leather that made it extra grippy.
To match the rear panel, the camera island also has a brushed-metal surface that looks like wind blowing. The rear panel is giving nature vibes.
Clearly, HONOR went with a pretty exuberant design on the Magic 6 Pro, unlike the more subdued, muted looks of other flagships like those from Samsung and Pixel. Whether it looks good or not is subjective, so I’ll let you decide. Personally, I like it, as it gave the device a very distinct look.
Moreover, the overall build is pretty robust. The device is quite chunky, actually, with a thickness of 8.9mm, which is similar to the Galaxy S23 Ultra. But unlike Samsung’s flagship, this one managed to get a bigger 5,600mAh battery. This is also thanks to HONOR’s high-density silicon-carbon battery.
While it does look beefy, the thickness actually help the ergonomics. It made the Magic 6 Pro comfortable to hold, and with the grippy texture on the back and curved sides all around, you don’t have to worry about it slipping suddenly out of your hands when you’re gaming or watching content for hours.
The metal frame also feels very sturdy. It stayed firm when I did a few bend tests. Even the screen is tough thanks to the HONOR NanoCrystal Shield. I didn’t have the guts to test it, but according to the company, it can survived being dropped to a wooden or marble surface by up to 2 meters. It even got a SGS Five Star Overall Glass Drop Resistant rating.
As expected from a flagship, the HONOR Magic6 Pro also has an IP68 certification for being dust and water resistant.
Taking a tour, we have a large 6.8-inch LTPO OLED screen on the front. The curved sides made the ultra-thin bezels almost unnoticeable. There’s a thin pill-shaped notch on top for the sharp 50-megapixel selfie camera and Time of Flight (ToF) sensor for the 3D Face Unlock.
Left side is clean, while the right has the lock/power switch below the volume controls. The physical buttons feel well-made. It’s clicky and tactile, with a bit of resistance when pressed.
The secondary speaker is on top, together with the IR blaster to control your non-smart appliances, and the noise-isolating microphone.
At the bottom, we have the primary microphone and speakers, as well as the USB-C port and the SIM tray. Like most high-end phones, you won’t be getting a microSD card slot for storage expansion.
HONOR did a great job at building the frame and overall design of the HONOR Magic6 Pro. It’s eye-catching, feels comfortable to use, and looks durable enough to last for years.
Display and Sound Quality
The HONOR Magic 6 Pro has a 6.8-inch LTPO OLED screen, with a sharp 2800 x 1280 pixel resolution, 453ppi, 1-120Hz dynamic refresh rate, 5000-nits peak brightness under HDR, 1600-nits native peak brightness, and supports Dolby Vision and HDR Vivid.
It also has other eye-care features like a high 4320Hz PWM Flicker Free Dimming, Dynamic Dimming, Circadian Night, and Natural Tone Display. Thanks to these features, the Magic6 Pro got three TUV Rheinland Certifications for having a Full Care Display, Circadian Friendly, and Flicker-Free.
You can schedule the Circadian Night feature in the settings. Users can customize the Color Mode and Temperature, or enable the Natural Tone feature that will automatically make the adjustments based on your ambient lighting “for a consistent, paper-like viewing experience.”
You can also pick your preferred screen resolution or keep the Smart Resolution feature enabled, which will intelligently pick the appropriate resolution per scenario to save battery. The screen refresh rate is also customizable but it’s best to keep it to Auto.
Video enhancer is also here, which enhances the color and contrast of full-screen videos for a better and more vivid experience. It only works on select platforms like Netflix and YouTube, though.
With all those bells and whistles, I expected nothing less from the display quality. Thankfully, it did deliver. As expected, the colors are vibrant and the contrast is deep.
Dolby Vision made streaming on Netflix more cinematic while HDR worked well on YouTube. And thanks to the ultra-bright screen, I didn’t have trouble with visibility, especially on these bright summer days.
The entertainment experience is even better with the powerful stereo speakers. It provides a full sound with crisp trebles, beefy mids, and thumping bass. Volume is not the loudest, but still more than enough for private listening or with friends.
Stereo separation is also audible, making movies more immersive and lets you hear footsteps in shooter games.
Hardware and Performance
The HONOR Magic6 Pro is powered by a 3.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, easily one of the most powerful mobile chipsets in the market today. It comes with 12GB of RAM, 512GB of non-expandable storage, the new HONOR C1+ Chip for better connectivity, and a dedicated Security Chip S1.
HONOR Magic6 Pro Benchmark Scores
Performance in day-to-day tasks is buttery smooth. The device was incredibly snappy in tasks like web browsing, social media, shooting videos, editing photos and videos, video calls, and more.
Now, let’s proceed to the gaming performance. As you can see from the 3DMark benchmark above, stability is an issue if you really push the chipset to its limits, which also leads to overheating. It wasn’t a problem in most games I’ve tested, with the exemption of Farlight84.
Starting strong, we have Genshin Impact. The graphics settings were set to Medium by default, but since the Magic6 Pro has one of the best chips around, I set it up to the highest setting, which the device handled really well with almost no frame drops.
Meanwhile, Call of Duty Mobile was playable with no issues under Max settings, as well as PUBG Mobile and Mobile Legends under Ultra, and Asphalt 9 under High. Farlight84 was playable under Extreme, but I noticed the device starting to heat up after 5 to 10 minutes of playing. To prevent this from happening, I dialed the settings down.
| Game | Graphics Settings |
| Call of Duty: Mobile | • Graphics Quality: Max • Frame Rate: Max |
| Farlight84 | • Graphics Quality: Ultra • Frame Rate: Very High • Resolution: Medium |
| PUBG Mobile | • Graphics Quality: Ultra HDR • Frame Rate: Ultra |
| Genshin Impact | • Graphics Quality: Highest |
| Mobile Legends: Bang Bang | • Graphics Quality: Ultra • Frame Rate: Ultra • HD Mode: On |
| Asphalt 9: Legends | • Visual Quality: High Quality • Frame Rate: 60 |
Software and User Interface
The HONOR Magic6 Pro runs on the all-new Android 14-based MagicOS 8.0. There’s already an Android 15 developer beta test ongoing, so I expect it to come in the next few months. But all that’s in the future, in the meantime, let’s see what the latest MagicOS has in store for us.
One of the things I immediately liked was the Magic Capsule, a feature similar to Apple’s Dynamic Island. It’s a special animation that surrounds the pill-shaped notch to show live updates when you’re listening to Spotify, running a timer, and more. Press the Capsule and you’re given a bigger view which lets you control the music, the timer, and so on. It also works for incoming calls, alarms, screencasting, and more.
There’s also the Magic Portal, which lets you drag and drop texts or images to other apps. Whether it’s a funny caption you want to save on the Notes app, an event invite with an address you want to check on Google Maps, a product image you want to check the price on Google, it’s easy to drag information around.
You can also use it to quickly post photos on social media by simply opening an image on the Gallery and dragging it to your chosen platform. While it’s useful, the number of supported platforms where you can drag-and-drop a text/image from is quite limited at this time. It would be nice if you can quickly drag a photo you saw from Facebook and look it up on Google like you can with Google Assistant.
If you’re deep into the HONOR ecosystem, you’d appreciate the MagicRing feature, which offers a more seamless way to interact with your HONOR laptop, tablet, smartwatch, and earphones. This lets you use the Magic6 Pro’s camera for video calls on your HONOR laptop or tablet, receive notifications on different devices, and more.
By default, the home screen was set to Standard, which I’m not a big fan of. So, I enabled the app drawer immediately in the settings so I could find the app I need quicker. Unlike other skins, it lacks a global search window as swiping down from the home screen will only show the notifications tab.
There’s a dedicated desktop for Google Search, which also shows the weather and Google News.
The Control Center is similar to previous MagicOS versions. The large icons and neat organization make buttons easily recognizable without being overwhelming.
We’re also seeing a bunch of customization in the settings, including different AOD wallpapers to match your taste.
There’s also the Standby feature, which works just like the one on iPhones. It shows the clock and date when the device is not in use and in landscape orientation, similar to a nightstand clock. It can also show notifications, and unlike on the iPhone, it works even without a wireless charger.
For security, we have an under-display fingerprint scanner, which worked seamlessly during our time with the device. The 3D Face Unlock, with the help of the ToF sensor, was also speedy and could recognize faces even in a dark room.
Owning a flagship phone means you shouldn’t have to worry about storage. With the HONOR Magic 6 Pro, you’re getting a large 512GB of space. With over 1200 photos, 200 videos, and six popular games installed, I was still left with a healthy 363GB of storage.
But in case you’re still worried you’d run out, there’s a built in storage Cleanup feature to remove junk files and analyze what apps you’re not using a lot that can be deleted. HONOR RAM Turbo, which adds 8GB of virtual RAM to the physical 12GB of memory, is also here. Unlike in other brands, there’s no option to adjust the amount or disable it altogether.
As usual, MagicOS still prefers Microsoft SwiftKey as a default keyboard. It’s a comfortable, customizable keyboard and gets the job done. Changing it to another one like Gboard is pretty, so it’s not an issue if you’re not used to it.
The camera app, being responsible for one of the device’s best features, is clean and straightforward. You can easily access the wide array of features without getting lost.
Cameras
Now, let’s proceed to the main event: the cameras. The HONOR Magic6 Pro has a 50-megapixel main camera with a 1/1.3-inch size, has a 27mm equivalent, variable f/1.4-f/4.0 aperture, and optical image stabilization (OIS).
It is joined by a 50-megapixel ultra-wide shooter with a 13mm equivalent and PDAF. Lastly, there’s the best in class 180-megapixel 1/1.4-inch ISOCELL sensor with PDAF, OIS, and a periscope-style telephoto lens.
Another sharp 50-megapixel sensor is on the front for taking selfies. The whole portrait system also has a Sport Portrait Algorithm, which allows you to shoot portrait photos even of fast-moving subjects.
There’s also the HONOR AI Motion Sensing Capture for even better sports photography. While this feature did improve capturing subjects in motion, it didn’t work as good as I expected most of the time.
The 50-megapixel main camera takes killer daylight photos. They have a lot of details, the dynamic range was handled well, the natural depth of field is nice to look at, and the color reproduction looks realistic.
Even the low-light shots from the main camera are impressive. It’s impressive how noises and grains were still kept at a minimum and still barely noticeable even when you zoom in. Colors also remain the same.
HONOR also did a great job at uplifting some dark areas but without exaggeration, which is often the problem when there’s too much software processing. The highlights pop without being overexposed.
Outshining the main camera is the 108-megapixel camera, which is possibly the best you can get from a periscope-style telephoto lens. It can do 2.5x zoom for a 68mm lens equivalent, 5x at 135mm, and can reach up to 100x of digital zoom with a whopping 2700mm equivalent.
It takes one of the best — if not the best — telephoto pictures on a mobile phone. The lossless 2.5x zoom is really great for portraits, and even with a bit of digital zoom on the 5x (135mm) lens, you’re still getting sharp, clean, and vibrant photos, with a nice dynamic range. Like the primary camera, low-light performance is also great.
The quality from the 100x zoom, as what you might expect, is really bad. But it’s handy in inspecting very faraway subjects or as a cool party trick to show to your friends.
The 50-megapixel ultra-wide takes exemplary photos. It appears that it shoots photos wider than most ultra-wide I’ve tested, and it manages to do that with barely noticeable barrel distortion.
Much like the main shooter, the details are very sharp, the color rendition is great, and the dynamic range is handled with finesse. Even the low-light shots looked great as the shutter maintained its speed and with very minimal noise.
Finally, we have the 50-megapixel front camera, which unsurprisingly took great selfies with a lot of details, realistic skin tones, and clean dynamic range. It also delivered well in low-light scenarios.
Well, now that we’ve tested it ourselves, I’m convinced that the HONOR Magic6 Pro has one of the best cameras in a smartphone today.
Battery and Charging
The HONOR Magic6 Pro has a 5,600mAh non-removable battery, which is relatively bigger than most flagship phones today. It is paired with an 80W wired and 66W of wireless fast charging.
With that kind of battery capacity, it’s no surprise that it has great battery life. It lasted 14 hours and 22 minutes on PCMark’s battery loop test, which runs different tasks until the full charge drops to 20%. I ran it with the WiFi and Bluetooth off and brightness and volume set at 50%.
In our real-world test, the device lasted for 12 hours and 53 minutes before going completely dead at 0% from 100%. 2 hours and 21 minutes of that was spent on playing triple-A games on their highest possible settings, while the rest was spent on looping 1080p YouTube videos and streaming on Disney+ until the juice finally ran out.
Mid to heavy users can expect a whole-day battery life on this thing. But in case you spend more than half of your day on the screen, then you probably need to charge before ending the day.
Thankfully, the 80W charger was very quick to fill it up. A full charge only took about 48 minutes. See the full test results below:
- 15mins: 0-36%
- 30mins: 72%
- 45mins: 95%
- 48mins: FULL
Verdict
Is the HONOR Magic6 Pro worthy of its asking price? The short answer is yes. The device was built for power-users, whether you’re a pro-gamer that plays for hours, loves to stream a whole TV season in one sitting, or an aspiring or even a professional photographer/videographer.
The HONOR Magic6 Pro has one of the most powerful processors, great display, battery capacity, charging speeds, and of course, a set of outstanding cameras to cater to whatever you need.
But if I’m going to nitpick, I wish MagicOS gets the polishing it deserves. Also, it wouldn’t hurt for HONOR to ensure us that the Magic6 Pro will have a plenty of on-time updates in the future.
Still, there’s no denying that the HONOR Magic6 Pro is one of the best flagships out there, especially when you consider the price.
HONOR Magic6 Pro pricing and availability
The HONOR Magic6 Pro 12GB/512GB has an SRP of Php59,999 in the Philippines. You can get it physical stores nationwide, and online via Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop.
Pros
- Distinct design, grippy and comfortable to hold
- Excellent display with good speakers
- Powerful performance from basic tasks to intensive gaming
- Killer cameras, front and back
- Long battery life with speedy charging
Cons
- Software still needs improvement