HONOR Magic 6 Pro: First impression of HONOR's new flagship smartphone

HONOR Magic 6 Pro: design

The HONOR Magic 6 Pro is presented in the chic color variants "Epi Green" and "Black", with the color also determining the material of the back. Epi Green offers a faux leather-like surface with a wavy relief, while Black comes with a matte glass back. Both versions have a shiny metal frame.

In terms of size, the device measures 163 x 76 x 9 millimeters, which puts it in the range of standard smartphone dimensions. However, the weight of 229 g places the HONOR Magic 6 Pro in the heavier category, with the weight primarily concentrated around the camera and causing a noticeable top-heaviness when holding it.

The HONOR Magic 6 Pro in elegant Epi Green.

There are many parallels to the previous model  HONOR Magic 5 Pro (for testing) , however, the design of the HONOR Magic 6 Pro has been visibly revised in some areas. The circular camera unit is now surrounded by a shiny, square-rounded metal frame, which gives the device a slightly playful look. The IP68 protection against dust and water has remained.

HONOR Magic 6 Pro: Screen

Anyone who values ​​a first-class display will not be disappointed with the HONOR Magic 6 Pro. The 6,8-inch LTPO AMOLED curved panel delivers a razor-sharp resolution of 1.280 x 2.800 pixels, reaches a peak brightness of 5.000 nits and is able to dynamically adjust the refresh rate between 1 Hz and 120 Hz.

Despite the limited days of sunshine so far, the test showed that the display does not lose legibility even under direct sunshine. At night it gets dark enough that it doesn't dazzle and remains pleasant to the eye. By the way, sensitive eyes benefit from high-frequency PWM dimming, which reduces screen flickering at low display brightness. At 4.320 Hz, the frequency has even doubled compared to its predecessor.

Curved, high resolution and extremely bright.

For film and series fans for whom the smartphone display is not too small a stage, the support of HDR and Dolby Vision is a real highlight. Personally, I was able to make extensive use of these functions on the flight to MWC and enjoy my favorite series in excellent quality.

HONOR Magic 6 Pro: performance, software & battery

Inside the HONOR Magic 5 Pro is the cutting-edge Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, which consistently achieves top results in benchmarks. Even with graphically demanding games like Genshin Impact, the smartphone can largely maintain the FPS upper limit without becoming hot or slowing down performance. With 12 GB of RAM and a generous internal memory of 512 GB, it offers enough space and power for all applications.

The MagicOS 8.0 operating system, based on Android 14, runs consistently and without crashes or lags. Despite the solid performance, there is room for improvement in the provision of updates. Although HONOR has promised four major Android updates, up to Android 18, as well as five years of security patches, Samsung and Google remain in the lead with seven major Android updates and seven years of security patches.

When it comes to connectivity, the HONOR Magic 6 Pro covers all common mobile phone frequencies up to 5G NR and also offers Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi 7 and NFC. Equipped with a dual SIM slot, the device also supports eSIM in addition to a physical SIM card on the second slot. The mobile phone connection was stable in the test and the voice quality was consistently convincing. There is still some room for improvement in the data transfer speed in WLAN. Some competitors are a little faster here.

Fast USB-C 3.2 connection with DisplayPort function.

A clear declaration of war on other manufacturers is HONOR's second generation silicon-carbon battery, which has an impressive capacity of 5.600 mAh and is optimized in combination with HONOR's E1 Power Enhanced Chip and thus promises longer running times.

The tests carried out so far confirm the high efficiency. During an intensive day at the MWC, which included extensive GPS use, extensive photo and video recordings, and running several apps in the background, the smartphone showed its endurance: at the end of the day there was still 30% battery charge left - an impressive result.

The HONOR Magic 6 Pro also shows its best side when charging. At the socket, wired fast charging with up to 88 watts allows the battery to be fully charged in less than an hour. The device also offers a fast option for wireless charging with up to 66 watts.

HONOR Magic 6 Pro: Camera

The camera: 180+50+50 MP.

The exciting topic surrounding the HONOR Magic 6 Pro is the “Falcon” camera system, which is located in

• an optically stabilized 180 MP periscope camera with 2,5x optical zoom and 100x digital zoom,
• a 50 MP wide-angle camera, also optically stabilized and with a variable f/1.4 to f/2.0 aperture, as well
• a 50 MP ultra-wide-angle camera with 122° wide angle and 2,5 centimeter macro function.

The variable aperture and lossless 2,5x zoom offer an incredible number of opportunities to be creative. I will take a closer look at the camera system until the detailed test report is published. Here's a foretaste with some snapshots taken over the past few days.