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Honor Magic 8 Pro review: Two-minute review
After its strong showing with last year’s Magic 7 Pro, Chinese smartphone maker Honor is back with another excellent flagship. The Honor Magic 8 Pro is everything you could want from a top of the line smartphone, with a stacked spec sheet that features Qualcomm’s superb Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC (the same chip that powers the likes of the more expensive Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra), backed up by 12GB of RAM and a generous 512GB of storage in all available models.
I also love Honor’s new design, which refines the already strong look of the Magic 7 Pro with a larger and rounder camera module that gives the phone a more even look than before. The Magic 8 Pro comes in much better colors if you’re willing to venture outside the basic Black, too, including bright Sky Cyan and the radiant Sunrise Gold version that I tested. I’m a sucker for gold or rose gold colorways, and the shimmery back material here is an absolute stunner.
That said, I’m not too impressed by the addition of a dedicated, touch-sensitive AI Button on the Magic 8 Pro. This is effectively just Honor’s version of Apple’s Camera Control button, letting you zoom the camera in or out by simply sliding your finger across it. Tap it while on the home screen, and you’ll open up some of Honor’s AI tools, which are honestly a little lacking and don’t really justify a dedicated button. The AI Photos Agent is great, offering genuinely useful tools like the ability to remove passersby, upscale images, remove reflections, and so on, but the AI Settings Agent and AI Memories apps are both borderline useless.
Like other Honor devices, battery life is superb here. The battery optimization software can be a little too eager to shut down background apps that you might want to keep open, but it’s easy to add exceptions in the settings. The Magic 8 Pro unit that I used boasts a mega 7,100mAh silicon-carbon battery, which gives it more than enough juice to last a full day with moderate use. Even when you’re streaming content or playing intensive games, it’s difficult to run out of fuel in a single day. If you’re a lighter user, you should be able to achieve multiple days of runtime — especially if you enable the battery saver mode.
There is a caveat, though: buyers of the Magic 8 Pro in EU regions will get a reduced 6,270mAh silicon-carbon battery. This is a small downgrade that most aren’t going to notice, and will by no means restrict your ability to squeeze out a full day of use. Still, it’s worth bearing in mind given that competing devices like the Oppo Find X9 Pro and OnePlus 15 have batteries exceeding 7,000mAh in the same region.
Also, shoppers in the US and Australia have to contend with limited availability as Honor phones are not officially sold there. You may be able to import the Magic 8 Pro through some online retailers, but do bear in mind that this may impact network compatibility and your access to support or warranty services.
Honor Magic 8 Pro review: Price and availability
- £1,099.99 in the UK
- Almost always on sale for £899.99
- Frequently comes with great freebies
- Not officially available in the US or Australia
If you’ve bought an Honor device before, you’ll know that they are always almost on sale via Honor’s official website. The Honor Magic 8 Pro is no exception, and while it has an £1,099.99 RRP, it’s easy to find for as little as £899.99 at various times throughout the year.
Considering the high specs (plus that generous 512GB of storage), the Magic 8 Pro is absolutely incredible value at that lower price, and things only get better when you factor in the various freebies Honor likes to throw in.
At the time of writing, in addition to the £200 discount, the Honor Magic 8 Pro comes with a decent budget tablet (the Honor Pad X9a) that normally goes for £149.99, plus a £49.99 power adapter and £59.99 earbuds — that’s about £260 of extra value right there. The same offer might not be available as you read this, but it’s always worth checking Honor’s official website for similar freebies before heading straight to Amazon and other third-party retailers.
As with most other Honor phones, the Magic 8 Pro is not officially sold in the US or Australia.
Honor Magic 8 Pro review: Specs
Here’s a look at the Honor Magic 8 Pro’s key specs:
| Header Cell – Column 0 |
Honor Magic 8 Pro |
|---|---|
|
Dimensions |
161.15 x 8.4 x 75mm |
|
Weight |
219g |
|
OS |
MagicOS 10, based on Android 16 |
|
Display |
6.7-inch OLED, 120Hz |
|
Resolution |
1256 x 2808 |
|
Chipset |
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
|
RAM |
12GB |
|
Storage |
512GB |
|
Battery |
7,100mAh (tested), 6270mAh (EU) |
|
Rear cameras |
50MP wide (f/1.6) + 50MP ultra-wide (f/2.0) + 200MP telephoto (f/2.6, 3.7x optical zoom) |
|
Front camera |
50MP (f/2.0) + 3D Depth Camera |
|
Charging |
120W wired, 80W wireless |
Honor Magic 8 Pro review: Design
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- Sleek and stylish
- Follows usual Chinese phone design trends
- New AI Button
Honor hasn’t rocked the design boat with its latest flagship, but rather opted to refine the already strong aesthetics of the Honor Magic 7 Pro. The biggest difference with this new model is a more rounded ‘squircle’ camera bump, which has been moved a little higher up and made ever so slightly larger to give the phone a more balanced look. It’s a very sleek and stylish design, provided you like a big camera module — a trend in most Chinese flagships.
The phone feels lovely in the hands, with the hefty aluminum frame giving a good impression of durability. The back is plastic, but it’s impressively high-quality and reinforced in such a way that I didn’t even notice it wasn’t actually glass until I checked the device’s spec sheet.
I’m very clumsy with my phones and generally use them without a case, which is a recipe for quite a few nasty drops. Embarrassingly, in my time with the Magic 8 Pro, I’ve dropped it from arm height directly on concrete a couple of times, and it’s emerged unscathed, bar a few small nicks on the Honor NanoCrystal Shield screen and a tiny dent in one corner. This is an impressive showing, and I have no doubts that it could take a much more intense beating with similarly strong results.
In addition to the volume rocker and power button, the right side of the Honor Magic 8 Pro now boasts a new AI Button. Unlike the other buttons, it’s flush against the side of the phone and is touch-sensitive. You customize what the button does in the phone’s settings menu, and I’ve found it’s most useful when used to open the camera, though given the existing camera shortcut on the lock screen, it’s not really something that I use a lot.
The Magic 8 Pro is available in three colors: Sunrise Gold, Sky Cyan, and Black. My personal favorite is comfortably Sunrise Gold, which happens to be the one sent to me for testing. It’s got a lovely shimmery look to it, with a subtle gold color that looks luxurious but, importantly, not overly garish.
Honor Magic 8 Pro review: Display
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- Impressive brightness
- Strong resolution and refresh rate
- Features Magic Capsule
The Honor Magic 8 Pro has a formidable 6.7-inch 1256 x 2808 OLED panel with HDR support that’s capable of reaching a blinding 6,000 nits brightness. Cranked up to the max (which is 1,800 nits in non-HDR content), it remains fully visible in even the harshest sunlight.
The 120Hz refresh rate is silky smooth and ensures that scrolling social media and system menus looks and feels great.
Some might not appreciate the rounded corners or subtle curve along the edge of the phone’s display, but I find that it’s lovely under the fingers.
At the top of the screen, you’ll find a small island with the front camera and 3D depth camera. You can use this for 3D face recognition, though I was perfectly happy just sticking to the Magic 8 Pro’s impressively snappy under-screen fingerprint reader.
This island is also home to the Magic Capsule, Honor’s take on Apple’s Dynamic Island concept. It provides an easy way to see your current song, any active timers, whether you have a voice recording running, and similar system app functions.
The whole screen is covered by Honor’s NanoCrystal Shield coating, which seems to hold up quite well. You’re still going to end up with scratches if you accidentally stick the phone in a pocket next to your keys, but otherwise, you shouldn’t expect to pick up many blemishes in general use. I also appreciate the fact that the phone comes fitted with a plastic screen protector right out of the box, too.
Honor Magic 8 Pro review: Cameras
- Great camera performance
- Especially good in challenging environments
- Aggressive image processing
The Honor Magic 8 Pro’s camera array is headlined by a 200MP telephoto shooter with 3.7x optical zoom and 100x digital zoom. It performs excellently on the whole, though photography purists will inevitably spot that images do tend to suffer from rather aggressive processing that sometimes leaves edges looking a little too smooth or even slightly smudged if you like to zoom in on captured photos.
Still, the results are always bright and cheerful with strong colors and loads of detail. The optical zoom is speedy and effective, and you can get some surprisingly good results from the 100x digital zoom, though you should expect lots of visible AI processing. 4K 120fps video capture is also supported on the Magic 8 Pro, which makes it feel decidedly flagship.
This telephoto shooter is joined by a 50MP ‘Ultra Night’ wide lens, which really comes into its own in challenging lighting conditions. Whether it’s at a bustling club or an eclectic show, the Magic 8 Pro manages to capture details impressively clearly. It deals with motion extremely well, too, helping you effortlessly achieve great shots.
The weakest part of the camera setup is easily the 50MP ultra-wide, which is decent but nothing special in this market segment.
You also get plenty of cool modes to play around with, including Harcourt-inspired portraits and an absolutely incredible Stage mode that really takes the camera performance to another level at concert events.
Honor Magic 8 Pro review: Camera samples
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Honor Magic 8 Pro review: Performance
- Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 delivers lightning-fast performance
- Flawless in daily use and gaming
- Some audio settings tweaks needed
What is there really to say about the performance of a phone outfitted with Snapdragon’s latest top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset? You can easily achieve a rock solid 60fps in demanding titles like Genshin Impact and Zenless Zone Zero, even with the graphics cranked all the way up to the maximum settings. The phone stays impressively cool under heavy load, too, and doesn’t suffer from too much battery drain.
For daily use, the performance of the Magic 8 Pro is simply flawless, whether you’re scrolling through social media apps, online shopping, or browsing the internet. The 12GB of RAM (plus a rather superfluous additional 12GB of ‘Honor RAM Turbo’) is more than enough to multitask effectively and ensures that you will rarely struggle to flick between multiple apps.
The base 512GB capacity is excellent too, and should be plenty for most users. I download a helluva lot of high-fidelity music and high-end games, and have barely scraped past the 250GB mark in months of use.
The speakers on the Magic 8 Pro are also surprisingly good. No, they’re intended to replace your standalone JBL speaker, but music that you blast is perfectly pleasant and has an impressive level of bass. Just make sure to enable the premium bass mode in settings and disable 3D surround sound, as the latter leaves music sounding tinny and weird.
Also, make sure to turn off both Honor Sound Spatial Audio and Honor Sound Stereo Studio under Headphone Sound Effects settings, otherwise your sound with headphones is going to feel noticeably off.
Honor Magic 8 Pro review: Software
- MagicOS 10 is easy to use
- Seven years of support promised
- AI features are hit-and-miss
As a former Apple user, I’ve always championed Honor’s MagicOS 10 for its attractive design and ease of use. Yes, the brand is rather shameless in its copying of the Silicon Valley giant’s latest software innovations (just seen MagicOS 10’s very Liquid Glass-inspired transparent new look), but it’s hard to argue with the results.
Menus are well laid out and look pretty, and there are plenty of customization options to play around with. All of the system apps look great and are brimming with functionality too, with the well-organized Notes app and transcribing Voice Recorder regular favorites when I’m working at tech events.
In the EU and some other markets, Honor has also promised seven years of software support. This is an excellent commitment and puts Honor up there with market leaders like Samsung.
I do have to admit that I expected a lot more from the phone’s AI features, given the brand’s focus on them in marketing. There are a few good inclusions here, like some effective AI photo editing tools and the ability to generate summaries or graphs in Notes, but some of the software feels half-baked.
The AI Settings Agent is a prime example of this. On paper, it’s a chatbot that can adjust your phone settings by turning off Bluetooth, enabling your hotspot, and so on when asked by voice or text. A cool idea, but in practice, it’s slow, buggy, and can’t parse complex commands at all. Then there’s the AI Memories app, which is simply baffling. It’s just a bog average screenshot tool with the word “AI” slapped on it for no apparent reason.
There’s also no getting around the fact that buyers outside of China are missing out on the YoYo Agent, Honor’s agentic AI assistant. Instead, you get Gemini built-in which is much less exciting.
Honor Magic 8 Pro review: Battery
- 7,100mAh silicon-carbon, or 6,270mAh in the EU
- Easily powers through multiple days of use
- 100W wired charging, 80W wireless charging
Honor has always delivered phones with superb battery life, and the Honor Magic 8 Pro is no exception. As I mentioned previously, the model I tested sports a 7,100mAh silicon-carbon battery, though buyers in the EU will have a slightly smaller 6,270mAh model.
It comfortably lasts a full day of use and then some, and I’m a particularly frequent phone user who’s always checking social media and blasting music through my headphones.
With minimal use, you could easily squeeze multiple days out of a single charge, especially if you turn on the battery saver mode. The phone supports blazing-fast 100W wired charging, plus staggering 80W wireless charging, provided you use Honor’s own peripherals.
In terms of the competition, the Magic 8 Pro is comparable to the iPhone 17 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, though it offers faster wired charging than both of those phones. The OnePlus 15, meanwhile, remains the overall battery life champion — but the Honor runs it close.
Should you buy the Honor Magic 8 Pro?
|
Attributes |
Notes |
Rating |
|---|---|---|
|
Value |
The Honor Magic 8 Pro is killer value, with its top-of-the-line specs and generous starting storage capacity, especially if you can find it with freebies thrown in. |
5 / 5 |
|
Design |
Although Honor doesn’t rip up the design rule book, the Magic 8 Pro is still a lovely-looking phone that comes in some great color options. |
4 / 5 |
|
Display |
A great display that’s bright, smooth, and offers a high resolution. The slight curve on its edges and rounded bezels might be divisive, though. |
4 / 5 |
|
Performance |
Qualcomm’s fastest chip is paired with a healthy 12GB of RAM. What else is there to say? |
5 / 5 |
|
Software |
Brilliant, easy-to-use software with a wealth of features and an excellent support commitment. Some of the AI tools are a bit underwhelming, though. |
4 / 5 |
|
Cameras |
Simply put, the Honor Magic 7 Pro is the longest-lasting Android flagship around. It charges extremely quickly, too. |
4 / 5 |
|
Battery |
A phone that can power through multiple days with standard use. It’s a shame that some buyers get a slightly smaller battery than others, though. |
4.5 / 5 |
Buy it if…
Don’t buy it if…
Honor Magic 8 Pro review: Also consider
Not so keen on the Honor Magic 8 Pro? Stack it up against these compelling alternatives.
| Header Cell – Column 0 |
Honor Magic 8 Pro |
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra |
OnePlus 15 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Price: |
£1099.99 |
$1,299 / £1,249 / AU$2,149 |
$899 / £899 |
|
Display: |
6.7-inch OLED, 120Hz |
6.9-inch AMOLED, 120Hz |
6.78-inch LTPO OLED, 120Hz (165Hz for select games) |
|
Cameras: |
50MP main + 50MP ultra-wide + 200MP telephoto w/ 3.7x zoom |
200MP main + 50MP ultra-wide + 10MP telephoto w/ 3x zoom + 50MP telephoto w/ 5x zoom |
50MP main + 50MP ultra-wide + 50MP telephoto w/ 3.5x zoom |
|
Processor: |
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite |
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
|
Battery: |
7,100mAh (tested), 6,270mAh (EU) |
5,000mAh |
7,300mAh |
How I tested the Honor Magic 8 Pro
- Tested for multiple months
- Used as a daily driver
- Compared to other phones
I tested the Honor Magic 8 Pro over a period of multiple months, with Honor providing the phone a few weeks before its official launch back in October 2025.
It’s been my daily driver for that entire time, used for hours every week, and thoroughly compared with my hands-on testing of other phones from Honor in addition to top Android alternatives. Throughout my testing time, I was careful to evaluate the phone’s performance in a wide range of apps, including top games, social media applications, and more.
First tested March 2026
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dash.wood@futurenet.com (Dashiell Wood)
