It’s hard to believe we’re already in new flagship phone season again, but Honor isn’t wasting any time getting its new Magic 8 Pro ready for its domestic China launch this month. Honor sent me a pre-production unit ahead of the launch, and my hands-on impressions are based on that model.
This one is a China model running a global version of Honor’s Magic OS 10 software, which is based on Android 16. It’s got the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 silicon from Qualcomm, a cutting-edge camera system, a lovely, refined build that’s lighter than ever, and the most massive battery I’ve ever seen in a flagship phone, despite the reduction in weight.
Honor Magic 8 Pro: Specs, pricing, and availability
The Honor Magic 8 Pro is launching in China in October 2025, debuting there first before it heads to international markets, including Europe, later this year in Sunrise Gold, Sky Cyan, and Black colorways.
The phone is available in a single 12GB RAM and 512GB storage SKU at launch with a 7,200mAh battery. The European model will launch with a 6,270mAh battery, likely due to European battery size regulations.
In the box, Honor includes a pre-installed film screen protector on the phone, a clear TPU case, a 100W charger, and a USB cable. Quite an impressive value compared to other flagships!
|
Category |
Honor Magic 8 Pro |
|---|---|
|
Display |
6.71-inch 120Hz LTPO OLED, native 10-bit, 2808 x 1256, 6000 nits |
|
Eye care |
DC-dimming and 3840/4320Hz PWM dimming, hardware blue light filtering, defocus myopia prevention, custom contrast and color |
|
Rear camera 1 |
50MP main, f/1.6, 1/1.3”, OIS, 4-in-1 2.4μm large pixel output |
|
Rear camera 2 |
200MP tele, f/2.6, 1/1.4”, 3.7X optical zoom, OIS |
|
Rear camera 3 |
50MP ultrawide, f/2.0, 122-degree wide angle, 2.5cm Macro Photography |
|
Front camera |
50MP f/2.0 |
|
Security |
Ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner, 3D depth front camera for face recognition |
|
Battery |
7100mAh (China) or 6270mAh (Europe) Silicon-carbon battery |
|
Charging |
100W wired, 80W wireless |
|
Durability |
IP68, IP69, IP69k |
|
Processor |
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
|
RAM |
12GB |
|
Storage |
512GB |
|
Dimensions |
161.15mm x 75mm x 8.4mm |
|
Weight |
213g |
|
Colors |
Sunrise Gold, Sky Cyan, Black |
Honor Magic 8 Pro: Refined design, a new button, and a massive battery
When I first pulled the Honor Magic 8 Pro out of its box, I immediately felt the difference from last year. The soft, brushed metal sides of the phone are not only smoother than ever (in a non-slippery way, weird as that sounds), but they also naturally curve into the front and back of the chassis, providing impressive weight relief compared to last year.
I don’t like most phones with flat edges, but Honor seems to have struck a nice balance between the flat side trend and a more comfortable set of curves. The display is flatter than ever, only pushing the very edges of the corners into a curve.
Image 1 of 5
A new AI button is the marketed highlight of the new design, though it is located about two-thirds of the way down the right side of the phone. This long button is flush with the frame and primarily functions as an AI button out of the box, although it also works as a camera control button, including swipe-to-zoom functionality.
Long-pressing the button will activate the YOYO video AI functionality in China, with functionality that at least mirrors Gemini Live in some respects. International models will likely have this function with Gemini instead of YOYO, but Honor hasn’t announced those plans yet.
You can also customize a single or double press of this button to launch the AI memories center, launch the camera, or take a screenshot for storage in AI memories.
It’s this last feature that I loved the most, as it made it easy to catalog information throughout my day. For example, as I was scrolling through Instagram, I saw a local post about a Harry Potter event happening at the end of the month. Tapping the AI button stored the screenshot of this event in my AI memories, and I can simply search for “Harry Potter” in the AI memories app to find it.
This sort of context-sensitive information searching is similar to the Pixel Screenshots app and is my favorite way to find information these days. On the Chinese models, you can even ask YOYO to “find all my screenshots and delete the blurry ones.” The implementation here doesn’t feel overbearing at all and is completely ignorable if you don’t want to use it.
Even if you don’t care at all about the new AI button, you will care about the new battery. The Magic 8 Pro packs in the largest battery I’ve ever seen in a traditional flagship phone, sporting Honor’s latest silicon-carbon battery tech that boasts an unbelievable 7,100mAh capacity, and yet the phone weighs less than last year’s despite the capacity upgrade.
This battery tech was in the Honor Magic V5, and it also boasted a similar capacity upgrade. I went two full days without charging and still had just under 20% left at the start of the third day in my testing so far, so this isn’t “empty capacity” or something. It’s the real deal.
Honor Magic 8 Pro: Holy smokes this camera
I took the Honor Magic 8 Pro out for a fall fun day and was impressed with every shot I took. As I’ve come to expect from Honor phones, this one does particularly well when using portrait mode, capturing motion, or using the telephoto camera. Even Honor’s more affordable phones take stunning portrait mode shots, so it’s no surprise to see that elevated here with even better sensors.
Photos taken using any of the 2x, 3.7x, or 10x presets in the viewfinder are exceptional. Every scenario I put the camera through delivered excellent results, and I’m not sure I can expect more from any camera in the under 10x zoom range.
Image 1 of 12
Honor also highlights the phone’s ability to take photos in challenging lighting situations where other phones often struggle. One such time is just before the sun is over the horizon, known as The Blue Hour.
Not only is color usually tough to capture during this time, but photos often need longer exposure times to get clear shots. The Magic 8 Pro passed this test with flying colors (pun fully intended) compared to the Pixel 10 Pro XL.
Image 1 of 3
And while the telephoto camera boasts some impressive new stability and low-light features, plus enhanced dynamic range, all the fun new toys are wrapped up in the AI processing.
Motion photos are no longer just a context-setting way to view your photos. The Magic 8 Pro’s new AI editing features let you turn any motion photo into a slow-mo video, add motion trails, or create a cool stop-motion animation with just two taps.
And Honor is adding some nifty new AI-based recoloring modes to give your existing photos a new look, including Romantic Blue, Golden Autumn, and Warm Sunset options.
Honor Magic 8 Pro: One to remember
There are a ton of new and exciting announcements about this phone that we’ll be covering closer to the international launch. For now, first impressions of Honor’s latest are excellent, and the company is showing constant improvement in hardware and software design, including the new Android 16-powered Magic OS 10.
Look for more Honor Magic 8 Pro coverage in the near future, including a full review alongside the launch later in the year.
By
