Honor Magic8 Pro hands-on review

Introduction

This is the Honor Magic8 Pro, and it’s among the best camera-focused flagships you can get in late 2025. It has all the bells and whistles you’d want in a flagship: a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen SoC, a gorgeous display, a big battery, and capable cameras. The only thing missing are the integrated Qi2 (read MagSafe) magnets.

What’s even better is that this phone is coming to global markets in general – it’s not just a China-exclusive phone like some of its rivals. So far so good then. But there are some caveats. Like many other phones, the Magic8 Pro is selective about battery capacity depending on the market.

If you’re in China, you get the full 7,200mAh package. If you have a “global” unit, you get a slightly smaller 7,100 mAh battery. The difference is so small that it doesn’t matter. However, if you’re in Europe, you’ll only get a 6,270mAh battery – that’s about 13% less or a similar reduction compared to the vivo X300 Pro which gets 16 less in Europe. However, objectively, the battery capacity is significantly better than that of the vivo.

Aside from the battery discrepancy, the Honor Magic8 Pro is shaping up to be a truly great phone. The Honor Magic7 Pro, which this phone replaces, was already excellent, especially in the imaging department. But Magic8 brings a couple of interesting improvements.

Honor Magic8 Pro specifications in brief:

• Body: 161.2×75.0x8.3mm, 219g; Front made of glass (Giant Rhino Glass), back made of fibre-reinforced plastic; IP68/IP69K dustproof and water resistant (high pressure water jets; submersible up to 1.5 m for 30 minutes).
• Display: 6.71″ LTPO OLED, 1B colors, 120 Hz, 4320 Hz PWM, Dolby Vision, HDR Vivid, 1800 nits (HBM), 6000 nits (peak), 1256×2808 px resolution, 20.12:9 aspect ratio, 458ppi; HDR image support.
• Chipsets: Qualcomm SM8850-AC Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 (3 nm): Octa-core (2×4.6 GHz Oryon V3 Phoenix L + 6×3.62 GHz Oryon V3 Phoenix M); Adreno 840.
• Memory: 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 16GB RAM, 1TB 16GB RAM; UFS4.1.
• Operating system/software: Android 16, up to 7 major Android updates, MagicOS 10.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.6, 23 mm, 1/1.3″, 1.2 µm, multi-directional PDAF, OIS; Telephoto: 200 MP, f/2.6, 85 mm, 1/1.4″, 0.56 µm, multi-directional PDAF, OIS, 3.7x optical zoom; Ultra wide angle: 50 MP, f/2.0, 12mm, 122˚, 1/2.88″, 0.61μm, dual pixel PDAF.
• Front camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/2.0, 21 mm, 1/2.93″, 0.6 µm, PDAF; Depth:TOF 3D.
• Capture Video: Rear camera: 4K@24/30/60/120fps, 1080p@24/30/60/120/240fps, Gyro-EIS, OIS, HDR, 10-bit video; Front camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60fps, Gyro-EIS.
• Drums: 7100mAh (global); 6270 mAh (Europe); Wired 100W, Wireless 80W, Reverse Wireless, Reverse Wired 5W.
• Connectivity: 5G; eSIM; Wi-Fi 7; BT 6.0, aptX HD, aptX adaptive, LHDC 5, Auracast, ASHA; NFC; Infrared port.
• Miscellaneous: Fingerprint reader (under display, ultrasonic); large-amplitude stereo speakers.

The main camera ditches the variable aperture lens and has a slightly wider field of view at 23mm. You can go to page 3 of this article to see how the camera performs as we take it around Hong Kong.

Ultrawide was already great, and the Magic8 Pro doesn’t change that: It’s wider than most 12mm models and has a bright f/2.0 lens and a large 50MP sensor.

The telephoto lens has improved. What was a 60mm optical unit on the previous phone (which used a cropped zoom to shoot at 72mm by default) is now a native 85mm lens with an f/2.6 lens. The sensor may look the same on paper – a 200MP 1/1.4-inch unit – but it’s the newer ISOCELL HP9.

So, solid cameras all round. High-end workmanship is also covered. And it’s a globally available phone. Not a bad start for the Honor Magic8 Pro – it seems to have all the basics covered.

Join us on the next page where we will address the physical aspect of the phone on the next page.