The Honor Magic 6 series from last year took me by surprise. I wasn’t expecting such good-looking devices with such amazing specifications, but Honor made a statement. Since that moment, I’ve been anticipating what the company was going to do with its next series.
Well, the Honor Magic 7 devices are finally official, though in China alone for now, with a global launch certain. Both devices launch with MagicOS 9 and the YOYO Smart Assistant. The design has changed significantly and the spec sheet has gotten some notable improvements. Let’s dive into what the Magic 7 and Magic 7 Pro bring.
The Honor Magic 7 Brings A New Look And The Power Of The Snapdragon 8 Elite
The Honor Magic 7 is the base model of the new series, and even though it is meant to be the “vanilla” phone, it doesn’t compromise on any area of its spec sheet.
The Design
Compared to last year’s device, the Honor Magic 7 changes up enough on the spec sheet. The thing is, I’m not quite sure that I like the new look as much. The gold accents and unique camera module were more my flavor. That doesn’t mean the Magic 7 doesn’t look good.
The device opts for a glass back on each model, with a camera module that is for the most part, round. The camera glass is blacked out, with four camera “lenses”, though one of those is only there for symmetry. The device is IP68/IP69 certified. It’s available in five colorways: Sunrise Gold, Snowy White, Sky Blue, Velvet Black, and the cloudy Moon Shadow Gray.
The Screen
The Honor Magic 7 has a stellar screen if all you can use to judge it is the spec sheet. It’s a 6.78-inch LTPO OLED with FHD+ resolution and a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz. You get Dolby Vision and HDR Vivid certification, but that 5,000-nit peak brightness is certainly noteworthy. 4,320Hz PWM dimming will save you from headaches too.
The Hardware
This is only the third phone series coming with the brand-new, and extremely powerful, Snapdragon 8 Elite—for reference, the first one launched yesterday. Performance is not compromised with this. The device comes in four storage configurations, starting at 12/256GB and going up to 16GB/1TB.
The Battery And Charging
Compared to a lot of the other Chinese smartphones that have come out this month, this device only gets a minor bump in its battery capacity, though it was already large to start with. Only 200mAh are added to bring it to 5,650mAh. That’s still plenty large, and the 100W wired fast charging and zippy 80W wireless charging sweeten the deal. A charger comes in the box too, so praise be.
The Cameras
The Honor Magic 6 relies on a triple 50MP camera setup, which seems to be a popular choice these days. The ultrawide doubles for macro photography and you get up to 3x optical zoom with the telephoto. You can record at up to 4K/60, so 8K lovers won’t find a home here.
On the front is a 50MP camera that’s also capable of 4K/60 shooting, so that’s quite nice for the content creators.
The Honor Magic 7 Pro Adds A Killer Periscope Telephoto Camera
The Honor Magic 7 Pro is the device for power users and it brings just enough to warrant that “Pro” tag that it carries around.
The Design
The Honor Magic 7 Pro looks exactly like the Honor Magic 7, changing up last year’s design. The major difference that you might spot from its physical appearance is that it has one camera lens which is rectangular—that indicates a periscope module behind the glass.
You can get this one in Snow White, Sky Blue, Velvet Black, and the really cool Moon Shadow Gray colorways. The selection is the same as the regular phone but loses the more vibrant Sunrise Gold. The IP68/IP69 rating sticks around.
The Screen
The Honor Magic 7 Pro has a 6.8-inch display, but besides that, you get an identical unit to the Magic 7. It’s a 120Hz LTPO OLED unit, has a 5,000-nit peak brightness, and boasts the same resolution, PWM dimming, and Dolby and HDR certifications. Overall, this is a great screen that won’t disappoint.
The Hardware
Inside the Honor Magic 7 Pro is still the Snapdragon 8 Elite, so regardless of which phone you get, it is still the same amazing performance from the engine room. There’s one less storage configuration here, but the base is still 12/256GB and the top model is 16GB/1TB, so generally speaking, both phones will perform almost identically.
The Battery And Charging
Just like the regular Magic 7, the Magic 7 Pro gets only a slight bump in its battery capacity, pushing up to 5,850mAh. For reference, that’s a 250mAh jump.
Fortunately, both types of charging get upgraded. There’s 100W wired charging and 80W wireless charging. That’s another domain where both phones are the same. And yes, the charger remains in the box.
The Cameras
The Honor Magic 7 Pro has the same 50MP main camera and the same 50MP ultrawide as the vanilla model, but its selling point is simply that 200MP 3x periscope telephoto unit. Thanks to the higher resolution, you get up to 100x digital zoom, so that’s a nice extra perk. I’m expecting the camera performance to be amazing.
You get an identical 50MP selfie camera, but there’s a 3D depth camera beside it in that pill-shaped cutout. That means you get 3D face recognition, which some folks love. It should also improve portrait shots.
Pricing And Availability For The Honor Magic 7 Series
The Honor Magic 7 series is only available in China for now, but it is essentially certain that the series is going to find its way to international markets like it did last year.
The Honor Magic 7 will cost CNY4,499 (~$630) while the Honor Magic 7 Pro will start at CNY5,699 (~$800).
