The HONOR Magic7 Pro is a direct successor to the highly-praised HONOR Magic6 Pro, and this is our review of the device. I had rather high expectations from this phone going into the review, for a good reason. I simply loved its predecessor, and so have many people from the industry I’ve talked to. That phone had a great camera, offered, outstanding performance, great battery life, and it was even designed in a way so that it doesn’t fly out of your hand… well, at least the vegan leather model that I’ve used.
Unfortunately, HONOR decided to ditch vegan leather this time around and go with just glass backs. Outside of that, the HONOR Magic7 Pro looks quite similar to its predecessor. There are, however, quite a few design-related differences, that’s something we’ll talk about shortly. The phone’s design is the first section we’ll cover, and we’ll take things from there. Let’s see if the HONOR Magic7 Pro is a worthy competitor to so many great flagships that are already out in the market.
HONOR Magic7 Pro Review: Hardware / Design
HONOR traded the thin frame and proportionally curved front and back sides on the Magic6 Pro to something rather different here. The HONOR Magic7 Pro is made out of metal and glass. Its frame is made out of aluminum, and it’s flat all around the devices, and also of equal thickness. The phone’s from and back sides are also proportional, but they’re not as curved as they were on the Magic6 Pro.
HONOR went with the quad micro-curved design of sorts, which seems to be popular amongst flagship smartphones these days. Both its front and back glass is slightly curved towards the edges, on all sides. That basically makes the glass on top of the display curved, not the panel itself. The bezels around its do belong under the glass category, while the display itself is pretty much flat. The bezels are quite thin, by the way, more on that in the display category.
There is a pill-shaped cutout on the front, for a good reason
You’ll also notice a pill-shaped camera cutout on the front, which is similar to what we’ve seen on the Magic6 Pro. HONOR placed 3D facial scanning tech on the inside, along with a front-facing camera. The power/lock and volume up and down buttons are located on the right-hand side of the phone. They’re very clicky, and well-made, HONOR used aluminum here as well. Those are the only buttons on the device, by the way.
On the back, you’ll find the company’s ‘AI Eagle Eye’ camera. It has a slightly different shape than the one on the Magic6 Pro, but it’s still very similar. The camera module itself is round, but the metallic accent around it is not. The layout of the three cameras inside the camera island is also different compared to last year’s model. The camera module does protrude on the back, but nowhere near as on some other flagships. It is not a good anchor for your finger for that reason, so it doesn’t really have a practical purpose. Most people will prefer this, however, as consumers don’t seem to like thicker camera modules.
It is large, but it feels smaller than its dimensions would indicate
The HONOR Magic7 Pro is a bit wider than its predecessor, but it has similar dimensions overall. It is 162.7mm tall, 77.1mm wide, and 8.8mm thick. The phone weighs 223 grams, which is on par with many other large-format flagships. It is also IP68 and IP69K certified, which is an improvement compared to the Magic6 Pro. You really don’t have to worryabout getting this phone wet while in the rain or anything of the sort. It has good water and dust resistance rating.
What does it feel like to hold it? Well, it’s… slippery, but not as slippery as many other phones I’ve used. That’s the first thing that comes to mind. HONOR uses a satin finish that does help with grip a little bit. HONOR did not include a case in the retail box, though. I was unable to encase it during my usage and had a couple of very close calls. I almost dropped it on concrete several times, though, but luckily that didn’t happen.
The Magic7 Pro is slippery, but not as slippery as some competitors are
In addition to being somewhat slippery, it’s also really well-made. This phone screams quality, as you’d expect out of HONOR. It’s also not difficult to balance on one finger when you’re using it thanks to its flat frame on the bottom. I actually prefer this design compared to the ones on smartphones with curved displays. It’s easier to keep this in the hand without slipping out, even though the phone is slippery. I also tend to prefer flat(ter) displays, so this design suits me, but that’s a personal preference.
I don’t have any complaints about this design, in all honesty. Yes, I would have appreciated vegan leather on the back, personally, but that’s just a personal choice. As expected, HONOR did a great job in terms of the design.
HONOR Magic7 Pro Review: Display
The HONOR Magic7 Pro has a very similar display setup as its predecessor. It includes a 6.8-inch 2800 x 1280 LTPO OLED display. That panel is flatter than the one on the Magic6 Pro, though. It is technically a quad micro-curved display, but that only means that the glass is rounded on all sides, not the display itself. Yes, this display has an adaptive refresh rate between 1 and 120Hz, and yes it has Dobly Vision support. The peak brightness, in theory, is 5,000 nits, while the screen-to-body ratio is at around 90%. The display aspect ratio here is 19.5:9, and the Giant Rhino Glass is in use here for protection.
The display is big, bright, and beautiful
The resolution, size, brightness, and pretty much everything is unchanged compared to the Magic6 Pro, other than the curvature. That’s not a bad thing, though. The flatter profile is what I personally preferred, and the Magic6 Pro display was already outstanding, so… no worries here. This display is not only plenty sharp, but it also has great viewing angles, great touch response, and it can get immensely bright when you need it to. I had no issue using it outdoors, even though it’s winter here at the moment, so… I was unable to test it out under intense sunlight. Still, if the Magic6 Pro is any indication, and it should be, brightness won’t be an issue at all.
3D facial scanning for the win
There is still a pill-shaped camera cutout included at the top of this panel. It’s smaller than the one on the iPhones, though. There’s also a reason it’s there. HONOR had to place not only a selfie camera in there but tech for 3D facial scanning. I’ll talk about facial scanning in a different section, but I’m very glad HONOR did that, the pill-shaped cutout is worth it in this case. The bezels around the phone are also quite minimal. That display is quite immersive because of that, despite the cutout at the top. It’s also worth pointing out that high-frequency PWM dimming is a part of the package here too. This display comes with some fancy certifications to protect your eyes, which is always a welcomed addition. Even if you’re nitpicking, you should be more than happy with this display, as it’s one of the best out there.
HONOR Magic7 Pro Review: Performance
The HONOR Magic7 Pro is a powerful smartphone. This is, after all, the company’s brand new flagship smartphone. It is fueled by the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, Qualcomm’s new flagship processor. That is a 3nm chip, and it’s paired with either 12GB or 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM inside of this phone. We’ve received a 12GB RAM variant from HONOR and thus used that model. In case you’re wondering, 256GB of storage is included on the inside, and HONOR used UFS 4.0 flash storage in all models.
The device stumbled during 3D Mark testing
The performance that I’ve experienced during my two-week review period was great. No, let’s get the bad out of the way first. I was unable to complete our usual benchmarking tests. The phone started overheating while running 3D Mark’s Extreme Wild Life Stress Test. On the second and third attempts it simply shut down the application after being only around 60% complete. I tried running the benchmark on different days, by the way. When it shut down the app it was very, very hot, at 118.1 degrees Fahrenheit. That has not happened with a single phone thus far, for me personally, so it was surprising.
The good news is, however, the performance was not an issue. Let’s push that benchmark mishap to the side. In both general usage and gaming, this phone was delivered. It was immensely smooth during use, while HONOR’s animations are sublime. The MagicOS 9.0 is not my favorite smartphone UI out there, that’s for sure, but it works brilliantly. If you have other HONOR devices, it’ll work even better for you thanks to the interconnectivity options that it offers. It does not have a ton of customization, but it has a decent amount. We’ll touch more on that in the software section, though.
During day-to-day use it remains cool at all times, basically
The phone remained cool at all times except for when I was gaming and shooting 4K content, basically. Even during gaming, however, the heat was not an issue. I never got the overheat popup, nor did I ever feel like the phone is too hot to hold. It seems like some sort of breaks go off when 3D Mark’s Wild Life Extreme Stress Test is in use, and that caused the issue. In other words, you should not be worried about performance here at all, that’s for sure. At least I had no issues in the weeks I’ve used the phone.
3D facial scanning & fingerprint scanner
The HONOR Magic7 Pro has one advantage over its competitors in the Android space, 3D facial scanning. Android smartphones usually rely on regular facial scanning, via the front-facing camera. That is not as accurate, and not as fast as 3D facial scanning, especially in low light. This feature was outstanding on the HONOR Magic6 Pro, and the same can be said for this implementation as well. I didn’t even scan my face in the best conditions, and it worked flawlessly despite that. I used it more than the fingerprint scanner here, by quite a wide margin, actually, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, just to mix things up. Pick up your phone, and simply swipe up to access it.
Its ultrasonic fingerprint scanner is also fast and reliable
If you prefer a fingerprint scanner, however, you’ll be glad to know that HONOR used an ultrasonic one here. That’s a good thing as ultrasonic fingerprint scanners are more secure than optical ones, and if implemented correctly, they’re also faster. That is the case here, as the in-display fingerprint scanner worked great for me. It worked just as well as facial scanning, so you have both options to choose from here. That is not many smartphones can say for themselves.
HONOR Magic7 Pro Review: Battery
HONOR opted for a 5,270mAh battery inside of this phone. It’s a silicon carbon battery, but it’s way smaller than the Chinese version of the phone offers. The HONOR Magic7 Pro, in China, has a 5,850mAh battery pack. This is a very odd move by HONOR, as the two devices are basically the same other than that. Well, the software is a bit different, and so are RAM + storage, variants but everything else is identical.
The battery life is good despite the decrease in battery capacity compared to the Chinese model
Now, you’ll be glad to hear that the battery life is not bad all, quite the contrary, but it could have been even better. it’ll be good enough for many people, but don’t expect this phone to compete with the likes of the best out there. Perhaps if HONOR kept a 5,850mAh unit in there. I was able to get 6-7 hours of screen-on-time, which is my daily usage average, but didn’t have much left in the tank following that. I also managed to cross the 8-hour screen-on-time on several occasions. So, yeah, the phone is definitely not lacking in the battery department. It even did a good job in our battery life rundown test, though it was below a number of competitors.
Your usage will differ from mine, of course, plus your signal strength will be different. I used the phone mostly while connected to Wi-Fi, but while I was on 5G, I did not notice any noticeable battery drain or anything like that. What did affect the battery noticeably is gaming, especially when it comes to demanding games. 4K video recording at 60 FPS also left a dent. But in terms of general use, which most people are interested in, people did a solid job battery-wise. I also suspect this will get even better as HONOR continues to roll out updates. It wouldn’t be the first time.
This phone made me addicted to fast wireless charging
If you end up having to recharge the phone in a hurry, you’re extremely well-covered here. This is one of the fastest-charging smartphones in the market in terms of wireless charging, and its wired charging is even faster. You’re getting 100W wired and 80W wireless charging support. Do note that you’ll need a HONOR charger to take full advantage of both, regardless if you get a wired one or a wireless one. A charger is not included in the box, only a charging cable. The phone does support reverse wireless and reverse wired charging too, though. I do own HONOR’s 100W wireless charger, and it was a joy to use with this phone. It’s blazing fast, though you can hear the fan built into the charger, so it’s not the best option to charge it overnight. There’s no need for that considering the speed, though.
You can get a full charge, while using 100W wired charging, in only around 35 minutes. Once again you will need the company’s 100W charger in order to achieve such charging speeds, and that means getting it separately.
HONOR Magic7 Pro Review: Camera
The HONOR Magic7 Pro comes with three cameras on the back. There’s one located on the front, plus the phone’s TOF 3D sensor for facial scanning. The main camera on this phone is a 50-megapixel unit. HONOR used a 1/1.3-inch sensor size here, with a 1.2um pixel size. Dual Pixel PDAF is in use, as is OIS. This camera also has a variable aperture (f/1.4-f/2.0). It’s a good sensor size, though it’s not as big as some of the competitors have offered in the last year or so. It does look great on paper, we’ll talk more about it soon.
A 50-megapixel ultrawide camera is also included. We’re looking at a 1/2.88-inch sensor here, with a 122-degree FoV, and 0.61um pixel size with an f/2.6 aperture. This is, without a doubt, the least impressive camera of the three included on the back. The third one is a 200-megapixel periscope telephoto unit. This camera has a 1/1.4-inch sensor size, PDAF and OIS support, plus 3x optical zoom. It’s a 69mm equivalent, while it has an f/2.6 aperture. That is also the camera I liked the most, actually, as was the case with the HONOR Magic6 Pro.
The camera hardware is great, and the performance is not bad either
So, the hardware looks good, great even. It’s definitely flagship-like, so my expectations going into this review were quite high. The HONOR Magic6 Pro offered great performance, so I had no reason to have low expectations here. I was not disappointed, but at the same time HONOR could still improve things. This is a great camera smartphone, but not the best around. The first thing I noticed is that the company toned down on the sharpening. You also won’t notice as much warm tones in images as on the Magic6 Pro, that phone had a tendency to prefer warmer tones at all times. This one does a more natural job in terms of color temperature, and I like that quite a bit. The same goes for sharpening, it doesn’t go overboard in most cases.
For the most part, the images are well-balanced. The phone does a good job of keeping the same color profile across all three cameras, though things can differ at times. That is especially true for the periscope telephoto camera if you go to higher zoom levels. We’ll talk about that a bit later, though. I’ve had some images in which the white balance was messed up, but only a couple of them. In general, the main camera did a great job and provided plenty of detail in the images. That goes for both daytime and nighttime. Do note that at night, you’ll need to keep your hand as still as possible, as I had some blurry results in there.The shutter in low light is fast, but it’s not instant, so… keep that in mind.
Its ultrawide camera is good, but it’s not on the same level as the other two
The ultrawide camera does a good job overall, but it’s noticeable it’s inferior to the main shooter. There are fewer details in there, and that is especially apparent in low light. The images also tend to be a bit darker, and blurrier in low light. I would not recommend using the ultrawide camera in low light, in all honesty. You’d be better off sticking with the main shooter, and even the periscope telephoto unit, as it’s much more capable than the ultrawide camera. That 50-megapixel ultrawide unit is nothing to write home about in general, but it’s good enough.
Now, the periscope telephoto camera is… very, very good. This is also a camera that you’ll be using for portrait shots, and for macro photos too. HONOR used a 1/1.4-inch sensor here, which is great, actually. The camera does a great job in both good lighting, and even in low light. You can confidently use that zoom without a problem. The higher you go the more quality you’ll use, though, of course. You can go up to 100x, but I wouldn’t recommend that you go over 6x for the best results. 10x is also good in some conditions, but for everything over that you’ll need to have good lighting. Images at very high zoom ranges do get that water color effect, but at least you’re not stuck with blurry images.
Portrait and macro shots are excellent
As I mentioned before, this is the camera I used the most, and for a good reason, it’s the most versatile one. Whenever you want to capture a portrait, a macro photo, or take a picture of a subject you don’t want to get close to, this is the camera to go to. It’s amongst the best periscope telephoto performers on the market, though considering the hardware, I do believe HONOR improve it further via updates.
The video recording is good enough, as is the selfie camera. You’ll get stable shots in both daylight and nighttime conditions, so no worries there. There’s also plenty of detail in video. The selfie camera does the job. It’s not the best in the market, but it does provide you with plenty of details and it’s even perfectly usable in low light too.
All in all, the HONOR Magic6 Pro has a very compelling camera setup, and the perofrmance is up to par. That’s what we expected, and that’s what we received here.
Main camera samples:
Ultrawide camera samples:
Periscope telephoto camera samples:
HONOR Magic7 Pro Review: Software
The HONOR Magic7 Pro ships with Android 15 out of the box. More importantly, however, MagicOS 9 is included on top of it. That is important as HONOR’s skin is notably different than stock Android. In fact, it’s one of the most different UIs for Android when it comes to major Android companies. Whether that’s for you or not, that’s a whole different story, of course. I’ll try and give you an idea of what you’ll have to deal with, and how well it all works. MagicOS has been around for a long time, and I’ve used various iterations of it. This one is the best, but in all honesty, things did not change much design-wise.
MagicOS is a blend of Android and iOS with some of HONOR’s features on top
Think of MagicOS as a combination of Android and iOS, in a way. On the lock screen, your notifications will be placed towards the bottom of the screen, and in cards that are placed one on top of the other. That’s a clear callout to iOS, especially if you count in 3D facial scanning. The same goes for dual activation of the notification shade and quick settings. If you pull from the top-left side of the screen (up until the middle), you’ll get the notification shade, if you do the same but from the right, you’ll access quick toggles. You can set the phone to do the same when you swipe in a similar fashion across the screen itself when you’re on the homepage. The design of the UI is more iOS-like than Android-like, especially when you look at notification cards and quick toggles.
The animations are outstanding
With that being said, MagicOS 9 has god-tier animations, and fluidity too. It has been so well optimized in that area, it’s a true joy to use. Everything is buttery smooth, and the feeling of flying around the UI is great. There’s also a decent level of customization here, even though that is clearly not HONOR’s priority. When it comes home screen, you can choose whether you want to have all your apps there or use an app drawer. Grid layouts are limited, as are other options for the home screen. You cannot use third-party icon packs, for example. However, you can change the icons from the ones HONOR has on offer. There’s also an option to grab more from the theme store.
The company does allow you to change the font, use ‘Magazine Unlock’ for different wallpapers on your lock screen, change themes, and so on. There’s also the Always On Display feature included here, and it works fine. You also have the option to use ‘Full screen’ or ‘Partial screen’ AOD mode. The Partial screen will keep most of everything black but will give you some important info, such as the time and unread notifications. The ‘Full screen’ mode is more battery demanding, and it’s basically a dimmed lock screen.
Features like Multi-Window Dock and Favorites Space are useful to have
There’s also a Multi-Window dock. You can swipe from the left or right sides of the display, and hold, in order to access it. From there, you can launch apps into multi-window mode, or create windows. There’s also a very interesting and useful feature called ‘Favorites Space’. MagicOS 9 allows you to drag images and text (plus other files) into a special ‘Favorites Space’, and access it from wherever. You simply press and hold on an image, and drag it to the right side of the display on the indicator that will appear. All the files that you drag over there will be presented in a vertical strip.
Do note that various AI features are also a part of the offering here. You do get access to AI Suggestions and AI Translate. AI Translate can basically translate different languages in real-time for you. That goes for both written and spoken text. Air Gestures are also here, using which you can control the device, plus there are some AI features available when you’re editing multimedia. HONOR also has its own version of Apple’s Dynamic Island to offer here
As you can see, there are a ton of features available that you won’t find on other phones. I found the Favorites Space most useful. I got so used to it that I’m trying to use it while I’m using other devices. All of the features that I’ve mentioned here work really well. However, there are some things that I don’t like when it comes to MagicOS 9. That is, of course, my personal opinion, which is kind of the point of a review. Do note that the UI works brilliantly, so the performance is not a problem.
I’m not a fan of how notification cards look and function
I’m really not a fan of the notification cards and their functionality. Everything is jumbled together when you get a message or an email. You cannot clearly see what is the title, what is the text, and so on. It looks dated and quite frankly bad. Swiping across a notification card won’t open it for you to see the entire message, as it works on a bunch of other UIs, and so on. The notifications arrived in time and all that, that’s not an issue at all, but the way those notification cards have been implemented, that’s really not my favorite thing.
Also, there’s no double-tap feature, to lock the display. There’s not even a lock screen shortcut, widget, or anything of the sort. That’s a part of basically every other Android smartphone out there, especially in the flagship range, so I’m not really sure why it’s not an option here. I would also love it if I could swipe from wherever on the screen to access the notification shade, not the quick toggles. Swiping across the left side of the screen only to access the notification shade managed to annoy me more than I thought it would. It’s just not the way it should work, in my opinion. HONOR is trying to do its own thing, though, and differentiate itself from its competitors, and that’s understandable. So if you’re not bothered by what I said, MagicOS 9 may appeal to you.
HONOR Magic7 Pro Review: Audio
The vast majority of flagship smartphones these days have very good sound quality. They have good stereo speakers and well-balanced sound. HONOR decided to take things a bit further, though. I’ve noticed the difference immediately, so I decided to poke around the information HONOR sent me, to see if the audio is mentioned properly. This is what the company had to say in terms of audio. The HONOR Magic7 Pro has “stereo speakers with an integrated ultra-large sound cavity and spatial audio”. The sound is rich and very enjoyable, while the speakers are above average in terms of loudness for this price range.
One thing that I’ll note regarding the speakers here, is that they do offer a lot of bass too, compared to the competition. That’s not something I’m used to. Don’t expect miracles, but when you hear as many speakers as I do, you definitely notice a difference in that regard. I’m glad that HONOR paid attention to the audio here. Now, considering that there’s always someone amongst you who will mention it, no, the audio jack is not included here. You can use the phone’s Type-C port to connect your wired headphones if you want. Alternatively, you do have access to Bluetooth 5.4 with all the bells and whistles.
HONOR Magic7 Pro Review: Should you buy it?
Is the HONOR Magic7 Pro the right phone for you? As usual, that’s something only you can decide. We threw a bunch of information your way so that you can make an informed decision. This is a very compelling phone, it definitely is, with plenty of useful features, great in-hand feel, extremely fast charging, great audio, and so on. However, there’s a ton of competition out there in the market in this sector, and you have to ask yourself what exactly are you looking for in a smartphone. I would say that this phone does excel in some ways, but as I said… it all depends on what you’re looking for/expect.
You should buy the HONOR Magic7 Pro if you:
- want a reliable high-end smartphone
- find wireless charging to be too slow on other phones
- want a somewhat different software experience
- need a display that is not only outstanding, but one that protects your eyes too
- require a phone to have a reliable camera setup
- liked 3D facial scanning on iPhones
- appreciate smartphone designs
