HONOR Magic8 Pro review: Big camera, bigger performance

HONOR Magic8 Pro review: HONOR is on a roll with the perfect balance of solid hardware and software that makes AI accessible to everyone.

{Tech} for Travel

I’ve sat in on plenty of media briefings over the years and am pretty good at spotting the hype from those that will deliver on what they say.

HONOR, for the most part, falls into the latter. The brand, one of the biggest in China and with a clear intention of global growth, is particular about who it targets.

With a knack for building robust yet desirable hardware, loaded with Android and a range of AI-powered features, all backed by often five or more years of software updates, HONOR is aiming at users who look to refurbished markets or value-for-money deals.

Why settle for either when you could have flagship specs at a fraction of the price?

The HONOR Magic8 Pro is engineered around photography. Its triple-lens system includes a 200MP Ultra Night Telephoto Camera with a large 1/1.4-inch sensor, wide f/2.6 aperture, and 3.7x optical zoom.

This is paired with a 50MP Ultra Night Main Camera (f/1.6) and a 50MP Ultra-Wide Camera, offering a 122° field of view and 2.5cm macro focus, covering everything from sweeping landscapes to extreme close-ups.

HONOR’s AI-powered AiMAGE system handles scene detection, exposure, and stability with next-gen intelligence. The AI Adaptive Stabilisation Model, combined with OIS, achieves a CIPA 5.5-level rating, a first for smartphones, and improves shake detection by 4x over previous models. According to HONOR, this makes handheld zoom photography seven times more stable without a tripod.

Magic Colour, the new AI-driven colour engine, analyses 16.77 million hues in real time, enabling cinematic styles and custom grading templates.

Powered by HONOR’s AI Adaptive Stabilisation Model, users are seven times more likely to produce greater ‘zoomed images’ even without a tripod or gimbal.

HONOR

Using HONOR’s device-cloud sync, Magic Colour ensures consistency between what you see in preview and the final saved image. Some of my favourite image-editing tools are again available, including AI Eraser, AI Cutout, and AI Outpainting, accessible via a new dedicated AI Button on the chassis, programmable for quick access even when the phone is locked.

On the performance side, the Magic8 Pro runs Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset, the fastest available, with hardware-accelerated AI. The chipset also introduces GPU-NPU hybrid upscaling for gameplay: turning 60fps at 850p into 120fps at 1080p on supported titles.

It’s all managed by MagicOS 10, HONOR’s latest interface layer, which features cross-device collaboration and built-in AI assistants powered by Google Gemini.

The 6.71-inch LTPO OLED display supports adaptive refresh rates from 1–120Hz and a peak HDR brightness of 6,000 nits.

Battery-wise, the 6,270mAh silicon-carbon cell supports 100W wired and 80W wireless SuperCharge. HONOR claims full-day battery life even under intensive use.

However, battery capacity does vary by market, and this review is based on a UK model.

MagicOS 10 enhances ecosystem features with cross-platform sharing (Android, iOS, macOS, Windows) and supports full iPhone migration, including calendars, notes, and reminders.

Now, call me lucky, but I happened to be in Las Vegas for CES 2026, during my HONOR Magic8 Pro review period. And, there is no better place on earth than to try out the impressive 200MP Ultra Night Telephoto Camera than on the neon-lit strip.

HONOR, like other brands, has gone big on camera performance, but what sets it apart is how it has built AI support into the camera and photo apps.

Despite testing new handsets regularly, I find some need require university-level knowledge and a degree in Computer Science to get the best out of the AI features.

HONOR makes its AI features simple to use and accessible to everyone, which is the biggest selling point of the Magic8 Pro and most of HONOR’s newer devices.

I took the Magic8 Pro out for a night walk along the Strip to test it in a variety of low-light conditions, street scenes, portraits, and static night shots.

It was effortless!

Admittedly, the workload falls more on the software than the hardware, and the Magic8 Pro has many modes in the cam app. It is worth getting to know these and configuring them, especially the pro mode.

Even without a tripod, the results were sharp and surprisingly detailed thanks to the built-in stabilisation. Colours held up well thanks to the AI processing, and the Magic Colour feature added some nice tonal balance without going overboard. Then, with just a few taps on the AI tools, I was able to clean up my photos with ease.

Zoom performance was on par with the outgoing Magic7 Pro and even the mid-range 400 Pro; however, it’s the low-light performance that is so impressive on the Magic8 Pro, making it effortless to capture great nighttime shots.

If I wanted to be picky, the night sky is more of a solid black in the images than it was at the time of the photos, but the colour on the buildings and the street, with the contrasts, more than make up for it.

The only downside to the camera is the camera module itself. It’s huge!

When I lay the phone down on a table, it points up at an angle. Would I sacrifice the camera’s overall performance for a smaller rear lens housing?

Not a chance!

A new addition is the AI Button. It has been added almost identically to Apple’s camera control button and feels like HONOR is trying to keep up. When in fact they really don’t need to.

The AI Button can be set to launch the camera, summon screen suggestions, fire up the photo tools or trigger HONOR AI, all with a short, long or double press.

At 6.71 inches, the display and handset are larger than the current flagship devices from both Samsung and Apple. However, that extra size delivers one of the best screen experiences on the market.

The rounded corners do feel a little tight on the taskbar icons at the top, but since most use is further down, I hardly notice it day to day.

Friends and family will comment on the OLED screen and will have display envy. The Magic8 Pro is up there with the Samsung S25 in terms of brightness and clarity.

Performance-wise, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, Qualcomm’s latest chip, handled everything with ease and is the reason why the Magic8 Pro is not only a flagship handset. But it can be mentioned alongside other flagship devices.

No matter what I was doing on the HONOR Magic8 Pro review, the phone never slowed down or overheated, and it displayed excellent RAM management throughout.

The 6,270mAh silicon-carbon battery comfortably lasted me a full day, even with heavy camera use and screen brightness turned up.

On lighter days, I ended with more than 40% still left. It’s easily one of the best-performing batteries I’ve used in a flagship.

Charging is where it gets even better. I plugged in with the 100W wired charger (sold separately) and went from 20% to over 70% in just 20 minutes. Wireless charging at 80W also performed well, though I tended to stick with the wired for speed.

Features	HONOR Magic8 Pro
Dimensions	161x75x8.4mm
Weight	219g
Colour Options	Sunrise Gold Sky Cyan Black
Display	6.71″ LTPO OLED 1–120Hz Adaptive Up to 6,000 nits peak
Rear Cameras	200MP Telephoto 50MP Main 50MP Ultra-Wide
Front Camera	50MP 3D Depth Sensor
Processor	Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
Memory & Storage	12GB RAM / 512GB storage
Operating System	MagicOS 10 (Android 16)
Battery & Charging	6,270mAh Silicon‑Carbon 100W Wired 80W Wireless
Video	Up to 4K @ 120fps (Rear) 4K (Front)
Biometrics	In‑display Fingerprint + Face Unlock
Water Resistance	IP68 / IP69K
Other Highlights	AI Button Magic Colour Engine AI Photos Agent
Website	honor.com

The HONOR Magic8 Pro costs £1,099. HONOR is running multiple promotions during the launch period, with vouchers on honor.com reducing the price to £899 and gift‑with‑purchase offers including a free Pad X9a and 100W Supercharger.