Honor Magic5 Pro unveiled with a custom 1/1.12" camera sensor, vanilla Magic5 follows

Honor detailed its new “dual flagship” strategy today – both product lines share the “Magic” name, one is the traditional number series, the other is the Magic V foldables. There are exciting developments for the Magic Vs, but we’ll cover those in a separate post.

The focus today was on unveiling the new Honor Magic5 and Magic5 Pro flagships (no Ultimate, not yet, at least).

Honor Magic5 Pro

The new series evolves the “Eye of Muse” camera ring design from last year into the Star Wheel Triple Camera system. Putting aside marketing names, what you need to know is that the camera has moved to a triple 50MP setup.

Honor Magic5 Pro

The main module features a customized 1/1.12” sensor and has a bright f/1.6 aperture. This is a massive upgrade in terms of light-gathering ability compared to the Magic4 Pro, which had a 1/1.56” sensor and an f/1.8 aperture. Even better, Honor enabled Optical Image Stabilization on the main camera (the Magic4 Pro skipped OIS). The 50MP ultra wide-angle (122°) camera also has a brighter aperture, f/2.0 (vs. f/2.2).

The periscope module has changed significantly. It now has a 50MP sensor, the Sony IMX858, instead of a 64MP. The lens still offers 3.5x optical magnification (with a brighter f/3.0 lens vs. f/3.5) and brings an Ultra Fusion Computational Optics system to offer high-quality digital zoom up to 100x.

The camera system gets help from an array of sensors – a 3D ToF laser for focusing, a multi-spectrum sensor for color temperature and a flicker sensor – plus advanced software features. Honor has partnered with the Guinness World Records to make the Magic5 Pro the official camera to capture the attempt at the World’s Highest Between The Legs Slam Dunk record. And it did it automatically with the AI Motion Sensor Capture mode.

The IMAX Enhanced Movie Master allows users to shoot and edit videos on their phones. Speaking of, the phone can record 4K video at 60fps in either HDR10+ or Magic-Log 10-bit log format.

Having a look around the phone, you will notice the curved design - that's allegedly been inspired by the works of architect Antoni Gaudí - the man behind many bold and unusual masterpiece buildings in Barcelona, where MWC takes place every year.

The 6.81” display is curved on four sides. The large LTPO panel can refresh at up to 120Hz. Like last year’s model, it has a resolution of 1,312 x 2,848px, giving it a pixel density of 461ppi.

With an improved design, it can hit a peak HDR brightness of 1,800 nits (close to double the 1,000 nits peak of the Magic4 Pro). When it needs to go low, it uses high-frequency PWM dimming at 2,160Hz. The display is also calibrated for color accuracy at two brightness levels – 120 nits for indoors and 800 nits - outdoors. This is a 10-bit panel with support for HDR10+. It also has a cinematic pedigree with an IMAX Enhanced certification. Stereo speakers with DTS:X Ultra also boost the entertainment potential.

On the front, there is a dual sensor pill-shaped cutout in the upper left corner. One is a 12MP sensor for the selfie camera (f/2.4, fixed focus), and the other is a 3D depth sensor. This enables 3D face recognition; there is also a fingerprint reader embedded into the display.

Honor Magic5 Prok

It’s time to mention the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset that runs the show. Honor paired it with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB UFS 4.0 storage. The phone launches with MagicUI 7.1 based on Android 13. This will only be a brief mention since Honor loaded the phone with a lot of custom hardware, too.

The Discrete Display Chipset can help boost the frame rate in games and has an always-on HDR effect to enhance videos. The Discrete Security Chipset was co-developed with Qualcomm; it’s the place where sensitive information like passwords and biometric data (face ID and fingerprints) is stored.

Then there’s connectivity – Honor claims it has the first Wi-Fi and Bluetooth standalone antenna architecture in the industry, which should boost Wi-Fi 6 performance by up to 200% and reduces latency by up to 30%.

The phone is powered by a 5,100mAh battery, which is fast to top up with support for 66W wired and 50W wireless SuperCharge. The necessary charger is included in the box.

Honor Magic5

The Honor Magic5 is similar to its Pro sibling but dialed down. This starts with the slightly smaller (yet still quite large) 6.73” display. Peak HDR brightness is down to 1,600 nits. Still, this is a lot higher than the Magic4 Pro could go.

A more significant difference on the vanilla model is the camera – it has a 54MP main (1/1.49"), 50MP ultra-wide and 32MP telephoto modules.

The Magic5 uses the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, but the memory configuration is 8/256GB. Also, the phone is a millimeter thinner than the Pro but has the same 5,100mAh capacity and it supports the 66W wired SuperCharge (no wireless, though).

Pricing and availability

The Honor Magic5 series will be available in the April-June quarter. The vanilla Magic5 is coming in Blue and Black, the Magic5 Pro in Glacier Blue, Meadow Green, Coral Purple, Orange and Black.

Honor Magic5 Pro in Glacier Blue, Meadow Green, Coral Purple, Orange and Black

The Honor Magic5 Pro is available in one configuration, 12/512GB, which will sell for €1,200 (that's the equivalent of $1,270/£1,055/₹105,000). The vanilla Magic5 (8/256GB) will be a good deal more affordable at €900 ($950/£795/₹78,500)