Honor Magic6 Pro review

Competition

The Honor Magic6 Pro is launching in Europe and the UK at a price of €1299/£1100 for its single 12GB/512GB storage configuration. Early bird discounts see that price slashed to €999/£850.

It is a high-end cameraphone with a few standout features in the imaging department. But even though it may be a trailblazer in certain respects, there are other cameraphones out there that get to more or less the same destination following different routes. In this section, we take a look at the available competition.

We find its most obvious competitor in the OnePlus 12, and it isn't easy to pick one or the other strictly on objective terms, though the OP should have a meaningful price advantage. The Honor might have an edge as a picture-taking device after all, and it should survive a dunk in a glass of water, while the OP charges faster and its software is probably a little more polished, but the differences are minimal or down to personal preference.

You might be able to squeeze a Galaxy S24 Ultra in Honor's price tag, and the Galaxy is a complete camera package; plus, it's also a lot of smartphone with a huge display and a stylus. Depending on where you are, though, it may only be the S24+ that you can get for Magic 6 Pro's money, and that's not as good a cameraphone, though One UI and a solid update policy remain in the Galaxy's favor.

Speaking of Ultras, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, which just got announced in China, will likely be going global not that far in the future, and that too is going to be a more capable cameraphone than the Magic6 Pro. Xiaomi Ultras can be tricky to track down, however, and we have a hunch that the 14 will be pricier than the Honor.

The vivo X100 Pro has a limited international release but you can find it in stores, and it too packs a lot of camera prowess - so much so, that we'd give the vivo the nod over the Honor in this respect. If that's not enough of a factor, we can see this being settled on the software package, of which neither is our favorite, since things are pretty even in most other metrics between the two.

OnePlus 12 • Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra • Xiaomi 14 Ultra • vivo X100 Pro

Verdict

High-end Honor handsets can easily get overlooked in a crowd of more famed top-tier offerings. But just because their Magic lineup may not be the one you think of first, it doesn't mean you shouldn't seriously consider the Magic6 Pro.

It's not perfect, that's for sure. For its cameraphone aspirations, the Honor's video quality is a bit… unreliable. Certain specific circumstances can trip its camera in stills too, but those aren't that bothersome. Similarly, a few minor software peculiarities had us irked along the way. But that's really the magnitude of the 'problems' we had with the Magic6 Pro.

These are easily outweighed by the phone's strong points though. The Magic6 PRo's display is truly great, even for the class. The battery life is towards the top of the chart, charging is quicker than at least the Samsung. None of the competitors has 3D face unlock hardware either. Perhaps best of all, the impressive numbers in the camera specsheet do actually translate into nice photos.

With all that in mind, we think that the Magic6 Pro deserves a spot on your short list if you're after a high-end cameraphone in 2024.

Pros

• Excellent display, with Dolby Vision too.
• Great battery life, fast charging, fast wireless too.
• 3D face unlock like an iPhone; works well too.
• Great results from the rear cameras for photos; standout closeups.
• Superb video stabilization.

Cons

• Main camera daylight video isn't up to scratch, the ultrawide isn't too convincing either.
• Minor software oversights, unclear update future.