HONOR Magic7 Pro Review – Starting Off With a Magical Bang

HONOR Magic7 Pro Unboxing

Kicking off the HONOR Magic7 Pro review with the unboxing, it comes in a similar packaging as its predecessors. It’s clad in black and it’s rather minimalistic in nature as you only get the name of the device on the cover. Inside the box, we found the following items:

• USB-C to USB-C cable
• 100W HONOR SuperCharge charger
• SIM ejector pin
• Documentations
• Protective case
• The HONOR Magic7 Pro itself

Specifications

SoC	Snapdragon 8 Elite, 3nm 2 x Oryon V2 Phoenix L @ 4.32 GHz + 6 x Oryon V2 Phoenix M @ 3.53 GHz Adreno 830 GPU
RAM	12GB / 16GB
Storage	512GB / 1TB UFS 4.0
Display	6.8″ (2800 x 1280) LTPO OLED Display, 1.07 billion colors, 100% DCI-P3, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, HDR, HONOR NanoCrystal Shield, Giant Rhino Glass, 4320Hz PWM dimming, dynamic dimming, Nature Tone Display, TUV Rheinland Full Care, Flicker Free, and Circadian Friendly certifications 453ppi 5000 nits (peak) 1Hz to 120Hz Adaptive Refresh Rate
Rear Camera	HONOR Tele-Falcon Camera System 200MP f/2.6 Tele-Falcon camera, 3x optical zoom, PDAF, OIS 50MP f/1.4-2.0 Adjustable Aperture OIS wide angle camera, dual pixel PDAF, 50MP f/2.0 122˚ ultra-wide, dual pixel PDAF Laser AF, LED Flash, HDR, panorama Up to 4K 60FPS video recording
Selfie Camera	50MP f/2.0 wide angle selfie cam 3D TOF Sensor Up to 4K 60FPS video recording Gyro-EIS
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6/7, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct Bluetooth 5.4, A2DP, LE, aptX HD NFC Infrared USB-C 3.2 with DP 1.2 and OTG support
Battery	5850mAh Silicon-carbon Battery 100W wired HONOR SuperCharge 80W wireless HONOR SuperCharge
Dimensions	162.7 x 77.1 x 8.8 mm 223g
Ingress Protection	IP68 and IP69
Software	MagicOS 9 based on Android 15
Colors	Lunar Shadow Grey, Breeze Blue, Black

Performance

Starting off our benchmark suite with Antutu v10, we can see that the HONOR Magic7 Pro had a strong showing, with the only devices beating it are the gaming-centric ROG Phone 9 and the vivo X200 Pro with its Dimensity 9400 chip. It’s still a notable step up from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, even more so compared to the one found on its direct predecessor as that scored even lower than the lowest score in the above graph.

Then on Geekbench 6, the HONOR Magic7 Pro managed to beat the vivo X200 Pro in both single and multi core scenarios but once again loses to the ROG Phone 9, albeit not by a huge margin. It’s worth noting that as far as CPU performance goes, it would be very hard to tell the difference in performance for three of the smartphones I mentioned if one is basing it off of their own perception so don’t worry too much there. I find it interesting that it lost to the iPhone 16 Pro Max in single core, but won in the multi core scenario.

Moving on to 3DMark, the HONOR Magic7 Pro managed to take the top spot in Solar Bay and Steel Nomad, though it loses out to the ROG Phone 9 in Wild Life Extreme. Regardless, the difference in all three tests for both devices are negligible but I genuinely expected it to score lower given the results we got from previous benchmarks. A noteworthy mention is that it is currently the most thermal-efficient current generation flagship with a stability rating of 64%. Thermal throttling is still present, but lesser than its competition.

To further verify its 3D graphical prowess, we had to put it through GPUScore Sacred Path as well, and it’s pretty close to the top spot. An oddity here is that the ROG Phone 9 scored much lower but that might be due to an optimization issue so realistically, focus more on the top three devices listed here. The HONOR Magic7 Pro is certainly remarkable in this area.

Lastly on PCMark’s Work 3.0 benchmark, the HONOR Magic7 Pro managed to take the spot in our list of benchmarked devices. Seems like I’m lying after seeing the graph above, doesn’t it? Keep in mind that the one you see on top is running in an overclocked profile known as X-Mode, and without it, the score plunged to much lower figures. We don’t have that sort of profile on this smartphone but honestly speaking, the score proves that it doesn’t need it.

For those of you who are wondering about the battery life, the HONOR Magic7 Pro lasted 11 hours and 53 minutes (713 minutes) in PCMark’s Work 3.0 endurance test. This is with Dynamic Refresh Rate enabled, a feature that will provide an optimized viewing experience without killing off battery life. This is actually a big improvement of 59 minutes over its predecessor, which lasted 654 minutes.

The HONOR Magic7 Pro comes with a 100W HONOR SuperCharge brick inside the box, and it works pretty fast. From my own experience, here are the speeds I get starting from 2% charge:

• 15 minutes = 57% battery life
• 30 minutes = 88% battery life
• 39 minutes = 100% battery life

We couldn’t put the wireless charging capabilities to the test as the fastest wireless charger we have is only 15W, a far cry from the 88W support here for wireless charging.

Camera

This series is known for good cameras and the new HONOR Magic7 Pro doesn’t disappoint. The main camera is capable of capturing a healthily wide dynamic range and details with excellent clarity, and it still manages to retain a good amount of detail in low light. In fact, it seems like details are generally sharped across the board this time around. Colors are usually on the more natural side and it seems like the AI optimizations are more toned down this time around, though it is still present.

The ultrawide camera seems to have a bit of improvement as far as details go, but it’s still on the softer side and colors are more bland compared to the main camera. The zoom camera is still as impressive as ever, looking pretty sharp up to 5x zoom, and even 10x zoom in a bright sunny day. Slightly above 10x zoom is still usable, provided it’s not dark, but a anything past that is basically mush. I oftentimes prefer this over the main camera for portrait-style shots but this is subjective.

In case you want to compare it with its predecessor, check out our HONOR Magic6 Pro review by clicking right here.

The Good

There are a good number of reasons to consider getting the HONOR Magic7 Pro. For starters, they’ve moved away from that faux leather look and opted for a clean, sleek appearance this time around. It’s not just a single tone color either as you can see that there are patterns in the rear for a more pleasing look. While it’s no longer as grippy as its predecessor, they managed to make it look classy while being resistant fingerprint smudges, which is always a plus in my book.

It’s also built very sturdily thanks to the HONOR NanoCrystal Shield, which is 10 times more drop resistant than conventional glass, rated IP68 and IP69 to withstand dust, water, pressure and harsh environments, along with SGS 5-star Glass Drop Resistance Ability certified. In simpler terms, if you’re clumsy and want a powerful smartphone, this should be at the top of your list because this device, just like a good number of HONOR’s recent smartphones, have reached comical levels of durability.

The display is largely the same but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s a 6.8-inch 2800 x 1280 resolution LTPO OLED display with a 453ppi, adaptive refresh rate going from 1Hz to 120Hz, 5,000 nits peak brightness, and high frequency 4,320Hz PWM dimming. It also comes with AI features designed for eye comfort, which includes mimicking natural light, polarizing the display to soften screen light and act as a blue light filter, and an AI Defocus setting. It’s worth noting that it has three notable certifications; TÜV Rheinland Full Care Display 4.0, TÜV Rheinland Circular Polarization, and TÜV Rheinland Flicker-Free.

I’ve always been pleased by the stereo speakers in this flagship series but I’m surprised they managed to improve further. The audio itself is still well balanced and it’s more than adequately loud but what I find surprising is that there’s more bass this time around. It’s not heart-thumping bass at the club kind but it’s enough that audio comes out richer and deeper as a result. HONOR did mention about it having spatial audio but honestly, I don’t really feel it but it’s not a drawback for me given what you get here as is.

The AI features here, including new ones like Magic Avatar, aren’t groundbreaking in general but there are two things I’d like to point out. One is specifically on AI Deepfake Detection, which can help users identify if the person on the other end of a video call made artificial changes to their looks, even slight ones. The other are improvements on existing AI features, like Magic Portal 2.0 has support more apps so you have more options when cross-referencing different apps, and language-based AI features have grown more accurate along with support for more languages. The latter still isn’t perfect, but its consistency have moved up a notch, though I suspect existing AI-supported devices should experience the same as well via updates.

In terms of security, you do get both under-display fingerprint and face recognition, so you can opt for whichever is more convenient for you. The fingerprint scanner itself works lightning fast and I’ve only ever had issues with it after washing my hands since my fingers are still somewhat wet. Face recognition works well enough, just not as fast as the fingerprint option and kind of an annoyance if you often wear a mask.

Pricing is arguably one of the HONOR Magic series’ strong points, and while we do see a slight price increase, it’s still very solid value when you compare to other flagships out there. It’s retailing for RM4,599 for the 12GB RAM / 512GB storage variant and RM5,199 for the 16GB RAM / 1TB storage variant. Most other brands’ top-of-the-line flagships start at around the RM5,000 mark, with some even passing the RM6,000 mark but this one? Still starts out at less than that and you get the full package. For real, there’s a 100W charger included in the box as is, what more could one need?

Lastly, you get a host of good connectivity options with the HONOR Magic7 Pro. You get Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth upgraded to version 5.4, and NFC. Once again, one of the most underrated features in a smartphone returns yet again; the IR Blaster. At this point in time, I’m sure many people will not make use of it but for those who do, it will add a whole other layer of convenience as you can use it to function an air conditioner remote, TV remote, and more.

The Bad

The HONOR Magic7 Pro is a pretty solid flagship but it does have its share of drawbacks. For starters, it feels like HONOR is falling behind in terms of software updates compared to its competitors. It’s not just about how fast you get an update but also that it comes with 4 major Android OS upgrades with 5 years of security updates. It’s not bad but if they want to take the top spot, they would need to come closer to some of its rivals. To the least, I hope to see improvements in terms of speed of updates arriving.

Another thing is on the display, and while the screen itself is wonderful, the pill-shaped cutout still makes it look outdated, especially in 2025. I commend HONOR’s effort in integrating it to its UI but if they removed it or make it smaller, I do believe it will give the developers more flexibility in designing a UI that would be more effective or look more appealing.

HONOR Magic7 Pro Verdict

The HONOR Magic7 Pro isn’t a huge improvement over its predecessor, but considering how high of a bar it set in the first place, it’s not exactly easy to do so unless your focus is purely on performance. If you’re using the Magic6 Pro, it’s best to wait another year to make the upgrade more worthwhile but if we’re talking from the perspective of a 2025 flagship smartphone, this ticks all the boxes and then some. With its retail price of RM4,599, it’s going to be quite hard to beat.

At the end of our HONOR Magic7 Pro review, I award this flagship smartphone with our coveted Gold Pokdeward.

Big thanks to HONOR Malaysia for sending us this smartphone for the purpose of this review.