Honor’s first year as an independent smartphone brand has produced a few devices including the V40 5G, the H50 and the Honor Band 6. More interestingly, however, the brand regained access to Google Mobile Services — a privilege its previous owner Huawei still doesn’t support.
Today, Honor revealed the Magic 3 series of smartphones — its first flagship devices announced since branching off. There’s the base Honor Magic 3, as well as the Honor Magic 3 Pro.
Sprinkle some Magic on a smartphone
While this is a new device, the similarities between these and the Huawei Mate 40 Pro is unequivocal. Up front, the curved edge display is reminiscent of the Mate 40’s. Same goes for the pill-shaped punch hole in the top left-hand corner. Both devices are also IP68 dust- and water-resistant.
It does feature a few upgrades, in the form of a 120Hz, 6.76in Flex OLED display. The more powerful of the duo, the Pro, is equipped with the latest Snapdragon 888+ 5G mobile chipset. This is notable considering Huawei generally opts for its internally developed Kirin technology when it comes to processors.
In addition, connectivity isn’t an issue — both devices feature 5G and WiFi 6 connectivity options. Same goes for battery life — they’ve got 4,600mAh battery cells. That’s… a big battery, but both also support 66W wired charging and 50W wireless changing.
And that halo around back?
The first thing you’d likely notice on this range of devices, is the gigantic robot-eye looking camera array mounted on the back panel. It’s… hard to miss. And there’s a reason for that. We’ve noticed an increase in focus on mobile camera tech under most Chinese smartphone brands in recent years — and they generally turn out brilliant.
This is also where the major difference between the two devices come in. The base Magic 3 smartphone is fitted with four camera sensors — a 50MP wide cam, a 64MP monochrome sensor, a 13MP ultra-wide cam and a laser focus sensor.
On the Magic 3 Pro device, you’ll find five sensors –a 50MP wide cam, a 64MP monochrome sensor, a 13MP ultra-wide, a 64MP telephoto cam and an 8×8 dTOF (direct time of flight) sensor. In addition to the hardware, Honor’s pushing its AI-powered image processing engine developed to make your pictures look better.
Up front, the selfie cam features two lenses — one ultra-wide sensor and one 3D depth sensor.
These devices are clearly aimed at anyone looking to create or consume content on their mobile phones (but really… who isn’t these days?). Additional features announced for the range includes things like IMAX enhanced capability, DTX stereo sound and improved AI video features.
Plus a twist!
What is a smartphone reveal event without a well-placed twist of events? Well, Honor also revealed the Honor Magic 3 Pro+ — a premium device based on the other two, but here you get a few additional, mostly visual, features. Its design also looks oddly familiar.
Its halo camera module on the back panel includes an additional camera sensor (yup, we’re at six in total). The camera config now includes the following (bear with us): a 50MP wide cam, a 64MP monochrome sensor, a 64MP ultra-wide cam, a 64MP telephoto cam, an 8×8 dTOF sensor and a multi-spectrum colour temperature sensor.
Other than that, it’s built with more premium, more durable materials.
Local availability
The Honor Magic 3 and Magic 3 Pro will come to South Africa, and may just find a comfortable space in the market hole left by its previous main brand.
We will update the article as local availability and pricing become available.
