Honor Magic8 Pro hands-on review

Camera hardware and photo samples

The Honor Magic 8 Pro comes with a few tweaks to the camera hardware, compared to last year's Magic 7 Pro.

• Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.6, 23mm, 1/1.3", 1.2µm, multi-directional PDAF, Laser AF, OIS; 4K@120fps.
• Telephoto 3.7x: 200 MP (Samsung ISOCELL HP9), f/2.6, 85mm, 1/1.4", 0.56µm, multi-directional PDAF, OIS, 3.7x optical zoom; 4K@120fps.
• Ultra wide angle: 50 MP, f/2.0, 12mm, 122˚, 1/2.88", 0.61µm, dual pixel PDAF; 4K@60fps
• Front camera: 50 MP, f/2.0, 21mm (wide), 1/2.93", 0.6µm, PDAF, 4K@60fps, ToF sensor.

Don't miss our Pro cameraphone comparison where we pit the Magic8 Pro against the Oppo Find X9 Pro and the vivo X300 Pro.

Photo samples

The primary camera now features a fixed F/1.6 aperture instead of last year's variable f/1.4-2.0, and in the process, the lens has been switched to a slightly wider one at 23mm compared to 24mm before.

Main camera samples (1x)

Main camera samples (2x)

The 200MP telephoto camera is arguably the star of the show. Honor confirmed to us it's using the great 200MP 1/1.4-inch Samsung ISOCELL HP9 sensor, and it also has a longer zoom lens - it's a true 3.7x 85mm lens instead of the 3x 72mm on the Magic7 Pro, which was really 60mm but always used some sensor crop zoom. Early teardowns confirm that by revealing the periscope camera module is physically larger than last year's Magic 7 Pro.

Telephoto camera samples (3.7x)

Telephoto camera samples (10x)

Telephoto camera Extreme zoom: 10X • 16X • 29X • 46X • 73X • 100X

Тhe ultrawide camera appears to be identical to last year's - a 50MP sensor with a 12mm lens. At this focal length, it's wider than most ultrawides out there.

Ultrawide camera

Finally, we have some selfies for you.

Selfies

Video samples

Here's a playlist with a few video samples.

Wrap-up

The Honor Magic8 Pro carries forward its predecessor's DNA but refines certain aspects of the user experience. It's a camera-centric phone with top-shelf specs and a great build, but it hasn't gone all flat and angular and has kept some of its curves.

It’s not all sunshine and roses, though - the EU version does get a reduced battery capacity. The cut isn’t as severe as what we’ve seen from some competitors (looking at you, vivo X300 Pro), but it still feels bad when other manufacturers manage to keep their larger batteries intact. Devices like the Oppo Find X9 Pro and the OnePlus 15 prove that where there’s a will, there’s a way.

The Honor Magic8 Pro won't be launching globally this month, so stay tuned while we give it a thorough assessment before you have to decide if it’s worth your hard-earned cash.

Pricing

These are the best offers from our affiliate partners. We may get a commission from qualifying sales.

512GB 12GB RAM	$ 1,045.00	$ 1,268.00
1TB 16GB RAM	$ 1,090.00	€ 1,410.51
Show all prices