5 reasons you should be jealous you can’t buy an Honor Magic 7 Pro

I had a chance to test the new Magic 7 Pro for a little over a week, and here are the things that make me jealous. I reviewed the Magic 5 Pro in 2023 and was stunned by its camera quality and long battery life. I’m pleased to share that this year’s flagship delivers a similarly positive experience.

5 The Magic 7 Pro is Honor’s most refined flagship yet

The little tweaks here and there add up

As someone who has used multiple Honor flagships and midrangers in the past, the new Magic 7 Pro is the most refined and full flagship I’ve used from the company. Despite its large size, which is now considered normal, it’s comfortable and easy to use. It’s relatively slim and weighs less than other high-end devices, such as the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra or the iPhone 16 Pro Max. It weighs slightly more than the newly released OnePlus 13.

Honor did a great job refining its flagship smartphone. With its 8.8mm aluminum body, it’s not the thinnest device. Still, its delicate sides, with a bit of roundness, make it easier to hold and operate in one hand. The Magic 7 Pro has IP68 and IP69 certifications that match the industry standard, providing ingress protection against dust and water for up to 1.5m for 30 minutes.

4 A stunning OLED display

Aesthetically slim bezels that don’t compromise on usability and typing experience

The Magic 7 Pro’s appearance remains relatively unchanged from previous generations, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The most noticeable change is on the screen, not the thin bezels, but the curvature and roundness.

Honor has taken feedback into account, although it’s not ready to abandon the rounded display curves. The screen is no longer as rounded as it once was, making it user-friendly, aesthetically pleasing, and fully functional. Honor found the sweet spot, making this its best display yet.

While we’re on the topic of the display, you’ll feel right at home if you used other large-screen devices in the past. The 6.8-inch LTPO OLED display is bright and colorful and supports 120Hz variable refresh rates, making it butter smooth for scrolling your favorite social media sites and playing games. The brightness tops out at 5,000 nits, making HDR and Dolby Vision content look stunning and immersive.

3 Flagship, inside and out

Among the first devices to be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset

In terms of performance, the Magic 7 Pro is among the first devices to be released with the top-of-the-line Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. Performance has never been an issue during my use, and the phone ran at a comfortable temperature, even when I played Diablo Immortal on max settings for over an hour.

Multitasking and switching between social media apps was a breeze. Honor included its own unique Honor AI magic features to enhance the experience. Some of these AI features include AI suggestions that recommend apps based on your habits, AI translation, the Magic Text interpreter that lets you one-tap any item on the screen to copy and search, and Magic Portal that mimics Google’s Circle to Search feature using a knuckle motion.

The features work well, but I’ll be the first to admit that, given Honor’s close partnership with Google, I rely on Google’s implementation for these AI features. A simple press on the navigation bar quickly triggered Circle to Search. While AI translation and the interpreter feature could be handy, they only support a handful of the most spoken languages. These AI features appear as limited as those on flagships from Samsung and other manufacturers.

2 Top-tier camera performance

The Magic 7 Pro captured beautiful photos in challenging conditions

The Magic 7 Pro features a triple Falcon Camera setup, consisting of a 50MP f/1.4-f/2.0 wide, a 50MP f/2.0 ultrawide, and a 200MP f/2.6 telephoto with 3x optical zoom and OIS. This is a similar setup to the Magic 6 Pro from last year, except for the telephoto, which received a small upgrade.

In terms of camera performance, the Magic 7 Pro took a few beautiful photos with excellent color production and detail. I captured beautiful images in challenging conditions. I was surprised to see that the colors looked mostly true to life, even if the shade of red (a difficult color to produce and capture) sometimes came out darker than expected.

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While this isn’t a comprehensive review, photos usually come out sharp and have realistic colors. If you want a saturated and vibrant look, an option in settings lets you do just that, alongside an AI detection system and many other features that allow you to capture the look you’re going for.

1 Class-leading charging speeds and battery capacity

The Silicon Carbon Battery is still here, and larger than ever

Honor has used Silicon Carbon Battery technology for several years, and for a good reason. It allows the company to put enormous amounts of battery capacities inside a slim, light form factor, improving charging speeds without sacrificing safety or its robust design.

Thanks to this technology, Honor put a massive 5,270mAh battery inside the Magic 7 Pro. That’s 270mAh larger than the one in the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, yet it’s lighter and only 0.2mm thicker.

While most OEMs still use traditional lithium-ion batteries, Honor and OnePlus are the most notable phone makers to widely embrace the new technology, making their devices last longer without making the phones much thicker and heavier.

One area where Honor crushes the competition is charging. While Samsung, Apple, and Google are stuck in the past, Honor upped the game with a faster charging speed.

The Magic 7 Pro supports 100W wired and a remarkably fast 80W wireless charging. Only the new OnePlus 13 has the same 100W wired charging capability, but it fails to match the Honor’s superior wireless charging speeds as it’s limited to 50W. The difference between these speeds is minimal when it comes to a full top-up. Still, seeing such a fast wireless charging speed is impressive, and I’m all for it.

The Magic 7 Pro is a no-brainer if you’re outside the US

Now, onto the less good part. The Honor Magic 7 Pro is unavailable outside the US, and only some Europeans and some in Asia can get their hands on this device. Given all the things that the Magic 7 Pro does well, it’s a letdown that it remains unavailable in one of the most important phone markets, but it will still likely hold up as one of the best flagship smartphones that consumers can buy.

The Magic 7 Pro will receive five years of OS and security updates, making it a great option for those who want an expensive flagship in the long term. Speaking of expensive, the Magic 7 Pro retails for £1,100 in the UK and €1,300 in Europe. However, Honor usually includes discounts and other goodies. Eligible users can save up to £300 in the UK and receive the MagicPad 2 for free when they pre-order.

When you factor in the extra perks and discounts, the Magic 7 Pro becomes an appealing flagship, one worth considering over the likes of the new OnePlus 13 and, for some, over the Google Pixel 9 Pro.

Honor Magic 7 Pro

The Magic 7 Pro is the latest flagship from Honor’s lineup, featuring noticeable improvements over its predecessor. It has a large, colorful display, a powerful chipset, a competitive camera setup, and an all-day-long battery life with fast wired and wireless charging capability.

$1100 at Honor (UK)