Honor Magic 7 Pro Review: Refined flagship

Honor’s Magic 7 Pro is a refined flagship Android phone which weaves the latest AI features with state-of-the-art hardware. Excel everywhere it matters. You get an incredibly versatile camera, impressive stamina, fast charging, silky smooth performance, and an excellent display. Several subtle but important improvements over its predecessor elevate this smartphone to the next level.

Chinese phone maker Honor has been impressing me with its latest hardware since last year Magic 6 Pro impossibly fast Honor Magic V3. This year, he paid more attention to the software with some welcome cleaning. Its heavy investment in AI is starting to pay off, with features that feel more practical in the Magic 7 Pro than in its predecessors. It’s an expensive flagship at £1,099 ($1,346), and unfortunately it’s not officially sold in the US. But British and European buyers shouldn’t sleep on the Magic.

Subtle refinements

At first glance, the Magic 7 Pro looks similar to the 6 Pro, but I was pleased to find a flatter display and frame, making it much more comfortable to use and less prone to accidental touches than the curved glass. Honor has toned down the camera module, although it’s still large enough to unbalance the phone a bit. While this phone felt great afterwards using the Pixel 9it is manageable to handle. I’m not in love with the marbled effect of my Lunar Shadow Gray review unit, but it’s more interesting than the blue or black alternatives.

The 6.8-inch screen is as good as any I’ve tried. It is bright, smooth and strong. For numbers, it has a resolution of 2,800 x 1,200 pixels, a variable refresh rate up to 120 Hzand 1,600 nits brightness (up to 5,000 nits for highlights). Video is beautiful on the 7 Pro, with Dolby Vision and HDR Vivid support, and the speakers are nice and loud without distortion. Honor has also included several features aimed at reducing fatigue and eye strain, but they are difficult to quantify.

Photography: Simon Hill

The only slight irritation I had was with the large selfie camera cutout, though you’ll get used to it quickly. It’s a trade-off I can accept for the convenience of secure face unlock — a rarity on Android phones, as it also works with banking apps.

There’s plenty of power under the hood with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chip and 12GB of RAM. As you’d expect, the benchmark results are top notch, and this phone can do anything. There’s also a generous 512GB of fast storage, which is more than most phones offer at this price. The Honor Magic 7 Pro has a IP68 and IP69 qualification also, which means that it can be submerged and handle jets of water or steam.

Digging inside, a much higher level of polish is evident throughout. Honor talks about the AI ​​in the Magic 7 Pro, and we go into the specific features, but it permeates the phone. AI has crept into the phone app to reduce background noise and make voices clearer, and there’s a privacy feature designed to prevent sound leaking and jarring listeners.