Two flagship launches in one year – why not, given the pace of technological improvements. Honor unveiled the Magic6 series in January and today it brings the sequel with a new chipset, even bigger batteries, faster charging, sturdier casings and more.
Both the Honor Magic7 and Magic7 Pro are powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite and they leverage NPU computing power for a variety of AI tasks, ranging from a digital assistant to camera processing improvements.
Both Magic7 phones are powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite
The major upgrade of the Honor Magic7 Pro is the 200MP telephoto camera, replacing the already impressive 180MP shooter on the Magic6 Pro. The new sensor is quite large – 1/1.4” is ‘main camera’ material for certain other flagships – and sits behind a 60mm lens. This gives a comfortable 2.5x zoom on the short side, which you can expand all the way to 100x with digital zoom.
The Magic7 Pro has an impressive 200 MP 1/1.4” sensor in its telephoto camera
The main camera remains the same with a 50 MP 1/1.3” sensor and a variable aperture (f/1.4-f/2.0), plus OIS. The ultra-wide-angle camera is also essentially the same, with a 50 MP sensor and a 12mm f/2.0 lens (122°), which can focus just a few centimeters away to take macro photos.
The front camera has another 50MP sensor and a wide 90° lens (f/2.0). The pill-shaped cutout holds it and the 3D facial scanner for secure biometric unlocking. Unlike camera-based approaches, this one works in the dark because it has its own IR illumination. To be fair, the ultrasonic fingerprint reader also works in the dark.
6.8” LTPO display with a 3D facial scanner
The reader is built into the 6.8-inch LTPO OLED screen (1-120 Hz) with a resolution of 1,280 x 2,800 px and 10-bit color (Dolby Vision). Global peak brightness is 1,600 nits, but HDR content can go up to 5,000 nits. All that light is kept in with high-frequency PWM dimming (4,320 Hz). Note that the display is not flat, but “micro quad curved”.
The battery in the Pro has grown to 5,850mAh (250mAh more than the Magic6 Pro), the bigger improvement here is faster charging – 100W wired and 80W wireless, compared to 80W/66W for the older phone.
The Honor Magic7 also has an LTPO OLED display (1-120Hz), this time a flat 6.78-inch panel (1,264 x 2,800px). This model also switches to an ultrasonic fingerprint reader (the Magic6 and Pro from January used optical readers). There’s no 3D face scanner here, so you only have the fingerprint reader (and a smaller hole in your screen).
Predictably, the vanilla phone loses the great telephoto module, but the rest is basically the same. The telephoto here is a 50 MP 68mm module with OIS (3x optical, up to 50x digital zoom). It is accompanied by a 50 MP main sensor (1/1.3” sensor, fixed f/1.9 aperture) and 50 MP ultra-wide angle (122 ° with macro mode). The selfie camera has a 50MP sensor and a 90° lens.
Honor Magic7 camera
The Magic7 has a third-generation Honor Qinghai Lake battery – the same branding as on the Pro, but we see no mention of Silicon-Carbon. It doesn’t matter though, capacity is what counts and the new vanilla phone has a 5,650mAh battery (200mAh more than its predecessor) and supports the same fast charging as the Pro with 100W wired and 80W wireless (up from 66W/ 55W).
Honor Magic7 batteries have more capacity and charge faster
It’s also worth noting that the Magic6 didn’t have dust or water resistance, the Magic6 Pro had IP68. But the Magic7 and Magic7 Pro are stronger than both, with not only IP68, but also IP69 (resistance to hot water jets).
Both phones have an IP68/IP69 rating
It’s great to see that the ‘vanilla’ model is comparable to the Pro in so many things: chipset, most cameras, battery technology, waterproofing. This includes satellite connectivity, but as it is based on the Beidou system it will most likely only be available in China.
Honor Magic7 and Magic7 Pro awards in China
The two Magic7 models go up for pre-order today and Honor will start selling them on November 8 (next Friday). The vanilla Honor Magic7 starts at CNY 4,500 for the base 12/256 GB model (this works out to $630/€585/₹53,000. There are several upgrade options: 12/512 GB for CNY 4,800, 16/512 GB for CNY 5,000 and 16 GB/1 TB for CNY 5,500.
Honor Magic7 color options
The Honor Magic7 Pro starts at CNY5,700 for a 12/256GB model ($800/€740/₹67,250). There are also some higher tiers available: 16/512 GB for CNY 6,200 and 16 GB/1TB for CNY 6,700.
Honor Magic7 Pro color options