Roughly a month ago, Honor released its newest flagship offering in the Philippines, the HONOR Magic7 Pro.
On the surface, it builds on the best features its predecessor had to offer, including a top-tier Snapdragon chip, a high-performing set of cameras, and a large battery unit, now exceeding the 5800mAh mark, complemented by faster wired and wireless charging speeds.
As the new flagship on the block, does the HONOR Magic7 Pro have what it takes to be your next daily driver?
You’re about to find out in this full review.
Design and Construction
Looking at its design, we don’t see any drastic change here. The HONOR Magic7 Pro keeps the same overall look as last year’s Magic6 Pro, with just a few minor tweaks.
The first of these changes is the camera module. While it’s still using the exact same shape, you’d notice that the camera layout is now more symmetrical. At first glance, it may appear to have four lenses, but don’t be fooled, there are actually only three cameras.
It’s highly likely that the fourth circle (which is positioned first) either houses a laser autofocus sensor or a color spectrum sensor or both. Plus, there’s also a flicker sensor somewhere in this module.
Another minor design change is the orientation of the “HONOR” logo, which has been rotated to landscape orientation. Kudos to Honor for keeping it clean, free of unnecessary texts or symbols.
Our unit is in the Black colorway, and I dig the phone’s sleek, minimalist look. As for the rest of the phone’s build, the Magic7 Pro still has a matte back, a flat metal frame with a glossy finish, and curved edges.
This is a bit of a nitpick, but I would have preferred a matte metal frame over the glossy one. I find it particularly sticky to the touch, and it’s quite a fingerprint magnet as well.
But that’s just a preference, the phone still feels and looks premium overall.
On the plus side, I do appreciate the phone’s curved edges. Both the back panel and the display have nice curves, from corner to corner. This makes it a bit more comfortable to hold despite the phone’s hefty weight and thickness of 223 grams and 8.8 mm, respectively.
Just a heads-up though, the phone doesn’t appear to have a scratch-resistant back panel. It’s a good idea to use a protective case, so it won’t pick up any scratches.
When it comes to added protection, the phone is rated IP68 and IP69 for dust and water resistance. The phone also sports what Honor calls the NanoCrystal Shield glass on for a drop-resistant display. Not to mention, it comes with a pre-installed screen protector out of the box for that extra peace of mind.
For ports, we’re seeing the same layout here as expected. The power button with a red accenting alongside the volume rocker are found on the right; there are the loudspeaker, IR blaster, and a mic up top; and at the bottom, you’ll see the second speaker grill and mic, along with the USB-C and dual SIM tray.
Display, Multimedia, and Biometrics
Now, let’s take a closer look at the phone’s display.
On paper, the HONOR Magic7 Pro’s display looks like a carryover from last year. It still sports the same 6.8-inch Full HD+ OLED display that runs at a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, and peaks at a whopping 5000 nits of HDR brightness.
Notably, it uses an LTPO panel (as it should), allowing it to save on some power by automatically adjusting the refresh rate from as high as 120Hz to as low as 1Hz.
As mentioned earlier, the phone has nice curves on both sides, and the front specifically features a micro-quad curved display. While I’m a big fan of flat displays, the Magic7 Pro’s curved display sure looks stunning in person and provides a more comfortable grip.
I like that the curvature isn’t as pronounced, hence the “micro-quad curved” terminology, so the sides don’t reflect any pesky glares that would otherwise be distracting. The bezels are already quite thin, but the curved edges only make them appear even slimmer than they actually are.
And notice the pill-shaped notch? Well, aside from the selfie shooter, this notch also houses a 3D depth sensor for a more secure face unlock. Plus, it’s designed that way because, you guessed it, for some sort of a ‘Dynamic Island’ copy, which we’ll get into a bit later.
Now, as for visual experience, the Magic7 Pro does not disappoint. The details are sharp, colors are vibrant, and the contrast is superb, delivering deep, true blacks.
The audio experience is equally impressive as well, and not gonna lie, it has one of the best audio setups I’ve ever reviewed this year so far. Its dual stereo speakers provide a rich, immersive sound stage with a nice balance across the highs and mids. And the bass? It’s insanely deep, and packs a real punch.
I must say, I definitely enjoyed listening to music and watching content from the Magic7 Pro.
As for biometrics security, the phone features an ultrasonic under-display fingerprint sensor paired with 3D face unlock. Both unlocking methods are quick and snappy, and I would recommend using both, as they are equally secure.
Camera
Moving over to its cameras, just like in the display department, we see a similar setup here, but with some notable improvements.
The HONOR Magic7 Pro sports three cameras at the rear highlighted by a 200-megapixel periscope telephoto unit alongside the 50-megapixel main with variable aperture, and a 50-megapixel ultrawide lens. Up front, there’s the 50-megapixel selfie shooter.
Those specs are almost the same setup last year, except there’s the added megapixels on the telephoto, and the main camera now uses a Sony IMX816 sensor.
Image quality across all lenses is superb, offering vibrant and detailed shots in well-lit environments. Dynamic range is great, handling harsh lighting with ease, and the colors are natural and accurate with a good balance of contrast and saturation.
Telephoto shots also benefit from the impressive color and dynamic range. While ultrawide shots are consistent with good color reproduction, detail, and dynamic range as well.
Photos taken at night and low-light scenarios are also quite nice. The detail can go a bit soft in some scenarios, but it’s definitely performing better than most phones out there.
As for video, the Magic7 Pro captures up to 4K resolution at 60 fps on both the front and rear cameras. As you would expect from a flagship device, the video capture is great as well, offering the same level of quality across the board.
While videos taken from the main camera has good detail, it goes a tad bit softer when using the telephoto and ultrawide cameras.
Focusing on different subjects is fast, the stabilization is turned-on by default allowing for smooth panning onto subjects, and you’d barely see any shake even from walking.
Performance and Benchmarks
Performance-wise, the HONOR Magic7 Pro packs the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset from Qualcomm. Our unit is configured with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage.
With those specs, one could only expect a flagship-level performance—and that holds true for this device.
In our benchmark tests, the Magic7 Pro achieved great results on all fronts. Its ANTUTU score surpassed over 2.3 million points which is pretty much the usual score for Snapdragon 8 Elite-powered devices.
The phone maxed out our 3DMark test as well, and it also did well other tests such as Geekbench CPU and GPU tests, garnering very impressive scores with its Vulkan score nearing 24,000 points.
| Benchmark | HONOR Magic7 Pro |
| Chipset | Snapdragon 8 Elite |
| AnTuTu V10 | 2,340,630 |
| AnTuTu Storage | 211,850 |
| S.Read Speed | 3964.7 MB/s |
| S.Write Speed | 3694.0 MB/s |
| 3DMark Wild Life | MAXED OUT |
| 3DMark Wild Life Extreme | 5,659 | Avg. FPS: 33.89 |
| Geekbench 6 CPU Single-Core | 3,031 |
| Geekbench 6 CPU Multi-Core | 9,061 |
| Geekbench 6 GPU OpenCL | 17,676 |
| Geekbench 6 GPU Vulkan | 23,997 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 performance | 20,504 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 battery life | 13 hrs & 55 mins |
Those figures aren’t just for show, but these definitely translate to real-world performance.
During my time with the Magic7 Pro, all of the games I threw at it ran smoothly. Low-demanding MOBA titles like Pokémon Unite and Mobile Legends ran flawlessly, and graphic-intensive titles maintained stable high frame rates at Medium to High graphics.
In Zenless Zone Zero, I was able to max out the graphics to custom High settings with no sweat. As for Wuthering Waves, while it is playable at Maxed out graphics settings, I had to dial it down to Medium as the phone heats up like crazy.
But that’s to be expected for such a graphic demanding game. Plus, reducing the graphics to Medium results in longer battery life, so it’s a trade-off I’m happy to make.
OS, UI, and Apps
On the software front, the Magic7 Pro runs the latest Android 15 skinned with MagicOS 9.0 on top.
With this new iteration of Honor’s OS, I’m glad to see some visual improvements. The interface is cleaner than ever, the animations are slick, and the overall feel is a lot better than previous versions.
You’d also see some obvious inspirations here and there, most especially with the iOS-like control center and the addition of the so-called ‘Magic Capsule’. This is Honor’s own take on Apple’s Dynamic Island, and it looks fluid enough for my liking.
However, unlike most brands that have a Dynamic Island copy, the one on the Magic7 Pro feels a little too limited. For now, it only supports dynamic notifications for voice recording, media playback, timer, and beauty filter for calls (presumably video calls), but I’d rather turn that off.
Hopefully, they would add new Magic Capsule features in future software update. Google will roll out Material 3 Expressive for Android 16 which includes ‘Live Updates’ for apps like Grab, Foodpanda to track delivery or ride progress.
Not only Honor could make use of that but also other phone makers too.
One thing that didn’t sit right with me was the presence of bloatware… on a flagship device(?!) As you can see in the screenshots, the phone has this “Top Apps” folder and a couple of more unnecessary apps on the launcher screen.
For a flagship phone, that’s a bit of a turn off, but I digress.
Of course, the phone comes with several AI tools including AI Edit on the Gallery app. There’s also a dedicated HONOR AI tab in the Settings for an overview of the phone’s AI-powered tools.
As for update policy, I’m happy to report that the Magic7 Pro gets up to seven years of major software updates plus security patches, or so Honor promised at least. That said, you can expect the phone to operate smoothly in the long run.
Connectivity and Battery Life
In terms of battery life, the HONOR Magic7 Pro doesn’t slouch either. The phone packs a large 5850mAh silicon-carbon battery combined with 100W of wired- and 80W of wireless charging.
These are definitely welcome upgrades as compared to the Magic6 Pro’s 5,600mAh unit with 80W wired and 66W wireless charging.
However, our synthetic benchmark result doesn’t seem to do it justice. Based on our PCMark battery life test, the Magic7 Pro lasted just 13 hours and 55 minutes.
While that’s usually a solid runtime, actual usage usually lasted me over a day of heavy use.
That usage even includes doing my dailies on ZZZ and Wuthering Waves, but again, it still depends on the user’s end. Regardless, downtime would be minimal as the phone charges to full in just about 30 minutes using the supplied charger and cable.
Sadly, still no bypass charging here.
Connectivity-wise, the phone offers all the essentials, including 5G, Wi-Fi 7, NFC, and an IR blaster. It supports dual nano-SIM cards, both with physical slots, and also provides the option to add an eSIM in place of the second slot for added flexibility.
Pricing and Verdict
So, after spending a considerable amount of time with the HONOR Magic7 Pro, the question remains: is the HONOR Magic7 Pro cut out to be your next daily driver?
Priced at PHP 59,999, the Magic 7 Pro is on the hefty side, but you’re getting a powerhouse of a phone with the latest Snapdragon silicon, a superb audio-visual experience, and a versatile camera system that absolutely delivers.
Plus, the software pledge of seven years seals the deal, at least for me. So, if you’re someone looking for a flagship device that offers solid performance along with excellent multimedia experience and highly capable cameras, the HONOR Magic7 Pro is definitely one to consider.
- Solid audio-visual experience with punchy bass
- Flagship-level camera experience
- Seven years of software support
What we didn’t like:
- Presence of bloatware
- Limited capabilities of Magic Capsule
- Smudge-magnet glossy frame
HONOR Magic7 Pro specs:
6.8-inch FHD+ LTPO OLED
1280 x 2800 pixels, 120Hz refresh rate
5000 nits (HDR) peak brightness
HONOR NanoCrystal Shield
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite
3nm, octa-core, up to 4.32GHz
12GB RAM
512GB storage
Triple rear cameras:
– 50MP f/1.4-f/2.0 main, OIS
– 50MP f/2.0 ultrawide
– 200MP f/2.6 periscope telephoto
+ Color spectrum sensor, laser autofocus, flicker sensor
50MP f/2.0 front camera + 3D depth sensor
Dual nano-SIM (supports eSIM)
5G, 4G LTE
Wi-Fi 7
Bluetooth 5.4
GPS, AGPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo
USB Type-C (USB 3.2 Gen1)
NFC
Under-display fingerprint sensor (ultrasonic), face unlock
IP68/ IP69 dust and water resistance
Dual stereo speakers, IR blaster
MagicOS 9.0, Android 15
7 years of software updates, security patches
5850mAh battery (3rd gen Silicon-carbon unit)
100W charging (wired)
80W wireless
162.7 x 77.1 x 8.8 mm
~223g
Grey, Black (colorways)
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