This time, I dissected the HONOR Magic6 Pro - a standout in almost every way

This year, however, the picture turned in their favor. When they are the firstč announced the HONOR Magic6 Pro, I knew immediately that we would all have to pay attention to its arrival. Not only have they tightened up all their strategies, I finally got word that they are ready to take Huawei's position and slowly start to climb up against Samsung as well.

HONOR Magic6 Pro price in Slovenia?

• HONOR Magic6 Pro 12/512GB: 1299 €

Only two colors are available: black and green.

HONOR Magic6 Pro – the more i watch it the more i like it

I admit that at the beginning this design, which was called Falcon, did not suit me. The camera frame is huge, which is a result of the larger sensors, just like the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, and easily gets in the way during everyday use, but the phone has grown on me. I used it for 14 days and after a good week I woke up one morning and said to myself that the phone doesn't look bad at all. I've liked it ever since, although I would have liked it even more in the green version. Last year's Magic5 Pro seems much more boring to me now by comparison.

There are no other design elements. In this regard, HONOR was very restrained, or it focused all its efforts on the placement of the cameras. At the front, they stayed true to the curved screen and, like Xiaomi, resist the trend of completely flat screens. Straight or curved, regardless of which group of fans you belong to, in the end the most important thing is that the technology under the glass is at the required level, which is the case here.

What I can highlight is the 3D sensor in the front camera (similar to the Huawei Mate 50 Pro), which significantly improves facial recognition for unlocking the phone. It also works at night without blinding you, because the phone had to compensate with more brightness. While they hit the nail on the head with facial biometrics, they placed the fingerprint reader, which is naturally located under the screen, a little too low. It takes some getting used to, but I would still recommend using the 3D sensor, which is a faster and safer choice. 

The screen has a special NanoCrystal Shield protection, so you won't find Corning here, but I expect that you shouldn't have any problems with scratches and bumps. It's also IP68 rated for water and dust resistance, but I wouldn't recommend taking it into the shower or pool with you. This is especially true after a certain period of use, as the built-in seals lose their effectiveness with use. If you fall into the water, follow the instructions we recently prepared.

The speakers in the stereo setup are also surprisingly good. The volume is excellent by phone standards, there is no noticeable hissing at the highest volume and the bass is also quite solid. They also improved the vibration motor, which was always too intense for me in previous generations. When I had the phone in silent mode and in my pocket, I didn't use the vibration. This year, I am glad that there are no such problems.

Not only is the display fantastic, it's also getting more eye-friendly every year

I remember last year when I was still satisfied when premium phones reached 1500 nits of brightness, which was enough for 90 % usage scenarios. HONOR Magic6 Pro has as much as 5000 nits of the highest brightness and I don't even know what to say about such brightness. Yes, it's not always available, it only turns on when the phone thinks we really need it, for example when we're outside at noon and the strongest summer sun rays are beating down on us. You can even wear the darkest glasses on your head and you will see everything on the screen.

120-Hz refresh rate is standard and no manufacturer in this segment can afford anything less. The image density (453 ppi) could be a little better, but I doubt anyone will actually notice. The maximum resolution is 1280 x 2800, which I think is sufficient for a 6.8-inch screen. You could go higher, like these early Sony phones, but I really don't see the need for it. It would look better on paper, but you'd lose precious % batteries.

I like more that they focused on PWM dimming, which affects whether we will have tired eyes after long use, especially in dark rooms (for example, before going to bed) or not. The problem goes to my ears. The PWM dimming frequency has been improved to as much as 4320 Hz, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has around 400 Hz for comparison. Who will notice this? Not everyone. Since this is imperceptible to the naked eye, those who have noticed that they are sensitive to phone screens will be really grateful for this technology.

The panel is, of course, OLED, and I still have no comments regarding the quality of these panels. It can be seen that the manufacturers still have several years of development behind them and rarely compromise on the screen. They also added LTPO technology, I noticed the lowest frequency of 10 Hz with the screen always on, which is good for the battery, but it doesn't drop all the way to 1 Hz, like for example on the Xiaomi 14 Ultra. Nič criticism, a bit of hair-splitting on my part.

Snapdragon 8 Gen3 is as good as all the others, but with a little less overheating

I always do the tests, but it is clear to everyone that there can be no concrete outliers with the same čip, a maximum of 5 %. I pay more attention to overheating or performance consistency, how long is the phone able to maintain maximum performance. For example, with the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, I did not notice any noticeable drops, but I noticed quite high temperatures, too high for phone standards.

There were also no drops with the HONOR Magic6 Pro, the performance curve was always symmetrical, and there was no alarming overheating either. Of course, the phone is pleasantly warm to the touch at 45⁰C, but you will not burn yourself. But not everyone can reach this temperature. If you play Genshin Impact at the highest resolution, the temperature will be at least 5 degrees lower, even when playing the Switch game Persona 5 I did not record higher than 37 degrees Celsius. Let me know if it's overheating, because I'll be genuinely interested in what you've been up to.

The battery is another interesting area. Although they have increased the capacity to 5600 mAh, the phone is still of moderate dimensions. Greater capacity and a more efficient chip are known for their autonomy, which is also very good for the premium class. After the end of the day, when I really played with it and got to know it in the last weeks, I also had somewhere between 40-50 % left, which included playing demanding games (up to 45 min), surfing the web, reading comics, Youtube , Facebook and everything else we do on our phones every day.

I am satisfied with the battery even if I have a good 30 % left at the end of the day, especially if fast charging is available. With Honor's čarobic six, I can always be reassured that the battery will last for the whole day and even for the next weekday. Charging is also extremely fast: 80 W via cable, 66 W wireless and also 5 W vice versa for charging smaller devices. My only complaint is that the charger is not included with the purchase. It's a shame that HONOR decided on this "sustainable" strategy, because the phone really ticks all the boxes for me in terms of performance.

Despite some improvements, the Magic OS 8.0 operating system is still "basic" and boring. It's really nothingč such that he could say that it was "happening" to him. It's still a copy of Huawei's system, but the encouraging news is that artificial intelligence features are on the way, which should spice up the system. We can still use some of them, such as OCR technology to recognize text from photos, similar to what we can do with Google Lens, except that we can do it in the Gallery. Artificial intelligence is also present in calls, where it helps reduce sound leakage into the environment. A function is being prepared where, for example, you could use your eyes to say a message or make a video from images and text prompts, all with the help of a local language model, i.e. without an Internet connection. It sounds interesting, especially the creation of recordings, where I am most interested to see if the local language model will be able to create something more from just basic shots. 

HONOR has committed to 4 Android upgrades and 5 years of security patches. Great, Samsung (and Google) does offer longer support, but it's the second best available on Android phones. The question is also how many of you plan to keep your phone longer than 4 years or continue to use it as a second phone after that. I would say very little, although even after all these years the phone will still be good enough to give to another family member.

HONOR Magic6 Pro – master of photography

The main sensor is always the primary tool of any phone, but with the Magic6 Pro I was more interested in how the 180 MP telephoto camera performed. You don't see that number every day, especially not with a telephoto camera. I was really worried about whether the pictures would actually be better. To sum up my experience with the 200MP main camera sensors I've tested so far, the answer would be "it depends".

And so it is with the HONOR Magic6 Pro. The telephoto delivers exceptional photos, even though it only has a 2.5x optical zoom. I would like to see this improved in the future. Although the optics stop there and digital magnification takes over, the images are still very good up to 5-7x. Sometimes I would use only optics, because otherwise the loss of sharpness and detail is immediately noticeable. When it comes to increases, Samsung still has the advantage, and HONOR shows signs of getting closer. But I also used the telephoto for macro, where it performed well, better than the dedicated macro photography function, which also happened to me with the Xiaomi 14 Ultra.

The main 50 MP sensor is very good. It is not 1-inch, as we can still find in the majority of phones, but even with a smaller size, it delivers exceptional photos and recordings. Stabilization (OIS) is also perfectly aimed, it also has a variable aperture (f/1.4-2.0), but I would like a slightly larger range. At times, the system does not know exactly how much to open/close the aperture, this may require some more calibration.

When it gets dark, the main camera remains superb. The quality of the sensor is immediately apparent in the detail it delivers. Light sources don't cause it any problems, and professionals will have enough data to play around in Lightroom even more. It doesn't have 8K recording, which will only bother extremists, but it does have 10-bit video, if that's important to you.

The front camera (50 MP) is also at a very high level, at night the quality is expected to drop, but the camera is still usable.

HONOR Magic6 Pro will enrich this year's lists of the best

I think I've said it all. They have prepared an excellent phone, I can easily place it next to Samsung's and Xiaomi's Ultra, which will be the strongest competitors in Slovenia. But HONOR has one more advantage – the price is about €200 lower, which could be an important factor for the consumer. At least for me, I can say that this is quite an important factor.

In short, HONOR Magic6 Pro is undoubtedly the top 3 phone of this year. Which is not a guarantee of success. We must take into account that in Slovenia the largest phones are sold through operators and various subscription campaigns. Brand popularity plays a huge role in this. HONOR is not a newcomer, many people remember it from the days when Huawei ruled in telephony. But the question is whether since then they have built enough on their brand to become ingrained in the minds of Slovenian consumers. Their product is excellent, now it is only necessary to wait whether customers will recognize this and buy HONOR instead of Xiaomi and Samsung.