Honor goes full flagship with the Magic 5 Pro, but is it enough to tempt buyers away from big-name brands?
Once the budget wing of Huawei, Honor is now its own, independent beast. And that independence has freed it to move up from the cut-price mid-range market and into selling its own full-on flagships.
This year has already seen the company release the Magic Vs, a rare global challenger to Samsung’s foldable dominance, but the Magic 5 Pro is a little more traditional: a big slab of glass with some very powerful cameras on the back.
But just how powerful are they – and is there enough on offer here to tempt buyers away from the likes of Samsung, Google, and Apple?Design & build
Large but surprisingly slender
IP68 water-resistance
Striking circular camera module
The Magic 5 Pro fits comfortably enough into modern flagship phone design trends: a huge slab of curved glass and metal with an outlandishly large, round camera module on the back.
The 6.81in screen is most of why the phone is so large, and at 219g it’s pretty heavy too. In fairness to Honor it’s only 8.8mm thick though, making it more slender than the other large slabs out there, and a little more comfortable to hold as a result.
The cameras are the most striking element – on both sides. On the front, Honor remains the rare company to include a depth sensor alongside the selfie camera, creating an iPhone-esque pill-shaped cut-out, though here it’s tucked into the corner rather than front and centre.
Then on the back you’ll find an enormous circular camera dominated by its three lenses, which the main body slightly slopes up to join. This is especially striking on the green model, where the black lenses jump out from the body in a distinctive triangle. It’s not subtle, but it’s clearly not trying to be – this is a phone that wants some attention.
I’ve been reviewing the Meadow Green model, which comes with a slight sparkle to its matt glass finish, though there’s also a glossier black model available. Blue, purple, and orange finishes have launched in China too, but are unlikely to be widely available elsewhere.
One downside is that Honor hasn’t made any claims about using Gorilla Glass or other toughened alternatives to protect the phone from damage – though a pre-applied screen protector will help save the display. The phone is IP68-rated however, so should be safe from dust and water. Screen & speakers
6.81in quad-curved 1-120Hz OLED
Emphasis on eye comfort
Slightly tinny stereo speakers
If you go by Honor’s marketing, the Magic 5 Pro has two key strengths, and the screen is one of them.
You can see where the company is coming from, as it really has thrown everything but the kitchen sink in here.
The large 6.81 panel is an OLED (of course) using the latest LTPO technology to scale refresh rate from 1-120Hz on the fly, delivering silky smoothness and optimised battery life.
The screen is curved on each of the four edges for a symmetrical look and comfortable feel. It packs a high resolution of 1312×2848, and a dedicated display chipset to help drive its impressive colour accuracy and HDR10+ support.
That’s not all though. Honor has also leant hard on eye health features, promising that this screen is one of the best around for comfortable long-term use. Dynamic dimming tech, a circadian-friendly certification, and reduced screen flicker all supposedly combine to look after your vision – and sleep cycle.
In a week with the phone, I can’t say I’ve noticed any particular difference, so I’ll have to take Honor’s word for it that my eyes will thank me. I can at least confirm that the panel looks great: it’s bright, colourful, and crisp, with deep contrast and irrepressible smoothness.
Is this the best screen in any phone right now? I don’t know. But it should definitely be in the conversation.
Sadly I can’t quite say the same for the speakers. The stereo set-up here isn’t bad, but it’s far from a stand-out feature, and tinny by flagship phone standards. It’ll do the job in a pinch, especially just for watching a bit of YouTube or Netflix in bed, but don’t expect to be wowed. Specs & performance
Latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip
Lags a little behind other flagships in benchmarks
Loads of RAM and storage
The Magic 5 Pro is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, the fastest chipset around right now for Android phones. Honor pairs it with a generous 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage in the only version of the phone launching internationally.
Unsurprisingly then, the phone is fast. It can handle plenty of multi-tasking, demanding games, and most things you throw at it.
