Honor Magic 7 Pro Review: The Gilded Lily

Worth When Reviewed

Unavailable within the US

Like its predecessor, the brand new Honor Magic 7 Professional arrives initially of the calendar yr, intent on setting the bar by which forthcoming rivals are measured.

It guarantees bombastic {hardware}, with Qualcomm’s newest top-tier Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, superior viewing consolation, a digicam setup punctuated by a brand new 200Mp 3x telephoto sensor, the corporate’s latest battery tech, and upgraded photographic and productivity-centric AI options.

All that stated, 2025 is already hotting up; with the current launch of the OnePlus 13, the upcoming launch of the Samsung Galaxy S25 sequence and Xiaomi ready within the wings to convey its latest flagship Xiaomi 15 lineup to worldwide audiences.

So does the Honor Magic 7 Professional have what it takes to earn a spot as among the best telephones of 2025? Let’s discover out.

Design & Construct

• Refinement of earlier design
• NanoCrystal Defend cowl glass
• IP68 & IP69 rated in opposition to mud and water

For probably the most half, the Honor Magic 7 Professional’s aesthetics are a transparent continuation of these seen on its predecessor.

Most notably, the ‘squircle’ digicam encompass and closely rounded corners of the Honor Magic 6 Professional persist, though issues have been massaged this era, for higher subtlety and higher ergonomics.

I don’t thoughts the decrease screen-to-body ratio, which comes because of decreased rounding alongside the perimeters of the cellphone’s cowl glass. The (marginally thicker) bezels are nonetheless pleasingly skinny, slim and balanced, however you additionally get a flatter display screen that’s simpler to make use of.

Talking of which, Honor claims that the ‘NanoCrystal Defend’ defending the display screen is ready to supply drop safety that’s ten instances higher than typical smartphone cowl glass.

I by no means threw my overview unit on exhausting floor (shock horror), however after a month of use and not using a case there’s no actual signal of damage and tear, even after having been partly buried in snow, laid throughout timbers and stone, and usually knocked round by the inevitable geometry encountered in everyday use.

The 7 Professional additionally ups the ante with its water resistance, with the 6 Professional’s IP68-certified safety now joined by IP69-certification, which accounts for high-pressure water jets at as much as 80°C. This implies the 7 Professional isn’t simply comfy within the moist, however a sizzling and steamy bathe shouldn’t trigger any points both.

Testing the 7 Professional with moist fingers didn’t seem to have an effect on interplay, with swipes, faucets and use of the in-display ultrasonic fingerprint sensor all proving as constant and fast as you may hope for.

The obvious visible distinction between generations is the remodeling of the cellphone’s rear triple digicam array, which for the final two entries within the sequence has sat in a triangular configuration; with the floor across the digicam cut-outs colour-matched to the cellphone’s physique. The Magic 7 Professional opts for a extra typical look.

The three rear sensors and laser autofocus array now sit in a squared structure, with their placement largely hid by the swap again to an all-black digicam encompass.

It makes telling the 7 Professional other than its predecessor simpler, however truly means it’s a extra generic wanting cellphone total, with the likes of the Xiaomi 14 Extremely, Realme 14 Professional and Vivo X200 Professional being just a few situations of current options that even have large black round digicam modules on their backs.

The glass of the digicam module additionally protrudes previous the encompassing steel squircle, that means it’s extra prone to catching on issues, and probably chipping or shattering, in the event you don’t throw safety on the cellphone first. And no, Honor doesn’t embrace a case within the field (nevertheless it does promote one individually for £24.99, within the UK).

it’s way more fascinating than something you’d discover from the likes of Apple’s, Google’s or Samsung’s present finest

With the worldwide mannequin, you’ve acquired three colourways to select from: Lunar Shadow Gray (pictured on this overview), Breeze Blue or black. The impact on the Lunar Shadow Gray is eye-catching for certain, with a end paying homage to the patina on a mirror; reflecting mild in distinction in opposition to itself.

It’s not as audacious as among the Honor finishes from yesteryear (the Honor View 20‘s refractive chevron motif involves thoughts) nevertheless it’s way more fascinating than something you’d discover from the likes of Apple’s, Google’s or Samsung’s present finest.

The Breeze Blue end is completely obtainable when choosing the Magic 7 Professional up direct from Honor’s on-line retailer, however whereas I at all times admire a extra vibrant choice to select from, on this case, I believe it’s the weakest end of the three.

Counterintuitively, the diffuse impact of the again glass on the black mannequin provides it specific attract; extra so than most black telephones that hit the market.

Display screen & Audio system

• 6.8-inch 1280 x 2800 1-120Hz LTPO OLED
• HBM brightness: 1600nits, peak brightness: 5000nits
• Honor Encompass Subwoofer

So far as the audiovisual expertise is worried, the Magic 7 Professional is among the many finest on the market at the moment, with one small caveat.

The Magic sequence has pushed the envelope, when it comes to applied sciences and strategies that assist mitigate eye pressure, over the previous few generations. Key elements of this characteristic set – like 4320Hz PWM (pulse-width modulation) dimming – endure on the 7 Professional, however with this mannequin, they’re joined by a brand new round polarizer too.

Not like a linear polarizer, mild is subtle evenly, irrespective of the viewing angle or cellphone orientation, with the bonus impact of side-stepping the obvious display screen dimming that happens when a display screen off-axis, whereas carrying polarised sun shades.

It’s not probably the most outlandish innovation in its personal proper, however within the context of Honor’s current repertoire of eye consolation tips, it’s yet one more welcome addition.

Honor is so dedicated to providing one of the best, most comfy viewing expertise on the market, that the ‘Pure Mild Honor AI Eye Consolation Show’ (to make use of its full title) even will get its personal sub-section within the cellphone’s settings menu; separate from the final show and brightness controls.

Right here you possibly can toggle extra eye care options, like Circadian Night time Show, which warms color temperature within the evenings, relative to your mattress time.

Extra elementary to any cellphone’s viewing prowess is brightness, and the 7 Professional delivers right here too, with a whopping 5000nit peak brightness; outpacing the likes of the Galaxy S24 Extremely (which peaks at simply 2600 nits) and guaranteeing great-looking HDR content material as well.

Extra importantly, nevertheless, is the panel-wide 1600 nit peak output (matching the current OnePlus 13), which implies nice out of doors visibility, even in vibrant environment. May it go brighter? Certain, however that doesn’t detract from the very fact the Magic 7 Professional’s display screen can throw out mild and color higher than virtually any rival, at current.

Whereas it’d at first appear arbitrary, with a cellphone as extremely priced because the Magic 7 Professional, attributes like decision and pixel density must be scrutinised too; greater than they’d in any other case be on a extra inexpensive gadget.

The cellphone’s 1280 x 2800 (the identical decision as its predecessor) panel undeniably seems to be nice and can show completely sharp for most individuals, however at 453ppi (pixels per inch), it lags behind virtually each one in every of its most like-minded opponents; from the aforementioned Ultras to the likes of the Pixel 9 Professional XL and even the iPhone 16 Professional Max.

It’s nice that each refresh price and backbone can scale within the pursuit of energy effectivity, however the Honor’s decision ceiling is simply that a lot decrease, which stands proud amongst these it’s seeking to surpass.

Its stereo audio system are second to none

Not like the asterisk that hangs over the cellphone’s otherwise-excellent viewing expertise, its stereo audio system are second to none in at the moment’s smartphone area.

Whereas I’d welcome much more bass on future iterations, the 7 Professional outshines robust rivals, like Sony’s newest Xperia 1 VI, with low distortion all through the cellphone’s quantity vary, and a fullness to the sound that different telephones can’t match.

There’s even management for the ‘Honor Sound Subwoofer’ with ‘Premium Bass’ mode activated by default, however the choice to change to ‘3D Encompass Sound’, in addition to a ‘commonplace’ mode too.

As for wi-fi audio, over the cellphone’s Bluetooth 5.4 connection, you once more have the choice of spatial audio, however by default, the cellphone depends on DTS:X Extremely know-how for a extra immersive sound profile.

Specs & Efficiency

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset
• 12GB RAM & 512GB storage
• RAM Growth as much as a further 12GB

Because the torch bearer for Honor’s 2025 cellular efforts, it ought to come as no shock that the Magic 7 Professional packs Qualcomm’s newest top-of-the-line cellular chipset: the Snapdragon 8 Elite.

It’s the silicon we first spent a while with on the OnePlus 13 and can possible characteristic within the majority of the yr’s finest and brightest telephones.

Within the case of the Magic 7 Professional, it’s been put to good use, serving up spectacular benchmarking scores that high something bar the similarly-specced OnePlus, even trouncing Apple’s mighty A18 Professional SoC.

Though Honor hasn’t spoken a lot on the 7 Professional’s thermal administration, real-world testing exhibits that even at maxed settings, the cellphone had no qualms delivering persistently easy high-fidelity gameplay with solely gentle warming after a full hour’s play time of Zenless Zone Zero.

In most conditions, you’re unlikely to problem the 7 Professional’s {hardware}, nevertheless it’s good to know that the efficiency headroom will assure this stays a succesful cellphone within the long-term.

Honor Magic 7 Professional benchmarks

Not like the mannequin in Honor’s native China, or the particular version Magic 7 RSR (Honor’s newest collaboration with Porsche Design), the European variant examined on this overview is available in a single 12GB RAM / 512GB storage configuration.

Regardless that there are rivals with a tad extra reminiscence (to not point out the pricier RSR comes with twice as a lot), the 7 Professional feels effectively future-proofed. And in the event you do have reminiscence considerations, as much as 12GB of the cellphone’s speedy UFS 4.0 storage may be reallocated as extra digital RAM anyway; a long-standing characteristic dubbed ‘RAM Growth’.

Cameras

• 50Mp fundamental, ultrawide and selfie cameras
• 200Mp 3x telephoto digicam
• AI SuperZoom as much as 100x

Though Honor’s moved the digicam senors round on the cellphone’s again, the Magic 7 Professional options the identical 50Mp fundamental, ultrawide and selfie sensor because the 6 Professional.

The headline grabber, from the angle of each Honor’s advertising and marketing and primarily based on real-world testing, is the brand new 200Mp 3x periscopic telephoto sensor; up from a 180Mp 2.5x telephoto on the 6 Professional. It’s the most important of its form in any smartphone and permits for the seize of some nice photographs, particularly because it helps 6x lossless sensor-cropped seize too.

To complement the promise of tremendous long-range taking pictures (as much as 100x), Honor’s additionally added a characteristic known as ‘AI Tremendous Zoom’ to the 7 Professional. It kicks in above 30x magnification and requires an web connection, because it depends on off-device processing of your snaps, however in return, you’ve got the prospect to rescue typically in any other case unusable photographs.

In observe, nevertheless, whereas an fascinating improve, it’s a must to be discerning about what you’re attempting to seize.

Telephoto digicam samples

Man-made topics – issues prone to characteristic numerous straight strains and uniform or common shapes – don’t hold-up effectively after being squeezed by way of AI Tremendous Zoom’s processing, whereas the inherent irregularity of the geometry in pure objects – bushes or forests, snow-capped mountains and so forth. – higher align with the artistic license the 7 Professional takes with photos.

Offered you’re OK with what typically seems to be a painterly look (similar to the processing I noticed utilized to excessive zoom photographs from the Xiaomi 14 Extremely), AI Tremendous Zoom has its makes use of, it’s simply not as dependable or succesful as Honor desires you to suppose it’s. It’s additionally price noting that the moon photographs, whereas spectacular, are synthesised in-camera too.

AI Tremendous Zoom at 50x

One factor the Magic 7 Professional’s Falcon Digicam system is especially good at is freezing movement. The primary 1/1.3-inch 50Mp sensor comes with a variable ƒ/1.4 to ƒ/2.0 aperture. This mechanically opens up or closes down, relying on obtainable mild, so as to maintain noise low and seize as a lot element as doable (you possibly can alter the aperture manually in Professional mode).

HD Go off / on

If you happen to don’t have time or don’t need to fiddle with the professional controls, Motion Mode mechanically kicks on when the 7 Professional detects a transferring topic in-frame, once more serving to freeze movement and cut back the prospect of a blurry shot successfully. It’s a pleasant inclusion, however I discovered it kicked on just a little too readily; normally when the cellphone itself was simply transferring as I raised it to border up a topic, even when the topic itself was stationary.

Constructing on that, HD Tremendous Burst is a brand new approach to make sure high-quality nonetheless seize of transferring topics at 10fps, and it delivered in testing (see above), with crisp outcomes, even in opposition to fast-moving sledders kicking up snow as they handed me by.

Portrait taking pictures is extra versatile than ever, now obtainable throughout 1x, 2x, 3x and 6x zoom ranges, with the Studio Harcourt therapies (Vivid, Color and Traditional) we had been launched to alongside the Honor 200 Professional final yr, current too.

The Magic 7 Professional’s digicam system is brimming with options, like these designed to assist get the clearest shot, whether or not it’s far-off or fast paced, however for all the artistic taking pictures modes on supply, it’s the elemental picture processing that Honor actually must concentrate on with its subsequent flagship.

Even when viewing photographs within the cellphone’s native digicam app, there’s evident color banding when nice swathes of sky. The color science can nail it, however inconsistently, whereas the cellphone’s HDR processing tends to over-expose; both brightening areas of shadow with the impact of flattening out a picture, or inflicting the brightest areas to blow out, quite than stopping down.

Battery Life & Charging

• 5270mAh (Si-C) battery
• 100W wired + 80W wi-fi charging
• No energy adapter in-box

The Magic 7 Professional showcases Honor’s third-generation Si-C (silicon carbon) battery tech, which delivers higher power density, with out including bulk. It’s what’s allowed the 7 Professional to boast a bigger 5850mAh capability (up from 5600mAh on the Magic 6 Professional), while being a lighter cellphone total. If solely this had been true for all markets, although.

When requested, Honor wasn’t particular as to the ‘why’, past insinuating EU regulation might have performed a component within the change. Not like the Honor Magic 7 Professional offered in China and the worldwide mannequin obtainable within the likes of Malaysia, throughout Honor’s retail markets all through the EU and the UK, the cellphone loses its bragging rights, coming as an alternative with a smaller 5270mAh cell.

Even so, the EU mannequin examined for this overview nonetheless put up an awesome struggle, delivering an awesome rating of 12:37 in our PCMark battery benchmarking check and a strong 10.25 hours of screen-on time on a single cost in real-world use.

This interprets to a day and a half of assured use, or two days with extra thought of use. It’s necessary to do not forget that the EU 7 Professional’s capability and battery tech nonetheless surpass what’s obtainable from the most recent Apple, Samsung or Google handsets – it’s no slouch.

Honor features a 6A USB A-to-C cable in-box, however no energy adapter, which is a disgrace as a result of the Magic 7 Professional may be refilled at a blistering tempo (a promised full recharge in 33 minutes) with the precise brick.

It’s simply bittersweet that patrons within the area can be getting a barely lesser model of the cellphone

The Magic 7 Professional helps as much as 100W wired and 80W wi-fi charging (that’s 20W and 14W sooner than the 6 Professional, respectively), you simply want one in every of Honor’s chargers to achieve these speeds. Sadly, I don’t personal a 100W Honor Tremendous Charger, however to my shock, the 66W adapter from my Honor MagicPad 2, did simply pretty much as good a job, refilling the cellphone from flat in 33 minutes, begging the query, what are these excellent 34W even for?

Even with the smaller capability, the battery efficiency of the EU 7 Professional stays aggressive and nonetheless beats down among the newest choices from Honor’s key rivals; it’s simply bittersweet that patrons within the area can be getting a barely lesser model of the cellphone until they import.

Software program & Options

• MagicOS 9.0 atop Android 15
• Eye monitoring
• 5 years OS + 5 years safety replace assist

Honor’s MagicOS is probably not as clear or as elegant a consumer expertise as Google’s Pixel launcher or OnePlus’ OxygenOS, nevertheless it’s full of fascinating options. The newest rendition – MagicOS 9.0, because it seems on the 7 Professional (operating atop the most recent Android 15) – unsurprisingly focuses on including to or increasing AI performance, as is all the fashion, at current.

Earlier than diving into that, nevertheless, newcomers will extra instantly be struck by the numerous similarities to a sure Apple-made cellular OS it bears.

If you happen to’re coming from an iPhone, MagicOS has long-held quite a few iOS-like sensibilities; from the fast settings and notifications accessed by swiping from the highest proper or left nook of the display screen, respectively, and the shortage of an apps drawer by default, to the wallpapers and, extra not too long ago, Honor’s tackle the Dynamic Island.

Just like the iPhone’s stylised cutout, the ‘Magic Capsule’ on the Honor Magic 7 Professional homes the entrance going through digicam, in addition to a 3D ToF (time of flight) depth sensor. This enables for face unlocking with added safety (which works reliably, even in low mild), and provides easy accessibility to persistent notifications, like timers and music playback controls. To this point, so Apple. Honor’s taken issues additional, although.

One of many options teased between the discharge of the Magic 6 Professional and seven Professional was the promise of eye monitoring, and it features surprisingly effectively, virtually straight out of the field on the corporate’s newest.

After a short calibration the place you take a look at just a few specified factors on display screen, throughout a variety of various lighting environments and at various angles, I used to be impressed how the Magic 7 Professional would be capable of observe my gaze, displaying a dot on-screen that adopted wherever I used to be wanting.

Honor hasn’t gone anyplace close to as deep with its AI instruments

It’s spectacular tech, however I can’t assist however really feel like we’re solely seeing the tip of the iceberg. Proper now, if the cellphone notices you gazing a notification that simply popped up for lengthy sufficient, it’ll act as in the event you tapped the notification and open the related app.

The system can be utilized to ensure the interface is oriented appropriately, ensure the display screen doesn’t fall asleep whenever you’re it, or get up whenever you look at it. You’ll be able to even use your eyes to quiet an incoming cellphone name.

True gaze-driven hands-free interplay seems like a methods off, however Honor is about to be the pioneer on this space if it continues.

Magic Portal is MagicOS’ common sharing menu; activated by long-pressing on imagery or textual content, and now by drawing round a component of curiosity on-screen along with your knuckle. AI’s now been infused into the expertise on the 7 Professional to supply extra related and dynamic sharing choices. It’s ubiquity is its power, however the improved relevance of outcomes means I want it had been obtainable on extra units.

The corporate additionally guarantees AI-powered Deep Faux detection later this yr (April 2025), nevertheless, because it’s restricted to video calls and might’t perform throughout the likes of WhatsApp, Instagram or Zoom, I query how impactful it’ll be for customers when it does arrive.

It appears most telephones leaping on the AI bandwagon flip to a set of staple options price shouting about and the Magic 7 Professional isn’t any totally different. AI-powered reformatting, summarisation or minute-generation, in addition to transcription and translation providers (with 13 languages supported at launch)

Utilizing my Mexican good friend’s newest Instagram Tales to try it out, the cellphone’s new native AI Translate app has each a chat and interpreter characteristic. With the latter, I used to be in a position to get most of translated Spanish being spoken, however constancy was on-par with equal applied sciences I’ve examined from the likes of Samsung and Google; it really works, nevertheless it’s clearly not but 100% error-free.

As for picture modifying, I used to be stunned to seek out that Honor hasn’t gone anyplace close to as deep with its AI instruments, or quite instrument.

There’s solely an eraser, so far as inbuilt AI picture modifying instruments are involved. Samsung permits you to generate fully new components inside a picture utilizing solely a rudimentary sketch, Oppo and OnePlus allow you to take away reflections, unblur and upres imagery, in addition to erase components, whereas Google’s newest Pixels welcome full text-to-image modification of your photographs.

Honor’s AI Eraser does not less than supply a comparable consistency and talent to comparable options on rival telephones.

A welcome software program improve additionally comes within the type of the transfer to 5 years of OS updates, in addition to 5 years of safety; one extra yr over the Honor Magic 6 Professional’s providing and a greater worth proposition, in consequence.

Worth & Availability

Regardless of first occurring sale in China in late 2024, the Honor Magic 7 Professional made its debut on the worldwide stage throughout a week-long launch occasion in Bled, Slovenia, on January 15, 2025.

As there’s just one storage variant to think about in most markets, there’s just one value to fret about too. Nonetheless, at £1099.99 / €1299.99, it’s simply as excessive as its predecessor, that means it’s one of the crucial costly typical flagship telephones out available on the market (i.e. not a foldable) at the moment.

It slots in at £100 lower than the bottom iPhone 16 Professional Max, whereas boasting twice the storage, nevertheless, its most up-to-date Snapdragon 8 Elite-powered adversary – the OnePlus 13 – begins at roughly £200 much less, whereas the 512GB variant nonetheless prices £100 lower than the Honor. As such, ensure that it’s the Magic 7 Professional-exclusive options or Honor’s ecosystem cross-compatibility that drive your buy, in any other case your cash could be higher spent elsewhere.

You’ll be able to choose the Honor Magic 7 Professional up within the UK, instantly from Honor’s UK retailer, if you would like the selection of all three colourways talked about earlier, in any other case, the Lunar Shadow Gray and black fashions are on sale from among the nation’s fundamental carriers: O2, Three and Vodafone.

On the time of writing, established third-party retailers, like Amazon, Argos, Very and Currys, will even quickly supply the Magic 7 Professional.

As ever, Honor’s telephones aren’t instantly offered within the US.

Try our listing of one of the best telephones to see one of the best options.

Must you purchase the Honor Magic 7 Professional?

With the Honor Magic 7 Professional, the corporate seems to have targeted on enhancing the elements that made the earlier Magic 6 Professional nice, whereas the road’s drawback areas persist.

The digicam is divisive, in that it’s feature-packed and might take nice photographs, however inconsistency in picture high quality and the liberties options like AI Tremendous Zoom take, received’t attraction to each consumer.

Equally, the cellphone is constructed to final from each a design and {hardware} perspective, with that Snapdragon 8 Elite chip providing loads of future-proofed use, supplied you may get on with MagicOS’ eccentricities.

It in any other case is a well-rounded flagship, wealthy in options, with top-notch efficiency, good battery life, very good quick charging and a succesful digicam system, brimming with options. To not point out, prolonged software program assist makes the cellphone’s excessive asking value that little bit simpler to swallow.

Specs

• MagicOS 9.0 atop Android 15
• 6.8-inch, 19.5:9, 1280 x 2800, 8T LTPO OLED, 1-120Hz
• Ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset
• 12GB RAM (LPDDR5X)
• 512GB storage (UFS 4.0)
• Cameras:
• 50Mp 1/1.3-inch f/1.4 to f/2.0 fundamental sensor w/ OIS
• 50Mp 1/2.88-inch f/2.0 122° ultrawide
• 200Mp 1/1.4-inch f/2.6 3x periscope telephoto
• 50Mp 1/2.93-inch f/2.0 90° selfie digicam + 3D ToF sensor
• Stereo audio system
• Twin-SIM
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6/7
• Bluetooth 5.4
• 5270mAh (EU) | 5850mAH (RoW) Si-C battery
• 100W Honor SuperCharge wired charging
• 80W Honor SuperCharge wi-fi charging
• 162.7 x 77.1 x 8.8mm
• IP68 & IP69 licensed
• 223 grams
• Colors: Lunar Shadow Gray, Breeze Blue, black