HONOR has launched the latest smartphones in its flagship handset series, the Magic3, Magic3 Pro and Magic3 Pro+.

The announcement comes three years after its previous Magic2 range was unveiled, but with one key difference: the Honor Magic3 Series is actually available in the UK.

Find out what’s new in each of the latest Magic3 smartphones and see which one would be best for you.

Display and design

The Magic3 range sports a 6.76-inch screen that curves around the edges of the phone.

It has a very smooth, very high-detail display for quick scrolling, immersive gaming and vivid video. At 120Hz, the refresh rate is double the current one on the latest iPhones, so you’re likely to see hardly any blur with fast-moving objects on the screen.

And its HDR10+ screen is the gold standard for colour range, which means it can reach amazing levels of brightness and darkness, and bring stunning scenes to life.

Elsewhere, the Magic Series has finally caught up with other flagship smartphones to become IP68 waterproof. So it can last 1.5m underwater for up to half an hour without breaking.

The standard Magic3 and Magic3 Pro come in Golden Hour, White or Black finishes, with the Magic3 offering an exclusive Blue Hour vegan leather body too. The Magic3 Pro+ comes in a separate ceramic finish, which is available in either Black or White.

The Pro+’s screen is made of a very durable Nano Crystal ceramic glass, which is a lot harder to crack or smash than most smartphone displays.

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Cameras

The camera lenses on the back of the Magic3 range are arranged in a circle, which is very rare for a smartphone. It quite closely resembles a film camera lens, and for good reason: great picture quality and cinematic video is a key feature of the entire series.

The standard Magic3 boasts a three-camera system on the back with advanced ‘laser focus’. This includes:

  • 50MP main camera
  • 64MP monochrome camera
  • 13MP ultrawide camera

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The Magic3 Pro has a slightly improved four camera system, featuring the same three lenses and an additional 64MP telephoto camera. The main benefits are much more image detail and a great camera zoom. With this array, the Magic3 Pro has a 3.5x optical, 10x hybrid and then 100x digital zoom.

The Magic3 Pro+ goes one step further. It has a similar four-camera system to the Pro, but a much larger sensor is built into the array. This means it’s capable of capturing even better image quality than the Pro. You’ll notice this with the Pro+’s Night Mode and with its additional colour and temperature sensor.

honor camera focus

The Pro and Pro+ also have what is called ‘8×8 dTOF laser focusing’, which delivers quick and effective camera focus. This stands for ‘direct time of flight’, and one at this level means you can capture fast-moving objects, like a horse rider or a surfer, with the surrounding detail remaining crisp and sharp.

The selfie camera is the same across all three devices. There’s one ultrawide camera and one 3D depth camera, which along with HONOR’s AI photography, promises to equally focus on everyone in the group selfie.

Underwater photography is now possible with the entire Magic3 range too, thanks to its IP68 rating. And according to HONOR’s example photos, the results seem very impressive.

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IMAX Enhanced on the Honor Magic3 Series

HONOR has worked with global camera technology firm IMAX to give the Magic3 incredible video and audio capabilities.

Famed for its very large, high-tech cinema experience, IMAX also helps to develop premium technology for TVs and projectors. It has now lent its expertise to the HONOR Magic3 Series’ screen, speakers and camera. This is called ‘IMAX Enhanced’.

It has given the Magic3 the ability to display immensely detailed and colourful 4K HDR video and provide deep, immersive DTS audio. This makes it easier than ever to create and watch cinematic mobile content.

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Android OS on the HONOR Magic3 Series

The Magic3 Series is the first HONOR smartphone range to actually be usable in the UK since last year’s Huawei ban.

When the UK banned Huawei’s smartphone operating system in 2020, HONOR was also affected. The company was owned by Huawei, so it had to use its operating system instead of Google’s familiar Android OS.

However, since this announcement, HONOR was sold by Huawei and became a completely separate entity. This removed its ties to the phone manufacturer and allowed HONOR to put the Android OS into its phones instead.

honor magic3 pro+

Performance

The hardware and performance stats of the Magic3 Series largely remain the same with each handset.

Each version is powered by a Snapdragon 888+ processor, which is the latest and most advanced chip from manufacturer Qualcomm. Not only will this reduce crashes and freezes, but it’ll let you have many more apps open at the same time. HONOR said that this chip can keep 19 apps open and running at once, versus the industry average for Android of 12.

The battery is a whopping 4600mAh, which should last you the whole day without any issues.

But even if you do run through this huge battery, charging on the HONOR Magic3 Series is very fast. Each handset supports 66W wired charging and 55W wireless charging, either of which would theoretically fully charge the phone in less than an hour.

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Privacy

HONOR unveiled three new privacy features for its Magic3 Series, to ease concerns over who can see your personal information:

  • Maintenance Mode: Switch this feature on when a phone repairer is fixing your phone to lock all of your sensitive information.
  • Photo Info Remove: When sharing photos online, all of its information (geo-tagging and other details) will be removed so they can’t be accessed from elsewhere.
  • Message Smart Hidden: When you’re sharing your screen with others over the internet, this feature will ensure any private message notifications are hidden.

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HONOR Magic3 Series prices

The handset prices are yet to be announced in Pound Sterling, but HONOR used Euros in today’s announcement:

  • HONOR Magic3 | 8GB+256GB | €899
  • HONOR Magic3 Pro | 8GB+256GB | €1099
  • HONOR Magic3 Pro+ | 12+512GB | €1499

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By Harmony