Honor Magic 7 Pro Review: A Good Phone in a Sea of Great Ones

Feb 07, 2025

Ted Kritsonis

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The Honor Magic 7 Pro has the potential to revolutionize mobile photography, but its image sensors and software computation may be holding it back.

Honor still stands out among its Chinese competitors because it doesn’t co-engineer its mobile camera system with an established European brand like the others. Notwithstanding its collaboration with Studio Harcourt in Paris for portraits, the go-it-alone approach arguably gives Honor something like an upstart status.

Even so, this is every bit a flagship phone and must be judged that way. It won’t be readily available in North America unless you import it, though it may be worth considering if the sum of the parts looks good. The camera is the tip of the marketing spear for the Magic 7 Pro, making results matter even more.

Design and Build

Clearly, the word is out that circular camera modules are in vogue for any flagship coming out of China. Every one I’ve tested in 2025 thus far is built with that same design principle. Honor manages to make the bump relatively shallow, and the overall size is comparable to the OnePlus 13 and smaller than the Vivo X200 Pro. It’s also highly likely to be smaller than Xiaomi’s next flagship. It’s no less thinner than its predecessor, and apart from being a tad wider, it’s basically the same dimensions and weight as a device that looks totally different on the back.

A smartphone with a metallic finish and a large round camera module on the back, labeled with "Honor" and "Matrix Camera." The device is set against a dark background with orange lighting highlighting its edges.

The module looks better this time, and while I really liked the faux leather on the Magic 6 Pro, Honor uses its own NanoCrystal Shield glass this time. It’s nice, and I could go either way, so would’ve been fine with a similar leather material again had Honor gone that route.

I certainly appreciate the company following trends by flattening the 6.8-inch (2,800 x 1,280) OLED screen, which is otherwise the exact same panel as the previous model. Honor sticks to a Vivid setting for the screen by default, with Normal as an option in case you want to reduce the latter’s more contrasty and saturated look. You can also change the color temperature for warmer or cooler tones across the board. I tend to avoid doing that because I feel it messes with the camera app’s live preview (even if it might not).

It also upgraded from an optical to an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, which proves very reliable. You can always launch the camera by double-clicking the power button, but it’s good to get past the lock screen in less time than before, too.

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That move also coincides with an IP68 and IP69 rating, bringing the Magic 7 Pro in line with the latest from OnePlus and Vivo for dust and water resistance.

Running on the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, a drop in battery capacity raises a red flag. The Magic 7 Pro has a 5,270mAh battery, smaller than the Chinese variant’s 5,850mAh battery. It’s unclear why the discrepancy exists, but it is also a silicon carbon anode lithium battery built to be more efficient. It holds up well in my testing but won’t beat out OnePlus and Vivo and their respective 6,000mAh batteries. The base Magic 7 Pro starts at 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage — perhaps the only configuration available globally going forward. There are technically others going up to 16GB and 512GB, but I haven’t seen them available as of this review.

Camera Features

The previous Honor Magic 6 Pro impressed me with its camera performance by offering a nice mix of hardware and software. Honor doesn’t openly disclose exactly who makes the image sensors it uses. Still, I can tell you the main 50-megapixel “Super Dynamic Honor Falcon Camera” is very likely an offshoot of the OmniVision OV50H 1/1.3-inch sensor with a variable f/1.4-f/2.0 aperture lens and optical image stabilization. In my review of the Magic 6 Pro, I erred in stating the main camera had a 27mm equivalent focal length when it was 24mm. That remains the case here too.

Close-up of a hand holding a smartphone vertically, capturing a photo of tall buildings against a clear blue sky. The phone screen shows the same buildings in high-resolution mode. Surrounding skyscrapers are partially visible.

As before, you can only adjust the variable aperture in Pro mode, whereas Aperture mode gives you a virtual slider between f/1.2 and f/16. The lack of a Type 1 sensor may seem like a miss—and perhaps it is since Vivo, in particular, dropped it and went back to a smaller sensor for the X200 Pro.

Part of the reason was to accommodate the new telephoto lens, but I’m not sure that factored into anything in this case. The 200-megapixel periscope telephoto with 3x zoom (72mm equivalent) may have raised the number of pixels, but it does it from the same Samsung Isocell HP3 1/1.4-inch image sensor as before. It otherwise keeps the same f/2.6 aperture and optics, yet somehow increases the focal length an extra 0.5x compared to the previous model. A 6x (144mm) crop factor is also available, though the catch is you can only use it with pixel-binned 12.5-megapixel shots, thereby reducing the chances of retaining more resolution in the process.

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It’s unfortunate because Honor handcuffs this lens in other ways, too. While High-Res mode lets you shoot at 200-megapixels, Pro mode limits it to 50-megapixels — and only for JPEGs. For RAW photos, you can only use the main camera; just an unacceptable limitation for a phone of this caliber. I wouldn’t expect RAWs at 200 megapixels, but I would at least expect the option to use the telephoto and ultra-wide cameras when capturing RAW images.

The 50-megapixel ultra-wide (12mm equivalent) with f/2 aperture appears to be using the same OmniVision OV50D 1/2.88-inch image sensor. It no longer handles macro shooting now that Honor moved that feature to the main and telephoto lenses.

Software Features

Honor doesn’t overhaul the camera interface, so much of it stays intact. That means a variety of modes and ways to capture images to generate some creative thinking. The most important off the bat is the style, which falls under three options: Natural, Vibrant, and Authentic. Like other Chinese brands doing similar things, the style can impact the overall look of the final result. You just can’t change your mind afterward by applying one of the other styles in the Gallery app’s editing suite, where you can only use the available filters to alter the image’s look.

A person holds a smartphone displaying a photo of a child biting another phone. The screen shows options like "Save to Gallery" and "Messages." The background is blurred.

Honor is trying to implement AI into the editing stack in some ways. One of the more unique is to circle a subject in a photo with your knuckle — the aptly named “Knuckle Circle” — and drag and drop it into an app that appears in a side menu. It’s one of the more interesting multitasking implementations I’ve seen on a phone, especially since it also applies to screenshots. Take one, hold on it with your knuckle, and then drag it into an app. Both of these make it much easier to share the content on messaging apps, but equally possible to send a circled image to Lightroom or another photo editing app.

AI Eraser is still a work in progress, but I like that Honor is taking a cautious approach to adding AI editing features. Apart from the eraser, the Gallery’s editing suite isn’t laden with beta-level choices. Much of what’s there requires manual input.

A smartphone displaying an image editing app. The screen shows a tree decorated with lights in a dimly lit room. Editing options are visible below the image, with buttons for adjusting, filtering, and text. The "Save" button is highlighted.

On the home screen, MagicOS again lets you create shortcuts from specific apps, only it still won’t allow any customization. Tap and hold on the Camera app icon and you can choose from Panorama, Selfie, Video, and Multi-Video. It would be much better to let users decide what they want instead when there are several modes in the app already. Personally, I’d rather have modes like High-Resolution, Portrait, and Pro available but that’s just me.

Honor also continues to focus on action photography through Motion Sensing embedded in the main Photo mode. That includes the Auto Capture that triggers the shutter when detecting movement (which you can override by pressing it yourself). Burst shooting goes up to 100 frames, so you’re likely to catch something, but to freeze movement the software ramps up the ISO to accommodate the faster shutter speeds required. This happens with all three rear lenses, showing weaknesses in certain respects.

Image Quality

Main Camera

Without changing the hardware, Honor needed to do something on the software side to give the Magic 7 Pro an edge. I can’t definitively say it succeeds here because mixed results sour the versatility I expect from a phone at this level. On its own, the main camera is capable of producing excellent stills — even more so when the subject is still. Movement and moving light can throw off white balance to a point where one photo might turn out overly warm and another too cool. Editing in post is necessary to fix that.

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It’s not always easy to predict, either, because the default exposure is a bit high off the bat. One way to mitigate that is to use the exposure compensation slider that you can pop up from the bottom (arrow pointing up) but I had to make adjustments to balance things out routinely. More than that, Honor would also benefit from adding a color temperature slider to let users decide what kind of tonality they’d prefer. I’ve always been a fan of how Google’s done it on Pixel phones and would be great here too.

The image shows the exterior of The Mob Museum at night, brightly lit with purple lighting. Large banners on the facade read "The Mob Museum." An American flag flies atop the building.

A vibrant, neon-lit skull sculpture with intricate floral and symmetrical designs is on display in a dark room. The colorful lights highlight the patterns, creating a striking visual effect. Surrounding lights add to the immersive atmosphere.

All that said, once you figure out these nuances, the Magic 7 Pro’s main camera can do right. Low-light results are often superb, as are daylight images with highlights and shadows to keep things level. Dynamic range is generally fine after making the odd adjustment in exposure, only I can’t help thinking a more capable image sensor would make a positive difference. I’ll give Honor credit for not overly sharpening images in post, save for Night mode, where it still tends to apply a heavier hand.

Telephoto and Ultra-Wide

The telephoto is the more interesting case because competitors are bringing it. The Magic 7 Pro has no chance of beating the Vivo X200 Pro, and I would argue the OnePlus 13 may have surpassed it as well. I’m still testing the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, which is using a similar 200-megapixel image sensor (Isocell HP2) on its main camera.

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Again, it’s not that the telephoto here can’t give you a good result; its versatility isn’t guaranteed each time. I took photos with it at some of the same events as I did with other phones, and it was clear that the Magic 7 Pro didn’t come out on top. At 6x zoom (144mm), photos at a Knicks basketball game turned out blurrier and noisier than those at 233mm on the Vivo X200 Pro. This is with Motion Sensing on, by the way, and comparing the metadata, the software ramped up ISO to 12,800, whereas the Vivo only hit 3,608 in the same venue despite zooming closer. The results speak for themselves.

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Instead, the telephoto’s real strength is in capturing subjects that aren’t moving a whole lot. That can be anything from a building to food or a Harcourt portrait. Even street photography is fine with this lens. You can play around with it in Pro mode to see what you can come up with or shoot at 200 megapixels in High-Res mode, except the latter is useless when trying to freeze action because of the slight shutter lag.

A vibrant night scene in a bar with a large, illuminated artificial tree at the center. People sit at the bar on stools. Decorative lighting casts intricate patterns on the tables. The atmosphere is lively and colorful.

The 50-megapixel ultra-wide won’t yield very different results from the previous model. Mind you, that’s not a bad thing, considering it proves quite capable of handling different settings and environments. Edges aren’t super soft, and dynamic range applies nicely as it does with the other two lenses.

Portrait and Aperture Mode

I’m a little surprised Honor sticks with these two modes because they overlap. I can understand the decision because this phone includes the Harcourt style that’s not available for the 6 Pro. Essentially, Portrait mode has become a Harcourt mode by any other name, including instructions on how to utilize it best. It works best at 2x zoom, limiting its effectiveness at varying focal lengths. Aperture is more like a typical phone portrait mode where you adjust a virtual bokeh effect — albeit at the same 2x focal length as your only option.

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I chose to experiment with Harcourt by using it for photos that aren’t portraits, mainly because it offers a black-and-white mode co-developed by the Paris studio. It’s not ideal for moving subjects but won’t detract from a good image if there’s something compelling in the frame.

Pro and High-Res

Pro mode still lets you capture images in JPEG, JPEG-L (high-res), or RAW. Only JPEGs let you use all three lenses, which is vexing when looking for other methods to take a photo for editing later. Pro is also the only mode that lets you switch between the f/1.4 and f/2 variable aperture for the main wide lens. It’s the kind of granular control I wish I had for higher-res RAW images, but alas, here we are.

A view looking up at several tall skyscrapers against a clear blue sky. The buildings vary in design, including one with a classic, detailed facade and others with modern glass exteriors. The perspective creates a dramatic, towering effect.

There’s good stuff here, otherwise, especially since Honor’s own processing is either reduced (JPEGs) or non-existent (RAW). You get good manual controls, a histogram, and a glossary to explain what everything does.

A view looking up at three tall buildings against a blue sky. The building in the center is the tallest, with a bright contrail crossing above it. The left building has a classical facade, and the right one has a modern, curved design.

Side view of a classic building with ornate carvings juxtaposed against a skyscraper under a clear blue sky. A white contrail streaks across the scene, adding contrast to the architectural elements.

You can only get 200-megapixel shots on the telephoto in High-Res mode. These are obviously huge files, and your best bet is to use them in good lighting conditions. Cropping in shows a nice level of preserved detail that reminds me of how Samsung’s recent Galaxy S flagships perform with a similar sensor, but I would say these are probably a little better.

Video Features

I focused on testing still camera features but took video through its paces to gauge differences. Nothing radically changes here apart from slightly better-quality footage. You can also record in 4K at 30fps or 60fps or 1080p at 30 or 60fps. For 24fps, you’ll need to use Movie mode. For 120fps and 240fps, you’ll have to go to Slo-Mo. Movie mode is easily the deepest, offering HDR video, LOG, and a 21:9 aspect ratio, among other items.

Bigger Steps Required

Honor makes iterative upgrades in the Magic 7 Pro that will have a hard time unseating competitors that took bigger strides in 2025. While it holds up really well against the likes of Apple, Samsung, and Google, it doesn’t match the versatility of Chinese competitors. There are good ideas here, and even some good execution, except this phone could and should do more. Honor’s AI gamble is also hard to measure at this early stage despite how much it’s already investing in it thus far.

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A performer spins a flaming hoop, creating a circle of fire in the air. The scene is set outdoors at night, with onlookers and tall buildings in the background. The performer wears a shiny outfit and white boots.

Cameras aside, the Magic 7 Pro is a solid device. MagicOS keeps improving, and the hardware is ready for any task. Battery life holds up quite well, too, despite a smaller size. It’s just that Honor largely markets it based on the camera array, and that’s a hard sell when it costs more without producing decidedly better results. Portraits are certainly a strong suit here in ways that aren’t always possible with competitors, but practicality is often foundational for a dependable mobile camera.

Are There Alternatives?

I’ve already mentioned the Vivo X200 Pro and OnePlus as key competitors. The X200 Pro has telephoto performance that should be the envy of the industry. Its combination of hardware and software is outstanding, let down only by Vivo’s Funtouch OS overlay’s shortcomings.

The OnePlus 13 isn’t so much a comeback story as it is a culmination of what the brand has been pursuing for the last few years. It’s a very complete device, especially when the cameras take that kind of leap, but also for efforts to diversify features and performance. Xiaomi is poised to launch a new Ultra flagship that is sure to compete with all players in the business, so that may present itself as a great option.

In North America, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra feels somewhat close because of the HP2 and HP3 image sensors, though you’re probably just as fine going with an S24 Ultra instead. The Google Pixel 9 Pro series is another option, but not if you’re looking for versatile modes and a solid telephoto lens. Google’s Super Res Zoom is good but does no favors for moving subjects.

That’s also true of the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max, which are the latest options for iOS users.

Should You Buy It?

Maybe, but at roughly $1,300 after conversion, you may want to think it over. Other good phones come at that price. If you’re fine with losing out on Harcourt portraits, the Magic 6 Pro is a good alternative for less money.