Honor Magic 7 Pro Review: The Android flagship to beat?

After the Galaxy Note Edge started the curved display revolution exactly 10 years ago, the industry seems to have come full circle. The S25 Ultra is expected to feature a much flatter screen, and most non-Chinese flagship smartphones have already reverted to flat displays. The Honor Magic 7 Pro is the latest to follow this trend, coming shortly after the announcement of the OnePlus 13, which boasts an almost completely flat screen.

We welcome this trend, as flat screens are both easier to work with and less fragile compared to their curved counterparts. The Honor Magic 7 Pro’s flatter screen has resulted in a slight increase in device width compared to the previous generation: 77.1 mm versus 75.8 mm.

This metamorphosis is one of the more significant design and display changes, as the Honor Magic 7 Pro largely follows in the footsteps of its successful predecessor. However, the flatter sides and back have also changed the frame, making it noticeably wider and more angular.

Looking at the camera housing, the Honor Magic 7 Pro retains the distinctive Jade Cong design of its predecessor—a circular module within a square with rounded edges. This time, the design is more understated and includes four camera openings instead of three. One of these is a depth sensor, added as a full-sized camera circle for symmetry and we kinda like the new look more.

On the front, a pill-shaped cutout houses the selfie camera and the 3D ToF sensor, which takes care of the FaceID-like facial recognition. Honor uses its proprietary NanoCrystal Shield to protect both the display and back glass. This coating is similar in concept to Corning’s Gorilla Glass, but the company cites ten times more drop resistance than regular glass (we still don't have a drop test in our benchmark arsenal).

One notable upgrade is the IP rating. The Honor Magic 7 Pro now comes with IP69 water and dust resistance. In addition to the standard 1.5-meter submersion in fresh water, it can withstand high-pressure and high-temperature water jets—making it safe for environments like saunas or hot springs.

The phone also comes in three interesting color options:

• Breeze Blue
• Black
• Lunar Shadow Grey

As for the display, its specs closely resemble those of the previous generation. The 6.8-inch OLED LTPO panel supports a dynamic refresh rate of up to 120 Hz, FHD+ resolution, and a cited peak brightness of 5,000 nits. Let’s dive into the tests.

Display Measurements:

We need to address the new APL 20% field in our table first. APL (Average Picture Level) shows what portion of the screen’s pixels is fully lit. We felt that 100% APL is not representative of real-life conditions and moved to a more natural 20% APL test scenario. Looking at the results above, it’s clear that Honor limits brightness beyond a certain APL to ensure consistency across various image scenarios.

The score of around 1,500 nits at both 100% and 20% APL clearly shows this—the brightness is kept uniform even at lower APL levels. While it’s not the brightest display we’ve tested, it's still quite bright. The minimum brightness could be lower, but on the positive side, color accuracy is excellent, as is the default color temperature setting. 

Overall, the display is crisp, vivid, and bright enough for outdoor use. There’s little to complain about here, and it's not a surprise - smartphone display technology has matured to the point where even mid-range phones now feature great OLED panels.

The Eye Comfort suite baked into the Honor Magic 7 Pro deserves a few lines here. Apparently, eye health is a big consideration in China, where people are particularly conscious about taking care of their eyes. These features have made it to the global version of the phone, and some of them are truly fascinating. 

Circular Polarized Display technology softens screen light by changing it from linear to circular polarization, mimicking natural light from a point-like source. Another cool one is the AI Defocus which simulates the effect of defocus lenses by adjusting specific on-screen content and projecting images slightly in front of the retina. This should help with myopic (short-sightedness) conditions and also help with prevention.

These features are highly specialized and challenging to test in both lab and real-world conditions. Nevertheless, any effort focused on eye health in a world where you stare at your phone for hours gets a thumbs-up from us.

Biometrics deserve a separate paragraph here, as the Honor Magic 7 Pro features a sophisticated 3D facial scan tech, similar to what the iPhone has. Furthermore, this model moves to an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner under the screen, just like the latest Galaxy models. Both work exceptionally well, they're fast and accurate, so no complaints here either.

The Honor Magic 7 Pro’s three-camera setup boasts a combined resolution of 300 MP. It includes a 50 MP main camera with a large 1/1.3-inch Super Dynamic HONOR Falcon Camera H9000 HDR sensor, likely a rebranded OmniVision OV50H sensor familiar from the previous generation.

Additionally, there’s a 50 MP ultrawide sensor, and a powerful 200 MP 1/1.4-inch telephoto sensor completes the array. This telephoto sensor is the 1/1.4-inch Samsung S5KHP9, the same one found in the Vivo X100 Ultra’s telephoto module.

The software post-processing is powered by AI and branded as AI Honor Image Engine 3.0. This system enhances images using advanced algorithms designed for portrait refinement, light and shadow adjustments, snapshot quality, and telephoto optimization.

The system is divided into specialized modules, including the Light and Shadow Portrait Large Model, Telephoto Enhancement Large Model, and Capture Enhancement Large Model, each responsible for specific aspects of the Magic 7 Pro’s camera capabilities. Additionally, the Harcourt Portrait mode is available for further enhancing portrait shots.

Of course, while these specs and technical terms sound impressive on paper, we all know that real-world images are what truly matter. So, let’s take a look at some samples.

As expected, the Honor Magic 7 Pro is powered by Qualcomm’s highly anticipated and recently launched Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. It has drawn comparisons to Apple’s latest A18 Pro silicon, and the big news is that Qualcomm’s new chip holds its own in some benchmarks and even outperforms the A18 in others.

While we’ve reached a point where even midrange chips feel fast enough for most users, synthetic benchmarks are still pretty important to the more geeky types in the tech community. Below, you’ll find the benchmark scores for the Magic 7 Pro.

Performance Benchmarks:

Well, there you have it! The Snapdragon 8 Elite is a beast. It comes very close to the A18 Pro in single-core performance and obliterates Apple’s silicon in multicore and 3D benchmarks. However, one notable downside is that the Magic 7 Pro throttles quite a bit during heavy 3D tasks, probably due to excessive heat, as the phone gets quite hot during the 3DMark Wildlife Extreme stress test.

In terms of RAM and storage, the Honor Magic 7 Pro comes with a single memory configuration (at least in Europe): 12GB of RAM and 512GB of onboard storage. Additional options, such as 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage, might be coming later. For now, though, this is the only option available. As one might expect, there’s no microSD card slot, but in 2025, that's hardly surprising.

Honor pioneered silicon-carbon battery technology and was the first company to bring it out of China with the Magic 6 Pro (the first phone to feature this technology was the Magic 5 Pro, but only in its Chinese version, likely due to EU battery regulations). Now, the Magic 7 Pro comes equipped with third-generation silicon-carbon battery technology, but there’s some bad news.

The model launched in China last year featured a 5,850mAh battery, while the global version includes a significantly smaller 5,270mAh cell. This discrepancy is likely due to stricter EU regulations regarding battery safety, but it’s disappointing nonetheless. While 5,270mAh is far from small, modern flagships featuring this technology are trending toward 6,000mAh batteries (with the OnePlus 13 being a prime example).

That said, let’s not judge a book (or battery) by its cover (or capacity) and move on to some real-world tests.

Another great feature of the Honor Magic 6 Pro was its stereo speaker system. It was by far the best phone we've heard, beating gaming phones and other flagships. The audio system in the Magic 7 Pro is excellent, arguably one of the best in its class. The stereo speakers deliver an impressively high volume, comparable to that of a dedicated Bluetooth speaker.

It’s time for some tough questions—and even tougher answers. The Honor Magic 7 Pro is undoubtedly a great Android flagship. It builds upon the success of the Magic 6 Pro, with improvements in the chipset, telephoto camera, and the addition of even more AI features. It also brings some very interesting eye protection technology to the global audience.

The flat screen is a welcome upgrade, as is the symmetrical camera housing. Overall, the design of the Magic series has matured into something recognizable, comfortable, and stylish all at once.

That said, the starting price of €1,299 might be this phone’s biggest drawback—especially when even the iPhone 16 Pro Max costs less. For many, stepping away from more familiar brands and venturing into less familiar territory at this price point might be a hard sell. This leaves the Honor Magic 7 Pro facing the same uphill battle as its predecessors: competing against not-necessarily better, but better-known, often more affordable, rivals.

It’s a tough nut to crack.