Honor unveils flagship Magic 9 and Magic 9 Pro Max smartphones
Honor has unveiled its latest flagship smartphones, the Magic 9 and the premium Magic 9 Pro Max, at a launch event in China. Both devices feature substantial battery capacities, high-resolution telephoto cameras and an industry-first square front-facing sensor design.
The devices run on Android 17 with the company’s MagicOS 11 interface. Pricing for the standard Magic 9 starts at approximately $700 for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage configuration, while the Magic 9 Pro Max starts at approximately $910 for the same memory tier. The company has also introduced optional clip-on zoom lenses with equivalent focal lengths of 200mm and 500mm.
Professional imaging partnership
A central focus of the Magic 9 series is the integration of professional-grade imaging technology developed in partnership with German cinematic equipment manufacturer ARRI. This collaboration introduces proprietary colour profiles and support for ARRI LogC3 video recording, which aims to provide advanced grading capabilities for mobile videographers.
The camera hardware across both models reflects a significant upgrade. The Magic 9 Pro Max is equipped with a 200-megapixel primary sensor (1/1.28-inch, f/1.57) with optical image stabilisation, alongside a 50-megapixel ultra-wide lens and a 200-megapixel periscope telephoto camera (1/1.4-inch, f/2.6) that is capable of 3.5x optical zoom.
The standard Magic 9 features a slightly smaller 200-megapixel primary sensor (1/1.4-inch) and a different 200-megapixel periscope module (1/1.56-inch), retaining the 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera.
Both smartphones feature an unconventional 55-megapixel front-facing camera with a square sensor format. This design allows users to capture landscape-orientated self-portraits without physically rotating the device. The Pro Max model also incorporates hardware for full 3D facial recognition.
Performance and battery specifications
The standard Magic 9, measuring 6.37 inches, is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, which is manufactured on a 3-nanometre process. It features an LTPS-OLED display with a 120 Hz refresh rate and houses an 8,000 mAh battery supporting 80 W wired and 50 W wireless charging.
The larger 6.8-inch Magic 9 Pro Max utilises the newer 2-nanometre Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chipset and has an aluminium chassis. Its LTPO-OLED display offers a variable refresh rate of 1 Hz to 120 Hz.
The Pro Max model includes an 8,800 mAh battery with support for 100W wired and 80W wireless charging. Additionally, it is the first smartphone announced to support the new Bluetooth 6.3 standard and includes dual eSIM functionality.
