The Honor Magic 6 Pro camera is the primary smartphone camera that has blown me away in years. I review a variety of telephones and put all of them by rigorous camera assessments, and Honor’s newest appears like an enormous breakthrough in so some ways.
At the forefront of the enhancements is the upgraded Falcon Camera System, a flowery identify for a triple camera array powered by the neatest software program Honor has ever developed. It simply sits among the many finest Android telephones and often produces glorious high quality photos.
While you could suppose the brand new 180MP telephoto camera is the centerpiece of the expertise, it is the upgraded AI capabilities of the camera that shine by past glorious imaging capabilities. Honor’s upgraded AI Motion Sensing Capture is so sensible it will take images for you, and it is downright spectacular how nice these look, too.
Considering that flagships just like the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra nonetheless battle to seize movement, it is refreshing to see an organization exit of its technique to ship a smartphone camera expertise that goes so above and past to resolve this downside.
Honor Magic 6 Pro camera: Motion seize
The Honor Magic 6 Pro’s capability to seize movement is unmatched amongst telephones I’ve examined through the years. Yes, it even beats a Pixel.
Not solely does the cellphone excel in capturing crisp images of transferring pets and children, however the software program is clever sufficient to robotically seize images when sure motion is detected.
Honor says it skilled its AI algorithm with over eight million photos containing transferring topics, enabling the camera’s software program to grasp issues like facial expressions, human physique motion, leaping, and extra.
Image 1 of 3
(*6*)
(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
To particularly take a look at out the automated motion seize capabilities, I took the cellphone to the native Celtic Fest and let it seize images of the Irish dancers on stage. All I did was open the camera app and level it on the stage, the AI algorithm did all the remainder of the work.
Automatic picture seize would possibly sound like a gimmick till you end up in a scenario the place it is wanted.
Automatic picture seize might sound like a foolish gimmick, however it works extremely properly in my testing. As a guardian, typically it is arduous to have two free fingers, a lot much less one. Having a cellphone that may seize the second by simply utilizing one hand is a stroke of genius.
Image 1 of 6
(*6*)
Motion seize from the Honor Magic 6 Pro’s camera(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
Motion seize from the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s camera(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
Motion seize from the Honor Magic 6 Pro’s camera(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
Motion seize from the Google Pixel 8 Pro’s camera(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
Motion seize from the Honor Magic 6 Pro’s camera(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
Motion seize from the OnePlus 12’s camera(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
But even for those who’d quite seize your photos by tapping the shutter, the Honor Magic 6 Pro will get it proper mainly each time. I ran my common movement take a look at involving my son leaping off our sofa onto a pile of stuffed animals. Against 4 different telephones, the Magic 6 Pro captured an incredible picture each single time.
The Pixel 8 Pro was the one different cellphone that carried out this persistently, and even then, the images from the Honor Magic 6 Pro all regarded higher than what Google’s finest may seize.
Honor Magic 6 Pro camera: Main camera
I’ve only a few critiques of the Magic 6 Pro camera expertise, however one is definitely the best way to fast launch the camera. Most trendy Android telephones can help you double-tap the ability button at any time — irrespective of if the display is on or off — to shortly launch the camera.
The Honor Magic 6 Pro nonetheless makes use of the bizarre previous technique of double-tapping the quantity down key, which solely works when the display is off. If the display is on in any respect — even when it is not unlocked — you may both have to search out the camera shortcut or flip the display off with a purpose to activate the fast launch characteristic. It’s foolish.
Other than that minor annoyance, the point-and-shoot capabilities of the Honor Magic 6 Pro are seldom matched by any trendy smartphone. From launching the camera to taking an image takes roughly 2 seconds. Autofocus works stupendously properly, and film high quality is phenomenal.
Image 1 of 8
(*6*)
Camera samples from the Honor Magic 6 Pro’s primary camera(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
Camera samples from the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s primary camera(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
Camera samples from the Honor Magic 6 Pro’s primary camera(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
Camera samples from the Google Pixel 8 Pro’s primary camera(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
Camera samples from the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s primary camera(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
A camera pattern from the Honor Magic 6 Pro’s primary camera(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
Camera samples from the Google Pixel 8 Pro’s primary camera(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
Camera samples from the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s primary camera(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
It’s tough to select a winner between the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, Google Pixel 8 Pro, and Honor Magic 6 Pro’s primary cameras. All three telephones ship glorious dynamic vary and effective element.
The three examples above present how every cellphone can commerce off with having one of the best photograph, relying on the scenario. In the primary instance, the Honor Magic 6 Pro has higher shade accuracy, distinction, and effective element. The second two examples favor the Galaxy S24 Ultra for effective element and the Pixel 8 Pro for shade accuracy.
Overall, although, I discovered the Honor Magic 6 Pro’s images to look extremely pleasing. Most complaints had been situational, and I did not discover any specific sample of weak spot within the lots of of images I’ve captured over the previous few weeks.
Honor Magic 6 Pro camera: Telephoto camera
When I started this review, I had a tough time imagining that the Honor Magic 6 Pro camera may produce a high quality telephoto expertise past 5x, at finest. That’s as a result of the telephoto camera is behind a measly 2.5x optical zoom lens, half of what is on a Pixel 8 Pro or Galaxy S24 Ultra and 1 / 4 of what the Galaxy S23 Ultra supplies.
But the cellphone tries to make up for this deficit by utilizing a large 180-megapixel sensor behind the lens, full with AI processing. That 180MP sensor can also be bodily the biggest telephoto sensor on any cellphone to this point. That means it takes in additional mild and extra element than different telephoto sensors.
However, the outcomes are typically a blended bag at 5x and past. At instances, the camera will blow you away when the topic is correct. These two examples at 10x and 20x assist illustrate that completely:
Image 1 of 5
(*6*)
A 10x camera pattern from the Honor Magic 6 Pro(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Centrl)
A 10x camera pattern from the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
A 10x camera pattern from the Google Pixel 8 Pro(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
A 20x camera pattern from the Honor Magic 6 Pro(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
A 20x camera pattern from the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
For notice, zooming in with every cellphone produces a barely completely different crop stage on account of lens variations. All camera viewfinders had been set to the identical zoom quantity for these examples.
The distinction intimately alone is astounding. The Honor Magic 6 Pro decimates the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and Google Pixel 8 Pro in telephoto high quality within the first instance. Even the colour science is best on the Magic 6 Pro, providing up a considerably higher 10x photograph in each manner.
The second instance of a House Finch at 20x is not almost as minimize and dry, and I believe the end result will likely be down to private choice. The Honor Magic 6 Pro’s photograph is considerably sharper, with crisp edges across the feathers and even some spectacular effective element with out noise.
But the Magic 6 Pro achieves this with AI-based approximation, as is most evident across the fowl’s eyes and beak. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s photograph seems to be extra like a photograph taken from a camera quite than a mixture of pictures and AI.
Image 1 of 5
(*6*)
A 10x camera pattern from the Honor Magic 6 Pro(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
A 10x camera pattern from the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
A 10x camera pattern from the Honor Magic 6 Pro(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
A 10x camera pattern from the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
A 10x camera pattern from the Google Pixel 8 Pro(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
The examples above signify the telephoto picture high quality produced most frequently, proving that telephoto efficiency at 5x and past is worse on the Honor Magic 6 Pro than on the Google Pixel 8 Pro or Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Everything seems to be like an apparent digital crop because the camera is bodily restricted to a 2.5x optical zoom lens. Anything past that may be a mixture of digital crops from the primary sensor and a big telephoto sensor.
Overall, telephoto efficiency was pretty disappointing except you stick near the two.5x zoom preset on the viewfinder.
Honor Magic 6 Pro camera: Low mild
Since the Magic 6 Pro makes use of AI so closely for its processing, low-light pictures on the cellphone tends to be sensible. Captures from all three rear sensors are extremely clear, usually utilizing heavy denoise algorithms paired with AI element reconstruction. This produces footage that look “watercolored” when zooming in, but, most frequently the effective particulars are preserved because of the AI on the cellphone.
Honor additionally appears to crank up the saturation in decrease mild, making this neon-lit arcade a direct wow issue. This means colours aren’t precisely represented however definitely “look good” to the human eye.
Image 1 of 9
(*6*)
A low-light photograph pattern from the Honor Magic 6 Pro’s ultrawide camera(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
A low-light photograph pattern from the Google Pixel 8 Pro’s ultrawide camera(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
A low-light photograph pattern from the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s ultrawide camera(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
A low-light photograph pattern from the Honor Magic 6 Pro’s telephoto camera at 6x(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
A low-light photograph pattern from the Google Pixel 8 Pro’s telephoto camera at 6x(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
A low-light photograph pattern from the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s telephoto camera at 6x(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
A low-light photograph pattern from the Honor Magic 6 Pro’s primary camera(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
A low-light photograph pattern from the Google Pixel 8 Pro’s primary camera(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
A low-light photograph pattern from the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s primary camera(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
Overall, I choose the look of images from the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra in a lot of the photographs. The colours are each extra pure, and the effective particulars look extra reasonable, despite the fact that extra noise is obvious within the photographs.
The solely shot the place I believe the Honor Magic 6 Pro wins is the primary camera picture, the place it pulled out extra effective element all through the photograph. Bricks within the background have clear delineation and the textual content on the boards within the arcade are extra readable.
The Google Pixel 8 Pro continues to fall behind the opposite two, usually producing softer, much less enticing images from every lens.
Honor Magic 6 Pro camera: Front-facing camera
The Honor Magic 6 Pro’s 50MP front-facing sensor sounds nice on paper, however I discovered it tends to take semi-blurry images in all lighting circumstances. This is weird given the cellphone’s penchant for taking crisp images of objects in movement, however it appears the cellphone makes use of completely different processing strategies on the front-facing camera.
Not solely that, however portrait mode did not appear to work in any respect till I noticed that “bokeh” is disabled by default. I do not know who at Honor thought it made sense to disable bokeh — a type of catch-all time period for a extremely blurred background and crisp foreground within the smartphone world — by default, however it was a horrible determination that is going to confuse a variety of clients.
Image 1 of 6
(*6*)
Front-facing camera samples from the Honor Magic 6 Pro(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
Front-facing camera samples from the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
Front-facing camera samples from the Honor Magic 6 Pro(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
Front-facing camera samples from the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
A front-facing portrait mode camera pattern from the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
A front-facing portrait mode camera pattern from the Honor Magic 6 Pro(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
Compared to the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, the Honor Magic 6’s front-facing photographs are a bit underwhelming. They’re not unhealthy however the odd movement blur after I was holding the camera nonetheless could be very unusual.
It’s additionally a disgrace that bokeh is not enabled by default on the Magic 6 Pro. The cellphone takes quite exemplary portrait mode photographs with this characteristic correctly enabled, and I merely can’t perceive why Honor would default to it being off when the expectation of portrait mode is to have it enabled.
Honor Magic 6 Pro camera: Conclusion
(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
The Honor Magic 6 Pro camera expertise is one which’ll often impress, from glorious low mild pictures to crisp seize of transferring topics. The camera UI is not something revolutionary however it would not actually should be. I nonetheless choose the Google Pixel camera UI over different telephones however there’s nothing offensive right here.
The cellphone really shines is in its AI processing talents, which turns out to be useful once you take an image otherwise you wish to let the cellphone take an image for you. It seems like a gimmick at first, however mother and father who usually discover one hand is occupied whereas the opposite is attempting to take footage will shortly perceive how helpful such a characteristic could be.
While the Pixel 8 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra usually took higher images from their respective telephoto cameras, the Magic 6 Pro nonetheless did an outstanding job and sometimes delivered glorious images as much as 10x zoom. Beyond that, most photographs had been clearly digital crops and never significantly good wanting.
Overall, Honor has delivered a incredible camera and one I really feel assured utilizing it doesn’t matter what scenario I discover myself in.
