Honor Magic9 and Magic9 Super Edition unveiled
Honor is introducing three new flagship models today – the Pro Max will be covered in a separate article, here we take a look at the Honor Magic9 and the Magic9 Super Edition.
Honor Magic9
The Honor Magic9 is a relatively small (6.37-inch display) and powerful camera smartphone with a large 8,000 mAh battery. The Honor Magic9 Super Edition even offers a larger 11,000 mAh battery (and a 6.81-inch display), but its most interesting feature is the active fan with a speed of 30,000 RPM.
The Honor Magic 9 features a 6.37-inch display. This is smaller than the 6.58-inch display of its predecessor, the Magic 8. However, Honor has managed to fit in an even larger battery – the 8,000 mAh battery offers 1,000 mAh more capacity than its predecessor and supports 80W wired fast charging (with 27W reverse charging) as well as 50W wireless fast charging.
Back to the display: It’s a 6.37-inch OLED panel with a resolution of 1236 x 2664 pixels and a refresh rate of 120 Hz (not an LTPO display). It displays 10-bit color and supports HDR and Dolby Vision. The maximum brightness is 2000 nits. It’s controlled via high-frequency pulse-width modulation (PWM) at 3840 Hz and can be reduced to 1 nit.
The Magic9 features a 200MP main camera with a large 1/1.4-inch sensor. The lens has an aperture of f/1.9 and CIPA 7.5 stabilization. This is complemented by a 200MP periscope camera (1/1.56-inch) with a dual-prism design and also impressive CIPA 7.5 stabilization. Additionally, there is a 50MP ultrawide camera (f/2.0 lens) and a 55MP selfie camera with a square 1:1 sensor (1/2.74-inch, f/2.0 lens).
The cameras in the Honor Magic9 series were further developed and improved in collaboration with ARRI, a German manufacturer of cinema cameras. Included in the package is the Honor H1, a proprietary image chip that delivers an AI performance of 18.8 TOPS per watt. This chip is responsible for noise reduction and other image processing tasks and is also compatible with the G200 teleconverter lens.
The Honor Magic9 is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which was already used in last year’s Magic8. In this model, it’s paired with 12 GB to 16 GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256 GB to 1 TB of storage.
Honor touts enhanced AI features (calendar, voice recorder, notes, file management) thanks to its Yoyo AI. The smartphone is fully integrated into the Apple ecosystem and can be paired with an Apple Watch. If you also own an iPhone, the Honor smartphone will display a notification as soon as the iPhone rings. If you’re switching from another brand – Apple, Oppo, vivo, or Xiaomi – a simple file transfer system is available, allowing you to set up your new Magic9 with just one tap.
The phone is certified to IP68 (waterproof), IP69 (splashproof), and IP69K (splashproof) standards. It is available in black, olive green, yellow, and white.
Prices
The Honor Magic9 is available for pre-order in China. The base model with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage costs 5,000 CNY (655 euros / 745 US dollars / 560 pounds / 71,500 rupees). Honor has not yet confirmed details regarding the global launch.
There are also variants with 12 GB RAM and 512 GB storage, 16 GB RAM and 512 GB storage, and 16 GB RAM and 1 TB storage.
Honor Magic9 Super Edition
The Honor Magic9 Super Edition is a large smartphone with a 6.81-inch display. However, it’s not the same panel as the one in the Magic9 Pro Max. The display offers a resolution of 1280 x 2788 pixels, a 120 Hz refresh rate (LTPS), and 10-bit color depth with HDR support (but without Dolby Vision). The maximum brightness is 2000 nits.
The Super Edition is equipped with an 11,000 mAh battery – even larger than the battery in the Honor Magic9 Pro Max (8,800 mAh). This means it shares this battery capacity with two other Honor phones. It supports 80W wired charging, 27W reverse charging, and 50W wireless charging (wireless power sharing is also possible).
Despite its enormous performance package, the Super Edition is only 8.1 mm thick and weighs 227 g. That’s not much more than the 6.37-inch Magic9, which weighs 209 g (and is 8.5 mm thick).
Aside from its impressive battery, the Super Edition positions itself more in the mid-range of flagship models. It’s powered by the same Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor. Honor has equipped the smartphone with 12 GB to 16 GB of RAM (LPDDR5X) and 256 GB to 1 TB of storage.
For sustained performance, Honor has equipped the chipset with a large vapor chamber and added an active fan – together they can dissipate 12 watts of heat. The fan spins at 30,000 RPM and, thanks to its channel design, offers 30% better heat dissipation.
The main camera features a 200MP sensor, though at 1/1.55 inches it’s smaller than the sensor in the Magic9. It’s paired with a 50MP telephoto lens with 3x zoom (f/2.4) and a 12MP ultrawide lens (f/2.4, autofocus). The selfie camera has a rectangular 50MP sensor with a 90° lens (f/2.0). The rear camera can record video in 4K at 120 frames per second, while the front camera is limited to 4K at 60 frames per second.
Like its smaller sister model, the Honor Magic9 Super Edition, it uses the Honor H1 image processing chip and supports the G200 teleconverter.
The Super Edition model is available in the same color palette as the Magic9: black, olive green, yellow and white.
Prices
The Honor Magic9 Super Edition is available for pre-order in China. The base model with 12 GB RAM and 256 GB storage costs 4,500 CNY (590 Euros / 670 US Dollars / 505 Pounds / 64,000 Rupees).
The image in the upper right also shows the prices of some accessories. Please note that most are only compatible with the Pro Max. However, the G200 also works with the Honor Magic9 or the Magic9 Super Edition.
