Honor Unveils its 1st flagship series after Huawei split away

After splitting away from Huawei, Honor made a comeback earlier this year with its new Honor 50 series. The lineup offered mid-range hardware at an affordable price point, and it came with GMS and the Google Play Store preinstalled. Shortly after the launch, Honor shared a teaser about an upcoming flagship device that would feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 Plus chip. Early last month, the company finally confirmed that it would unveil the flagship Honor Magic 3 series in August. Now, the company has officially lifted the covers off the devices.

Honor Magic 3 series: Specifications

The Honor Magic 3 series consists of three devices — the regular Honor Magic 3, the Magic 3 Pro, and the Magic 3 Pro Plus. All three devices feature the same 6.76-inch 10-bit curved OLED display that offers 120Hz high refresh rate support and 456 PPI pixel density. However, the top-of-the-line Magic 3 Pro Plus features a Nano Crystal Shield coating for extra shatter resistance, while the other two models don’t.

The base Honor Magic 3 is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 chip, while the other two models get the newer Snapdragon 888 Plus chip. The base model features 8GB RAM and 128/256GB storage, the Magic 3 Pro packs 8/12GB RAM and 256/512GB storage, and the Pro Plus comes with 12GB RAM and 512GB storage. All three phones pack a 4,600mAh battery with 66W wired fast charging support, and the Pro variants also get 50W wireless fast charging support.

The camera hardware on the Magic 3 series is the main differentiating factor between the three devices. The base Honor Magic 3 features a triple-camera setup with a 64MP Sony IMX 766 primary camera, a 13MP ultra-wide camera, and a 64MP monochrome camera. The Magic 3 Pro features a quad-camera setup featuring the same primary, ultra-wide, and monochrome cameras as the base model, along with a 64MP periscope zoom camera.

The premium Honor Magic Pro 3 packs the best camera hardware out of the lot. It has a larger 50MP Sony IMX 700 primary camera, a 64MP ultra-wide camera, a 64MP monochrome camera, and a 64MP periscope zoom camera. Over on the front, all three devices feature a 13MP selfie shooter and a 3D ToF camera for 3D face unlock in a pill-shaped cutout on the display.

The Magic 3 and Magic 3 Pro feature glass and vegan leather finishes, with the base model offering IP54 certification and the Pro variant offering IP68 certification. The Honor Magic 3 Pro Plus has a ceramic back panel, and it also offers IP68 certifications. All three devices sport stereo speakers, a triple-mic setup, and a USB Type-C port. For connectivity, the devices offer 5G support, dual-band Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth, and NFC.

On the software front, all three devices run Honor’s Magic UI 5 skin on top of Android 11. As with the Honor 50 series, they come with GMS, and the Google Play Store preinstalled.

Pricing & Availability

The Honor Magic 3 series comes in a variety of colorways. The Magic 3 and Magic 3 Pro have two synthetic leather finishes — Golden Hour and Blue Hour — along with two glass finishes — Black and White. The Honor Magic 3 Pro Plus comes in two ceramic back panel finishes — Black and White. The Honor Magic 3 series will go on sale in China soon and Honor plans to launch it globally in the near future. It is priced as follows:

• Honor Magic 3: Starts at €899
• Honor Magic 3 Pro: Starts at €1,099
• Honor Magic 3 Pro Plus: €1,499