Honor unveils the Honor Magic4 Pro with a cyclopean camera module

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TL;DR

• The Honor Magic 4 Pro will begin from ~$1230 (1,099 Euros).
• It brings new camera features, 100 Watt wireless fast charging.
• The Honor Magic 4 will begin from ~$1006 (899 Euros).
• Both devices feature the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.
• Availability starts from Q2, 2022.

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Honor launched a total of four different devices with the biggest expectation being the successor of Honor Magic 3 Pro. Fans will be happy to hear that the Honor Magic 4 Pro was announced and follows a similar design philosophy as the previous model. Since the prices were also announced in euros, I have strong suspicions that the devices will finally be widely available outside of China.

The most impressive thing about the Honor Magic 4 Pro during the presentation was obviously the cameras. Seated within a cyclopean camera island at the center of the device the three cameras promise an industry-leading photographic experience enabled by innovation in both hardware and software. Now, we have to wait for the actual reviews of the device to verify those claims. 

Alongside it, the weaker standard version was unveiled, the Honor Magic 4, which comes at a considerably lower price of just over $1000 dollars (899 Euros) but makes considerable concessions in screen, secondary cameras and wireless charging.

A new watch and set of earbuds were also revealed, each with their own unique features. The Honor Watch GS 3 will come with a 1000 nits display and dual-band GNSS support and the TWS earbuds Honor Earbuds 3 Pro with coaxial drivers and an integrated temperature sensor for thermometer readings on the spot.

The Honor Magic 4 Pro & Honor Magic 4

On the back of the device we have three cameras:  A 50MP Wide lens camera, a 50MP Ultra Wide with 122o FOV, and finally a 64MP Telephoto lens with 3.5x optical zoom, OIS and up to 100x digital zoom. Those cameras are also supported by a direct time of flight sensor (dToF) to better track moving objects and distance, alongside a flicker sensor that adjusts the capture frame rate to the light sources to diminish flickering in videos. 

The Honor Magic 4 comes with the same 50MP UW and Wide cameras but with a simple 8MP periscope telephoto lens.

ML photographic capabilities are expected to be improved. According to Honor, the two main cameras work together to capture better Ultra-Wide photos, using new A.I algorithms that combine the images for higher clarity at their center. 

The 6.81 inches OLED display comes with a variable refresh rate of 1 to 120Hz and a resolution of 2848 x 1312 (460 PPI) with a 100% DCI-P3 color range coverage with 1000 nits of brightness which is admittedly low for 2022, as is the case with the similarly priced, Oppo Find X5. On the software side, Honor has equipped the new devices with MEMC compensation that promises to bring conventional 30 FPS content up to 60 FPS for more fluid object motion across all your content.

Returning to camera features, Selfies were less of a focus but Honor still equiped the Honor Magic 4 Pro with a 12MP ultra-wide camera and a 3D depth camera. The normal version of the Magic 4 will only feature a 12MP selfie with 100 degrees FOV.

Honor aimed directly at the toughest photography competition, the latest iPhone 13 by Apple, and demonstrated several scenarios where Magic 4 Pro comes out ahead. But, all of these tests will have to be verified by reviews before we can comfortably proclaim a winner here. Honor took an obvious path trying to best Apple across the board, with a focus on color accuracy that strives to get close to that of DSLR cameras.

Honor stressed that the videos captured by the Honor Magic 4 Pro will have a comparable frame to frame quality as the normal photos, allowing you to quickly snap pictures of your favorite moments without a detriment to quality. In addition, videos are expected to feature a 10-bit capture at 4K60fps.

For OS, Honor has equipped the new devices with Android 12 that runs through their own Magic UI 6.0 software. The promise? Plenty of advantages in gaming and battery life. A feature that also popped out was the Privacy Calling, which through A.I processing can detect where your head is located and only transmit the sound to you, protecting the privacy of your conversations from those that are in close proximity. 

All of these A.I capabilities are in part enabled by the new Snapdragon SoC, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, a flagship-level SoC that is expected to battle with Apple's latest A15 Bionic found in the latest iPhone 13. 

Also read: Which smartphones will get the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1?

Also read: We reviewed the iPhone 13!

In addition to performance gains, the new SoC also pledges to come with an extra level of security with a Trusted Execution Environment that comes on top of the already included TEE from Honor. This means that all your sensitive information like passwords, facial recognition scans and fingerprints are stored and executed independently. 

Impressively, both wired and wireless charging will be at 100W, enabled by a proprietary SuperCharge platform from Honor that can charge your device by 50% in 15 minutes. The Honor Magic 4 falls back a bit here, with only 66W of Wired SuperCharge. But will such charging speeds be detrimental to the battery life of the device? As with all the promises from above, we have to wait for the reviews to find out.

What do you think about the new Honor devices? Do you prefer the Honor Magic 4 Pro or the Honor Magic 4? Let me know in the comments!