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Honor's Android 16 beta plans leak with approximate release date

Honor's MagicOS might get a new beta soon. (Image source: Honor)
Honor's MagicOS might get a new beta soon. (Image source: Honor)
Honor is thought to release updated software based on the latest version of Android to go with its new Magic8 series of flagship Android smartphones. Now, its name has allegedly been confirmed in a new leak. The report also claims to reveal a general window for the release of its first-ever publicly available build.

MagicOS 10 is thought to first appear on a Mini and/or Ultra version of the next-gen Magic8 flagship smartphone, as well as more direct successors to the Magic7 and 7 Pro.

The new series is thought to start appearing in October 2025, even though the top-end Snapdragon 8 Elite-series chipset on which most of them might be based is slated to be official by September.

Now, a basis for this possible delay might have emerged. The (well-named) leaker Wangzai Know-it-All claims to have heard from Honor's MagicOS product manager that its next public beta might not be available until September 2025.

The build is already lagging behind other Android 16-based counterparts such as HyperOS 3 and ColorOS 16 in this respect as it is. Then again, its new leak suggests that it will be made available to an appreciably large pool of testers when it is available.

Meanwhile, Digital Chat Station (another mobile tech leaker) asserts that a number of these new OS versions will be veritable iOS 26 clones with their own versions of UI features such as Liquid Glass and notification stacking.

Whether MagicOS 10 will follow this formula or not remains unknown at this time, although Wangzai Know-it-All already insists that its design language will be significantly different from that of the AI-heavy MagicOS 9 "from first glance".

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2025 08 > Honor's Android 16 beta plans leak with approximate release date
Deirdre O'Donnell, 2025-08-31 (Update: 2025-08-31)