Verdict on the Honor Magic8 Pro Air
The Magic8 Pro Air may not be the thinnest phone on the market, but in contrast to a Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge and Apple iPhone Air, lovers of light and handy smartphones have to make far fewer compromises with the Honor phone.
The cameras of the Magic8 Pro Air in particular are surprisingly good and in a different league compared to the Apple phone. The same applies to the battery and its ability to get the smartphone through the day. Here, Honor does an excellent job.
The sluggish USB port and the slight throttling of the Dimensity 9500 out of the box do not quite fit the otherwise uncompromising compact flagship concept. The limited availability, along with the resulting uncertainty over updates and warranty coverage, should also be taken into account before making a purchase via import.
Pros
Cons
Price and availability of the Honor Magic8 Pro Air
The Honor Magic8 Pro Air will likely remain exclusive to China, although the Chinese version also comes with a multilingual package. Import prices start at roughly €700 (approx. $808) from retailers such as Trading Shenzhen.
Translator’s note: Honor smartphones are not officially available in North America.
Table of Contents
- Verdict on the Honor Magic8 Pro Air
- Specifications of the Honor Magic8 Pro Air
- Case and features - Thin Android phone without a USB 3 port
- Communication and operation - Honor smartphone with Wi-Fi 7
- Software and sustainability - Android smartphone with long-term updates?
- Cameras - Slim flagship phone with a periscope telephoto lens
- Display - Small OLED screen with accurate colors
- Performance, emissions and battery life - Compact Android smartphone with a high-end SoC
- Notebookcheck overall rating
- Possible alternatives in comparison
Specifications of the Honor Magic8 Pro Air
Case and features - Thin Android phone without a USB 3 port
Despite its plastic back, the Magic8 Pro Air feels quite premium. Thanks to its compact dimensions and slim display bezels, the Honor smartphone, at just 6.1 millimeters thick, sits very comfortably in the hand. Despite its aluminum frame and large battery, this slim high-end phone deserves the “Air” suffix in its name, as the Magic8 Pro Air is even 10 grams lighter than an iPhone Air, although the latter has a comparatively tiny battery and no IP69 rating.
The compact form factor is barely noticeable in the feature set, too. An IR blaster, fast wireless charging at up to 50 watts, wireless reverse charging, 80-watt wired charging, and a very good ultrasonic fingerprint sensor are all included. The only real drawback is the slow USB 2.0 port, which does not support video output.
Communication and operation - Honor smartphone with Wi-Fi 7
The Magic8 Pro Air supports Wi-Fi 7, but in combination with our reference router, the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000, its data transmission rates when sending are fairly low. Reception also shows room for software optimization due to the fluctuations we observed.
The Honor smartphone supports all modern cellular standards and offers broad band coverage. Even the Chinese version should pose no problems in German-speaking markets.
| Networking | |
| Honor Magic8 Pro Air | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 6GHz | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 6GHz | |
| Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 6GHz | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 6GHz | |
| Motorola Signature | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 6GHz | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 6GHz | |
| Apple iPhone Air | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 6GHz | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 6GHz | |
| Average 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 6GHz | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 6GHz | |
| Average of class Smartphone | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 | |
| iperf3 transmit AXE11000 6GHz | |
| iperf3 receive AXE11000 6GHz | |
Software and sustainability - Android smartphone with long-term updates?
The Magic8 Pro Air ships with Android 16 and Honor’s MagicOS 10 user interface. Despite being the Chinese version, the system language can be set to German.
The security patches are up to date. However, we were unable to determine exactly how long the Air, as a China-only model, will receive updates. The manufacturer will likely follow the policy of its Pro model, which is expected to receive support outside Europe for four years.
The Honor smartphone comes in outer packaging that appears to be plastic-free. The company does not provide any information on sustainability.
Cameras - Slim flagship phone with a periscope telephoto lens
The rear camera module is visually reminiscent of Apple’s counterpart, but it delivers substantially higher image quality. Although Honor’s Air model does not use the same main camera as the Magic8 Pro, its sensor is similarly large at 1/1.3 inches.
The Magic8 Pro Air takes genuinely good photos, and given its compact, slim design, they are even very good. A comparison with the sample photos from the iPhone 17, which uses the same main camera as the iPhone Air, reveals a clear class difference. Even in daylight, the Honor phone delivers more detail, better dynamic range, and less artificial sharpening.
Unlike Apple’s Air model, which relies on a single-camera setup, the Magic8 Pro Air includes a very capable 50 MP ultra-wide camera and a periscope telephoto lens with OIS. The latter offers 64 MP and 3.2x optical zoom. Telephoto shots are quite appealing at up to 5x zoom and add real value, especially for portraits.
Image comparison
Choose a scene and navigate within the first image. One click changes the position on touchscreens. One click on the zoomed-in image opens the original in a new window. The first image shows the scaled photograph of the test device.
Main cameraMain cameraLow LightWide angle
Display - Small OLED screen with accurate colors
The 6.31-inch LTPO OLED display runs at up to 120 Hz and reaches a peak brightness of just under 1,700 cd/m² in our measurements. That puts it in line with the manufacturer’s claimed 1,800 nits in HBM mode. Honor also lists up to 6,000 nits as a peak value in PBM mode, which means the Magic8 Pro Air, like the Magic8 Pro, should become significantly brighter when displaying HDR content.
Thanks to high-frequency PWM dimming at 4,320 Hz, the OLED panel is comparatively easy on the eyes. However, the low base frequency of just 120 Hz means that discomfort cannot be ruled out for sensitive users.
Color reproduction in the Calman measurements is very accurate, and differences from the reference colors are not visible to the naked eye.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 98 %
Center on Battery: 1324 cd/m²
Contrast: ∞:1 (Black: 0 cd/m²)
ΔE ColorChecker Calman: 0.93 | ∀{0.5-29.43 Ø4.74}
ΔE Greyscale Calman: 1.5 | ∀{0.09-98 Ø4.99}
98% sRGB (Calman 2D)
Gamma: 2.224
CCT: 6383 K
| Honor Magic8 Pro Air OLED, 2640x1216, 6.3" | Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 3120x1440, 6.7" | Motorola Signature AMOLED, 2780x1264, 6.8" | Apple iPhone Air OLED, 2736x1260, 6.5" | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen | -93% | -27% | -25% | |
| Brightness middle (cd/m²) | 1324 | 1399 6% | 1561 18% | 1060 -20% |
| Brightness (cd/m²) | 1311 | 1371 5% | 1547 18% | 1064 -19% |
| Brightness Distribution (%) | 98 | 94 -4% | 99 1% | 98 0% |
| Black Level * (cd/m²) | ||||
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 0.93 | 3.9 -319% | 1.46 -57% | 1.3 -40% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 2.07 | 6.3 -204% | 3.63 -75% | 3 -45% |
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 1.5 | 2.1 -40% | 2.5 -67% | 1.9 -27% |
| Gamma | 2.224 99% | 2.01 109% | 2.144 103% | 2.2 100% |
| CCT | 6383 102% | 6506 100% | 6612 98% | 6519 100% |
* ... smaller is better
| Display / APL18 Peak Brightness | |
| Apple iPhone Air | |
| Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge | |
| Motorola Signature | |
| Honor Magic8 Pro Air | |
| Display / HDR Peak Brightness | |
| Motorola Signature | |
| Honor Magic8 Pro Air | |
| Apple iPhone Air | |
| Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge | |
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
| Screen flickering / PWM detected | 120 Hz Amplitude: 12 % |  | |
The display backlight flickers at 120 Hz (worst case, e.g., utilizing PWM) . The frequency of 120 Hz is very low, so the flickering may cause eyestrain and headaches after extended use. In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 7920 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 343500) Hz was measured. | |||
Measurement series with fixed zoom level and different brightness settings (The amplitude curve at minimum brightness looks flat, but this is due to the scaling. The info box shows the enlarged version of the amplitude at minimum brightness)
Display Response Times
| ↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
|---|---|---|
| 0.6 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 0.3 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 0.3 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows very fast response rates in our tests and should be very well suited for fast-paced gaming. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 1 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is better than the average of all tested devices (20 ms). | ||
| ↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
| 0.8 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 0.4 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 0.4 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows very fast response rates in our tests and should be very well suited for fast-paced gaming. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.165 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 2 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is better than the average of all tested devices (31.3 ms). | ||
Performance, emissions and battery life - Compact Android smartphone with a high-end SoC
Despite its thin and compact form factor, the MediaTek Dimensity 9500 performs about as consistently in the stress tests as the larger flagship phones, and the Air model also fares very well in terms of absolute performance. However, Honor appears to throttle the high-end chipset slightly out of the box, as the Oppo Find X9 Pro and Vivo X300 Pro post higher scores in benchmark testing.
Even so, the Magic8 Pro Air feels very smooth in everyday use. The ARM Mali G1-Ultra GPU also promises plenty of graphics power for gaming. More than 60 fps in GFXBench’s 4K test is an impressive result for a compact flagship.
Compared with the “mini batteries” of its ultra-thin rivals, the Magic8 Pro Air’s 5,500 mAh battery is very generously sized. In our battery test, the compact Honor phone lasted for more than 20 hours.
* ... smaller is better
| Honor Magic8 Pro Air | Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge | Motorola Signature | Average 512 GB UFS 4.1 Flash | Average of class Smartphone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AndroBench 3-5 | 131% | 266% | 202% | 83% | |
| Sequential Read 256KB (MB/s) | 3567.89 | 3907.51 10% | 4049.69 14% | 3708 ? 4% | 2162 ? -39% |
| Sequential Write 256KB (MB/s) | 339.02 | 2285.66 574% | 3774.28 1013% | 3170 ? 835% | 1858 ? 448% |
| Random Read 4KB (MB/s) | 377.83 | 431.86 14% | 613.85 62% | 404 ? 7% | 298 ? -21% |
| Random Write 4KB (MB/s) | 821.54 | 210.99 -74% | 628.08 -24% | 498 ? -39% | 357 ? -57% |
(-) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 48.6 °C / 119 F, compared to the average of 35.2 °C / 95 F, ranging from 21.9 to 247 °C for the class Smartphone.
(-) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 46.2 °C / 115 F, compared to the average of 34 °C / 93 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 24.9 °C / 77 F, compared to the device average of 32.9 °C / 91 F.
3DMark Stress Tests
| 3DMark - Wild Life Stress Test Stability | |
| Apple iPhone Air | |
| Motorola Signature | |
| Honor Magic8 Pro Air | |
| Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge | |
Honor Magic8 Pro Air audio analysis
(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (89.7 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 18.4% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (14.3% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(±) | higher mids - on average 6.8% higher than median
(+) | mids are linear (6.4% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(+) | balanced highs - only 3.8% away from median
(±) | linearity of highs is average (10.3% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (21.4% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 42% of all tested devices in this class were better, 8% similar, 50% worse
» The best had a delta of 11%, average was 35%, worst was 134%
Compared to all devices tested
» 60% of all tested devices were better, 7% similar, 33% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 24%, worst was 134%
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge audio analysis
(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (90.5 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 23.3% lower than median
(+) | bass is linear (6.9% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(±) | higher mids - on average 5.7% higher than median
(+) | mids are linear (4.8% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(±) | higher highs - on average 5.7% higher than median
(+) | highs are linear (4.1% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (18.7% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 22% of all tested devices in this class were better, 9% similar, 69% worse
» The best had a delta of 11%, average was 35%, worst was 134%
Compared to all devices tested
» 42% of all tested devices were better, 8% similar, 50% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 24%, worst was 134%
| Honor Magic8 Pro Air 5500 mAh | Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge 3900 mAh | Motorola Signature 5200 mAh | Apple iPhone Air 3149 mAh | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battery runtime | ||||
| WiFi v1.3 (h) | 20.3 | 17.9 -12% | 19.7 -3% | 15.4 -24% |
Notebookcheck overall rating
With the Magic8 Pro Air, Honor shows that compact, slim smartphones are possible without major compromises.
Honor Magic8 Pro Air
- 03/27/2026 v8
Marcus Herbrich
Total Sustainability Score: Possible alternatives in comparison
Image | Model / Review | Price | Weight | Drive | Display |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. 88.3%  | Honor Magic8 Pro Air MediaTek Dimensity 9500 ⎘ Arm Mali G1- Ultra MC12 ⎘ 16 GB Memory, 512 GB | Amazon: 1. $13.80 ShouBao Compatible with Hono... 2. $13.80 Kukoufey Compatible with Hon... 3. $7.99 Tempered Glass Film + Cover ... List Price: 800€ | 155 g | 512 GB UFS 4.1 Flash | 6.31" 2640x1216 461 PPI OLED |
2. 88.3%  | Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy ⎘ Qualcomm Adreno 830 ⎘ 12 GB Memory, 256 GB | Amazon: List Price: 1249€ | 163 g | 256 GB UFS 4.0 Flash | 6.70" 3120x1440 395 PPI Dynamic AMOLED 2X |
3. 87.9%  | Motorola Signature Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 ⎘ Qualcomm Adreno 829 ⎘ 16 GB Memory, 512 GB | Amazon: List Price: 1000 Euro | 186 g | 512 GB UFS 4.1 Flash | 6.80" 2780x1264 450 PPI AMOLED |
4. 86.8%  | Apple iPhone Air Apple A19 Pro ⎘ Apple A19 Pro 5-Core GPU ⎘ 12 GB Memory, 512 GB SSD | Amazon: List Price: 1449€ | 165 g | Apple 512GB NVMe | 6.50" 2736x1260 463 PPI OLED |
Transparency
The selection of devices to be reviewed is made by our editorial team. The test sample was provided to the author as a loan by the manufacturer or retailer for the purpose of this review. The lender had no influence on this review, nor did the manufacturer receive a copy of this review before publication. There was no obligation to publish this review. As an independent media company, Notebookcheck is not subjected to the authority of manufacturers, retailers or publishers.
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Every year, Notebookcheck independently reviews hundreds of laptops and smartphones using standardized procedures to ensure that all results are comparable. We have continuously developed our test methods for around 20 years and set industry standards in the process. In our test labs, high-quality measuring equipment is utilized by experienced technicians and editors. These tests involve a multi-stage validation process. Our complex rating system is based on hundreds of well-founded measurements and benchmarks, which maintains objectivity. Further information on our test methods can be found here.
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