Honor X9b: The two-year journey from wrecking ball survivor to AI workhorse

The age of durability (late 2023 - mid 2024)

For the first six to eight months, my relationship with the Honor X9b was exactly what I expected it to be. It was my reliable workhorse. I stopped worrying too much about where I put it down. It slid off tables, got knocked out of my hands, and was tossed into my laptop bag with keys and other junk without a second thought. Yet… the screen remained pristine… for a while; however, I did expect slight scratches to appear sooner than they actually did.

The battery was, and still is, long-lasting… And I can still go a full two days with moderate to heavy use without even thinking about a charger. This changed my habits; I stopped carrying a power bank and no longer felt that low-battery anxiety that plagued me from other flagship devices.

The software back then, MagicOS 7.2, was fine. It was clean, functional, and did everything you needed an Android phone to do. It even had some of Honor’s signature flair, like the knuckle gestures. Being able to double-tap with a knuckle for a quick screenshot or draw a line to enter split-screen mode was a neat party trick and genuinely useful at times. But these felt like ingrained system features, not headline acts. The phone’s identity was its physical shell, not its digital soul. It was a device you bought for what it could survive, not for what it could do.

The first spark of intelligence (the MagicOS 8.0 update)

The first major shift, the one that made me sit up and realize something was changing, came with the MagicOS 8.0 update around the middle of 2024. I installed it expecting little more than some security patches and maybe a few new icon designs. What I got was a fundamental change in the phone's personality.

Suddenly, the phone felt less like a passive tool and more like an active assistant. The headline feature was Magic Portal. At first, it sounded like marketing fluff, but using it was pretty practical. I could be reading an email with an address in it, and simply by pressing and holding that text, I could drag it directly over to the edge of the screen where my maps or ride-sharing app would pop up, ready to navigate. No more clumsy copying and pasting, no more switching between apps. It just worked. It was the first time the phone felt like it was anticipating my next move.

Then there was Magic Capsule, Honor’s take on an interactive notification system. A timer, a call, or a music player would create a small, pill-shaped bubble at the top of the screen that I could tap to expand for quick controls. It was slick, and it cleaned up the notification shade immensely. Small touches like AI Smart Folders, which automatically organized my apps into logical groups, just added to the feeling of a more intelligent, streamlined experience.

It wasn't a perfect transition overnight. There were a few initial animation stutters and UI quirks that needed to be ironed out in subsequent minor patches. But the direction was clear: Honor wasn't just letting this mid-range phone coast on its hardware; they were actively investing in making it smarter.

The AI revolution (the early release of MagicOS 9.0)

Just when I thought the X9b had reached its software peak, another major update landed this month, bringing with it the August 2025 security patch and a list of features so long it felt like I’d been given a new phone entirely.

This early release of MagicOS 9.0 is what cemented the X9b's transformation from a tough phone with some smarts into a full-blown AI workhorse.

The productivity partner that actually helps

This AI infusion has now walked its way into my daily work life. The new "AI writing" tool is more than just a predictive text engine. It can help rephrase sentences, adjust the tone of an email, or quickly draft a reply (but be sure to proofread it). Paired with "AI Notes," which can now organize my scattered thoughts and even transcribe audio from the Recorder app with surprising accuracy, my phone has become a legitimate productivity tool.

A system that just works better

Beyond the headline features, this update polished the entire user experience. "AI Subtitles" can generate real-time captions for any video I’m watching, which is a lifesaver in loud environments. For privacy, the new "Hidden apps" feature lets me tuck away sensitive applications like banking or work chats, so I can hand my phone to someone without worrying. Even the keyboard feels better, with new gestures that make typing feel faster. It’s the culmination of hundreds of these small and large improvements that makes the phone feel so complete.

Stepping away from the new features

Beyond its new features, the Honor X9b delivers a reliable performance. Powered by the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chipset and up to 12GB of RAM, applications launch quickly, multitasking is fluid, and even graphically intensive games such as Wuthering Waves perform smoothly. The 6.78-inch AMOLED display, with its 1.5K resolution and 120 Hz refresh rate, continues to feel current for 2025. Featuring vibrant colors and a peak brightness of 1200 nits, it offers excellent outdoor visibility. This dependable hardware, coupled with the long-lasting 5800 mAh battery, ensures the device consistently holds its own for daily use.