The iPhone Air's camera is not competitive in comparison
The ultra-thin high-end smartphones of 2025 often involved significant compromises, especially regarding camera specifications. However, those willing to pay premium prices also expect top-tier technology without major trade-offs. While Apple with its iPhone Air and Samsung with the Galaxy S25 Edge have yet to deliver on this, Honor shows a better way.
Unlike an iPhone Air or Galaxy S25 Edge, the Magic8 Pro Air features a dedicated telephoto lens with a 64 MP sensor and optical image stabilization (OIS). This enables a maximum zoom of up to 100x and 3.2x lossless magnification. Full-resolution shots can be found in our review.
The main camera is also impressive for a thin and light smartphone. Here, the Honor phone uses a 50 MP sensor in a 1/1.3-inch format with an f/1.6 aperture and OIS. For comparison, the competition from Apple and Samsung features significantly smaller sensors at 1/1.56 inches.
Compact Android phone with fantastic photo quality
The shots taken with the main camera of the Magic8 Pro Air are very good, and considering the compact and thin design, even excellent. A comparison with the test shots from the iPhone 17, which features the same main camera as the iPhone Air, shows a clear difference.
To better evaluate the quality of the Honor phone, we used a Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra for a photo comparison. Although the Magic8 Pro Air is compact and thin, it impresses with better dynamic range and sharpness. We also find the colors from the Honor main camera to be more balanced. Overall, the camera setup of the Magic8 Pro Air is very good.
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.
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