This cell phone screen gets so bright that it pushes our equipment to its limits

The Honor X80 Pro Max is a special smartphone: It offers a very large battery and long battery life in a slim design, yet it’s quite affordable—for example, from TradingShenzhen starting at US$ 463. 

How to get the Honor X80 Pro Max

However, the phone is currently only available as a Chinese import. While this is now relatively risk-free, you’ll have to accept some compromises, such as limited eSIM compatibility. 

It’s not out of the question that the phone will make its way to Western countries; the Honor Magic8 Lite already followed a similar approach. However, it’s quite possible that the battery will be significantly reduced in size to comply with e.g. European regulations.

The screen is amazing

Another highlight is the AMOLED screen, and it really packs a punch: While the resolution of 2,788 x 1,280 pixels is fairly standard for its class and the 6.8-inch size is also quite common, the very high brightness is a real plus. 

Even in bright environments and with the screen fully lit, the phone’s display reached up to 1,828 cd/m² in our test. This value is even significantly exceeded when displaying HDR content. Honor claims 10,000 nits—while we weren’t quite able to reach that in our tests, 5,358 cd/m² is still a very high value. 

So high, in fact, that our testing equipment, the X-Rite i1 Pro 3, should technically be overwhelmed—it’s officially rated to measure only up to 5,000 cd/m². Nevertheless, the value is determined correctly; there’s likely still some leeway here.

There are also some issues

But not everything is perfect with the Honor X80 Pro Max either: You’ll have to make do with relatively slow Wi-Fi, and there’s also an issue with the screen—significant PWM flicker, which can be a problem for sensitive users. Software support also appears to be rather limited; there is no official information on this.

If you’re interested in importing the Honor X80 Pro Max, we recommend reading our in-depth review.