Honor is no stranger to smartphone innovations, with its clear embrace of silicon-carbon battery technology, high durability ratings, and even trying out some wild concepts with the Honor Robot Phone.
I recently tried the flagship Honor Magic 8 Pro and the mid-range Honor 600 Pro, and their spec sheets alone were immediately impressive: large silicon-carbon batteries with fast charging, ambitious camera hardware and IP68 / IP69K durability ratings.
Importantly, both phones deliver on the promises that the specifications make on paper. Their 7,100mAh and 7,000mAh batteries lasted more than two days under normal use, longer than any phone I’ve tested before. The cameras were also impressive, especially the Magic8 Pro’s 200MP 3.7x telephoto. The chassis of each phone felt premium despite using plastic for the back, and both held up well during an informal tap water test (though I’ll admit it’s hardly a controlled durability experiment).
Latest Videos FromTechRadar
Performance is also strong, with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipsets (Gen 5 for the Magic 8 Pro and last year’s Gen 4 for the 600 Pro) powering both phones. Both handled multitasking and demanding games comfortably.
More importantly, both phones are competitively priced, with the base 512GB Magic 8 Pro retailing for £1,099.99 / AU$1,999 and the 600 Pro starting at £899.99 / AU$1,499 for the same storage option (neither phone is officially available in the US).
On paper, both phones should have won me over. In practice, their strengths are outweighed by how closely Honor borrows from Apple – especially in MagicOS and the Honor 600 Pro’s camera design.
Tribute or replica?
At first glance, it’s clear that MagicOS is trying to replicate the iOS experience on Android. The Quick Settings panel has a similar layout and design style to the iOS Control Center. System transitions, app opening animations and even scrolling felt like I was using an iPhone.
MagicOS has also disabled the Android app drawer by default, with all apps displayed across several homescreen pages, similar to how iOS organized apps before the introduction of the App Library in iOS 14. Admittedly, the default theme is not a carbon copy of iOS, but details such as the clock and wallpapers feel unmistakably familiar to iPhone users.
Even the initial setup uses a cursive “Hello” animation reminiscent of Apple, with “MagicOS” placed on top.
Both Honor handsets have an “AI Button” in the lower right corner that looks and behaves like the iPhone’s Camera Control button. It launches AI functions, but a double press opens the camera; in the camera app it works as a shutter release and adjusts the zoom when hit. The button is useful, but its most distinctive behavior is still borrowed from Apple.
Honor deserves credit here: Magic Capsule predates Apple’s Dynamic Island, launched in 2019 — three years before the feature’s debut on the iPhone 14 Pro. My argument is not that any similar feature originated with Apple; it’s that Honor’s overall design language points in the same direction over and over again.
The Honor 600 Pro’s camera bump is also reminiscent of the iPhone 17 Pro, with a wide rectangular module and a similar three-camera arrangement. Even the orange finish on the 600 Pro felt like a close variation on Apple’s Cosmic Orange. The differences are there, but they do little to create a distinct visual identity.
Having used Android phones for years and recently switched to an iPhone, I found this similarity less of a tribute and more of a lack of confidence. Honor has made enough changes to technically distinguish the features, but not enough to give them a clear identity.
Our reviewers have also acknowledged these similarities, noting in our Honor Magic 8 Pro review that its AI button worked similarly to the iPhone’s Camera Control button, while our Honor 600 Pro review said it was “clearly (and some might say shamelessly) influenced by the iPhone 17 Pro”, and MagicOS was “just a little too thrilling for Apple’s work”.
What should honor do differently?
Complaints aside, both the Honor Magic 8 Pro and the 600 Pro are otherwise great phones that could stand as great alternative Android phones for very competitive prices. The specs alone give them a credible edge in areas like battery life and durability, especially at these prices. But instead, Honor’s phones come off as imitators, which is a shame given that its phones have a lot to offer.
It’s not like Honor is a stranger to innovation, either. In fact, the brand has some creative designs such as the Honor V wallet foldable and the aforementioned robot phone, which have moved from concept to full commercial release (although only sold in China so far). That makes imitation more frustrating: Honor has already shown that it can design products with its own personality.
With software, brands like Nothing have shown that it is possible to offer a fresh spin on Android, and perhaps Honor could also take a similar path.
Honor already has what it takes to make compelling alternatives: exceptional battery life, ambitious cameras, strong durability and competitive pricing. What it needs now is the confidence to make these phones look and feel like Honor products. Until then, its best hardware remains overshadowed by the question of which way it will go.