Quick summary
Honor has started teasing the Honor Magic 9 Pro Max, due to launch later in September. It showed the design of this phone and the unique camera.
Developed with Arri, there is a complete camera system, with many accessories also planned.
Apple introduced variable aperture as a highlight feature of the new iPhone 18 Pro, emphasizing that the camera is still a very important part of a smartphone. You don’t have to tell Honor though, as it has started teasing its next flagship phone with some new camera features of its own.
Introducing the Magic 9 Pro Max, which is set to be officially launched in China on September 28, Honor leans into its partnership with Arri – a veteran of the cinema industry. His camera systems were used for movies like The Revenant, 1917, Gravitationand more.
Pairing first came with the development of Honor’s Robot Phone, but it seems that Arri’s experience will also benefit the 2027 flagship phone.
The Honor Magic 9 Pro Max was showcased at the Venice International Film Festival, with Arri branding on the back of the device and the camera array, while it was also teased on Weibo.
Although the phone physically adopted the rear segmentation introduced for the iPhone 17 Pro, with a separate rear panel and a large camera island, the layout of the camera lenses seems to have drawn inspiration from an old Arriflex camera.
(Image credit: Honor)
The result is a massive round blob of the camera sitting next to two other lenses. It’s bold, but I have to say I like it. If you look closer, it seems that a lot of that larger surround is just there to decorate the telephoto.
From the video on Weibo we learn a little more about Honor’s accessories for this camera, with what looks like a clip on cover to support a larger telephoto extension – the kind of thing we’ve seen from Vivo with the X300 Ultra or the Oppo Find X9 Pro.
We know that the Honor Magic 9 Pro Max has three cameras developed with Arri, and how it looks. And we also know that there is a green color. That’s about the end of the official information we have at the moment.
(Image credit: Honor)
So let’s move on to speculation: the timing of the launch suggests that it will be equipped with Qualcomm’s next-gen Snapdragon hardware, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 – or the rumored “Pro” version of the chip that will also appear.
This hardware is expected later in September and typically Chinese brands announce new phones with it immediately after launch.
A wider global launch is likely to follow, probably around February 2027.
An additional leak from Digital Chat Station suggests that the Honor Magic 9 Pro Max will have an 8,800mAh battery, which is absolutely huge.
Elsewhere, a video of the new phone has also been shared that appears to be official, showing off the design a bit more, while there seems to be a lot of people already sharing the design online, possibly part of Honor’s teaser campaign.
Honor Magic9 Pro Max First Unboxing! Unbelievable unibody aluminum alloy texture! ARRI Dual 200MP Camera! #HonorMagic9 #HonorMagic9ProMax #HonorMagic9SuperEdition #Huawei #ARRI pic.twitter.com/swmKWvVjEfSeptember 9, 2026
Wrapped around the lens of the camera, it is revealed that it is a 200-megapixel cam, with a 1 / 1.28in type sensor and 3 degree OIS, while it also says that it will be a 200 megapixel, 1 / 1.4in sensor with 4 degree OIS – it is not clear for the cameras, but the main details are the details.
All will be revealed on September 28, but it looks like the Honor Magic 9 Pro Max will be a serious phone. Especially for fans of photography.