Honor Magic 5 Pro in the test: Real competition for the Galaxy S23 Ultra

This spring it tumbles flagship smartphones. With the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra (test report), the Koreans have set the bar damn high. The response from the Chinese competition was not long in coming. With the Xiaomi 13 Pro (test report) and the cheaper alternative Motorola Edge 40 Pro (test report), two powerful smartphones with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 have recently been released. Now Honor has unveiled its new flagship and it has it all. The Magic 5 Pro follows the Honor Magic 4 Pro (test report) from the previous year. The predecessor already convinced with good equipment and excellent camera. The successor is in no way inferior to that.

Visually, the Magic 5 Pro is based on its predecessor. The display is strongly rounded on the sides. At the top left is an oval notch for the two lenses of the front camera. The camera on the back has been redesigned. The three lenses, the laser autofocus and the LED flash are located in a large, circular element that rises flowingly out of the housing like a volcano. This gives the smartphone an organic character.

The processing is first class. The Magic 5 Pro looks very elegant, all elements flow harmoniously into each other. The metal frame underlines the high-quality character. Like the display, the back is also curved on the sides. The satin-matt glass surface is pleasantly insensitive to fingerprints. The lasered lettering of the manufacturer looks very classy. There are no gaps, the pressure point of the power button and volume rocker is solid – as you would expect from a top smartphone.

Like the predecessor, the Magic 5 Pro is quite bulky. The dimensions (162.9 × 76.7 × 8.8 millimeters) almost correspond to the Galaxy S23 Ultra, which is also very large. One-handed operation is out of the question, but you get a really large display with a diagonal of 6.81 inches. At 219 grams, it’s a bit lighter than the competitor from Korea – but definitely not a lightweight. The Magic 5 Pro is also well protected: Thanks to IP68, it is dustproof and can withstand a longer stay in fresh water up to a depth of 1 meter. A transparent protective cover made of silicone is included, which is intended to provide additional protection for the more expensive mobile phone.

The 6.81-inch display with OLED panel has a resolution of 2848 × 1312 pixels. This results in a razor-sharp image with a high pixel density of 460 ppi (pixels per inch). There are no visible pixels here, but the resolution of almost 500 ppi in the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra (test report) is slightly higher. Optionally, an automatic system controls the required resolution, and you can also manually reduce it to 2492 × 1148 pixels or 2136 × 984 pixels.

The display flickers optionally with up to 120 Hz, which ensures smooth animations on the display. By default, this regulates an automatic from 1 to 120 Hz, manually 60, 90 or 120 Hz are available.

An always-on display is also available with the Magic 5 Pro. By default, after tapping the screen, this shows the time, the date, the charge status and a small graphic. Optionally, you can also set specific times for it or leave it switched on permanently. According to Honor, this reduces the battery life by about 10 percent.

The image quality is first class, the viewing angle stability is very pronounced. In addition, the display is damn bright. According to Honor, it should reach up to 1300 cd/m², with HDR even 1800 cd/m². We were able to measure around 900 cd/m² – albeit with the help of a daylight lamp, because the weather didn’t offer much sunshine at the time of the test. It is always easy to read, even in bright surroundings.

The Magic 5 Pro uses a triple camera on the back and a dual camera on the front for selfies and face recognition. Really strong: all three lenses offer the same resolution of 50 megapixels. This applies to the main lens (f/1.6), the periscope telephoto lens (f/3.0) and the wide-angle lens (f/2.0), which is also responsible for macro shots. The main and telephoto lenses offer optical image stabilization (OIS). All lenses combine four pixels into one larger one in order to be able to use more information in weaker light conditions.

The predecessor already shot magnificent pictures, and it is no different with the Magic 5 Pro. The photos almost always look great, whether the weather is sunny, cloudy or at dusk. Image details are very pronounced, the dynamic range is also consistent and ensures a lively and lifelike reproduction of landscapes and objects. Wide-angle shots also look very good and differ only slightly in quality from the main lens.

Even recordings with 3.5x zoom offer a high level of detail. Only at 10x magnification does a slight image noise become noticeable, but it still delivers decent photos. As far as the main lens is concerned, recordings are also excellent at night – the night mode also helps here, but it is not needed if there is enough residual light. Here the OIS makes a positive difference, which enables particularly sharp images. Image noise is only noticeable in the dark with the telephoto lens. Theoretically, the zoom ranges up to 100x magnification. Unsurprisingly, the result is very pixelated.

Video recordings look crisp and are very stable thanks to OIS. Up to 4K with 60 fps (frames per second) is possible with the main camera, the selfie camera offers 4K with a maximum of 30 fps or full HD with 60 fps.

With the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, the currently best processor from the Android cosmos runs in the Magic 5 Pro. This offers enormous power reserves at all times. The system reacts extremely quickly and runs smoothly. Hesitation is a foreign word with the Magic 5 Pro, everything happens quickly here. This applies to both gaming and other tasks. The Magic 5 Pro gets warm under high load, but not overly hot.

The benchmarks prove the high performance: almost 15000 points in Work 3.0 from PCmark and 3600 points in Wild Life Extreme from 3Dmark are among the top results from our tests. In fact, the Galaxy S23 is a bit faster in comparison in 3Dmark – here the processor was adapted and optimized by Qualcomm and Samsung together for the device.

The RAM and internal memory are also plentiful with 12 GB and 512 GB respectively. The memory uses the fastest standard UFS 4.0. However, an extension is not possible. Operation with eSIM and dual SIM (via Nano SIM) is possible. The Type-C slot supports USB 3.1. Of course, the Magic 5 Pro offers support for 5G networks, but also Wifi 7 in home networks. A compass as well as GPS, Glonass, BeiDou and Galileo are available for localization. According to the GPS test, the accuracy is sufficiently accurate at around 3 meters. The stereo speakers offer a full and clear sound, and the telephone quality is also convincing.

The fingerprint scanner is located at the bottom center of the display and responds quickly and reliably. Thanks to the 3D technology of the two lenses in the display, unlocking by face recognition is more secure against attempted deception and a valid option. In practice it also works well.

The operating system is Android 13 with the Magic OS 7.1 user interface. If you are familiar with devices from Huawei or Honor, you will quickly find your way around the user interface. By default, this is used without an app drawer and relies on gesture control instead of Android icons, which is reminiscent of a copy of iOS. That means all apps end up on the screen. If you are used to stock Android, you have to change something here. Ultimately, it remains a matter of taste.

The security patch dates from February 2023 and is therefore no longer entirely up to date, but it is also not excessively outdated. Users also have to live with a lot of Honor bloatware. Honor offers its own solution for almost every Google service, including the app store. Around 30 GB are occupied by the house.

Compared to the predecessor, Honor has improved its update policy. The Magic 5 Pro is supposed to get three Android upgrades – up to and including version 16. Security patches are said to be available for five years – that’s commendable, but Samsung has been offering it for a long time.

The battery has an impressive capacity of 5100 mAh. This gives hope for a long battery life. The result disappointed us a bit compared to the Galaxy S23 series (guide): Almost 11 hours is a good value in itself, but the Samsung cellphones managed around 13 hours here – despite the lower battery capacity. In everyday use, the Magic 5 Pro should easily last a day or two – as long as you don’t play games or watch videos a lot.

Were a little surprised at the charger. With 66 watts, this offers more than Samsung, but compared to the 120 watts of the Xiaomi 13 Pro (test report) and Motorola Edge 40 Pro (test report), it now seems “old-fashioned” for a Chinese cell phone. But it’s whining at a high level, the battery is charged from 20 to 100 percent in just under 45 minutes.

Honor is more exemplary when it comes to wireless charging via induction – also known as Qi. The Honor Magic 50 Pro supports wireless charging with up to 50 watts. That’s really fast, Samsung only offers 15 watts here. However, this also requires an Honor Wireless Charger.

The Honor Magic 5 Pro is not a bargain. The RRP is a proud 1200 euros. There is only one memory variant with 512 GB, the colors are green and black to choose from.

The Honor Magic 5 Pro is one of the best Android smartphones currently available. Both display and performance are great. The camera is also convincing across the board, both day and night. The design and workmanship are also harmonious and of high quality.

There are hardly any major weaknesses. The battery life could not quite reach the level of the Galaxy S23 series in the benchmark. Honor also packs a lot of its own apps onto the device and the user interface seems a bit too inspired by iOS. The charger does not break any records with 66 watts, but it also charges very quickly wirelessly.