Honor is jumping headfirst into advanced cinema tech, starting with the funky Robot Phone, which launched earlier this year. It combined a motorized gimbal with Hollywood-grade capture standards. However, if that WALL-E aesthetic is too quirky for you, but you still want top-tier mobile cinematography tools, the Honor Magic 9 Pro Max may be more your speed. After exploring its design and video capabilities for a day, here are my initial impressions.
Design: Futuristic and Grippy
The Magic 9, the successor to the Magic 8 Pro, looks like a triple-eyed, moss-green robo-creature designed to blend in with an overgrown, post-apocalyptic wasteland. On the right side of this cybernetic-esque chassis is a volume rocker, a power button, and a camera-control key. The left side has an AI button, and at the bottom you’ll find a USB-C port and a SIM tray.
(Credit: Kimberly Gedeon)
Despite resembling an iPhone Pro, the Honor phone feels better in the hand. The Magic 9 has subtle, tapered curves that melt into my fingers as opposed to the iPhone’s flat, squared-off edges. The Magic 9 may appear heavy, but it strikes an impressive sweet spot between balance and heft. Matching the most recent iPhones, the Magic 9 has a raised, rectangular camera island with a massive 200MP main shooter, a step up from its predecessor’s 50MP camera. If you look closely, its outer ring features a knurled texture that pays homage to pro-photography gear.
(Credit: Kimberly Gedeon)
Next to the striking main camera are two vertically stacked lenses: a 200MP telephoto shooter and a 50MP ultrawide. Thanks to Honor’s partnership with ARRI, which debuted with the Robot Phone, these cameras do more than just shoot high-res photos; they also double as a pocketable filmmaking kit.
Bringing Hollywood to Your Pocket
So what, exactly, is ARRI? It’s one of the biggest international names in professional cinema. For perspective, ARRI’s equipment has been used on Oscar-winning movies like Oppenheimer and Dune. Honor isn’t pretending that the Magic 9 can go toe-to-toe with Hollywood-grade camera rigs. Instead, it’s bringing ARRI’s cinematic touch to your phone. Powered by Honor’s dedicated H1 imaging chip, the Magic 9’s camera system taps into ARRI Image Science to deliver cinema-inspired color and image processing.
(Credit: Kimberly Gedeon)
The biggest selling point for the Magic 9 is that it borrows the same Log recording format used on real movie sets: ARRI LogC3. This lets you capture video while stripping away aggressive auto-sharpening, color boosting, and other heavy-handed digital processing adjustments. You’ll get a more flat, muted, neutral-looking video, but that’s by design. ARRI LogC3 puts the creative reins back into your hands, allowing you to use one of the 14 preloaded ARRI color presets—with another 87 available to download from ARRI’s library. Or, if you prefer, you can upload the video to an editor and do your own color grading.
Testing the Magic 9 Pro Max’s Cameras
The first feature I explored was the Magic 9’s video stabilization, which boasts a rare CIPA 8.0 rating. That’s a fancy camera-industry spec that means you can break into a jog while filming without your footage looking like you shot it during an earthquake.
(Credit: Kimberly Gedeon)
Stabilization
Pretending to be a vlogger, I purposely plodded down an asphalt walking trail while recording with the 200MP main camera. When I checked the footage, I was impressed with how well the phone smoothed out every jarring step, making heavy thuds look like a smooth glide. I took it up a notch and jogged a short distance. Checking the capture, I couldn’t even tell where the walking ended and the running began.
When I compared the Magic 9’s stabilization to an 17 Pro Max I have on hand, the Honor held a clear edge. Even with the iPhone’s Enhanced Stabilization and Action Mode enabled, the Magic 9 still delivered more stable footage than the iPhone.
Video Quality
Compared with the 17 Pro Max, the Magic 9 does a better job of capturing rich, dark shadows and striking reflections, whether it’s off a parked car or a sun-soaked pond. However, when I aimed both phones at the afternoon sun, the Magic 9 produced a faint, subtle streak across the frame while the iPhone did not, keeping it clean and contained.
(Credit: Kimberly Gedeon)
The Magic 9 also beats the 17 Pro Max in sharpness and color reproduction. On the Honor phone, grass was greener, tree trunks were more textured, and passersby’s clothes were sharper. Switch over to telephoto; with both zoomed in at 3.5x, the opposite occurs: the iPhone beats the Honor device, delivering more accurate color reproduction and crisper image quality.
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ARRI Looks
Honor makes shooting in ARRI LogC3 easy. No need to do a deep dive into Settings; you can toggle it on right in the Camera app. All you need to do is tap ARRI CINEMA next to the recording specifications to switch to LogC3.
(Credit: Kimberly Gedeon)
At the park, I captured the autumn aesthetic of a tree-lined pathway while recording a gaggle of Canadian geese standing near a pond. I found the LogC3 sample in the Gallery (thankfully, Honor labels LogC3 videos as “Log,” making them easy to find) and tapped on ARRI Looks to sift through the preinstalled color presets. My favorite one was ARRI-6230, also called Golden Autumn, which encapsulated the fall atmosphere that I was going for when I shot the video. I also found the ARRI-9211 preset intriguing; it transformed my daytime footage into a nighttime scene, giving the clip a spooky feel.
There’s a Nostalgic preset that softens the frame for a wistful, vintage vibe, which is ideal if you’re trying to evoke a distant memory. On the flip side, Vibrant punches up the contrast and color for shots you want leaping off the display.
Sifting through the ARRI Looks, by the way, puts you right inside Honor’s native editing suite. This means you can trim clips, fine-tune the brightness, or add a soundtrack before exporting.
Pricing and Availability
We don’t have word on pricing yet, though early estimates place it between $1,000 and $1,300. As far as availability is concerned, if last year’s 8 Pro is anything to go by, it will likely launch in the UK, China, and other international markets in the coming months. We don’t expect Honor to make the Magic 9 Pro Max available in the US, but there’s always wishful thinking.
About Our Expert
Kimberly Gedeon
Senior Writer, Mobile
Experience
I’m PCMag’s Senior Writer for Mobile on the Consumer Electronics team, diving into the latest phones, tablets, Bluetooth speakers, audio devices, and other portable gear. I’ve been covering consumer technology for six years. Before joining PCMag, I contributed my tech expertise to Laptop Magazine, Mashable, Tom’s Guide, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, and more.
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