Honor Magic8 Pro: AI-Powered Smartphone with Dedicated AI Button and Impressive Specs

A new phone with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is here

The Honor Magic8 Pro has arrived with the latest Qualcomm processor, an impressive camera, a huge battery, and plenty of AI to keep you occupied. What else would you expect from a self-described "global AI device ecosystem company"? Impressive hardware Before we go into all that AI, it's important to talk about the hardware you'll actually hold. The Honor Magic8 Pro has a 6.71-inch OLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, and so you can kiss goodbye to your retinas, a peak brightness of 6,000 nits. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 provides the processing power, making it only the second phone with the chip to be officially announced after the Xiaomi 17 series. It comes with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage space. There are three cameras on the back with a 50MP main, a 50MP wide-angle, and a 200MP telephoto camera for a 3.7x optical zoom. The main and telephoto cameras both have optical image stabilization (OIS), while the wide-angle enables a macro mode. Finally, energy is delivered by a massive 7,100mAh silicon-carbon battery complete with wired and wireless charging. However, when the phone is eventually released in Europe, the capacity will fall to 6,270mAh. Honor AI Honor is promoting the AI features as reasons to choose the Magic8 Pro, and there are some interesting additions. The Honor AI agent is called up using an AI Button, and can assist with general duties, all conveyed to it using natural language. For example, you'll be able to ask it to find and delete blurry photos, summarize expenses to email to your company, and more. Honor says its AI agent will understand 3,000 different scenarios. The AI Button will also enable visual search using the camera, where an AI Video Call lets you chat to the AI agent about what you're seeing in real time. Outside of the agent, Honor's AI works in the camera, where Magic Color will enhance colors in your photos, and create filters based on reference images. AI also assists with the telephoto mode to minimize camera shake. Coming soon At the moment Honor has announced the Magic8 Pro and other Magic8 series devices for China, where the AI is powered by its own Yoyo assistant. Honor has confirmed the Magic 8 Pro will be released globally before the end of the year, when we'd expect to see Google Gemini onboard, and it's possible some of the features mentioned above may not operate. Honor does not sell its smartphones in the U.S..

Honor's Magic 8 series adds dedicated AI button, but not for Google Gemini

Honor announced the new Magic 8 series, including the Magic 8 Pro a little earlier than expected. The new phones make AI an unignorable selling point with a dedicated button for the company's proprietary AI assistant that rivals Gemini Live. The Magic 8 and Magic 8 Pro come as successors to the Magic 7 series launched in early 2025. Honor has increasingly made its ties to AI evident, and the new device lineup clearly marks the venture into the deep end. Honor's new Magic 8 devices bring familiar, but strong, spec note regarding chipset. The phones run on a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 SoC, but Honor has a small trick up its sleeve. According to the press release, this is the first time "GPU-NPU Heterogeneous AI" has been deployed. With the graphics processor and neural processing unit working in tandem, Honor claims the phones can transform low-res and low-FPS gameplay into high-res content. It sounds a lot like Nvidia's DLSS engine with frame generation, though seeing it in action will make it clear whether the GPU-NPU hybrid tech has any promise at this stage. Honor also made sure to mention that the Magic 8 series has a new button, but it isn't just for the camera or anything remotely tame. The button acts as a dedicated AI button, with a few different actions available. Oddly enough, a double-press still activates the camera. A long press will bring up Honor's own version of Gemini Live, called YOYO Video Call. A quick tap can be programmed to certain functions, though what that covers is unclear. Interestingly enough, Honor made no mention of Google Gemini in the press release. This comes as the company made a strong mention of its partnership with Google in creating the Magic V5 foldable. The Magic 7 Pro defaulted to using Gemini as the main device assistant, but it looks like Honor is focused on injecting its own model into the Magic 8. The Magic 8 Pro stands out from the base model with expected camera superiority. It offers a 200MP sensor that doubles as an "Ultra Night Telephoto Camera" with a wide aperture. That array also incorporates the company's proprietary digital image stabilization using, you guessed it, AI. Honor also managed to pack a confidence-inspiring 7,200mAh of power into a silicon-carbon battery. Not only is that large, but the material choice likely means more punch. A battery of that size and design has the potential to last multiple days without a sweat. In real life, there are many factors that play into that estimate. Honor notes the Magic 8 series is available in China starting today at RMB 4,499 for the Magic 8, and RMB 5,699 for the Magic 8 Pro. The device will make its way to international markets "later this year."

Honor reveals its 'first self-evolving AI smartphone' - and yes, it has an AI button

Honor has unleashed its new Magic 8 series of flagship phones in China, and they're jam-packed with artificial intelligence (AI) features. The Chinese brand dubs the new Honor Magic 8 Pro its "first self-evolving AI smartphone" - but what, exactly, does that mean in real terms? Well, its major new feature is the YOYO Agent, an agentic AI tool that, according to Honor, will be able to assist in more than 3,000 scenarios. Examples provided by the brand include the ability for the YOYO Agent to delete blurry photos from your camera roll upon request, as well as compose and send business emails using information from your inbox. The YOYO Agent will be instantly accessible via the phone's all-new AI Button, which, when held down, will also activate a Google Lens-like YOYO Video Call feature for gathering information about subjects within the viewfinder. If you'd rather use the button for something else, you'll also be able to set it to activate a range of one-tap functions. The AI tools don't stop there, though, with new AI features coming to the phone's camera setup. These include 'AI anti-shake technology', which should make it easier to take clear, zoomed-in images. There's also Magic Color, 'the industry's first AI-powered color engine', which will apparently increase the quality of color processing for better pictures. Behind all of its AI bells and whistles, the Honor Magic 8 Pro boasts some seriously high-end specs, namely the newly released Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, which powers many of its AI features through its Hexagon NPU. This is paired with a hefty 12GB of RAM and a robust 512GB of storage. On the display front, you're getting a 6.71-inch OLED panel (1256 x 2080) with a variable refresh rate up to 120Hz and a staggering brightness of up to 6,000 nits. There are three rear cameras, too: a 200MP telephoto lens, a 60MP lens, and a 50MP ultra-wide that can also be used for macro shots. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 should be a very power-efficient chipset, with 16% overall power savings compared to the previous Snapdragon 8 Elite per Qualcomm, but Honor hasn't used that as an excuse to skimp out on the battery. Buyers in China get a 7,100mAh silicon-carbon model, though those in Europe will have a smaller 6,270mAh version. All versions will support 100W wired charging, or 80W wireless charging for quick top-ups. The phone weighs 213g and comes in four colors: Glacier White, Sky Cyan, Black, and, my personal favorite, Sunrise Gold. It'll ship with the new Honor Magic OS 10 Android skin, which features a very Liquid Glass-like translucent visual design and plenty of customizability. My current daily driver, the Porsche Design Honor Magic 7 RSR, is running Magic OS 9 right now, and I'm a big fan, so I'm keen to see how this new iteration of the operating system holds up. While the Honor Magic 8 Pro is available to pre-order in China today, it will come to other markets like Europe later this year. There's no official word on UK pricing yet, but I would expect the phone to start somewhere in the region of £1,099.99, like its predecessor, the Honor Magic 7 Pro. As with other Honor models, expect plenty of discounts and bundled freebies to bring that price down in due time, though.