It was one other sturdy yr for Honor because it solidified itself as one of many main Android producers globally. Honor makes among the greatest foldables on the market, and its flagship Magic6 and midrange quantity collection units additionally stood out from the gang.
Including to its sturdy smartphone lineup is the bevy of nice tablets and laptops, with the MagicBook Artwork 14 being one among our 2024 favorites. There have been some rising pains alongside the best way, so let’s summarize the great and not-so-good Honor’s 2024 marketing campaign.
Winner: Magic V3
Honor delivered arguably the most effective foldable of 2024 with the Magic V3. The thinnest and lightest book-style fold available on the market seems like a technology (or two) forward of Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold6 and many of the different key rivals within the area.
With its loopy skinny 4.4mm width in unfolded mode and 226-gram weight, Honor delivered an 8-inch gadget that takes up about the identical area in your pocket as a flagship iPhone Professional Max or Samsung Galaxy Extremely slab cellphone.
And it’s not simply seems, Honor introduced all of the bells and whistles with the V3 – a fairly sized 6.43-inch cowl display screen, an enormous 7.92 most important show that helps stylus enter, the flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset and a succesful trio of cameras all backed by a strong software program and a decently lasting battery.
Winner: Magic6 Professional
It was among the many first flagship Android telephones to launch in 2024 and the Magic6 Professional remained an element all year long. It ticked many of the packing containers for a current-gen flagship – a vivid and crisp LTPO OLED show, Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, nice cameras with a top-notch 180MP periscope and top-tier battery endurance. It was additionally the one Android flagship to supply an iPhone-rivaling 3D face unlock system.
Unreliable video taking pictures and a few minor software program mishaps apart, Magic6 Professional is a worthy flagship and stays aggressive in opposition to the most effective within the enterprise. We are able to solely hope that the Magic7 Professional is coming to international markets quickly.
Winner: MagicBook Artwork 14
It was one of many best-looking laptops we reviewed this yr, and the MagicBook Artwork 14 didn’t disappoint on the {hardware} entrance both. From its beautiful 14.6-inch OLED 120Hz touchscreen, to the cool aluminum chassis and the Intel Core Extremely 5 chip, MagicBook Artwork 14 left little to be desired.
Artwork 14 weighs subsequent to nothing at 980 grams, and that neat tuck-away digital camera module is a superb get together trick that can attraction to the privacy-focused crowd. The titanium keyboard and big glass trackpad are a pleasure to make use of and the 60Wh battery acquired us by a full day of labor. We’re additionally anticipating to see these numbers go up with the Snapdragon X Elite model, which is in our evaluation pipeline.
Loser: Worldwide availability
For all the nice units it launched prior to now twelve months, Honor has continued its coverage of holding a few of its units China-exclusive. Nice telephones just like the non-Professional Magic6, Magic V Flip, and X50 GT are sadly not obtainable exterior of China.
Honor Magic6 • Magic V Flip • X50 GT
As well as, the model’s newest Magic7 collection telephones are nonetheless solely bought in China almost two months after their announcement, with no phrase on which telephones will make the leap overseas.
Loser: MagicOS
Regardless of Honor’s continued dedication, MagicOS shouldn’t be amongst our favourite Android skins. From the Magic Capsule pill-shaped cutout to the management middle, it’s evident that Honor’s software program group sees iOS as an inspiration. That’s a standard theme for Chinese language smartphone producers however we really feel like Honor’s succesful {hardware} is held again a bit by the software program.
The most recent MagicOS 9.0 seems promising, however we’ll must get our fingers on the worldwide launch to see if it is actually caught as much as the likes of Samsung’s One UI or Google’s Pixel UI.
Loser: Flagship smartwatch
Honor’s flagship smartphones and foldables are among the greatest on the Android market so we’re left questioning why the model doesn’t put extra effort right into a premium smartwatch. The Honor Watch 5 and Watch GS 4 are the maker’s solely smartwatches to launch in 2024 and whereas each are succesful units, they’re a good distance away from a correct WearOS smartwatch.
A WearOS Honor Watch with Porsche Design seems can be a welcome addition
Honor already has an unlimited ecosystem of premium units starting from smartphones to tablets and laptops, so finishing the circle with a flagship smartwatch would solely make sense. With its experience from its Porsche Design smartphones, we’re sure that Honor could make a standout premium smartwatch that may put some recent air within the stale WearOS market.
