The HONOR Magic7 Pro is a very compelling flagship from HONOR. We’ve had the chance to use it, and you read that review here. Soon after that was concluded, another variant of that phone arrived, and I’ve been using it for a while now. The phone in question is called the HONOR Magic7 RSR Porsche Design, and this is our review of that device. This is a special edition variant of the Magic7 Pro in collaboration with Porsche Design. That’s something HONOR consumers are already used to at this point.
With that being said, the HONOR Magic7 RSR Porsche Design does not just represent a new color slapped onto the HONOR Magic7 Pro, not at all. It comes with a different design, an improved periscope telephoto camera, and a larger battery, amongst some other tidbits. Its retail packaging is also vastly different, actually, and that’s also something we’ll talk about. So if you’d like to know more about this premium offering from HONOR and Porsche Design, read on.
HONOR Magic7 RSR Porsche Design Review: Hardware / Design
The design here is one of the main differentiating points between the HONOR Magic7 RSR Porsche Design and the HONOR Magic7 Pro. The front side looks pretty much the same, but the back is entirely different. You’ll notice that HONOR used a hexagonal camera module here, which is supposed to pay tribute to the Porsche Taycan Turbo S sports car. This phone is also available in two colors which represent two very popular colors of Porsche sports cars. The names of those colors are Agate Grey and Provence. We’ve received the later color to review, which is more or less a purple color.
It features a ‘Peak Line’ and a hexagonal camera module on the back
Furthermore, you’ll notice the so-called ‘Peak Line’ on the back. That is not just a visual change, but an actual line that gradually increases in height. It’s supposed to be reminiscent of the hook lines feature on Porsche sports cars. It gives you an interesting feeling when holding the device. It’s not extremely different than what you’re getting on the HONOR Magic7, but it sure is different. It’s a nice touch regardless, and something we’ve been seeing on HONOR’s Porsche Design smartphones for a while now.
That hexagonal camera module on the back looks notably different than the one on the HONOR Magic7 Pro. The thing is, only one of the cameras on the inside is different, the periscope telephoto one. That’s something we’ll talk far more about in the camera section of the review. That camera module does protrude on the back, though, notably. It can serve as an anchor to your index finger, to a degree. Its angle is not perfect for something like that, but it works. I have to admit I was not a fan of this camera module before I’ve seen it in real life. I actually dig it now, quite a bit.
HONOR used aluminum and NanoCrystal glass here
The phone itself is made out of metal and glass. To be more accurate, HONOR used aluminum for its frame, and NanoCrystal shield glass which offers great drop resistance. That glass is actually used on both the front and back of this phone. Speaking of the front, the bezels on the phone are very minimal, and a quad micro-curve design is used, with a pill-shaped cutout. The display itself is flat, but the glass on top of it is curved on all sides, towards the edges. The same actually goes with the glass panel on the back of the phone.
The frame on the device is flat all around. All of the physical buttons are located on the right-hand side, the power/lock and volume up and down buttons. The device itself is not exactly grippy, as it’s made out of metal and glass. It has matte glass on the back,a nd quite frankly I’ve used phones made out of glass that are more slippery. Perhaps it’s the gigantic size of this phone, including its width, or perhaps something else, but it felt quite comfortable to use despite its build materials. Yes, it’s still slippery, but not as slippery as I expected. I used it without a case for the most part. Its weight is also not overwhelming, and hand fatigue was minimal.
It is IP68 & IP69 certified
The HONOR Magic7 RSR Porsche Design is also IP68 and IP69 certified. It offers better water and dust resistance than the vast majority of smartphones out there. This is not a rugged phone by any means, but water should not concern, the same goes for dust. Overall, I like this design. I always say I prefer anything other than glass on the back, and that’s still true, but this design is at least a bit different.
There are two chargers included here
I don’t always talk about a phone’s retail box. In fact, I rarely do, but considering the contents of this one, it sure is worth it. The box itself is really nice, as it includes magnets up top. That’s where you access its contents. Aside from the device itself and the SIM tray ejector pin, you’ll also find two chargers, two charging cables, and a case. Why two chargers? Well, because HONOR decided to do it that way. They’re not the same chargers. You are getting two Type-C charging cables, though, Type-C to Type-C.
The case is really nice
Now, the case itself is also very nice. It’s in the color of the phone and it has vegan leather on the back. On the inside, it has added foamy protection for the phone, in case you drop it or something. The sides of the device do remain uncovered by this case, but the top and bottom sides are covered, as are the corners. This case does look very nice. The color itself may not be my jam, on the color model that HONOR sent us, but the case itself is really nice. It sure is above and beyond those regular plastic/gel cases that you get with phones.
HONOR Magic7 RSR Porsche Design Review: Display
The HONOR Magic7 RSR Porsche Design features the same display as the HONOR Magic7 Pro. You’ll find a 6.8-inch LTPO Equal-Depth Quad-Curved Screen on this smartphone. Don’t let the ‘Quad-Curved’ part to throw you off, though, this display is not curved. The display itself is flat, but the glass on top of it is curved on all sides, towards the very edges. This display has an adaptive refresh rate from 1 to 120Hz, as you’d expect out of every flagship smartphone these days. HONOR does refer to adaptive refresh rate as ‘Smart Refresh’, though.
The theoretical peak brightness is at 5,000 nits
The display here can project up to 1.07 billion colors, and it has a 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, not to mention it supports HDR content. The peak brightness is 5,000 nits, though it’s technically achievable only with HDR content. You’ll never go that high regardless, though, that’s the peak brightness only in theory. The point is, this display can get immensely bright when you need it to, so don’t worry about that. It’s one of the brightest in the business. The resolution it offers is 2800 x 1280, while the PPI here is 453. Dolby Vision is supported, and HONOR also refers to this display as a ‘Super Dynamic Vivid Display’.
High-frequency PWM dimming is also a part of the package
This panel also offers high-frequency PWM dimming at 4,320Hz and has three TUV certifications to protect your eyes. Those are Full Care Display 4.0, Circular Polarization, and Flicker Free. On top of that, the HONOR NanoCrystal Shield glass is included on top of it, to protect it. The phone also has the SGS 5-star glass drop resistance ability certification, and that goes for multiple scenarios. Sure, this display does look appealing on paper, but it’s also great in actual use scenarios.
We preferred the ‘Vivid’ setting, but take your pick
It does get immensely bright when you need it to. The device learned my adaptive brightness preferences really fast, and the display also offers great viewing angles. It has a great touch response, and something that HONOR also nailed is refresh rate optimization. When you scroll, some phones either feel jittery despite a high refresh rate, or the scrolling doesn’t do a good job of following your finger, it doesn’t end up being fast or accurate enough. I’m nitpicking here just to show how good of a job HONOR did with that here. Every detail matters, and this one is definitely important to me, so… there you go. The display is set to ‘Vivid’ by default, and that’s where I left it. I tried the other two options, but I ended up landing on this one, even though the ‘Natural’ setting is probably the best option if you want utter color accuracy. I never look at camera samples on the phone itself, I always transfer them to my PC before writing about the camera section, so that doesn’t really matter.
A pill-shaped cutout is here for a good reason
There is a pill-shaped cutout included at the top of the display. It’s there because this handset supports 3D facial scanning which we’ll talk about a bit later. It’s a lot smaller than Apple’s, so chances are you’ll get used to it really fast, I did. The bezels are minimal, as the phone has around 90% screen-to-body ratio, and they’re also uniform. I don’t really have any complaints when it comes to this display. It ticks all the right boxes, and it works just as well as advertised. I had the exact same experience as on the HONOR Magic7 Pro, which I reviewed recently.
HONOR Magic7 RSR Porsche Design Review: Performance
The HONOR Magic7 RSR Porsche Design is fueled by the Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC. That is Qualcomm’s most powerful processor at the moment. HONOR also made sure to include plenty of RAM here, this phone ships with 24GB of LPDDR5X RAM. Yes, you read that right. Many would say that’s overkill, but there you go, it’s a statement of sorts. To make the performance-related spec puzzle complete, the company also threw in 1TB of UFS 4.0 flash storage. That storage is not expandable, though. All of that is combined with HONOR’s MagicOS 9.0 skin which is based on Android 15. We’ll talk about the software itself later on.
The device offered outstanding performance
With that being said, this phone does offer outstanding performance, to say the least. It feels extremely snappy at all times. The device kept up even when I was multitasking like nobody’s business, running demanding apps in split screen mode, jumping between apps like a madman, and so on. It handled all that with ease. The only slowdowns I’ve noticed were with some poorly-optimized third-party apps, but that’s not the phone’s fault, not at all. HONOR also uses really nice animations that fit perfectly with MagicOS 9.0, they’re snappy and yet not too snappy. They do give you a moment to enjoy them, basically. I did end up speeding them up a bit, and that felt perfect for me personally. The phone simply flew after I did that. Camera launches were fast, multimedia was not a problem… basically everything was snappy, there’s really no point in dwelling on it anymore. This phone is fast, period.
It’s good for gaming too
The same can be said for gaming. Not a single game I’ve tried out represented an issue for the HONOR Magic7 RSR Porsche Design. For transparency’s sake, I’ve played 3D Pool, Subway Surfers, Warzone Mobile, COD Mobile, and Genshin Impact while I was using the device. Those are some of my games that are in constant rotation when I’m reviewing phones. The less demanding titles on the list were not a problem at all, and Genshin Impact ran perfectly fine as well, with high graphical settings and all. As a result, the phone did get quite warm, but it never threw me an overheating warning or anything of the sort. It also never got to the point of becoming too hot to hold or anything like that, not at all.
Its ultrasonic fingerprint scanner & 3D facial scanning are sublime
The HONOR Magic7 RSR includes an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner under the display. On top of that. this phone also offers 3D facial scanning, advanced facial scanning similar to what iPhones offer. That’s a true rarity in the Android world. Do note that both of those biometric scanning options work brilliantly. You can use whichever you want, or both, it’s up to you.
The fingerprint scanner is fast and accurate. It was not easy to get it to fail reading my finger, regardless of the time of day. Even when my finger was a bit wet it worked like a charm. When it comes to facial scanning, that also worked without a problem, even in pitch-black situations, which is one of the advantages of 3D facial scanning. I actually ended up using 3D facial scanning more often than the fingerprint scanner, as it’s something new and different, something I don’t get to use on Android phones all that often.
Here are some benchmarks for you
I’m sure that some of you want access to some benchmarking tests, so… we ran some. Below, you’ll be able to see the phone’s results from Geekbench, along with how long it took it to export a fullHD video in 4K via CapCut. Some additional information is available below too. These results do not surprise me, though, considering the phone’s hardware. It’s on par with what we expected.
HONOR Magic7 RSR Porsche Design Review: Battery
The HONOR Magic7 Pro’s global variant has a smaller battery capacity than its Chinese counterpart. Well, the same is not the case with the HONOR Magic7 RSR Porsche Design. This smartphone comes with a 5,850mAh battery. That is a third-generation silicon-carbon battery, and it basically allows HONOR to offer higher battery capacity while not increasing the battery size. Needless to say, this is great battery capacity for this phone. For comparison’s sake, the global variant of the HONOR Magic7 Pro comes with a 5,270mAh battery on the inside. The thing is, even that phone offered really good battery life, so we had high hopes for this one.
The battery life does not disappoint, quite the contrary
The Magic7 RSR Porsche Design certainly does not disappoint. The phone does offer notably better battery life than its sibling, and it’s also flying high in our battery drain charts. What most of you are interested in is real-life use, for a good reason. You will not be disappointed, that’s for sure. I was constantly getting 7 hours of screen-on time with this phone with a lot of juice left in the tank, as I usually don’t use my phone more than that in a single day. On several occasions, I decided to pick up the pace, and the phone reached the 9-hour screen-on-time mark without a problem, while still having some battery life.
Power users will love the battery backup here
The battery life was also consistent, which is not something many phones can say for themselves, and something I certainly appreciated. I always knew what to expect out of the phone, without surprises. I charged the device basically every 1.5 days on average, with rather heavy use. Do note that games were not a part of an equation, though. I did play plenty of games during testing, but they’re not a part of my regular use. Everything else was a part of it, though. Using mobile data did not drain the battery significantly faster at all, which is always good to see. Using the camera intensely does take its toll, though, as it does on every other phone.
Wireless charging speed is the highlight here
What I enjoyed the most when it comes to this phone’s battery prowess is actually its wireless charging. The HONOR Magic7 RSR Porsche Design supports 80W wireless charging. I have HONOR’s 100W wireless charging, so that was a match made in heaven. It was a true joy to charge it this way, and it was charged in no time. On top of that, 100W wired charging is also available, but I only used that once to test out how fast the phone will charge. I was hooked on wireless charging, basically, and would recommend getting that charger if you get this phone. The device also supports reverse wireless and reverse wired charging. As already mentioned earlier, 100W chargers are included in the box, for two different wall outlets.
HONOR Magic7 RSR Porsche Design Review: Camera
The HONOR Magic7 RSR Porsche Design did get some camera improvements compared to the Magic7 Pro. First and foremost, it has a different periscope telephoto camera setup. The camera sensor is still the same, a 200-megapixel unit, but the lens on top of it is different. You’re getting an f/1.9 aperture lens here, which is a considerable improvement over an f/2.6 aperture lens on the HONOR Magic7 Pro. That camera still offers 3x optical zoom, and PDAF support, while we’re having a 1/1.4-inch camera sensor here, which is also a win. Another change compared to the HONOR Magic7 Pro is the addition of LiDAR on the back. HONOR added a 1,200 Points LiDAR Matrix to the phone.
The periscope telephoto camera has been improved, but the main camera is great
The main camera here is a 50-megapixel Super Dynamic Falcon unit with an adjustable aperture (f/1.4-f/2.0 aperture), while OIS is also a part of the offering. This is, by the way, a 1/1.3-inch camera sensor, and it offers a 1.2um pixel size and multi-dimensional PDAF support. The last camera on the back is a 50-megapixel ultrawide unit. It offers a 122-degree FoV and has an f/2.0 aperture on it. This camera comes with a 1/2.88-inch camera sensor and offers a 0.61um pixel size. On the front, you’ll find the same 50-megapixel 1/2.93-inch camera as on the Magic7 Pro, with an f/2.0 aperture. All in all, the camera hardware does look really good here.
Does that transfer to actual real-life use? Well, yes. The HONOR Magic7 RSR Porsche Design can take some really compelling photos. They’re not perfect, of course, nothing is, but they’re really good. The ultrawide and periscope telephoto cameras actually do a good job of keeping a similar color profile as the main camera. That can vary, however, as in some scenes ultrawide camera’s color profile was notably different. That did not happen often, but it’s definitely worth noting.
The ‘Vibrant’ setting worked great for us
I used the ‘Vibrant’ camera setting most of the time, as that one seemed the best out of the three on offer. You can also choose between ‘Natural’ and ‘Authentic’. With that being said, the main camera did a really good job, most of the time. During the day, it usually managed to balance out images just right. They were full of details, well-balanced, and it did a really good job with HDR too. In low light, it did a good job, but the details were a bit lower than I expected, especially in indoor shots. Also, some images in low light were a bit too yellow for my taste, that was usually the case when street lights were a part of the picture.
Its ultrawide camera is good, but it’s also the weakest link on the back
The ultrawide camera does a good job during the day. It does show fewer details than the main one, but for the most part, it’s really good. That does change in low light, however, where you’ll see notably fewer details than the main camera provides, while from time to time the color profile also goes down the drain in such situations. For the most part, however, this camera does a good job.
I did notice better performance in low light from the periscope telephoto camera, compared to the one on the Magic7 Pro. That lens change sure is welcomed. That camera does a great job during the day, and it can also capture great-looking macro photos. It keeps the same color profile as the main camera, as much as it can. During the night, it does a good job, though the level of detail is a bit lower than I’d expect, while it could also pick up a bit more detail from the shadows. The dynamic range could also be a bit higher.
There’s an interesting AI feature in play here, for higher-level zoom shots
HONOR also has a really neat AI-boost feature for the periscope telephoto camera. This comes into play for high zoom ranges, over 30x. You can zoom in up to 100x with this camera, and chances are you won’t get a blurry photo, just make sure you’re connected to the internet at the time of taking the image. I have some samples below, and the one with the air conditioner on a building is a great example. This feature can be tricked, however. When there’s fine detail in an image, it tends to remove things it cannot recognize, and it can also sometimes change the details altogether. Its AI processing is a bit too aggressive in my opinion. It does work great most of the time, though. 100x images may look a bit like watercolors at times, but at least you’re not getting a blurry image.
Main camera samples:
Ultrawide camera samples:
Periscope telephoto camera samples:
HONOR Magic7 RSR Porsche Design Review: Software
The HONOR Magic7 RSR Porsche Design comes with Android 15 out of the box and HONOR’s MagicOS 9.0 on top of it. This software build is considerably different than stock Android, in case you were wondering. Those of you who have used MagicOS in the last couple of years will be right at home, though. For some people, this will be a perfect blend between Android and iOS, as elements from both operating systems are used here. The sheer performance of MagicOS 9.0 is great, and I do know quite a few people who really love it. With that being said, let’s talk about some specifics.
It’s a blend of two worlds
MagicOS 9.0 opts for a split notification shade and quick toggles shade. By default, a swipe down on the home screen will fire up the universal search, much like on iOS, but you can change that. You can make it so that the swipe down across the left side of the screen triggers the notification shade, and the same action on the right brings down quick toggles. Speaking of which, much like iOS, you’ll get a blurred see-through background for quick toggle icons, notification cards, and so on. There is also no double tap-to-lock option here, for the home screen. That’s not a big deal, but many people are used to it, so… keep that in mind.
HONOR made some smart choices for one-handed use
Many of you will be prone to use the lock screen more often than you would on other phones, as was I. Why? Well, because 3D facial scanning is included here. I usually don’t use facial scanning as it always fails in dark environments, so I just opt for a fingerprint scanner. On this phone, I used facial scanning over 90% of the time, and it worked great. I loved the fact that HONOR brought down the notification cards on the lock screen. They pop up at the very bottom, so they’re easy to reach, and by default, they are stacked one behind the other. Yes, that’s also reminiscent of iOS, but HONOR takes advantage of Android’s much better notification grouping. So, you’re getting the best of both worlds here. I personally still prefer how many other companies handle this, with solid colors in the background, and pronounced titles for emails, etc. Still, HONOR’s implementation is kind of unique, and it does work great.
Smoothness is the name of the game
The OS was very smooth in general, and it does offer some customization options too. Maybe not as much as some others, but… quite a few. It allows you to customize your home screen and lock screen quite a bit. You can use teh blur function, utilize different themes that HONOR offers, change icon styles, layout, effects, and so on. Fonts are customizable too, as is the Always-On Display feature that the phone offers. These are the main customization options, but some additional ones are on offer too if you dig a bit deeper.
HONOR AI is a significant part of the experience
HONOR AI is a big part of the software experience too. Features such as AI Suggestions, AI Translate, Magic Text, and Magic Portal are all included here. Magic Text, for example, allows you to easily extract text from images by simply holding your finger over it. Magic Portal is also useful. What I liked the most, however, is the option to drag and drop content (images, text, and so on) to a side panel on the phone. It’s called the ‘Favorites Space’, and it’s very useful if you often copy and paste content to your friends or for work purposes. It’s like a clipboard for everything, basically.
MagicOS 9.0 is good… but different
MagicOS 9.0 has a lot to offer, and it’s quite good, just remember it’s rather different than every other Android skin. It has a unique set of features, and it also looks different too. Still, it works great, and if you’re already used to MagicOS or are looking for something a bit different, this will do the trick. I don’t really have any objections on the functionality side of things, it works great.
HONOR Magic7 RSR Porsche Design Review: Audio
The sound quality coming from the HONOR Magic7 RSR Porsche Design is quite high. It’s identical to what the HONOR Magic7 Pro offered, and that phone was above most others, that’s for sure. It includes stereo speakers. Based on HONOR’s words, it has “stereo speakers with an integrated ultra-large sound cavity and spatial audio.” You will notice the difference immediately, well, at least we did, as we went through a ton of phones over the years, and this one definitely stood out sound-wise.
The sound you’re getting here is rich
The sound coming from the phone is rich and enjoyable. The loudness is also above average. You’ll even get some bass here, more than on pretty much every other phone we’ve used in the recent past. Don’t expect miracles, but in terms of smartphone speakers, these are some of the best you’ll find. There is no audio jack on the phone, unfortunately, but you can use its Type-C port to connect your wired headphones. Alternatively, Bluetooth 5.4 is on offer here, for wireless connectivity.
HONOR Magic7 RSR Porsche Design Review: Should you buy it?
The HONOR Magic7 RSR Porsche Design is a very pricey phone. There’s no getting away from that. At €1,799, not many people will consider it. That’s the price tag for flagship book-style foldables, some of them. Still, if you really want a phone from HONOR, and want something that will stand out, something that probably nobody else you know will have… the HONOR Magic7 RSR Porsche Design has you covered. You’ll get a great display, really nice design, outstanding performance, and also great battery life… not to mention really compelling cameras too. There’s a lot to like when it comes to this phone, that’s for sure.
You should buy the HONOR Magic7 Pro if you:
- Want a unique-looking phone
- Need a charger in the box (you get two)
- Love wireless charging, and want it to be some of the fastest on the market
- Take a lot of pictures, especially high-zoom ones
- Like using AI tools
- Want a different Android experience
- Prefer using facial scanning
You shouldn’t buy the HONOR Magic7 Pro if you:
- Are not looking for a phone with a premium price tag
- Like standard Android experience
2025-02-18 15:09:29