Honor’s Magic 9 Pro Max has a big camera and a bigger battery

Honor introduced the Magic 9 Pro Max as the top-tier model in its new Magic 9 family during a China-focused launch. The phone debuts a reworked camera island inspired by Arris classic three-lens turret, including a knurled texture around the main lens and a wider module that the company says frees internal space. Honor is offering the Pro Max in mossy green at launch, with black and silver finishes also available. The company has partnered with film-camera maker Arri to add cinema-oriented imaging tools. The Pro Max can record in Arri LogC3, ships with 14 preset Arri Look LUTs and provides access to Arris broader LUT library, plus support for an APV 10-bit 4:2:2 codec. Honor also added a directional microphone aimed at improving on-device video capture; the square-format front camera can automatically frame subjects in landscape or portrait, similar to Apples Center Stage feature. Hardware details focus on high-resolution sensors: the main camera uses a 200-megapixel 1/1.28-inch-type sensor, the telephoto offers 3.5x optical reach using a 200-megapixel 1/1.4-inch sensor, and the ultrawide is 50 megapixels. Honor notes the ultrawide does not support the full set of Arri Cinema Mode capabilities. The company framed the Arri features as a collaboration on capture modes and color workflows rather than a simple visual redesign. To support longer runtime, the Pro Max packs an 8,800mAh battery; Honor says the battery contains up to 40 percent silicon content. The device runs on Qualcomms Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chipset. Honor told reporters it selected that SoC to deliver a consistent flagship experience overall, even if some of the chips highest-tier video recording modes (for example, 8K60 or 4K240) are not enabled on the phone. Honor has confirmed the Magic 9 series will be released internationally at a later date but has not published timing or pricing information.