The HONOR Magic6 RSR is basically the Magic6 Professional, turned as much as 11. It’s largely the identical; nonetheless, it does sport extra RAM and storage and has a barely completely different design. In the event you’ve not learn our Magic6 Professional overview, I’d invite you to take action, as lots of what we point out on this overview might be comparable. In fact, the Magic6 Professional can be going to be cheaper.
HONOR (and Huawei when it owned HONOR) had partnership with Porsche Design. It’s creating some fairly cool editions of its flagship telephones. However now, with the Magic V2 RSR and the Magic6 RSR, HONOR appears to be taking it up a notch. Including in some options particular to the RSR mannequin, in addition to some distinctive design points. Just like the hexagonal digital camera setup on the bottom of the Magic6 RSR.
However in fact, the true query is whether or not it’s best to spend the additional cash on the RSR mannequin versus going with the Magic6 Professional, which is near half the worth in China. At present, we do not need the pricing for Europe, however we’d count on it to fall consistent with what now we have seen in China already.
HONOR Magic6 RSR Evaluation: {Hardware} and Design
With the HONOR Magic6 RSR, HONOR and Porsche Design are bringing iconic Porsche hues and hexagonal structural design. It pays homage to the decades-long significance of Porsche vehicles and incorporates structural parts which might be harking back to Porsche’s design excellence. This contains the hexagonal digital camera module on the again, which actually makes it stand out.
To be completely trustworthy, I’m not a automotive man. So, lots of this implies little or no to me. Nonetheless, I’ll say that the Porsche Design telephones HONOR has been placing out do look very distinctive in comparison with the competitors. That is even in comparison with the Magic6 Professional that HONOR launched very lately. And that’s one thing that’s truly fairly onerous to do lately. A whole lot of telephones simply look so comparable.
HONOR has additionally included a symmetrical peakline, which provides to the distinctive look of the Magic6 RSR, and actually, I actually like having it. It’s not as pronounced as a flyline, which the Magic V2 RSR does have, although I want it was. Maintaining with the Porsche styling, HONOR is providing the Magic6 RSR in two Porsche colours, together with Agate Gray which is a hue worn by revered Porsche fashions resembling the enduring 911 sportscar. It’s additionally out there in Frozen Berry, which is a reflective, daring shade of pink initially designed for Porsche fashions just like the Taycan EV.
With the Agate Gray coloration, it’s a matte really feel, however it’s nonetheless fairly slippery. For almost all of the time that I’ve been utilizing the Magic6 RSR, I’ve been utilizing the included case. Which is a vegan leather-based Porsche Design case, and it seems nice. Nonetheless, the cutout for the USB-C port is type of small, so some USB-C cables I take advantage of every day don’t match within the port with out taking the case off. A considerably of a minor annoyance, however nonetheless an annoyance.
The entrance of the cellphone includes a beautiful 6.8-inch OLED show, which is barely curved. Very like the Magic6 Professional, it additionally sports activities a model of Apple’s Dynamic Island, which works okay however is type of bizarre on an Android cellphone since it’s pointless.
Holding the Magic6 RSR within the hand is sort of good. Regardless of it being bigger and heavier than lots of different telephones that I frequent, it doesn’t really feel all that giant. It does, nonetheless, really feel thicker. However in actuality, it’s nonetheless 8.9mm thick. It’s truly fairly stunning how a lot heavier this cellphone feels in comparison with different 6.7-, 6.8- and 6.9-inch gadgets. The iPhone 15 Professional Max, as an illustration, is barely 221g. Whereas the Galaxy S24 Extremely is 232g, however nonetheless feels a lot lighter than the Magic6 RSR at 239g. However like with each cellphone, you get used to the dimensions and weight.
HONOR Magic6 RSR Evaluation: Show
As talked about already, the show on the Magic6 RSR is a 6.8-inch OLED Tandem Show, with 1.07 billion colours and 100% of the DCI-P3 coloration gamut, making it a fully beautiful show. Coloration replica is top-notch right here, and with it being barely curved on the perimeters, it makes it unbelievable for watching content material. I’ve watched numerous YouTube movies and TikToks right here (earlier than it will get banned within the US). In fact, an enormous a part of that’s Dolby Imaginative and prescient certification. Watch a Dolby Imaginative and prescient title from Hulu or Amazon Prime Video, and also you’ll fall in love with this show.
HONOR claims that the display can stand up to five,000 nits of peak HDR brightness. What meaning is that whereas it might get that vivid, you gained’t see that occur fairly often. That’s going to occur in probably the most excessive circumstances. It’s truly rated for 1800 nits in HBM or high-brightness mode. Now in our testing, we had been in a position to get it near that, however not fairly the total 1800 nits. That’s fairly regular since we aren’t testing this in a lab however as a substitute utilizing a white background and shining a flashlight on the sunshine sensor to get it as vivid as attainable.
In day-to-day utilization, you gained’t have any points seeing this show. I’ve used it outdoor in direct daylight lots and had only a few points with the show. Even in darkish mode, you’ll be able to nonetheless see it fairly simply in direct daylight.
HONOR Magic6 RSR Evaluation: Efficiency
The internals of the Magic6 RSR are merely beastly. We’re wanting on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, which goes to be in most telephones launched in 2024. On prime of that, HONOR has included 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, which is one thing Samsung will not be doing proper now. Whereas we don’t know the US and even European value but, we do know the Chinese language value, which is CNY 9,999 which converts to round $1,389 USD. That’s lower than $100 greater than the Galaxy S24 Extremely, with twice the RAM and 4 occasions the storage. That’s fairly loopy.
As I discussed in the beginning of this overview, I’ve been utilizing the Magic6 RSR for a month now and have completed mainly the whole lot with it thus far. And the cellphone has but to overheat and even actually get sizzling. Nor has it slowed down. In fact with that a lot RAM, you’d kinda count on that it might carry out fairly properly.
This cellphone does have 24GB of RAM, nonetheless, if you happen to want a bit extra reminiscence, there’s a RAM increase of one other 8GB. That brings you to 32GB of whole RAM right here, which is unbelievable for a smartphone. My laptop computer has 36GB of RAM. In the event you’re nervous about efficiency right here on the Magic6 RSR, don’t be. In actual fact, you’ll seemingly by no means actually see it decelerate for just a few years because the specs are so monstrous on this one.
Earlier than we bounce into the benchmarks, let’s discuss audio for a minute. Whereas utilizing it to look at content material and hearken to Spotify, the on-board audio system sound nice. Nonetheless, we do have our personal exams to check out the audio. Every of those tracks specifies a unique facet of audio, together with the bass, the highs, the mids, and even the vocals. To be trustworthy, all of them sounded actually good to my ears. The vocals for say a podcast, sounded actually good and clear, even at greater volumes. Nonetheless, the bass can get distorted if you flip the amount all the best way up.
The Benchmarks
As we do with each cellphone, we’ve put the HONOR Magic6 RSR by a variety of benchmark exams to see the way it stacks up with different telephones which have come throughout our desks. You may learn extra about our testing for critiques right here.
The primary check is Geekbench 6. Within the graph under, you’ll be able to see the Single- and Multi-Core scores from Geekbench 6, in addition to the GPU rating. Right here, we’re evaluating it to the Magic6 Professional, which ought to have very comparable scores, in addition to the HONOR Magic V2 RSR, which makes use of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, and the Galaxy S24 Extremely, which is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy. As you’ll be able to see, the single-core scores had been all fairly comparable, between 1870 and 2206. Multi-core scores had been additionally very comparable, however a barely bigger distinction. GPU scores is the place issues actually begin to take a flip. The Magic6 Professional and RSR are just about the identical, however each scored over 2,000 factors greater than the Galaxy S24 Extremely with the identical processor. And was near doubling the Magic V2 RSR.
The following check we run is the 3D Mark Wildlife Excessive Stress Take a look at. This benchmark runs the identical loop of about 60 seconds lengthy, 20 occasions. The aim of this check is to push the system to its restrict after which see how properly it stays at that stage. So this check does warmth the cellphone up fairly a bit, which is why we additionally use this for a thermal check, however extra on that later. It additionally spits out a Greatest Loop Rating, Lowest Loop Rating, and a stability proportion. The Magic6 RSR scored just a little higher than the Magic6 Professional however had a barely decrease stability proportion at 66.8% versus the Magic6 Professional having 69.1%.
The final benchmark we run is one which we truly designed, which implies that OEMs can’t “cheat” on it. Principally, we open Capcut. Load in a 60-second lengthy video – it’s the identical video for each cellphone – after which export it at 1080p 60fps. We time how lengthy it takes to export, which is usually beneath 10 seconds. Maybe just a little stunning, the Galaxy S24 Extremely beat all of them however round a second, at a time of seven.75 seconds. The Magic V2 RSR had the slowest time of the 4 at 12.87 seconds.
For probably the most half, the Magic6 RSR carried out as we had anticipated. And was similar to the Magic6 Professional, correctly. Seeing as the one main distinction is RAM, which jumps from 16GB on the Professional to 24GB on the RSR.
Thermals
Now let’s discuss how cool, the cellphone truly stayed. These temps had been truly very near the Magic6 Professional, which once more, they need to be. They had been inside a level in every check. The primary check is measuring the temperature after operating the 3D Mark Wildlife Excessive Stress Take a look at. Usually, this one gives the very best temperature because it pushes the cellphone to absolutely the edge. Right here, we achieved a temperature of 111.2 levels Fahrenheit.
Subsequent up, we play Genshin Affect for an hour, on max settings and max brightness, then measure the temperature. The Magic6 Professional had a temperature of 98.3 levels Fahrenheit. Lastly, we recorded the video at 4K60 for 10 minutes, measuring the temperature at 5 minutes and once more at 10 minutes. The Magic6 RSR had temps of 94.9 and 97.4 Fahrenheit on these.
General, fairly respectable temperatures from the Magic6 RSR. The OnePlus 12 did have decrease numbers in our testing, nonetheless that cellphone does have a large heatsink and a ton of cooling inside to maintain it that cool.
HONOR Magic6 RSR Evaluation: Battery
The HONOR Magic6 RSR has, I consider, the biggest battery I’ve ever utilized in a smartphone. It’s rated at 5,600mAh, lastly pushing previous that 5,000mAh threshold that everybody appeared to be caught at for years. OnePlus pushed previous it this yr with a 5,400mAh battery within the OnePlus 12, and it supplied some unbelievable battery life too. However the Magic6 RSR tops it.
That is how battery life needs to be
To place it in perspective, I take advantage of each overview system in the identical means. I unplug at round 7 am once I get up and name it a day round 11pm or so. That’s about 16 hours of utilization per day. With the OnePlus 12, which I discussed within the overview, I might get 57% by the top of the day. However with the HONOR Magic6 RSR, I’m sometimes above 65%, and some occasions have been above 70% after a 16-hour day. That’s simply unbelievable. And I’ve been in a position to get by two full days from a single cost, and nonetheless have some juice leftover. That’s two full days and nights earlier than charging, utilizing the cellphone as I usually would.
Now, how does it stack up in our battery rundown check? Effectively, fairly favorably. Let’s discuss this check first. Principally, we cost it to 100% and let it sit for hour charging previous 100% to ensure it’s truly full. Then we load up a video on YouTube – the identical video on each cellphone – and let it run at full brightness. It’s a 24-hour video, and the Magic6 RSR and Magic6 Professional are the one telephones which have lasted longer than the video. Each of those telephones had been over 26 hours, with the Magic6 RSR having bested the Professional by about 28 minutes. That’s actually really unbelievable.
With this, it actually makes me wish to use the Magic6 RSR at a commerce present to see how properly it performs beneath all the stress of utilizing the cellphone much more typically than regular.
Nonetheless, I do want that the battery stats in MagicOS 8.0 weren’t only a rolling 24 hours. However giving me the information because the final time the cellphone was totally charged. This makes it fairly robust to get gauge of how good (or not) the battery life actually is. Since I can’t kill the cellphone in a single day, Google and Samsung used to do that, however they’ve since up to date their battery life screens, so hopefully, HONOR will observe swimsuit with MagicOS 9.0 subsequent yr.
HONOR Magic6 RSR Evaluation: Software program
The HONOR Magic6 RSR comes with MagicOS 8.0 which relies on Android 14. This is similar software program that’s discovered on the opposite Magic6 smartphones, with the most important modifications being some further wallpapers and icons that make it really feel extra like a “Porsche Design” cellphone. MagicOS 8.0 feels fairly strong. Nonetheless, it does additionally really feel like a mix of iOS and Android.
Now, now we have seen telephones, significantly from the East, leaning into the iOS aesthetic quite a bit over time, however with MagicOS 8.0 it appears like mixture of iOS and Android. As my colleague, Kristijan famous in his overview of the Magic6 Professional again in February, it feels such as you’re utilizing each working techniques on the identical cellphone. Now, what I’ll say right here is that there aren’t as many typos or carbon copies of parts from iOS. However ther are nonetheless fairly just a few issues that seem like they had been straight up lifted from iOS, just like the digital camera app. Which I don’t have an issue with. It’s nonetheless straightforward to make use of, with all the options you may want or want in a digital camera app proper the place you’ll be able to attain it simply.
The place the Magic6 RSR actually excels, nonetheless, is within the integration of various apps. For example, you bought an deal with on WhatsApp. You may wish to copy and paste that into Google Maps. Effectively, now you don’t need to. Simply Drag the deal with over to the suitable aspect of the display, and some apps will pop up. Simply “drop” the deal with on Google Maps, and it’ll open up Google Maps in a pop-up window, with instructions to that deal with. This is only one of many options that HONOR has included in MagicOS 8.0 with Magic Portal.
The Dynamic Island was lifted from the iPhone, however I one way or the other prefer it higher on the Magic6 RSR versus my iPhone 15 Professional Max. It’s thinner, so there’s that, nevertheless it does even have extra performance. HONOR has added some UI parts across the pill-shaped cutout for the front-facing cameras. Like playback controls for media that you just may be listening to, amongst different issues.
The HONOR Magic6 RSR will most probably get Android 15 when it launches later this yr. Nonetheless, if MagicOS8 and Android 14 are something to go by, it won’t be out there till early subsequent yr. That is completely positive, for my part, since new variations of Android aren’t actually all that a lot completely different from the earlier model. Extra of the modifications come from the skins that corporations like HONOR is placing on prime of Android. HONOR is promising 5 years of safety updates and OS updates for the Magic6 Professional and Magic6 RSR. So this could get to Android 19, which isn’t too shabby.
For somebody from the West who’s used to utilizing software program like Samsung’s One UI, Google’s Pixel Expertise, and OnePlus’ OxygenOS, it undoubtedly takes some getting used to MagicOS 8.0, however I fairly like this software program. And maybe, most significantly, it does additionally completely fly on this {hardware}.
HONOR Magic6 RSR Evaluation: Digicam
Very like the Magic6 Professional, the Magic6 RSR is totally stacked with its digital camera setup. This features a 50-megapixel major digital camera, a 50-megapixel ultrawide and a 180-megapixel telephoto digital camera that is ready to do 2.5x optical zoom and as much as 100x digital zoom. To not point out the 50-megapixel front-facing digital camera, plus the 3D ToF sensor, which is used for higher portrait pictures. A bit bizarre seeing that in 2024, because it’s a characteristic that LG added on the LG G8 again in 2019.
Let’s first begin with the first digital camera. This 50-megapixel digital camera takes some actually good footage, as you may count on. It has a f/1.4 aperture, that’s adjustable to f/2.0. Variable aperture is one other characteristic that Samsung debuted on the Galaxy S9 again in 2018. So HONOR is right here utilizing tech that was launched just a few years in the past and type of forgotten about, making it even higher. Each image I’ve taken with this sensor, nonetheless, has come out unbelievable. I really haven’t any complaints concerning the high quality of photographs out of this major digital camera.
Subsequent, the ultrawide. Now to be trustworthy, I don’t take an entire lot of photographs with the ultrawide digital camera on any smartphone. However, that sensor is used for “Tremendous Macro”, which can be utilized at 0.5x, 1x or 2x zoom. The Tremendous Macro pictures I’ve taken have come out actually good. If it has sufficient gentle, you will get some breathtaking macro pictures out of this digital camera. Nonetheless, I do want it was simpler to modify over to the “Tremendous Macro” mode. You could swipe over to “Extra” after which choose it, which isn’t as fast as having a toggle on the display. Which the Xiaomi 14 Extremely does have.
Now, the mom of all of them is that 180-megapixel telephoto lens. I’ll say that once I first took the cellphone out of the field and examined the digital camera, I used to be a bit saddened to study that this 180-megapixel telephoto lens solely does 2.5x optical zoom. There’s an choice to do 5x zoom, which nonetheless seems fairly good, however I feel that HONOR might have cropped into that lens and given us 5x or 10x optical zoom possibility. Now this does go as much as 100x digital zoom, however much like different 100x telephones available on the market, it’s not that nice. Nonetheless, the telephoto zoom is fairly good by itself. Under, I’m sharing a variety of footage I’ve taken with the HONOR Magic6 RSR with this 180-megapixel sensor. You should use a macro mode on the telephoto sensor right here, which does look unbelievable. In actual fact, I’ve been utilizing it extra for macro than the ultrawide lens (Principally, don’t use the tremendous macro mode if you wish to use the telephoto lens).
The one actual concern with the telephoto is in low-light mode. It’s not all the time as sharp, which you kinda count on from a zoom lens. Sometimes the extra you zoom in, the extra gentle you’re going to wish for image. However throughout, the digital camera setup on the Magic6 RSR is actually spectacular. One among my favourite digital camera setups on a cellphone thus far this yr.
Do you have to purchase the HONOR Magic6 RSR?
I actually just like the HONOR Magic6 RSR. There are solely two actual complaints right here for me. One is the worth, and the opposite is the very fact it gained’t be out there within the US. In any other case, the Magic6 RSR excels at nearly the whole lot you throw at it, because it ought to. It additionally comes with 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, which does assist to justify the worth, in fact. And if you’re planning to maintain it for just a few years, it’ll undoubtedly be definitely worth the value. The Falcon Digicam system on the Magic6 RSR is just unbelievable and certain will proceed to enhance too.
It truly is a disgrace that the federal government is making an attempt so onerous to maintain telephones just like the HONOR Magic6 RSR out of the US as a result of it’s practically excellent. It does so many issues so properly, from the digital camera, to the battery life, to the beautiful show with HDR help. If it weren’t for the shortage of bands help within the US, the HONOR Magic6 RSR would undoubtedly be my second cellphone, primarily for the battery and digital camera experiences.
You can purchase the HONOR Magic6 RSR if:
- You need a large cellphone with large battery life
- You need a large cellphone that’s not a Galaxy S24 Extremely
- You need an unbelievable zoom digital camera setup
- You’re a large Porsche fan
- You need a cellphone with 1TB of storage
You shouldn’t purchase the HONOR Magic6 RSR if:
- You reside within the US (whilst you can import it, it gained’t work on all the bands on all US carriers)
- You don’t like a heavy pores and skin on prime of Android
- You don’t like large and heavy telephones.