The freshly-announced Honor 200 series, featuring the Honor 200 Pro and 200 Lite, is a series of Android phones with their sights set on beating the best cheap phones, and the best Android phones overall. Google and Samsung should be taking notes.
While previous Honor "N-series" phones like the Honor 90 have targeted phone buyers on a budget, the 200 series' launch marks first time we've got a Pro version in Europe (still no U.S. version of either phone sadly). Armed with several premium features, this particular model wants to undercut entry-level flagship phones like the Galaxy S24 or Google Pixel 8 while offering more in certain areas.
You can read more about these phones below, but if you're already sold on this offer, then the Honor 200 and 200 Pro models are up for sale today from Honor itself, and on general pre-order and sale from 21st and 26th of June respectively.
The basic 200 will sell for £500, the same as the Google Pixel 8a and a little more than the Samusung Galaxy A55. The Pro meanwhile is going for £699, giving it a sub-flagship pricing like the Pixel 8 or OnePlus 12R. As for the Lite, it starts at £279, making it an even better budget option for those who need it.
Honor 200 series specs
Honor 200 Pro cameras
While the 200 and 200 Lite look like formidable phones in their own right, the 200 Pro is understandably the star of the series. And its focus is its cameras, specifically for taking portrait mode shots.
The Honor 200 Pro features a 50MP main camera (with a large 1/1.3-inch sensor) and a 50MP 2.5x telephoto camera to help you with your portrait photography. That's joined by a 12MP ultrawide camera on the back, plus a 50MP selfie camera too for when you need to take front-facing photos. The inclusion of a telephoto camera is notable since its two main rivals from Google and OnePlus don't carry one.
These portrait photos will benefit from Honor's collaboration with French photographers Studio Harcourt, with the two companies designing an "AI Portrait Engine" together, designed to help you get you attractive, dramatic-looking portraits. There are also Harcourt Vibrant, Color and Classic modes to use when taking portraits that will add unique color profiles, including the studio's signature black-and-white style.
Honor 200 Pro design and display
Honor's given the 200 series a unique look with its oblong-shaped camera block and combination of glossy and wavy matte textures on its back. And the selection of Moonlight White, Ocean Cyan or Black colorways is a small but attractive set of options.
The 200 Pro is rated IP65 for protection against dust and water, but it's a bit behind the competition. Admittedly the OnePlus 12R only has an IP64 rating, but the Pixel 8a and Galaxy A55 both managed an IP67 rating for improved water resistance, while the Galaxy S24 offers the the flagship-standard of IP68.
In typical Honor style, the 200 Pro features a big and bright 6.78-inch OLED display, rated by the company as being capable of 4,000 nits peak brightness. Also like Honor's Magic6 Pro, the 200 Pro uses a quad-curved display, which may sound like a nightmare to anyone who has trouble with the typical left/right curved edges of some flagship phones, but does mean the phone's comfy to hold upright or sideways.
Honor's usual set of eye health features when it comes to the display are present on this phone too. This includes abilities like 3840Hz PWM Dimming for less eye-straining flickering, and Natural Tone, Adaptive Dimming and Circadian Night Display to adjust the screen's colors depending on surrounding brightness levels, phone usage patterns the time of day.
Honor 200 Pro Specs
The silicon center of the Honor 200 Pro is a Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset, an up-and-coming chip designed to bring top-notch AI to less expensive phones. It's not going to outperform the standard Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 seen in this year's best Android phones, but it should offer all the power you could need for daily activities.
Honor's latest MagicOS 8.0 software, based on Android 14, provides the interface. It's being promoted on its AI features like instant search and navigation results by dragging elements to different apps via the Magic Portal feature, and accessing the phone's apps and files on Honor laptops and tablets through the power of its Magic Ring cross-device abilities. It also contains Honor's take on the iPhone 15's Dynamic Island with its Magic Capsule's persistent notifications and widgets for in-use apps.
Currently Honor offers four years of full software updates for its phones, plus a fifth year of security updates only. Google's seven-year update schedule for the Pixel 8a dwarfs this, but that's the exception rather than the rule at this price point.
A large 5,200 mAh battery provides the necessary juice for the Honor 200 Pro to work, and is refillable with zippy 100W wired and 66W wireless charging options. We're also happy to see that the 200 Pro comes with 12GB RAM and 512GB storage by default, a generous amount of memory compared to rival phones' base specs.
Honor 200 Outlook
We're already impressed by the Honor 200 Pro's photography abilities in our hands-on review, though it's got a lot more testing before we come to a full conclusion.
But already we know that like with previous Honor phones, U.S. users have no choice but to look past it. Unless you want to go through the trouble of importing a global version instead of just picking up one of the best cheap phones already available in your country.
For me in the U.K however, the Honor 200 and especially the Honor 200 Pro occupy interesting spots in the phone market. The Google Pixel 8a and Samsung Galaxy A55 are great budget phone options, but make sacrifices in areas like cameras, battery size and display that the Honor 200 does not. Same goes for the Honor 200 Pro versus the Pixel 8 and OnePlus 12R, only with the cameras as well as the above three points, and a pricetag that makes the Galaxy S24 look a little overpriced.
Honor's always been competitive in the mid to upper tiers of the smartphone market, and the Honor 200 series looks like its most convincing effort at being a Samsung, OnePlus or Google alternative yet. But stay tuned for a full review to back that all up.
