Honor unveiled the Magic 6 Pro in its home market last month, and the phone is slated to make its global debut at Mobile World Congress at the end of February. I liked using the Magic 5 Pro quite a bit last year, and while the software still isn't as polished as its rivals, it's clear that Honor knows how to deliver a strong hardware package and standout cameras.
I'm just getting started with the Magic 6 Pro, but before I share my initial findings, I wanted to highlight one aspect of the device that stands out immediately: battery life. Most 2024 flagships have larger batteries than their predecessors, with manufacturers switching to 5400mAh batteries that last over a day between charges — that was certainly the case with the Vivo X100 Pro and OnePlus 12, and the OnePlus 12R has an even larger 5500mAh battery.
Honor, meanwhile, slotted in a gigantic 5600mAh battery in the Magic 6 Pro, and what's particularly great is that the phone is just 6g heavier than its predecessor even though there's a considerably larger battery. Honor is once again switching things up when it comes to the battery tech, leveraging a silicon-carbon negative electrode material in lieu of the usual graphite that's used in most devices.
The Magic 6 Pro still has a standard lithium-ion battery, but the use of silicon means the brand is able to increase the power density, and cram a larger battery into the device without increasing the size too much. Of course, this isn't the first instance where Honor used a silicon-carbon battery; last year's Magic 5 Pro also had the same tech, but there are a few upgrades on the Magic 6 Pro.
Honor is debuting its latest power management chip, the E1, on the Magic 6 Pro. This chip optimizes charging efficiency to deliver the best possible speeds to the phone, and Honor says the E1 allows the Magic 6 Pro to last longer in extreme weather conditions that go up to -20 degrees Celsius.
While there's no way for me to test that, there's no shortage of hot weather where I live, and I stress-tested the battery in 3DMark while leaving it under the sun, and it did a pretty great job. It posted a stability score of 67% in the Solar Bay stress test, outmatching the likes of the iQOO 12 and Vivo's X100 Pro. But what's noteworthy is that the thermals didn't cross 42 degrees Celsius, and that's less than what the other two devices managed indoors.
But the best part is the battery longevity; the Magic 6 Pro lasts longer than any other phone I used in 2024 thus far, and that's down to the combination of a massive battery and the efficient Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. I got close to two days even with heavy use, and with regular usage, the Magic 6 Pro easily netted two days between charges.
It also posted the highest scores of any device I tested in PCMark's demanding Work 3.0 battery life test, going up to 17 hours and five minutes. I'll have much more to talk about the Magic 6 Pro over the coming weeks, but what I can say right now is that it has the potential to go up against the best Android phones of 2024.
