For a long time, Honor has been a sub-brand of Huawei and has released budget-friendly to mid-range Smartphones. But since its split from the parent company, Honor started to explore the premium segment. In this wave, the company launched the Honor Magic5 Ultimate on 6th March 2023 in Mainland China. Does the Magic5 Ultimate offer something more than the competitor flagship smartphones?  Let’s take a look at the design elements, features, and price of Magic5 Ultimate. 

Key Specifications of Honor Magic5 Ultimate  

Design and Build Quality 

The eco-leather textured back instantly gives Magic5 Ultimate a premium look and hand feel. The complete bezel-less design with sloping edges will need some getting used to.

Moving beyond, the camera house has been vertically flushed down to create a tapering design on the back. Honor is calling it the “Eye of Muse” design which frankly puts the device in its own class. 

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The camera housing itself isn’t a traditional round or rectangular one. Honor calls it their “Octagonal Porthole” design. These subtle yet substantiative changes make it the literal ultimate android in terms of design. 

The device is sandwiched by an aluminum frame with a glass front. The port and buttons are the same as the Magic4 Ultimate. What’s good is that the device is rated at IP68 with 30 minutes of protection under 1.5 meters of water. 

Its dimensions are 162.9mm by 76.7mm by 8.8 mm. Weighing about 217g the device appears lighter than the ancestor Magic4 Ultimate (242g). Being a flagship, users won't be getting any card slot or headphone jack. 

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Display 

The experiments of Honor don’t just stop at the design. Magic5 Ultimate sports a 6.81-inch display featuring 1312P by 2848P resolution, 460 ppi, and 19.5:9 ratios. 

Moving to the actual performance of the display, Honor has done an excellent job. The LTPO OLED panel has 1B color support, a 120 Hz refresh rate, and HDR10+ support. The usual antics with good color calibration make it an excellent panel to use. 

But the most striking excellence is seen outdoors. The 1800 nits HBM performs insanely well even under direct sunlight. Like its name, it almost feels like magic how legible it is under direct natural lights. 

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The device is practically bezel-less with curved edges. So even though the device might seem narrower, the display itself tapers much to the side. 

Camera 

The camera section of the Magic5 Ultimate has also gone through some significant changes. The module is now down to a triple camera sensor compared to the quad on the Magic4 Ultimate. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. 

This year all three sensors are 50 MP with a wide-angle main shooter, a periscope, and an ultrawide. Honor has enhanced the sensors to the latest Sony iterations making them more capable compared to their predecessors. There is also an additional TOF 3D sensor for depth mapping. 

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Moving onto the performance of the sensors, users will be surprised to know that Magic5 Ultimate currently holds the number 1 position in the DXOMark camera ranking. In the test, the camera consistently produced natural shots which is probably its biggest feature. 

Unlike many of its competitors, the images don’t fall in any fixed color tone. Rather all the colors of the images were true to the eyes. Meaning the pictures were accurately replicating the colors seen with the bare eyes.

The dynamic range was perfect, and so were the HDR shots. The camera consistently preserved details and depth in bokeh shots. Though the periscope with its 3.5 times optical zoom left a bit more to be desired. It's not bad by any means, it just isn't on par with the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. 

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The videography on the Magic5 Ultimate is rated at 4K and 1080P. Both support 30 and 60-fps recording. 

The front 12 Mp shooter is also equipped with TOF 3D for better bokeh selfies. 

Overall the camera performance of the Magic5 Ultimate is extremely good. It’ll be more than satisfying for an average. As for avid photographers, the natural color rendition would definitely feel like a bonus. 

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Processor and Performance 

The Magic5 Ultimate comes stacked with the latest and greatest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor based on 4 nm architecture. The powerful processor has an octa-core chip design of 1 3.2 GHz Cortex-X3, 2 2.8 GHz Cortex-A715, 2 2.8 GHz Cortex-A710, and 3 2.0 GHz Cortex-A510 chips. The processor is paired with Adreno 740 GPU. 

To harness the full power of the processor, Honor runs on MagicOS 7.1 on top of Android 13. It is provided with 16GB of RAM with 512 GB of ROM featuring UFS 4.0 data transfer technology. This is the only storage configuration the device comes in. 

The fast processor combined with the smooth 120 Hz OLED panel makes for a buttery smooth user experience. There is no lag in the UI whatsoever. The device can run the latest multiplayer games like Asphalt 9, PUBG, COD, etc on the highest settings without frame drops. 

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The device also does well to avoid thermal throttling. There was no significant heating or battery drop issue during the test. Overall, the Magic5 Ultimate is a beast on paper as well as on performance. It’ll more than suffice even for the most demanding users. 

Battery and Charge Time 

The Honor Magic5 Ultimate is powered by a silicone carbon 5450 mAh battery. The device supports up to 66W of wired fast charging and 50W of wireless charging. There is also a 5W reverse wireless charging option. 

Pros of Honor Magic5 Ultimate 

- Stylish design with excellent build quality 
- Top-notch camera display and processor 
- Great battery life.

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Cons of Honor Magic5 Ultimate 

- Bloated UI
- Not lightweight

Price of Honor Magic5 Ultimate 

The current price of Honor Magic5 Ultimate is 6.699 CNY in China. The price roughly translates to around 1,04,441 BDT (1 CNY = 15.59 BDT). The device has not been yet officially launched in Bangladesh. 

Verdict 

Magic5 Ultimate is an all-out venture from Honor. The brand has seen several iterations before, including the Magic4. In the latest version, there are considerable changes in the design, camera configuration, processor, battery, and charging. This is not just another traditional incremental update, but rather a jump into a new horizon. 

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The design and build of the Magic5 Ultimate offer a sensory overflow that can captivate the users in all its glory. 

However, traditional Android users may not like the bloatware-filled OS. Other than that, Honor Magic5 Ultimate can challenge the other flagship smartphones on the market.