Honor Magic 8 Pro and 600 Pro Impress on Hardware, but TechRadar Says Apple Imitation Overshadows Them

The hardware impressed in practice. The Magic 8 Pro's 7,100mAh silicon-carbon battery and the 600 Pro's 7,000mAh battery each lasted more than two days under normal use, longer than any phone the reviewer had previously tested. Both phones have fast charging, ambitious camera hardware and IP68/IP69K durability ratings. The cameras were impressive, especially the Magic 8 Pro's 200MP 3.7x telephoto. Their chassis felt premium despite using plastic for the back, and both held up in an informal tap-water test, which TechRadar acknowledged was not a controlled durability experiment.

Performance was also strong. The Magic 8 Pro runs Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, while the 600 Pro uses last year's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 4. Both handled multitasking and demanding games comfortably. Pricing is competitive as well: the base 512GB Magic 8 Pro retails for £1,099.99 or AU$1,999, and the 600 Pro starts at £899.99 or AU$1,499 for the same storage option.

TechRadar said the problem is not the hardware but the design language. MagicOS tries to replicate the iOS experience on Android. Its quick-settings panel has a layout and design style similar to the iOS Control Center, and system transitions, app opening animations and scrolling felt like using an iPhone. MagicOS also disables the Android app drawer by default, displaying all apps across multiple home screen pages, similar to how iOS organised apps before introducing the App Library in iOS 14. The default theme is not a carbon copy of iOS, but details such as the clock and wallpapers will feel familiar to iPhone users. The initial setup even uses a cursive 'Hello' animation reminiscent of Apple's, with 'MagicOS' placed above it.

Both Honor handsets have an AI button on the bottom-right corner that looks and behaves much like the iPhone's Camera Control button. It launches AI features, but a double press opens the camera; inside the camera app it works as a shutter release and adjusts zoom when swiped. TechRadar called the button useful, but said its most distinctive behaviour is still borrowed from Apple. The publication gave Honor credit for Magic Capsule, which predates Apple's Dynamic Island: it launched in 2019, three years before the feature appeared on the iPhone 14 Pro. The reviewer's argument was not that every similar feature originated with Apple, but that Honor's overall design language repeatedly points in the same direction.

The Honor 600 Pro's camera bump also recalls the iPhone 17 Pro, with a wide rectangular module and a similar three-camera arrangement. The orange finish on the 600 Pro felt like a close variation on Apple's Cosmic Orange. Differences exist, TechRadar said, but they do little to create a distinct visual identity. Having used Android phones for years and recently switched to an iPhone, the reviewer found the similarities less like an homage and more like a lack of confidence. Honor made enough changes to distinguish the features technically, but not enough to give them a clear identity of their own.

TechRadar's own reviews made similar points. Its Honor Magic 8 Pro review noted that the AI button worked similarly to the iPhone Camera Control button. Its Honor 600 Pro review said the phone was 'clearly (and some might say shamelessly) influenced by the iPhone 17 Pro', and that MagicOS was 'just a little too in thrall to Apple's work'.

Despite those complaints, TechRadar described both the Honor Magic 8 Pro and the Honor 600 Pro as brilliant handsets that could have stood out as great alternative Android phones at very competitive prices. The specifications alone give them a credible advantage in areas such as battery life and durability, particularly at these prices. Instead, Honor's phones come across as imitators. The publication said that is a shame because Honor has shown it can innovate: the Honor V Purse foldable and the Honor Robot Phone moved from concept to full commercial release, though they have so far been sold only in China. That makes the imitation more frustrating, since Honor has already demonstrated that it can design products with a personality of their own.