Honor Magic5 Pro review

Android 13 with Magic OS 7.1 on top

The Honor Magic5 Pro runs an in-house MagicOS 7.1 on top of an Android 13 core. And it's a fully functional Android 13, including full support for the Google apps suite, unlike Huawei's software builds, which are limited in one way or another.

You may note that Honor has renamed its Android overlay from UI to OS with this v7 in an attempt to break away from its Huawei EMUI roots. A lot has been shared over the years between Magic OS (or UI), and EMUI and traces of that common past remain, so if you've used a moderately recent Huawei phone, you'd be right at home, but differences do exist. Naturally, if and where the two differ, the Magic Vs is in line with Honor's own latest non-bendy models, even if they may still be on previous Magic versions.

Going from UI 6 to OS 7, we see subtle changes here or there, but the overall look and feel of the Magic overlay remain the same. Iconography is largely unchanged, the task switcher and notification/quick settings are the same, too (and that's one area where the latest EMUI and its Control center differs), and the Settings menu doesn't look one bit different either.

Homescreen • Task Switcher • Notifications • Quick settings • Settings menu

Also available here is previously introduced functionality like large folders and the card bar that sits under app icons to indicate that the app supports cards (another name for the in-house widgets).

Speaking of widgets, some neat EMUI features are nowhere to be found on the Magic Vs' Magic OS like the widget stacking or the combined widgets.

A Yoyo suggestions card/widget lets you have the onboard assistant pitch apps that it thinks you might be inclined to use based on previous experience.

Large folders • Large folders • Large folders • Cards

Naturally, a host of customization options are there for you to explore as well. You've got a wide selection of themes, Always-on display styles, the lot. You can also enable an app drawer if you like.

Customization

A Themes app with a variety of themes, fonts, wallpapers, icon packs is also available.

Themes

There's a split-screen multi-window on the cover display and pop-up window mode for some in-house and third-party apps. You can only open one pop-up app at a time and subsequent ones in a separate task switcher.

Multi-tasking on the cover screen

Honor provides a bunch of proprietary apps, too. There is Gallery, Honor Health, Notes, Files, System Manager, Weather.

Gallery • Health • Notes • System Manager • Files • Weather

Smart Remote for the IR blaster also comes pre-installed.

Smart Remote

Overall, we are happy with the Magic UI, and we think most people who liked Huawei's EMUI or don't mind custom overlays will appreciate its rich customization options.

Performance and benchmarks

The Honor Magic5 Pro employs the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, coupled with LPDDR5X RAM and the most current UFS4.0 storage chips.

The SD8G2 has an octa-core processor with one prime core, four performance ones (2+2), and three efficient cores a.k.a. 1+2+2+3 configuration. This means the CPU contains 1x3.2GHz Cortex-X3 + 2x2.8 GHz Cortex-A715 & 2x2.8GHz Cortex-A710 & 3x2.0GHz Cortex-A510 CPU cores.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset packs the Adreno 740 GPU capable of Ray Tracing. Whether and how that gets used in actual mobile games remains to be seen in the future.

The Macig5 Pro supports Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, and dual-SIM 5G.

Our unit has 8GB RAM + 256GB storage, while the maximum available for the global markets should be 12GB RAM + 512GB storage. There is also a limited 16GB RAM model in existence.

And now, it's time to run some tests.

Update - May 16: We have received the retail Honor Magic5 Pro unit and we've managed to run all popular benchmarks. And the scores are in!

Honor, just like Huawei, offers a special battery mode called Performance mode, which, once enabled, increases the temperature threshold for the CPU. It doesn't affect the GPU or other hardware. And while it does give a CPU boost in the scores, we didn't feel any real-life difference.

As you can imagine, the Honor Magic5 Pro scores the same as other flagship smartphones with the same chipset, and we cannot ask for more.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 13 Ultra
  5049
• Galaxy S23 Ultra
  4927
• OnePlus 11
  4899
• Oppo Find X6 Pro
  4759
• Sony Xperia 1 V
  4652
• Honor Magic5 Pro (perf. mode)
  4644
• Honor Magic5 Pro
  4376
• vivo X90 Pro
  4273
• Huawei P60 Pro
  4260
• Huawei P60 Pro (perf. mode)
  4096

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Galaxy S23 Ultra
  1537
• Xiaomi 13 Ultra
  1477
• Honor Magic5 Pro (perf. mode)
  1465
• Sony Xperia 1 V
  1459
• vivo X90 Pro
  1387
• Huawei P60 Pro
  1322
• Huawei P60 Pro (perf. mode)
  1313
• Oppo Find X6 Pro
  1166
• OnePlus 11
  1150
• Honor Magic5 Pro
  1049

GeekBench 6 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 13 Ultra
  5556
• Oppo Find X6 Pro
  5082
• Galaxy S23 Ultra
  5077
• OnePlus 11
  5043
• Honor Magic5 Pro (perf. mode)
  4992
• Sony Xperia 1 V
  4916
• Honor Magic5 Pro
  4726
• Huawei P60 Pro (perf. mode)
  4422
• Huawei P60 Pro
  4123

GeekBench 6 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 13 Ultra
  2000
• Sony Xperia 1 V
  1956
• Honor Magic5 Pro (perf. mode)
  1928
• Galaxy S23 Ultra
  1913
• Huawei P60 Pro (perf. mode)
  1758
• Honor Magic5 Pro
  1707
• Oppo Find X6 Pro
  1532
• OnePlus 11
  1527
• Huawei P60 Pro
  1259

The GPU scores are among the best in the class, too. And high frame rate gaming is certainly possible on the Magic5 Pro.

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia 1 V
  71
• vivo X90 Pro
  68
• Honor Magic5 Pro
  63
• Galaxy S23 Ultra
  60
• Oppo Find X6 Pro
  56
• Xiaomi 13 Ultra
  55
• OnePlus 11
  53
• Huawei P60 Pro
  51

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia 1 V
  96
• Honor Magic5 Pro
  77
• vivo X90 Pro
  74
• Galaxy S23 Ultra
  67
• Huawei P60 Pro
  65
• Xiaomi 13 Ultra
  63
• Oppo Find X6 Pro
  60
• OnePlus 11
  57

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 13 Ultra
  329
• OnePlus 11
  327
• Oppo Find X6 Pro
  324
• Honor Magic5 Pro
  311
• Galaxy S23 Ultra
  311
• Sony Xperia 1 V
  309
• vivo X90 Pro
  287
• Huawei P60 Pro
  263

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Honor Magic5 Pro
  13735
• Oppo Find X6 Pro
  13360
• vivo X90 Pro
  13265
• Xiaomi 13 Ultra
  13106
• Galaxy S23 Ultra
  12241
• Huawei P60 Pro
  10578
• Sony Xperia 1 V
  6316

Finally, the Honor Magic5 Pro scores decent numbers on the compound AnTuTu test. The Performance mode gave it a boost in the CPU performance and hence in the total score as well.

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• Oppo Find X6 Pro
  1294797
• Xiaomi 13 Ultra
  1268538
• Galaxy S23 Ultra
  1241531
• vivo X90 Pro
  1228735
• Honor Magic5 Pro (perf. mode)
  1204320
• OnePlus 11
  1140661
• Sony Xperia 1 V
  1127931
• Honor Magic5 Pro
  1077913
• Huawei P60 Pro
  1030473

Having the latest chipset is not always enough, as it needs to be properly cooled, too. That's why we also ran the usual stress tests - CPU Throttle and 3D Mark GPU stress test.

First, if you've forgotten, EMUI and now MagicUI has these Balanced and Performance battery modes. The performance mode allows the CPU and GPU to reach higher temperatures before throttling. Those are still safe for both the smartphone and your hands, though the phone could be considered unpleasant to hold when using the Performance mode.

We ran the stress tests with both modes. The CPU Stress test returned a 55% stability score when using the default battery mode. You can see from the chart the CPU dropped down to 55% about 10 minutes after launch and remained at 50% for the rest of the test. Here, the phone was warm, but nothing unusual.

When using the performance mode, the thermal management has some leeway, and while the test returned 51% stability, you can see the CPU actually offered us 90% of its peak performance for the most part excluding the nine 50% drops that happened for about 30-60 seconds. After 60 minutes on this stress test, the Magic5 Pro was warmer, of course, but not hot.

CPU stress • CPU stress in performance mode

The GPU stress test was rather disappointing. We got 45% stability when using the Balanced mode and 35% when using the Performance option. The phone on both occasions was warm, but not hot.

GPU test • GPU test • GPU test with performance mode

Overall, we'd rate the Honor Magic5 Pro performance as excellent, while its stability is rather average - something that often happens with thin and feature-rich flagships. High Frame Rate gaming is possible if the game supports it, and the good news is that rarely can a game use the full set of resources available, so you will get an A-grade graphic experience in pretty much every modern game.