The Honor Magic 8 Pro Air might be a very sleek phone without notable compromises (Image source: Weibo)
The Honor Magic 8 Pro Air appears to be the most convincing attempt so far to fit flagship hardware into a thinner chassis without making too many compromises in terms of battery capacity and camera specs. An official launch date for the Chinese market has also been announced.
Ultra-thin smartphones of 2025 had to make many compromises, especially when it came to camera specs and battery capacity. This is likely one of the reasons for the commercial failure of both the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge (from $849 on Amazon) and Apple iPhone Air. Users who pay flagship prices often expect flagship hardware and little to no compromises. Apple and Samsung arguably failed to achieve this, but according to an increasing number of leaks, Honor might do a better job in this regard.
A few days ago, leaked teaser posters already pointed to a large battery and a chassis that’s just marginally thicker than the iPhone Air and Galaxy S25 Edge. Now, an initial hands-on with a functional Magic 8 Pro Air has also revealed the camera specs, which sound quite decent for a smartphone that is only about 0.24 inches thick. Unlike Apple and Samsung, Honor does offer a dedicated 3.2x telephoto camera. In this case, the company opted for a 64MP periscope telephoto with a 74mm focal length, OIS, an f/2.6 aperture and up to 100x zoom.
The rest of the camera hardware also sounds solid. The main camera is based on a 50MP 1/1.3-inch sensor with an f/1.6 aperture, a 23mm equivalent focal length, OIS and a 2.4 µm pixel size. The 50MP ultra-wide camera supports macro shots, features a 16mm focal length and offers a 112-degree field of view. The triple-camera setup is rounded out by a color temperature and a flicker sensor. Meanwhile, the front camera is a 50MP shooter with an f/2.0 aperture.
After numerous leaks, Honor itself has now commented on the Magic 8 Pro Air and published a first teaser picture on Weibo. The official launch date for the Chinese market is January 19, 2026. The handset will likely debut alongside the Honor Magic 8 RSR. Whether the Honor Magic 8 Pro Air will also compete globally against other prominent slim phones remains to be seen.
As a young tech enthusiast with a history involving assembling and overclocking projects, I ended up working as a projectionist with good old 35-mm films before I entered the computer world at a professional level. I assisted customers at an Austrian IT service provider called Iphos IT Solutions for seven years, working as a Windows client and server administrator as well as a project manager. As a freelancer who travels a lot, I have been able to write for Notebookcheck from all corners of the world since 2016. My articles cover brand-new mobile technologies in smartphones, laptops, and gadgets of all kinds.
Translator: Enrico Frahn – Managing Editor Accessory Reviews, Tech Writer – 6080 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2021
My fascination for technology goes back a long way to the Pentium II era. Modding, overclocking and treasuring computer hardware has since become an integral part of my life. As a student, I further developed a keen interest in mobile technologies that can make the stressful college life so much easier. After I fell in love with the creation of digital content while working in a marketing position, I now scour the web to bring you the most exciting topics in the world of tech. Outside the office, I’m particularly passionate about motorsports and mountain biking.