HONOR Announces Magic6 Pro In Malaysia Alongside Two Porsche Design Models

HONOR Announces Magic6 Pro In Malaysia Alongside Two Porsche Design Models

Chinese smartphone maker HONOR has announced the new Magic6 Pro, now open to Malaysian preorders. Responses to the new flagship have been positive, as the company claimed its Early Bird Special slots have preemptively sold out before the end date of March 20, with two days to spare. Following the announcement, the Magic6 Pro is now open for pre-orders lasting until March 27, 2024.

A quick rundown on the specs – the Magic6 Pro boasts powerful cameras with its upgraded Falcon Camera System consisting of the 50MP main sensor, 50MP ultra-wide sensor, and the 180MP Tele-falcon periscope camera that supports up to 100x digital zoom. Camera prowess aside, its chassis is built to withstand plenty of abuse with the NanoCrystal Shield glass that is claimed to be 10x stronger than normal glass. Below that piece of glass sits a 6.8-inch LTPO panel capable of outputting a staggering 5,000 nits of peak HDR brightness.

There are even more goodies elsewhere too: the silicon-carbon battery, now in its second generation, is rated at 5,600mAh and features a dedicated chip for improved endurance under extremely low-temperature environments. It also supports 80W and 66W fast-changing for wired and wireless modes, respectively. Powering the device is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, with 12GB RAM and 512GB storage – it’ll be available for the price of RM4,499.

One of the new features HONOR introduced today is the MagicOS 8.0 – while on paper it sounds like just another regular OS release under the new Android innards, this one has a rather special kind of (AI-infused) sauce going for it. The keynote made various mentions of “intent-based UI”, and to give a simple example – the OS predicts what you’re doing to do with something that you selected, and skips the entire menu for you in one drag-and-drop movement.

To demonstrate, it compares the MagicOS against iOS – say, your friend has given you an address to a location in a WhatsApp chat. Normally, you’d copy that address, open Google Maps, paste that address, select the correct result, and enter Navigation Mode manually; but in the MagicOS implementation, you simply tap and hold the text – where a panel of apps appear on the right side of the screen for you to decide what to do with the address you selected, drop it on the Google Maps icon, and it’ll instantly bring you to the Navigation Mode. Neat!

Aside from the Magic6 Pro, HONOR also announced several new devices. That includes the new HONOR Pad 9, a 12.1-inch tablet that features Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 SoC, 8+8GB RAM, and 256GB of onboard storage. It’s available in both Wi-Fi and 5G versions, with the latter being the first in the brand’s tablet lineup. Currently, the Wi-Fi version is available for RM1,499, while the 5G variant will launch later this April.

Finally, HONOR debuted a pair of Porsche Design collaborations with the new Porsche Design HONOR Magic V2 RSR and the Porsche Design HONOR Magic6 RSR. The former was previously showcased locally earlier this year; while the latter is the new addition which was only recently announced globally. Naturally, both devices feature styling cues inspired by the German sportscar brand, with the design inspiration taken from the Porsche 911 and Porsche Taycan respectively.

Keep in mind that the Magic6 RSR is not just a re-skin of the regular Magic6 Pro: the company actually took ideas (and parts) from the automotive industry by giving its camera system a special Falcon Camera H9800 sensor and a LiDAR sensor – you know, the thing that makes up a big part of your car’s safety systems. In this case, it’s not for collision avoidance – HONOR says this system is used for faster autofocus.

For both Porsche-inspired models, the Magic V2 RSR will be available for purchase via an exclusive link provided to those who registered previously, at RM10,999. Meanwhile, the Magic V2 RSR is priced at RM7,499 with the 24GB+1TB configuration, and just like the foldable counterpart, you’ll have to register it here before getting an exclusive access link for purchase.

Pokdepinion: The pricing for Porsche variants did surprise me a bit, but then again – it’s Porsche Design we’re talking about here.