Honor has revealed the flagship Magic 9 Pro Max in China, and it looks like it has one huge focus: pro-quality video.
Honor has packed the Magic 9 Pro Max with features aimed squarely at serious mobile videographers, including native ARRI Log C3 recording, a pair of 200MP cameras and built-in cinematic colour profiles.
Log C3 works alongside the ARRI Wide Gamut 3 colour space to capture a flat image that retains plenty of tonal and colour information. That gives creators more flexibility when grading footage in software such as DaVinci Resolve.
The phone records 10-bit 4:2:2 footage in the APV format, backed by ARRI-customised sensor calibration. It can also preview ARRI Looks in real time, so you can see how the finished footage could look while you’re still recording.
There are 14 ARRI Looks built into the phone, while the wider ARRI Look Library offers 87 official options spread across nine themes. Users can also import custom Log C3 LUTs, with more than 10,000 compatible third-party choices available.
If you’d rather avoid manually grading footage, Honor’s Magic Color feature now works with video too. It can create a new look based on a reference image, providing a more accessible alternative to professional colour profiles.
Serious camera hardware to match
Honor hasn’t focused solely on software here either. The Magic 9 Pro Max features a 200MP main camera with a large 1/1.28-inch sensor, an f/1.57 aperture and three-degree gimbal-level stabilisation to keep footage steady while walking or tracking a subject.
A second 200MP sensor powers the telephoto camera, combining a 1/1.4-inch sensor with an f/2.6 aperture and 3.5x optical zoom. It’s joined by a 50MP f/2.0 ultra-wide and an unusually high-resolution 55MP square-format selfie camera.
The dedicated Honor Imaging Chip H1 handles image processing, with input from ARRI. It applies AI noise reduction to RAW footage in real time, with Honor claiming an 8dB improvement to the signal-to-noise ratio and up to 14 stops of dynamic range.
Audio hasn’t been overlooked either. Honor claims the phone features the industry’s first cinematic directional microphone, combining one directional mic with three omnidirectional mics. The setup can focus on sound from up to 20 metres away while suppressing ambient noise within a 60-degree angle.
Flagship design and performance
The camera housing swaps the symmetrical circular design of previous Magic phones for a three-lens arrangement Honor calls the “director’s eye”. Its appearance is inspired by the rotating lens turret found on ARRI’s Arriflex cinema cameras.
Knurled detailing around the module is designed to resemble a professional camera lens, while the all-metal unibody conceals two micro-slit antennas within its sides. Chinese buyers can choose between Glacier Silver, Moss Green and Shadow Black finishes.
The display can reach a claimed peak brightness of 10,000 nits under specific conditions that were not detailed at launch, so take that with a pinch of salt. It’s protected by Honor’s Nano Crystal Shield, which the company says reduces reflectivity to 1.5% while improving resistance to drops.
Power comes from Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chipset, with configurations ranging from 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage to 16GB and 1TB. There’s also a huge 8,800mAh silicon-carbon battery with 100W wired and 80W wireless charging.
The company hasn’t yet confirmed international pricing or availability, or whether its Teleconverter G200, Teleconverter G500 and SmallRig Mobile Video Kit accessories will be released outside China, but we expect to see a wider release of the phone in the coming months.
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