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Honor Magic 9 vs Magic 6

93 out of 100
Honor Magic 9
VS
72 out of 100
Honor Magic 6
Honor Magic 9
Honor Magic 6

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.37-inch Honor Magic 9 (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5) that was released on September 28, 2026, against the Honor Magic 6, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and came out 2 years and 10 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory
  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Honor Magic 9
  • Comes with 2550 mAh larger battery capacity: 8000 vs 5450 mAh
  • 80% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (4288K versus 2379K)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v6.0)
  • The rear camera has a 3.5x optical zoom
  • The phone is 2 years and 10 months newer
  • More recent OS version: Android 17 versus 14
  • Supports higher wattage charging (80W versus 66W)
  • 61% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 3597 and 2238 points
Reasons to consider the Honor Magic 6
  • Has a 0.41 inch larger screen size

Review

Evaluation of Honor Magic 9 and Magic 6 crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Magic 9
90*
Magic 6
63*
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Magic 9
99*
Magic 6
64*
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
Magic 9
93*
Magic 6
72*
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
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Value for money (Beta)

Should I update?
No 93% Yes
Yes, this is a clear and meaningful upgrade.
Updating from Honor Magic 6 to Honor Magic 9 is a clear step forward, and the improvements should be easy to notice.
Main improvements: battery life, camera, and gaming.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
Magic 9
vs
Magic 6

Display

Type OLED OLED
Size 6.37 inches 6.78 inches
Resolution 1236 x 2664 pixels 1264 x 2800 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 19.5:9
PPI 461 ppi 453 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes Yes
Max rated brightness 2000 nits 5000 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 10000 nits -
HDR support Yes, Dolby Vision Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Tempered glass Tempered glass
Screen-to-body ratio 91.2% 92.6%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming		 - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming
Screen space comparison
Magic 6
6.78″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 17.5 in2
Magic 9
6.37″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 15.4 in2
~13% more screen space

Design and build

Height 151 mm (5.94 inches) 161.8 mm (6.37 inches)
Width 72.3 mm (2.85 inches) 75.4 mm (2.97 inches)
Thickness 8.5 mm (0.33 inches) 8.1 mm (0.32 inches)
Weight 209 g (7.37 oz) 199 g (7.02 oz)
Waterproof IP69 -
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber Vapor chamber
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Green, Yellow White, Black, Blue, Green, Purple
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio
Magic 9
91.2%
Magic 6 +2%
92.6%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Honor Magic 9 and Honor Magic 6
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
Max clock 4600 MHz 3300 MHz
CPU cores 8 (2 + 6) 8 (1 + 3 + 2 + 2)
Architecture - 6 cores at 3.63 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Performance
- 2 cores at 4.74 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Prime		 - 2 cores at 2.27 GHz: Cortex-A520
- 2 cores at 2.96 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 3 cores at 3.15 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 1 core at 3.3 GHz: Cortex-X4
L3 cache 8 MB 12 MB
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 3 nanometers 4 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Hexagon
GPU
Graphics Adreno 840 Adreno 750
GPU shading units 1536 1536
GPU clock 1300 MHz 903-1000 MHz
FLOPS ~3993.6 GFLOPS ~2774 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Honor Magic 9 and Honor Magic 6
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Magic 9 +61%
3597
Magic 6
2238
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Magic 9 +52%
10478
Magic 6
6907
Compute Score (GPU)
Magic 9
27104
Magic 6
n/a
Compute Score (GPU) 27104 -
Single-core score 3597 2238
Multi-core score 10478 6907
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
Magic 9 +80%
4288382
Magic 6
2379245
CPU 1212902 707189
GPU 1469542 787479
Memory 600024 394600
UX 1005914 489977
Total score 4288382 2379245
Samples Less than 3 Less than 3
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Magic 9
n/a
Magic 6
1706
Stability - 79%
Graphics test - 13 FPS
Graphics score - 1706
3DMark Solar Bay
Magic 9
n/a
Magic 6
8596
Graphics test - 33 FPS
Section 1 - 36 FPS
Section 2 - 33 FPS
Section 3 - 29 FPS
Graphics score - 8596
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Magic 9
n/a
Magic 6
4432
Graphics test - 26 FPS
Graphics score - 4432
Sources: 3DMark [5]
PCMark 3.0
Magic 9
n/a
Magic 6
15191
Web score - 15510
Video editing - 7748
Photo editing - 30677
Data manipulation - 13268
Writing score - 17574
AnTuTu 11 Ranking List (21st and 187th place)
Submit your benchmark results

Memory

RAM
RAM size 12 GB 12 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Memory clock 5300 MHz 4266 MHz
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 256 GB 256 GB
Storage type UFS 4.0 UFS 4.0
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 17 Android 14
ROM MagicOS 11 MagicOS 8
OS updates 7 years 4 years
Security updates 7 years 5 years

Battery

Capacity 8000 mAh 5450 mAh
Max charge power 80 W 66 W
Battery type Silicon-Carbon (Si/C) Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (50 W) Yes (50 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Bypass charging Yes -
Fast charging Yes Yes (50% in 25 min)
Full charging time - 0:55 hr
Add your battery life

Main camera

Matrix 200 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution - 8192 x 6144
Zoom Optical, 3.5x Optical, 2.5x
Flash LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 120FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens - 122°
Lenses 1) Standard: 200 MP
2) Telephoto: 200 MP
3) Ultrawide: 50 MP
1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 32 MP
3) Ultrawide: 50 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support		 - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 200 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/1.9 f/1.9
Sensor size 1/1.4" (≈ 0.71 inch) 1/1.3" (≈ 0.77 inch)
Autofocus Phase autofocus Laser autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 200 MP 32 MP
Aperture f/2.6 f/2.4
Sensor size 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch) -
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 50 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/2.0 f/2.0
Focal length - 13 mm
Sensor size - 1/2.76" (≈ 0.36 inch)
Stabilization Digital Digital

Selfie camera

Megapixels 55 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution - 8192 x 6144
Aperture f/2.0 f/2.0
Focal length 21 mm 22 mm
Sensor size 1/2.74" (≈ 0.36 inch) 1/2.93" (≈ 0.34 inch)
Autofocus Phase autofocus -
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display		 - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 6.0 5.3
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG		 - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort No -
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port Yes Yes
Network
Number of SIM* 2 2
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* No No
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* - 20
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos No -

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced September 2026 January 2024
Release date October 2026 January 2024
Launch price (MSRP) $745 $625
Successor - - Honor Magic 9
Sensors - Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint		 - Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Yes, 80 W Yes, 66 W
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Honor Magic 9 is definitely a better buy.

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