Honor Magic 5 vs Magic 9
68
out of 100
VS
93
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.73-inch Honor Magic 5 (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2) that was released on February 27, 2023, against the Honor Magic 9, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and came out 3 years and 8 months after. 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
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Honor Magic 5
- Has a 0.36 inch larger screen size
- Weighs 18 grams less
Reasons to consider the Honor Magic 9
- Waterproof body (IP69 classification)
- 2.5x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (4288K versus 1682K)
- Comes with 2900 mAh larger battery capacity: 8000 vs 5100 mAh
- Newer Bluetooth version (v6.0)
- Has 50% more RAM: 12GB versus 8GB
- Handles wireless charging up to 50W
- The rear camera has a 3.5x optical zoom
- Optical image stabilization
- The phone is 3 years and 8 months newer
- More recent OS version: Android 17 versus 13
- Compatible with Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks
- Supports higher wattage charging (80W versus 66W)
Review
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | OLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.73 inches | 6.37 inches |
| Resolution | 1224 x 2688 pixels | 1236 x 2664 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.76:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 439 ppi | 461 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes | Yes |
| Max rated brightness | 600 nits | 2000 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1600 nits | 10000 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Screen protection | Tempered glass | Tempered glass |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 90.5% | 91.2% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display - DC Dimming |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display - DC Dimming |
Screen space comparison
Magic 5
6.73″ (19.76:9 ratio) = 17.1 in2
Magic 9
6.37″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 15.4 in2
~10% more screen space
Design and build
| Height | 161.4 mm (6.35 inches) | 151 mm (5.94 inches) |
| Width | 75.5 mm (2.97 inches) | 72.3 mm (2.85 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.8 mm (0.31 inches) | 8.5 mm (0.33 inches) |
| Weight | 191 g (6.74 oz) | 209 g (7.37 oz) |
| Waterproof | No | IP69 |
| Advanced cooling | - | Vapor chamber |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Black, Blue | White, Black, Green, Yellow |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-display |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
| Max clock | 3200 MHz | 4600 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 2 + 2 + 3) | 8 (2 + 6) |
| Architecture | - 3 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A510 - 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A710 - 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A715 - 1 core at 3.2 GHz: Cortex-X3 |
- 6 cores at 3.63 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Performance - 2 cores at 4.74 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Prime |
| L3 cache | 8 MB | 8 MB |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 4 nanometers | 3 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Hexagon | Hexagon |
| Graphics | Adreno 740 | Adreno 840 |
| GPU shading units | 1536 | 1536 |
| GPU clock | 680 MHz | 1300 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~2089 GFLOPS | ~3993.6 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 9353 | 27104 |
| Single-core score | 1943 | 3597 |
| Multi-core score | 5104 | 10478 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 535690 | 1212902 |
| GPU | 511415 | 1469542 |
| Memory | 238088 | 600024 |
| UX | 397684 | 1005914 |
| Total score | 1682877 | 4288382 |
| Samples | Less than 3 | Less than 3 |
AnTuTu 11 Ranking List (#21st place)
Recent User Tests
Honor Magic 5
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2025-01-15 (POOHxyz 🇹🇭) | Geekbench 6 GPU | 9353 |
| 📘 2025-01-15 (POOHxyz 🇹🇭) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 1943 / 5104 |
Honor Magic 9
No benchmark results yet
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 12 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR5X |
| Memory clock | - | 5300 MHz |
| Channels | 4 | 4 |
| Storage size | 256 GB | 256 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 4.0 | UFS 4.0 |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 13 | Android 17 |
| ROM | Magic UI 7.1 | MagicOS 11 |
| OS updates | - | 7 years |
| Security updates | - | 7 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 5100 mAh | 8000 mAh |
| Max charge power | 66 W | 80 W |
| Battery type | Li-Po | Silicon-Carbon (Si/C) |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | No | Yes (50 W) |
| Reverse charging | Yes | Yes, (wireless) |
| Bypass charging | - | Yes |
| Fast charging | Yes (50% in 16 min) | Yes |
| Full charging time | 0:48 hr | - |
Main camera
| Matrix | 54 megapixels | 200 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8768 x 6144 | - |
| Zoom | Optical, 2.5x | Optical, 3.5x |
| Flash | Dual LED | LED |
| Stabilization | Digital | Optical |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 120FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | - | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 122° | - |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 54 MP 2) Telephoto: 32 MP 3) Ultrawide: 50 MP |
1) Standard: 200 MP 2) Telephoto: 200 MP 3) Ultrawide: 50 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
| Image resolution | 54 MP | 200 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.9 | f/1.9 |
| Sensor | Sony IMX800 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/1.49" (≈ 0.67 inch) | 1/1.4" (≈ 0.71 inch) |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | Phase autofocus |
| Stabilization | Digital | Optical |
| Image resolution | 32 MP | 200 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | f/2.6 |
| Sensor size | - | 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch) |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 50 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.0 | f/2.0 |
| Focal length | 13 mm | - |
| Sensor size | 1/2.5" (≈ 0.4 inch) | - |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 12 megapixels | 55 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4096 x 3072 | - |
| Aperture | - | f/2.0 |
| Focal length | - | 21 mm |
| Sensor size | - | 1/2.74" (≈ 0.36 inch) |
| Autofocus | - | Phase autofocus |
| Stabilization | - | Digital |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | No |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6E (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 | 5.2 | 6.0 |
| 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 | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | Yes | Yes |
| 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 | February 2023 | September 2026 |
| Release date | March 2023 | October 2026 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $900 | $745 |
| 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, 66 W | Yes, 80 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.
Cast your vote
Total votes: < 1