Home > Tablet comparison > Honor MagicPad 3 vs MagicPad 2 12.3 – which one to choose?

Honor MagicPad 3 vs Honor MagicPad 2 12.3

76 out of 100
Honor MagicPad 3
VS
68 out of 100
Honor MagicPad 2 12.3
MagicPad 3
MagicPad 2 12.3

Here we compared two tablets: the 13.3-inch Honor MagicPad 3 (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3) that was released on July 2, 2025, against the Honor MagicPad 2 12.3, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 and came out 1 year before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

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Memory
  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments (3)

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each tablet
Reasons to consider the Honor MagicPad 3
  • Has a 1 inch larger screen size
  • Comes with 2400 mAh larger battery capacity: 12450 vs 10050 mAh
  • Higher display refresh rate – 165 Hz
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.4)
  • 30% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (2333K versus 1795K)
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5
  • Compatible with Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks
  • 9% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 2176 and 2004 points
  • The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
Reasons to consider the Honor MagicPad 2 12.3
  • OLED display (versus competitor's IPS LCD)
  • Much smaller footprint: 16% more compact case (76.7 vs 91.8 square inches)

Review

Evaluation of Honor MagicPad 3 and MagicPad 2 12.3 crucial features
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.
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
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Value for money (Beta)

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Currency
8 / 256 GB
VS
8 / 256 GB
50.0
(Average)
Value Index
39.0
(Mediocre)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Tablet:
MagicPad 3
vs
MagicPad 2 12.3

Display

Type IPS LCD OLED
Size 13.3 inches 12.3 inches
Resolution 2136 x 3200 pixels 1920 x 3000 pixels
Aspect ratio 3:2 3:2
PPI 289 ppi 290 ppi
Refresh rate 165 Hz 144 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes Yes (60-144 Hz)
Max rated brightness - 650 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1000 nits 1600 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10 Yes, HDR10
Screen protection Tempered glass Tempered glass
Screen-to-body ratio 89% 90.9%
Display features - DCI-P3 - DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 99.7% 98.4%
PWM Not detected 90 Hz
Response time 20 ms 5 ms
Contrast 612:1 ∞ Infinity
Screen space comparison
MagicPad 3
13.3″ (3:2 ratio) = 81.6 in2
MagicPad 2 12.3
12.3″ (3:2 ratio) = 69.8 in2
~16% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
MagicPad 3 +3%
700 nits
MagicPad 2 12.3
679 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 293.9 mm (11.57 inches) 274.5 mm (10.81 inches)
Width 201.4 mm (7.93 inches) 180.5 mm (7.11 inches)
Thickness 5.8 mm (0.23 inches) 5.8 mm (0.23 inches)
Weight 595 g (20.99 oz) 555 g (19.58 oz)
Waterproof No No
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Metal Metal
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Gold, Gray White, Black, Blue
Fingerprint scanner No No
Area 592 cm2 (91.8 inches2) 495 cm2 (76.9 inches2)
Visual size comparison
Screen-to-body ratio
MagicPad 3
89%
MagicPad 2 12.3 +2%
90.9%
Tablet Ranking (43rd and 67th place)
Android Tablet Ranking (30th and 50th place)

Performance

Chipset specifications of Honor MagicPad 3 and Honor MagicPad 2 12.3
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3
Max clock 3300 MHz 3000 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 2 + 2) 8 (1 + 4 + 3)
Architecture - 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		 - 3 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A520
- 4 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 1 core at 3 GHz: Cortex-X4
L3 cache 12 MB 8 MB
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 4 nanometers 4 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Hexagon
GPU
Graphics Adreno 750 Adreno 735
GPU shading units 1536 768
GPU clock 903-1000 MHz 1100 MHz
FLOPS ~2774 GFLOPS ~1689.6 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Honor MagicPad 3 and Honor MagicPad 2 12.3
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
MagicPad 3 +9%
2176
MagicPad 2 12.3
2004
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
MagicPad 3 +23%
6707
MagicPad 2 12.3
5461
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 16535 -
Single-core score 2176 2004
Multi-core score 6707 5461
Sources: Geekbench [3]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
MagicPad 3 +30%
2333285
MagicPad 2 12.3
1795377
CPU 643259 565484
GPU 818824 488270
Memory 348314 318468
UX 522888 423155
Total score 2333285 1795377
Samples [298 tests] [201 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability - 91%
Graphics test - 8 FPS
Graphics score - 1089
3DMark Solar Bay
Graphics test - 20 FPS
Section 1 - 23 FPS
Section 2 - 20 FPS
Section 3 - 17 FPS
Graphics score - 5148
Sources: 3DMark [5]
PCMark 3.0
Web score - 17800
Video editing - 8040
Photo editing - 29384
Data manipulation - 13941
Writing score - 19204
Submit your benchmark results

Memory

Configuration
RAM
RAM size 8 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR4X
Memory clock - 2133 MHz
Channels 4 2
Storage
Storage size 256 GB 256 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 UFS 3.1
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) Android 14 (Can be upgraded to Android 16)
ROM MagicOS 10 MagicOS 10
OS size - 29 GB

Battery

Capacity 12450 mAh 10050 mAh
Max charge power 66 W 66 W
Battery type Silicon-Carbon (Si/C) Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging No No
Reverse charging Yes Yes
Fast charging Yes Yes (35% in 30 min)
Full charging time - 1:46 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing - 05:53 hr
Watching video - 09:22 hr
Gaming - 05:56 hr
Standby - 124 hr
General battery life
Add your battery life

Main camera

Matrix 13 megapixels 13 megapixels
Image resolution 4160 x 3120 4160 x 3120
Zoom Digital Digital
Flash LED LED
Stabilization Digital Digital
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 30FPS
1080p video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 30FPS
Lenses 1) Standard: 13 MP
2) Macro: 2 MP
1) Standard: 13 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode -
Standard lens
Image resolution 13 MP 13 MP
Aperture f/2.0 f/2.0
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Digital
Macro lens
Image resolution 2 MP -
Aperture f/2.4 -
Stabilization Digital -

Selfie camera

Megapixels 9 megapixels 9 megapixels
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Autofocus No No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS 1080p (Full HD) 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 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
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 5.4 5.3
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG		 - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort Yes, DP 1.2 Yes
NFC* No No
Infrared port No No
Network
Type of SIM card No No
eSIM support* No -
5G support No No

Sound

Speakers 8.0 8.0
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos - No
Speakers test
Max loudness
MagicPad 3
85 dB
MagicPad 2 12.3 +6%
90.3 dB

Other

Category Mid-range Flagship
Announced July 2025 July 2024
Release date July 2025 October 2024
Launch price (MSRP) $599 $599
Successor - - Honor MagicPad 3
Sensors - Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor		 - Proximity sensor
- Accelerometer
Bundled charger Yes, 66 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 MagicPad 3 is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which tablet would you choose?
22 (28.9%)
54 (71.1%)
Total votes: 76

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User opinions

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Avatar
FZXO December 30, 2025 at 10:11 PM
"After analyzing all the data, we think that the Honor MagicPad 3 is definitely a better buy." Are we for real? the magicpad2 has a OLED screen and the MagicPad 3 has an IPS... Also keyboard and pen are bundled with magicpad 2 while magicpad 3 doesn't.
+6 Reply
Avatar
Vusia February 26, 2026 at 06:14 AM
It is a joke man. They are selling a bit bigger tablet with worse display with same CPU(GPU just changed) for the same price without keyboard and pencil.
+3 Reply
Avatar
Idk March 15, 2026 at 04:18 PM
Uhm actually the CPU changed too and it improved A LOT.
0 Reply
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