Early images of Honour Magic9 Pro Max cause stir
Honour is no longer keeping the Magic9 Pro Max a secret. The brand revealed the new camera design itself, featuring a lens that takes up more than half the width. Shortly afterward, a hands-on video showing the device appeared on Weibo. The official announcement is set for September 28 in China, but debate over the design has already erupted.
Anyone familiar with the Magic8 Pro won’t immediately recognise the Honour Magic9 Pro Max. The round camera module in the centre, affectionately nicknamed “Oreo” by many, is gone. Instead, there is a rectangular platform spanning the full width of the back, featuring one huge lens and two smaller ones. Honour posted the first images itself on Weibo, without further explanation.
Camera inspired by 1937 film camera
Honour is collaborating with ARRI, the German film camera manufacturer, on image processing, and that brand is also prominently displayed on the back. According to Honour, the design pays homage to the 1937 ARRIFLEX, a film camera with a rotating turret housing three lenses. Hence the layout featuring one large lens and two small ones. Whether that looks just as good on a phone as it does on a film set is up to each person to decide. The signature colour is called Moss Green, a deep green shade where the lower half of the back features a contrasting colour. This, in turn, is strongly reminiscent of the iPhone 18 Pro.
Honour has also been quite open about the cameras. The main camera features a 200-megapixel sensor measuring 1/1.28 inch with an f/1.57 lens, and behind the periscope lens is a second 200-megapixel sensor measuring 1/1.4 inch. On the front is a wide, pill-shaped cut-out housing the selfie camera and a 3D depth sensor, presumably for facial recognition.
Square selfie sensor: landscape or portrait, same selfie
That selfie camera is more interesting than it seems. According to the usually well-informed Digital Chat Station, the Magic9 series will be the first Android phone to feature a square sensor, and the hands-on video of the Honour Magic9 Pro Max that surfaced on Weibo seems to confirm this. A standard sensor is rectangular and produces a narrow selfie in portrait mode; if you want to include more people or more of the surroundings, you have to rotate the phone.
A square sensor captures the same amount of image width and height, so you can take the same landscape selfie or group photo with the phone held in your hand as you would if it were rotated. According to earlier rumours, Oppo is working on a similar sensor for the Find X10, but that won’t be released until later.
Hands-on video provides additional details
GSMArena picked out a few more details from that same video that Honour hadn’t yet mentioned. For example, the screen bezels are remarkably thin: about 1 millimetre all around. There are symmetrical speaker grilles at the top and bottom, and a dedicated AI button on the right side. Keep in mind that these are images of a device that hasn’t been officially announced yet, so these details are subject to change.
September 28 in China, Europe to follow
Honour will unveil the Magic9 series on September 28 in China, as the brand confirmed on Weibo. It is not yet known when the Pro Max will arrive in Europe; Honour’s European launches typically follow later. No details have been provided about the price either.
