Honor Magic8 Pro Air: Outshining the iPhone Air

It seems that every slim phone coming out lately is acting like an insult to the iPhone Air. Ultra-thin smartphones are usually built around design first, with compromises in battery size, camera flexibility, and charging speeds. The Honor Magic8 Pro Air takes a different approach, offering several practical advantages over the iPhone Air while maintaining a slim and lightweight form factor. Rather than focusing only on thinness, Honor pairs its compact design with larger battery capacity, a more versatile camera system, and faster charging support. Design and Display The Magic8 Pro Air features a 6.31-inch LTPO AMOLED display with a 1,216 x 2,640 resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate, and peak local brightness reaching up to 6,000 nits. This gives it a much brighter display output than the iPhone Air, which is ideal for outdoor use. Despite measuring just 6.1mm thick and weighing 155 grams, the device retains stereo speakers, a physical dual Nano SIM slot, and eSIM support. It also carries IP68 and IP69 water and dust resistance ratings, offering broader protection without increasing bulk. An ultrasonic fingerprint scanner is built into the display. The phone is available in Shadow Black, Fairy Purple, Feather White, and Light Orange. Internals and Software MediaTek’s flagship-grade Dimensity 9500 chipset powers the phone and is available with up to 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM and up to 1TB of UFS 4.1 storage. This positions the Magic8 Pro Air closer to full flagship hardware rather than the efficiency-focused internals typically used in ultra-thin phones like the iPhone Air. The device runs MagicOS 10 based on Android 16. Cameras Camera capability is one of the clearest areas where the Magic8 Pro Air offers a practical advantage over the iPhone Air. Instead of relying on a limited lame single-camera setup, the phone features a triple rear camera system with dedicated hardware for different shooting scenarios. The main camera is a 50MP sensor with a large 1/1.3-inch sensor, ƒ/1.6 aperture, and optical image stabilization. It is paired with a 64MP periscope telephoto camera, offering 3.2x optical zoom and OIS, which enables true optical zoom rather than digital cropping. A 50MP ultrawide camera with macro support completes the setup, adding flexibility for close-up and wide-angle photography, alongside a 50MP front-facing camera. Battery and Pricing Despite its slim profile, the Magic8 Pro Air includes a 5,500 mAh battery using silicon-carbon anode technology. This is significantly larger than the battery typically found in ultra-thin phones such as the iPhone Air and supports 80W wired and 50W wireless charging, allowing for faster top-ups in everyday use. Pricing in China starts at $717 for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage variant, while the 16GB RAM and 1TB storage model is priced at $860. Meanwhile, the iPhone Air had a launch price of $999 in the US. Honor has not yet announced details for a global release. Honor Magic8 Pro Air Specifications Chipset Mediatek Dimensity 9500 (3 nm) CPU Octa-core (1×4.21 GHz C1-Ultra & 3×3.5 GHz C1-Premium & 4×2.7 GHz C1-Pro) GPU Arm G1-Ultra OS Android 16, MagicOS 10 Supported Networks 2G, 3G, 4G LTE, 5G Display 6.31 inches, 1216 x 2640 pixels, LTPO OLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, 4320Hz PWM, Dolby Vision, HDR Vivid, 1800 nits (HBM), 6000 nits (peak) RAM 12 GB, 16 GB Storage 256 GB, 512 GB, 1TB Card Slot no Main Camera 50 MP, f/1.6, 23mm (wide), 1/1.3″, 1.2µm, multi-directional PDAF, OIS 64 MP, f/2.6, 74mm (periscope telephoto), 1/1.2″, PDAF, OIS, 3.2x optical zoom 50 MP, f/2.2, 16mm, 112˚ (ultrawide) Front Camera 50 MP, f/2.0, 21mm (wide), 1/2.93″, 0.6µm Colors Black, White, Purple, Orange Fingerprint sensor Under display, ultrasonic Battery Si/C Li-Po 5500 mAh 80W wired 50W wireless 5W reverse wired Price $717