HONOR Magic6 Lite test — a big gap between Lite and Pro

I am mainly confused by the association with the phone of the same name. Some people think that they will only get a slightly reduced version of the premium phone, but in reality this gap is huge. That is why I was also happy this year that Xiaomi did not decide to prepare a Lite version for the 14 series, because in my opinion it is unnecessary. In this class, Xiaomi has the POCO, Redmi and also the (13)T series of phones, which cover well everything that users need up to €400-500.

HONOR should do the same. They can start by renaming the HONOR Magic6 Lite phone to make it more clearly separated from the Pro version, and secondly, pay more attention to how to outshine the competition and not catch up, because that's what happened with the HONOR Magic6 Lite.

HONOR Magic6 Lite price in Slovenia?

• HONOR Magic6 Lite 8/256GB: €399

HONOR Magic6 Lite — I like the leather and overall look

If I had to single out one feature that stands out most about this phone, it's the looks, but only in the case of the leather version. The rest work for me with serial ones, which I can find on every other phone. I like the orange leather, which is probably the epitome of the Huawei Mate 50 Pro, and it doesn't collect stains like glass or plastic. The edges are nicely rounded and the reason why the phone fits so nicely in my hand. Looking at the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, which gave up the curves, and this one, I like the HONOR Magic6 Lite even more in appearance. Samsung's phone, which is no doubt 10x better, feels like one big brick to me in comparison.

The screen is also curved, which can cause nightmares when or if you want to install a protective glass, which I can say from personal experience. I always check to see if there are any issues with content spilling over the edges or if the screen is less responsive at the edges. I didn't see them on the Magic6 Lite. The screen is therefore fully functional and at the same time looks very premium.

On the back there is a huge array of cameras that would make you think we have some sort of professional set of cameras at our disposal. Unfortunately, this is not reality, so this larger circle is only an aesthetic decision.

The phone has a basic protection rating of IP53, which prevents the ingress of dust and water drops. There is no official screen protection, but a base foil is installed so that the screen will not be scratched at the slightest contact. The bezels around the screen aren't excessive, nor are they the thinnest I've seen so far. I also like that the leather rises on the physical buttons and thus "breaks" the symmetry of the phone a bit.

I can also praise its slimness (8 mm) and lightness (only 185 g), which, in addition to the curvature, contributes the most to the ease of using the phone. However, I blame HONOR for removing the protective cover and charger from the packaging.

The speaker is just one that can't do more than average sound.

A good AMOLED panel that is easy on the eyes

At 6.78 inches, it belongs among the giants. If you want to reach the top edge of the phone with one hand, you will have to have bigger palms. This is not a reprimand, just a concern that should be taken into account. Inside there is an AMOLED panel, which, according to the tests, is very good. Colors are accurate, brightness is high (1200 nits) but not the best in its class, and PWM dimming, which refreshes at 1920 Hz, is excellent. If you are sensitive to flickering of the screen that you cannot detect with the naked eye, and it often gives you headaches and eye pain, you should not have these problems with the HONOR Magic6 Lite. This applies to all recent HONOR phones, which is one of the few manufacturers that puts so much focus on dimming.

The screen refreshes at 120Hz, perfect for general use and gaming. The phone also intelligently switches between 60 and 120 Hz. I turned on the internal frequency monitoring tools and the display responded quickly and mostly accurately when to save battery and when to turn on a higher speed.

Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 delivers only average performance

The Snapdragon 695 chip never grew on me, especially since I've seen it too many times in €300 phones, where it doesn't belong at all. It was replaced by the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 and was chosen by HONOR. It's an improvement, but not so much that I'd like to see it in other phones. Yes, I was able to play most mobile games with it at medium or lower resolutions. For example, the chip can't provide 120 frames per second (fps) in Call of Duty: Mobile, or playing games Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail at the highest resolution, only at medium, or for a more consistent experience, rather at slightly lower settings.

There is 8 GB of RAM, which is enough for such a phone, since you will not be doing more demanding tasks on it. Do not play emulators, as it is impractical, with the exception of those older consoles (Nintendo DS, GBA...). There is 256 GB of space, which should also be sufficient. It supports the UFS 3.1 standard, which means more than solid read and write speeds.

Only Android 13 is installed and not Android 14, which should already be present on new phones in March 2024. HONOR has promised 2 Android upgrades, which means you only have one more upgrade left after you update to 14. Nothing really force friendly. The phone will receive security patches for 3 years.

The battery (5300 mAh; Li-Po) is the component that HONOR has boasted the most since its launch. They say it lasts for two days, which is true if you're really gentle with it. But there is a good reason for this good autonomy. The processor is average, the brightness of the screen is not too high and the tasks that I assume will be performed the most on this phone are not exactly wasteful (browsing the web, Instagram...). If you throw extended gaming or serious photography into the mix, the battery life drops off very quickly, but it's still more than a day.

Another odd feature is support for Wi-Fi 5 rather than newer standards.

I wouldn't crown him a good photographer

It's not the first time this year that I have to warn about pushing cameras into phones at any cost. The number means nothing if the camera will never be used. The 2 MP macro camera and the 5 MP ultra-wide camera are just numbers on paper. In really good conditions, I could still make an argument for using an ultra-wide-angle sensor, but these appear too infrequently. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro+ got burned in the same way, but the main sensor saved it.

Photo gallery

Even with the Magic6 Lite, the lifeline is the main 108 MP camera, which takes quite good photos during the day. Again, it lacks one feature that would significantly improve the quality of (night) photos, and even more so — optical image stabilization (OIS). It's a shame that it didn't make the shortlist, because now you have to be careful that those shakes don't ruin the picture. At night, the sensor is already trying to take a good photo, but any slight vibration can quickly nullify all its efforts. Avoid using the ultra-wide camera at night unless you are surrounded by multiple light sources.

It offers too little for these times

The HONOR Magic6 Lite would have been a perfectly adequate mid-range phone in the past. The screen is good, the design is on the premium side, the performance is average, and the main camera is good enough for everyday users. In 2024, however, this is not enough. The competition has taken several steps forward, and the HONOR Magic6 Lite can't keep up, so I have a hard time recommending it, unless you get it at a really incredible price through your carrier and you're completely satisfied with what it has to offer.

Otherwise, I recommend waiting for the upcoming Samsung Galaxy A55, POCO X6 (Pro) or choose the Redmi Note 13 and, for me, the best phone in this class at the moment, the Xiaomi 13T.