Honor 200 Pro Review
Honor's new Galaxy S24 competitor
Verdict
The Honor 200 Pro lives up to its title as “the Portrait Master” but it has plenty to offer elsewhere, too. It delivers zippy performance, an impressive display, a beefy battery and very speedy charging.
Pros
- Stunning portrait effects
- Speedy performance
- Bright, vivid display
- Speedy charging
Cons
- The design is a little odd
- Curved edges are prone to accidental swipes
- MagicOS 8.0 is an acquired taste
Available from £599.99 with the early bird voucher at Honor
Key Features
- Amazing portrait effects:Honor has developed some truly impressive portrait effects in collaboration with Studio Harcourt. If you love to take stylised portraits, this phone is going to knock your socks off.
- Speedy performance:The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor onboard delivers a smooth and speedy day-to-day experience and it’s better for gaming than I anticipated.
- Fast charging and long battery life:The Honor 200 Pro has a fancy silicon-carbon battery that squeezes 5200 mAh into its slim chassis. It also charges super fast, up to 100W with a wire and 66W wirelessly.
Introduction
The Honor 90 impressed us last year with specifications that made it a formidable contender in the upper mid-range market. This year, things are a bit different. Instead of just releasing the Honor 200, the brand has introduced a Pro model to the European market for the first time.
This means that the Honor 200 Pro competes in a completely different market segment, going toe-to-toe with lower-tier flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S24, Google Pixel 8 and Xiaomi 14, rather than mid-rangers like the Pixel 8a and Galaxy A55.
To remain appealing next to these heavy hitters, you need to pack some serious specs, and the Honor 200 Pro does exactly that. Here, you’ll find a top-notch display, a speedy processor, a massive battery and an array of high-resolution cameras.
The most unique aspect though is Honor’s partnership with Studio Harcourt. The brand worked with the legendary Parisian portrait makers to develop filters that recreate the studio’s signature portrait style. It may not sound like a big deal but the results might surprise you.
I’ve been using the Honor 200 Pro as my main device for over a week and I’ve learned a lot about what this device has to offer. The question is, can it really contend with flagship favourites? Here’s what I think.
Design
- 163.3 x 75.2 x 8.2mm, 199g
- Casa Milá-inspired camera surround
- IP65 dust and water resistant
The first thing that stands out about the Honor 200 Pro is its unique elongated camera bump. Supposedly this was inspired by the shape of the Casa Mila in Barcelona, but it also reminds me of the camera array on the front of the Meta Quest 3 or an aeroplane window.
I thought it was quite ugly at first, but it has grown on me. There’s something a bit futuristic about it, and it helps to set this phone apart from its rivals which mostly feature square or circular camera housing.
The phone has a velvety-feeling matte glass back, and it feels quite similar to the back of the Vivo X100 Pro. It’s immune to fingerprint smudges, which I love to see, but it’s extremely slippery. It’s pretty dangerous to rock this one without a case but thankfully you don’t need to as the box includes a simple, transparent TPU covering.
The rear is curved at the edges, and so is the glass on the front, making the phone feel exceptionally slim. There’s a glossy polished metal frame around the edge and a matching finish on the bezel around the camera which looks quite fancy.
I have the white model in for testing which has a marble-like pattern on the rear, looking a bit like a posh kitchen worktop. It’s also available in black, and that version comes without the pattern for a more subtle aesthetic. If you really want to make a statement though, the cyan version is the way to go. That variant has a dual-texture finish separated by an S-shaped curve down the rear, and it definitely stands out.
The phone is rated IP65 for dust and water resistance which means that dust poses no threat to the device and it can withstand low-pressure water jets from all directions. So, inclement weather and trips to the beach are no issue, just don’t go fully submerging this phone.
Screen
- 6.8-inch 120Hz OLED
- 1224 x 2700 pixels
- 4000 nits peak brightness
The Honor 200 Pro has a bright 120Hz OLED display with curved sides and a 1224 x 2700 pixel resolution. I prefer a flat display, but the Honor Magic 6 RSR surprised me, becoming one of my favourites with its sharper radius on the edges, meaning that most of the area you interact with is flat. I was hoping to see the same thing here, but that’s not the case – this display feels more like your typical curved handset.
Still, some people are sure to love it and it definitely succeeds in making the phone feel svelte. I just find myself accidentally scrolling on the edge of the display more often than I’d like.
Niggles about curvature aside, this is a great display. It can output up to 4000 nits in certain situations and it has no trouble competing with the spring sunshine. The resolution is ample, text looks sharp and videos look crisp and detailed.
It can dynamically shift between 60Hz and 120Hz depending on what you’re doing, and it’ll save you some battery life in the process. It’s not quite as impressive as the 1-120Hz LTPO panel on the Galaxy S24, but it matches the Pixel 8 in this department.
HDR content looks gorgeous on this phone, with vibrant colours, brilliant highlights and great shadow detail. You’re given a decent amount of control over the colour reproduction too. It’s not the most in-depth that we’ve seen but you get two main profiles and you can tweak the colour temperature and white balance of each to suit your tastes.
There are also plenty of eye care features built in. The most impressive is the blazing-fast PWM dimming speed of 3840Hz, a number that surpasses some of the priciest handsets on the market. There are also low-blue-light modes and adaptive tone controls to keep your peepers feeling fresh.
Cameras
- 50MP f/1.9 main camera (1/1.3-inch sensor)
- 12MP f/2.2 ultrawide
- 50MP f/2.4 2.5x telephoto
- 50MP selfie camera
The cameras are a key focus for the Honor 200 Pro, and the most interesting aspect of this system is the collaboration with Parisian portrait photographers, Studio Harcourt.
In portrait mode, you can select between three exclusive effects developed for the Honor 200 series, but they only work on the main and telephoto cameras. Unfortunately, no Harcourt-style selfies are on the menu this time.
Harcourt Classic recreates the studio’s famous black-and-white portrait style, and the results are much more impressive than I expected. The effect adds an artificial shallow depth of field and accentuates lens flares to create a super-stylised image. It’s most effective with human subjects, but it also works quite well with animals.
If you prefer a more colourful shot, you also get Harcourt Colour and Harcourt Vibrant, which are colour versions with similar effects. I really like the warm tones and vintage vibes that you get from Harcourt Colour, but I found the Vibrant option less appealing. The latter gives you more typical colour processing and the end result doesn’t look quite as special.
Aside from these new filters, you get some solid hardware for regular photography. The main sensor has a relatively large 1/1.3-inch sensor and 50MP resolution, and it’s joined by a 50MP 2.5x telephoto and a 12MP ultrawide with macro focusing capabilities.
The main sensor is the most impressive, especially in low-light conditions, but all the lenses are capable of great results in daylight. The ultrawide really struggles at night, as is often the case, so it’s best avoided after dark.
You can expect rich vibrant colours that match across all the cameras and a good level of detail, even when using the lower-resolution ultrawide. Digitally zooming up to 5x delivers good results, but if you push it beyond 10x then the image quickly breaks down. The camera allows you to go all the way to 50x, if you like, but I wouldn’t advise going anywhere near that level of zoom.
One thing that surprised me with this camera system is how good it is for macro shots. I took some close-up pictures of bugs using the 2.5x and 2x setting and the images came out looking great. I think the phone is doing something clever, blending data from the ultrawide sensor and the main camera to get sharper results. Whatever it’s doing, it works well.
I found the selfie camera to be a little disappointing. It’s not bad at all, but given that this is a phone marketed as the “portrait master” I was expecting something more impressive. It has a generous 50MP resolution and a fairly wide FOV that’s great for group shots but there’s no autofocus and you can’t use the excellent Harcourt effects here. It can take some good shots, but it’s a step down from the selfie camera on the Honor Magic 6 Pro.
On the video front, you can shoot at up to 4K 60fps on both the main and telephoto cameras, whereas the selfie and ultrawide cameras can shoot at up to 4K 30fps. Stabilisation is rock solid, especially at 30fps, while transitions between lenses are smooth and there are plenty of advanced options available like full manual controls.
Performance
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3
- 12GB RAM, 512GB storage
- Dual stereo speakers
The Honor 200 Pro runs on the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor and it’s the first phone that I’m testing with this chipset onboard. The name is a little confusing, but essentially this is a slightly less powerful, and more affordable, version of the brand’s flagship 8 Gen 3 processor.
In use, I could barely tell the difference. This phone feels just as quick and snappy as any of the recent Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 flagships that I’ve tried. In benchmark scores however, the difference is more noticeable. This chip is more comparable with last year’s 8 Gen 2, sometimes beating it in computational workloads, but often lagging behind it in graphical performance.
Don’t let that put you off though. In reality, the Honor 200 Pro is more than powerful enough to run the latest games at high settings. I tested it by maxing out every option in Wuthering Waves and playing for about half an hour. Not only did it maintain high framerates throughout, but it never became uncomfortably warm either. It’s a very capable handset.
The international version of this phone comes with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. This gives you plenty of room for media and large game files, and it’s a significant advantage over the Galaxy S24 and Pixel 8, both of which only come with up to 256GB of space.
The speakers are also quite impressive. You get stereo drivers positioned on the top and bottom of the phone (or left and right in landscape orientation) and they kick out more bass than most phone speakers, resulting in a rich, full sound. They’re not the loudest around but you can boost the level to “200%” if you need some extra volume, but you should expect some mild distortion if you push it to this level.
Software
- MagicOS 8.0 based on Android 14
- Magic Portal and Magic Capsule
- iOS-inspired layout
The Honor 200 Pro runs Magic OS 8.0, the same software that we saw on the Honor Magic 6 Pro and RSR recently. It’s one of the most heavily customised Android skins around and in some respects, it behaves more like Apple’s iOS than stock Android. The notifications shade, and quick settings are split into separate sections, the app drawer is disabled by default and there’s even a Dynamic Island clone called Magic Capsule.
This isn’t a bad thing, it’s just different to most other Android phones. Personally, I’m quite fond of MagicOS and especially the Magic Capsule. It lets me quickly access my timers and music controls no matter which app is running in the foreground, and I really miss it when I switch to a more typical Android device.
Another great feature that debuted with the Magic 6 Pro is called Magic Portal. This allows you to drag text or an image to the side of the display to quickly share it with a different app. For example, you can drag images into Google Search and it’s much quicker than taking a screenshot and using Google Lens. The ability to drag addresses into Maps is super convenient too.
There’s plenty of customisation available in MagicOS, whether you want to change up the look of your lock screen, use a different system font or even add a custom image to your always-on display. It’s very adaptable.
On the whole, I had a very positive experience with MagicOS 8.0 on the Honor 200 Pro. It always ran smoothly, and I only ran into one glitch where I temporarily couldn’t tap the media controls in the Magic Capsule, but it fixed itself after a few minutes.
There’s a bit of bloatware pre-installed but there’s not too much, just a few random apps and Honor’s own utilities. There are more first-party apps than I’d like to see, but it doesn’t take long to get it cleaned up if you prefer to use the Google alternatives.
Battery life
- 5200 mAh battery
- 100W wired charging
- 66W wireless charging
The Honor 200 Pro boasts the same fancy silicon-carbon battery technology as the pricier Honor Magic 6 Pro. This means that, even though it’s a pretty slim phone, Honor has managed to cram in a whopping 5,200 mAh battery.
Unsurprisingly, this results in pretty great battery life. Even on days with particularly heavy usage, taking lots of photos, using Maps for navigation and watching long YouTube videos, the phone would make it to the end of the day with plenty of juice left to spare.
A day and a half from a single charge is a very realistic prospect, and if you’re disciplined then you might even be able to push that to two days.
When it’s time to charge, it’s barely an inconvenience. The phone ships with a 100W wall adapter in the box, and that’ll take you from completely flat to fully charged in less than an hour. Meanwhile, 30 minutes on the charger is enough to get you to 70%.
The phone also supports the same wildly quick wireless charging speeds as the Magic 6 Pro, up to 66W with the right charger. I own the Honor 100W SuperCharge wireless charger, and it’s incredibly convenient to stick the phone on there whenever I’m at my desk for a speedy top-up.
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Should you buy it?
You should buy if you love to take portraits
Using the new Studio Harcourt portrait modes, you can create truly impressive portrait shots that look like more like they were taken with a professional camera than a phone.
You should not buy if you love taking selfies
The selfie camera on this phone is decent, but it’s not going to wow you, and you can’t use those impressive Harcourt effects on the front-facing camera.
Final Thoughts
The Honor 200 Pro offers speedy performance, impressive photography, long battery life and fast charging – all hallmarks of a great flagship device. However, at this price the competition is stiff, and devices from Samsung, Google and Xiaomi are sure to be more appealing to some buyers.
The Honor 200 Pro definitely has its advantages, though. With 512GB storage as standard, it doubles the maximum storage capacity of the Galaxy S24 and Pixel 8. It also has a brighter display, a larger battery and faster charging than these models.
The Studio Harcourt portrait effects are a unique feature that helps set this phone apart. Yes, they’re essentially filters with some clever AI processing on top, and with enough tinkering in Lightroom you could achieve similar results, but with this phone you don’t need to; you just snap and go.
The competition offers more when it comes to generative AI features, and you also get a more typical Android software experience plus a longer window of software support. So whether this phone is right for you all depends on your personal priorities. If you love taking portrait shots, though, this one’s hard to beat.
How we test
We test every mobile phone we review thoroughly. We use industry-standard tests to compare features properly and we use the phone as our main device over the review period. We’ll always tell you what we find and we never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used as a main phone for over a week
Thorough camera testing in a variety of conditions
Tested and benchmarked using respected industry tests and real-world data
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FAQs
The Honor 200 Pro has an IP65 rating. This means it can withstand low-pressure jets of water from all directions. In effect, it’ll be fine in the rain, just don’t drop it in a swimming pool.
No, the Honor 200 Pro doesn’t have expandable storage. However, with 512GB as standard, you might not need it.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
