Over the past few weeks, I’ve learned the Honor Magic 8 Lite is nearly impossible to kill thanks to its 7500mAh battery, built-in drop resistance, and IP69K rating that rivals the most expensive flagships

This year has been full of notable releases for Honor, delivering fantastic options for the upper mid-range and premium segments. But the Honor Magic 7 Lite, which debuted at the very beginning of the year, but the ancient processor held it back in too many ways.

That’s where the Honor Magic 8 Lite comes in. It upgrades to the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 tech, granting snappy performance to nearly everything on the phone. It retains the 108MP camera system from the Magic 7 Lite, which isn’t nearly as good as the numbers suggest, but Honor’s bevy of AI tricks, both in the camera software and the OS, help make up for what the hardware might lack.

And while the design of most of the phone feels extraordinarily mid-tier with an all-plastic construction, the Magic 8 Lite fits the “don’t judge a book by its cover” idiom perfectly. That build is the toughest thing you’ll see in almost any smartphone to date, including class-leading drop and ingress protection, an absolutely enormous battery, and six years of promised software updates in Europe to back that up. It’s an impressive new entry that’s worth taking a look at, for sure.

Honor Magic 8 Lite: Price, availability, and specs

The Honor Magic 8 Lite is available in Europe and most countries where Honor phones are sold globally. UK pricing sits comfortably at £399 for the model with 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

The unboxing experience is a pretty barebones one, as the box contains only the phone, USB-C cable, and a SIM eject tool. No case or charger were included with my European review unit.

Honor Magic 8 Lite: What I loved

As you might have guessed by now, the Honor Magic 8 Lite excels in a few key areas: battery life, charging speed, build quality, and durability. That’s not to say the rest of the phone is bad, but these four areas are really what set this phone apart from the pack at this price.

While you might never imagine it from the all-plastic construction, this phone is as durable as it gets before entering the typically awful “rugged phone” category. It’s got IP68 and IP69K ingress protection, plus a drop rating at up to 2.5m (8.2ft) on most hard surfaces, including cobblestone, marble, asphalt, and more.

It’s also the perfect phone for people who find themselves using their phones while wet. Whether this means your fingers are wet while cooking, trying to use the phone in the rain (or shower), or just want to peruse TikTok while in a hot tub and never want to worry about dropping it in the water, things don’t get better than this. Being able to actually use the screen while it’s wet is something only flagships from Honor and OnePlus have been blessed with until now.

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While the chasis is irritatingly flat all around the sides — a trend I detest because of how difficult it is to pick up from a table and generally uncomfortable to hold for long periods of time — the camera island has a great unique style that’s immediately identifiable. The stereo speaker system onboard is crisp, clean, and clear, with a maximum volume mode that’s nothing short of impressive.

Battery life is beyond incredible, owing to a combination of a power-efficient processor paired with a 7500mAh battery. You’ll easily get 2-3 days out of a charge no matter how you use the phone. Thankfully, unlike the Magic 7 Lite, the Magic 8 Lite has great everyday performance that matches the best competition in this price range.

The display is also excellent, sporting a 120Hz OLED that’s perfectly viewable in sunlight with flagship brightness levels. This one uses DC-like dimming all the way down to about 20%, and then kicks in to 3840Hz PWM dimming below that. From most angles, it seems like this is a perfect display for flicker-sensitive people, but it’s got one big problem: dithering.

That’s because while Honor says this display is capable of 10-bit color, it’s actually an 8-bit display that uses temporal dithering to fake the additional 2-bit depth. That means anyone sensitive to flickering could find this display uncomfortable, which clearly clashes with Honor’s claim that this is a “risk-free” display. At the least, this is still a much better display for flicker-sensitive folks than something from Samsung or Google in this price range.

Honor is launching this one with Magic OS 9, which is based on Android 15. That doesn’t make much sense given the Magic 8 Pro launches with Magic OS 10 (based on Android 16) but, at the very least, European customers can expect to see the Magic OS 10 update land in April 2026.

Beyond that, expect five more years of OS and security updates if you live in Europe. It’s a fantastic pledge that’s only outdone by Samsung and Google by one year. I don’t much care about the difference between six or seven years of updates, though, because, by that point, a mid-range phone will likely be sluggish and nearly unusable.

Honor Magic 8 Lite: What could use improvement

In terms of design and ergonomics, the Magic 8 Pro is a far nicer phone to hold. That has less to do with materials used and more to do with the overly flat design the Magic 8 Lite uses, particularly on the backside. Some people like the trend of fully flat phones with flat sides, but I am not one of those people. Curves fit human hands better than flat objects, and I’m just really not sure why this has become a trend with this year’s releases.

Honor also really needs to work on its haptics. Even Honor’s best phones use lesser-tier haptics, and the ones in the Magic 8 Lite feel undeniably cheap. They’re so bad they make me question the build quality of the phone, even though I know it’s better than these make it feel.

Honor is also sticking with its awful 2-year update promise for countries outside of Europe where this phone is sold, meaning you’ll only see Android 17 on the Magic 8 Lite before Honor drops support. It’s clear this is a model more geared toward Europe than anywhere else, and that affects my ability to recommend it outside of that continent.

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While the main camera is typically excellent at 1x or 2x zoom, things fall apart quickly at 3x and beyond. Zooming in to 3x and beyond almost always creates an extremely oversharpened, digital-looking image that lacks contrast and often has poor color accuracy.

Aside from poor zoom quality, I’ve found several instances where the camera will overexpose a shot in random lighting conditions, creating a cheap look and feel to the images. This problem doesn’t seem to carry over to the 5MP ultrawide sensor, which does a much better job with colors and exposure, but lacks detail because of the low resolution.

Camera speed can be extremely hit or miss, as well. There’s no quick launch option on this phone, so the quickest way to launch it is to turn the screen on and swipe to enter the camera. There’s no way to double-press a button and launch the camera. Couple that with a long load time for the viewfinder, which can sometimes take 3-4 seconds when the phone is busy, and you end up with a frustratingly inconsistent experience.

Honor Magic 8 Lite: The competition

At this price range, you have to pick your battles. The Magic 8 Lite excels in battery life, charging speed, and durability, but the Motorola Edge 60 Fusion offers a nicer feeling vegan leather build with a 1.2m drop rating and IP69 ingress protection at a much lower price.

If you’re looking for a different style and don’t like Honor’s UI or hardware designs, the OnePlus Nord 4 or Nothing Phone 3a, and Nothing Phone 3a Pro all offer stunning designs with cleaner OS’s. Camera quality and durability isn’t as good on those phones, but they offer great software experience that Android fans will be more approving of.

Of course, you can’t count out Samsung to offer something for every price range, either. The Galaxy A36 is a bit cheaper but is slightly worse in every way, while just a tad more money will get you a Galaxy A56 with a faster processor and better cameras. Both of these phones have harsh, flickering displays and substantially worse battery life, but Samsung’s software update policy and its rich features might be a better fit for some people.

Honor Magic 8 Lite: Should you buy?

You should buy if…

• You want class-leading battery life and durability
• You live in Europe and want a phone with six years of software support
• Samsungs OLEDs give you a headache (this one won’t)

You shouldn’t buy if…

• You often take photos using 3x zoom and beyond
• You live outside of Europe (only 2 years of software updates promised globally)
• You’re sensitive to display dithering

Honor’s global update program means there’s no reason to buy this phone if you live outside of Europe. A scant 2 years of software updates is terrible by any measure, while European customers get a much better six years of updates for the same hardware. That’s particularly a shape since Honor’s software is finally at the point where it doesn’t feel like a second-rate iOS clone.

I use a ton of Honor devices regularly and love how well Honor’s devices work with each other. The Magic 8 Lite fits in perfectly with that and will work impressively well with other Honor phones, tablets, laptops, and more. Even if you’re not a regular Honor user, this phone will last you for days on a single charge and still hang around in case you drop it — yes, even on pavement.

And while the camera won’t be winning any awards for speed or quality — no phone at this price range will, really — the main camera is more than capable of taking great shots from time to time. Of course, overall performance, battery life, and software amenities help make up for some of the phone’s few shortcomings, making this an easy recommendation at £399.

FAQ

Where is the Honor Magic 8 Lite available?

The Honor Magic 8 Lite is available in Europe and China as of December, with a wider worldwide rollout happening just after that.

Does the Honor Magic 8 Lite use PWM dimming or dithering?

The Honor Magic 8 Lite’s OLED display uses DC dimming from 21-100% brightness. At 20% brightness and below, the phone switches to 3840Hz PWM dimming. This high frequency PWM dimming is nearly 10x faster than offered by companies like Apple or Samsung and should prove to be very comfortable, even for flicker-sensitive users.

The Honor Magic 8 Lite uses temporal dithering at all times to create 10-bit color depth. The OLED panel is 8-bit by default, and a 2-bit software dithering algorithm is employed. There is no way to disable dithering on this phone. Dithering can cause discomfort for some users and make the display unusable for them.

What cameras does the Honor Magic 8 Lite use?

The Honor Magic 8 Lite uses a 108mp main camera on the back, which is capable of 10x digital zoom. The phone also employs a 5mp ultrawide camera on the back. The front-facing selfie camera uses a 16mp sensor.

What camera AI features are supported on the Magic 8 Lite?

The Honor Magic 8 Lite supports AI Remove Reflection, AI Eraser, AI Erase Passers-by, AI Upscale, AI Outpainting, AI Cutout, AI Face Tune-Eyes Open, Moving Photo Collage, and Moving Photo Share.

How many software updates will the Magic 8 Lite receive?

The Honor Magic 8 Lite launches with Magic OS 9 (Android 15) and will receive six operating system updates in Europe. That includes six years of security updates during that time. Magic OS 10, based on Android 16, is expected in April 2026.

Other parts of the world will only receive two major OS updates and two years of security updates.