I’ve spent the past few weeks with the HONOR Magic8 Lite after HONOR introduced it to me in Dublin, and I need to address something upfront: this phone fundamentally challenges what we expect from devices carrying the “Lite” designation. After years of working with phones where “Lite” meant compromises and cutbacks, this feels different. Flagship specs have crept into the mid-tier, and the Magic8 Lite demonstrates this shift better than most devices I’ve tested recently.
Design
The Magic8 Lite weighs 193g, which sounds substantial on paper but doesn’t feel that way in practice. The balance is genuinely impressive, creating a phone that feels lighter and more manageable than the specs suggest.
One detail that caught my attention immediately: the camera array sits nearly flush with the body. We’re talking about just half a millimetre of protrusion, meaning this phone actually rests flat on tables without wobbling. If you’ve dealt with modern phones that rock back and forth during use, you’ll appreciate this more than you might expect.
The frame and back are polished plastic, with glass protecting the front. Before you dismiss this as cheap, consider the execution. The materials feel considerably more premium in hand than they look, and the build quality is genuinely robust. It’s not flagship-tier aluminium and glass, but its nowhere near the tinny, cheap plastic of budget devices either. There’s a noticeable middle ground here that HONOR has landed in successfully.
Available in Forest Green, Midnight Black, and Reddish Brown, there’s enough variety to suit different tastes without overwhelming choice.
That build quality extends to genuine durability credentials, and this is where things get properly interesting. The Magic8 Lite is certified to withstand drops from 2.5 metres. HONOR achieves this through what they call Ultra-Bounce Anti-Drop Technology, which incorporates a Non-Newtonian fluid alongside ultra-deep tempered glass. The physics here is clever: the fluid hardens on impact, distributing shock more effectively. Away from the science, the demo was impressive.
When HONOR demonstrated the phone to me, they handed over my review unit straight from a jug of water where it had sat for over 20 minutes. They’d also just hopped it off the ground beforehand. I was the only member of the Irish media who got this particular demonstration of a soggy phone, and it’s still working just fine. The phone’s Three-layer Water Resistance Structure handles extreme water environments, including hot water for up to 10 seconds – for you tea-pot droppers? It’s tested to function after 30 minutes submerged at 1.5 metres depth, achieving IP68/IP69K ratings. That’s legitimately impressive protection at this price point.
Practical touches extend to AI Heavy Rain Touch and AI Glove Touch features, meaning the display responds properly whatever the weather. These aren’t gimmicks if you’re actually using your phone outdoors in Irish winters, particularly after our recent cold snap!
Functionality
The standout specification is the 7,500 mAh Silicon-Carbon battery. This isn’t marketing hyperbole, the battery life genuinely delivers. HONOR claims three days for average users, and my experience supports this. I’ve personally pushed beyond that figure. The test data shows 52.5 hours of music streaming, 23.8 hours of online video playback, 16.8 hours of gaming, or 12.3 hours of video chat on a single charge. Impressively, HONOR quotes battery capacity retention of over 80% after six years of use, suggesting genuine longevity.
The battery performs across extreme temperatures, from -30°C to 55°C. There’s also an ultra-power saving mode that maintains calls for 60 minutes even when battery drops to 2%. Reverse charging capability at 7.5W means you can use the phone as a portable power bank in emergencies.
When you do need to charge, the phone supports up to 66W with HONOR’s SuperCharge technology. Importantly, HONOR confirmed this works with any high-wattage charger, not just their branded units. That matters because whilst you get a cable in the box, there’s no charging brick included.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 chipset delivers solid performance, with 29% improved GPU performance and 11% better CPU performance versus the previous generation. HONOR’s RAM Turbo Technology provides a 16GB equivalent experience through 8GB physical RAM plus 8GB virtual. Combined with 512GB internal storage, there’s ample space for apps, photos, and videos without compromise.
The camera system centres around a 108MP ultra-sensing camera with a 1/1.67″ sensor. Out of the box, your phone shoots in 12MP mode, which produces excellent results for most situations. You can force 108MP shooting if you want slightly crisper detail, though you’ll deal with significantly larger file sizes. The main camera features both OIS and EIS, effectively reducing blur and shake for clearer images. For this tier of device, the primary camera genuinely impresses, offering what HONOR calls “daylight precision and low-light refinement.”
AI photography features include AI Eraser, AI Cutout, and AI Outpainting for editing flexibility. Outpainting, as a creator, is amazing. You take a picture and then regret not having framed it better, and simply let AI look after giving you more space around your subject. Die hard photographers are crying right now, I know.
The 4K HD moving photo collage function adds creative options, whilst HONOR Connection allows photo transfers between iOS devices – yes, it’s not just Google Pixel working on making this kind of things easier.
The 5MP ultrawide exists, but I’ve generally fallen out of love with ultrawide lenses on mid-tier phones, and this one doesn’t reverse that trend. It’s functional but unremarkable.
One genuine annoyance: the native camera doesn’t automatically recognise QR codes. You need to load HONOR’s separate Lens app instead. This likely stems from HONOR’s Chinese background, where most QR scanning happens through WeChat and similar platforms. But when you’re used to cameras handling this natively, it’s a small but real inconvenience. Arguably larger is the phone’s bloatware. I got introduced to this and the HONOR Magic8 Pro on the same day, with the pro flagship being almost bloatware free. Now, the Magic8 Lite, to be fair, doesn’t have all of the unwanted apps installed, but they are sitting there and need to be dealt with. I guest thats a small price to pay for the bottom line you pay – which I’ll mention later.
The 6.79-inch OLED display deserves mention. Supporting 1.07 billion colours at 1.5K resolution with a 120Hz refresh rate, it delivers smooth motion and vibrant imagery. The 1.3mm ultra-narrow bezels achieve a 94.6% screen-to-body ratio, maximising viewing area. Peak HDR brightness reaches 6000nits, ensuring visibility even in bright sunlight. Eye-comfort features including 3840Hz PWM Risk-free Dimming, Circadian Night Display, and Hardware Level Low Blue Light make extended viewing more comfortable.
Coolness
Beyond the obvious party trick of the water resistance demonstration, the Silicon-Carbon battery technology represents genuinely interesting engineering. We’re seeing real innovation in battery chemistry filtering down from flagship devices, and the practical benefits are immediately tangible.
The industry-first certifications aren’t just marketing speak. SGS testing is rigorous, and achieving these ratings at this price point signals HONOR’s confidence in the hardware. The Non-Newtonian fluid implementation is particularly clever engineering that trickles down from flagship protection technology.
The 7,500 mAh capacity itself turns heads when you mention it. People understand what multi-day battery life means, even if they don’t follow the technical details of how it’s achieved. Similarly, 66W fast charging sounds impressive and delivers on that promise when you’re caught short.
The flush camera design might seem minor, but it’s the kind of thoughtful detail that improves daily use without drawing attention to itself. It’s the opposite of flashy features that impress initially but irritate over time.
Value for Money
Here’s where things get properly remarkable: HONOR has priced the Magic8 Lite at €399.99.
Read that again. For a phone with 7,500 mAh battery, 108MP camera with OIS/EIS, IP69K water resistance, 2.5-metre drop certification, 512GB storage, 6.79-inch OLED display with 120Hz refresh, and genuinely premium build quality, you’re paying under four hundred euros.
That’s not just competitive. That’s genuinely disruptive pricing in the current market. HONOR positioned this for bill pay contracts where value matters, and they’ve delivered spectacularly. This represents the kind of specification package that previously required flagship investment, now accessible at upper-mid tier pricing.
I’m comfortable making a bold statement: this will likely be the best pound-for-pound value phone available for considerable time in 2026. The “Lite” designation feels almost misleading, which confirms something I’ve suspected: flagship devices have become mega-flagships, and what constitutes upper-mid tier has shifted dramatically upward.
Available through Tesco Mobile and Harvey Norman, in Black and a lovely Reddish Brown colour, accessibility shouldn’t be an issue, regardless of whether you’re shopping for a contract or buying outright (be sure to check your value options with our bill pay versus prepay calculator).
At €399.99, HONOR has created something genuinely competitive that undercuts rivals significantly whilst matching or exceeding their specifications.
The Magic8 Lite isn’t perfect (yeah, I’m really hung up on the QR code annoyance), and the ultrawide camera is forgettable. But these are minor quibbles against a device that fundamentally delivers where it matters: battery life, durability, primary camera performance, and display quality. For the price, it’s genuinely difficult to find fault. I was shown two phones on the same day by HONOR: the Magic8 Lite and Magic8 Pro, and it’s this phone, the “Lite” version that blew me away.
