Honor Magic 8 Lite review: A durable mid-ranger with brilliant two-day battery life
Honor’s focus on durability is clear, with IP68, IP69 and IP69K ratings designed to protect the phone from everyday accidents. Picture: Noel Campion.
The Honor Magic 8 Lite could be the ideal non-flagship for those who want a phone with durability and endurance at a mid-range price.
Honor deserves credit for how distinctive and stylish the Magic 8 Lite looks. It’s available in Green, Red, Brown or a more conventional Black finish.
At just 193g and 7.76mm thick, the Magic 8 Lite feels pleasantly light and slim in the hand. In an era dominated by curved backs and exaggerated camera bumps, the Magic 8 Lite sits flush on a table, making it far more practical for everyday use. What I really like is the flat front and back, which is a change from the curved sides on the Magic 7 Lite, along with the small, symmetrical bezels, which are often a compromise on mid-range phones.
Durability is a major selling point. The phone carries IP68, IP69, and IP69K water and dust-resistance ratings, as well as incredible drop protection. While I didn’t do any drop test, at an Honor launch event, I watched them drop the Magic 8 Lite onto a tiled floor without the screen cracking. I would not recommend trying that at home, but it does highlight how tough this phone is. My demo unit shows signs of those tests on the bottom edge, with several deep dings in the shiny chrome finish. That said, there are no other visible signs of wear on the rest of the body.
Up front, you get Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2, offering strong scratch resistance and rigidity, and it comes with a pre-installed screen protector.
The optical in-display fingerprint sensor is fast and reliable. Face unlock is also available, but without 3D biometric security like that on the Pro model, fingerprint unlock is required for payments.
The 6.79-inch 120Hz OLED display has a peak brightness of around 6,000 nits, which proved excellent during outdoor use. At the other end of the scale, the minimum brightness of 1.5 nits makes late-night scrolling far more comfortable.
The inclusion of 3840Hz PWM dimming is a welcome surprise at this price. It makes a noticeable difference if you’re sensitive to flicker or spend long periods scrolling in low light.
Viewing angles are excellent, colours are pleasing without being oversaturated, and overall, it’s a display that does its job well without trying to impress on specs alone.
Camera performance is where the Magic 8 Lite becomes more polarising. On paper, the 108MP main wide camera, with its 1/1.67 inch sensor, optical and electronic image stabilisation, and f/1.75 aperture, looks impressive. In practice, it delivers solid results. Detail levels are impressive, light intake is good, and photos hold up well in both normal and low-light conditions.
Zooming in with the main camera reveals respectable clarity for the price, and compared to similarly priced rivals, it often comes out ahead.
There’s no telephoto camera, but you do get a 5MP (f/2.2) ultra-wide camera. In 2026, a 5MP sensor feels almost pointless. Image quality is poor, detail is lacking, and dynamic range suffers.
The 16MP (f/2.45) selfie camera, by contrast, is very good. It captures plenty of detail, handles skin tones well and performs admirably in both daylight and low-light scenarios.
Video recording goes up to 4K at 30fps, 1080p at 30 or 60fps, and slow motion at 720p at 240fps or 1080p at 120fps. Stabilisation is decent, but at 1080p 60 fps, image quality drops in low light and noise increases.
Powering the Magic 8 Lite is the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 chipset, built on a 4nm process. It’s paired with 8GB of RAM, expandable with virtual RAM, and a generous 512GB of internal storage.
App switching can feel sluggish, and heavier tasks occasionally expose the chipset’s limitations.
Connectivity is solid, with Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 6 and NFC included, ensuring modern standards are covered.
Gaming performance is decent but unspectacular. Casual games run fine, but more graphically demanding titles struggle to maintain smooth frame rates. That said, I didn’t experience any overheating issues, even during longer sessions. For occasional gaming, the Magic 8 Lite is adequate, but if gaming is a priority, there are better options available at this price.
Battery life is arguably the Magic 8 Lite’s biggest strength. With a massive class-leading 7,500 mAh battery, it outperforms many rivals in endurance, including many flagships, including the Magic 8 Pro. In my real-world use, it achieved exceptional longevity, lasting up to two days on a single charge. Even heavy users should comfortably get through a full day and more.
Charging is equally impressive. The phone supports 66W wired charging for quick top-ups and includes 7.5W reverse wired charging. Wireless charging is absent, but that’s not unexpected at this price point.
The Magic 8 Lite ships with MagicOS 9 based on Android 15, which is a bit odd given that the Pro model comes with MagicOS 10 and Android 16. That said, it will still receive security and OS updates for six years.
That said, Honor’s AI tools are useful. Gallery features like outpainting and advanced editing punch above their weight for the price. Customisation options are plentiful, and most pre-installed apps can be removed or disabled.
The Honor Magic 8 Lite impresses with outstanding battery life, durability and a strong main camera, but weak performance, a poor ultra-wide lens and dated software hold it back. At the right price, it makes sense.
Available now on pre-order at Harvey Norman (€400 – includes a free Honor Choice Watch 2i) and on Tesco Bill Pay from 2 February.
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