The event dedicated to Robot Phone, the Honor smartphone equipped with a robotic gimbal camera, was also the stage for a surprise announcement.
The Chinese company has confirmed the early launch for the Honor Magic 9 series and, with a teaser image, has shown for the first time the design of the upcoming flagship. Surely a smart move, which has sparked hype and curiosity around the first Magic made with ARRI cameras.
Honor Magic 9 Pro Will Be the Series’ First Camera Phone in Collaboration with ARRI
The conclusion of the event was nothing short of dramatic: the Honor Magic 9 and 9 Pro will debut in September, confirming the recent rumors. The launch will occur earlier than usual timing, as the previous Magic 8 surfaced last October.
Clearly the release in China does not reflect the Global one: the international launch will take place at a later time, but it’s not to be ruled out that the brand could speed up timings for Europe as well. Magic 8 Pro was announced in Italy in January, so perhaps the successor could find space by the end of the year.
Apart from speculation, Honor has also confirmed the series’ design. The first image shows a circular camera module, only partly in line with the current aesthetics. The island, in fact, is positioned in the top-left corner, not in the center of the chassis (as in the current range).
The module features a metallic frame while inside you can glimpse a periscope telephoto lens and the ARRI logo. By playing with the brightness, we can notice some sensors: they are probably the usual Color Temperature Sensor, Flicker Sensor and Laser Focus Sensor, respectively for color temperature, anti-flicker and laser focus.
The image also confirms the presence of a 200 MP camera, almost certainly the telephoto lens.
The New ARRI Camera
Given the Robot Phone news, we can assume that the ARRI collaboration will bring these additions to the Honor Magic 9 series as well.
Therefore we expect native support for Log-C3 encoding and color correction via LUT (directly on the device), as well as the new Cinema mode that reproduces the look of the historic German brand’s cinematographic cameras.
Honor Magic 9 Pro Max: The Rumors So Far
The series is expected to feature a third model, the true flagship Camera Phone. According to rumors, it would be the Honor Magic 9 Pro Max, a name in line with the recent trend – which sees major Chinese manufacturers mimicking Cupertino’s Pro Max (at least in name).
On the lineup, we would expect the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro, Qualcomm’s upcoming flagship SoC arriving in September.
The flagship model should offer a dual 200 MP camera (main sensor and periscope telephoto) with LOFIC HDR, together with an ultra-wide lens. A configuration similar (if not identical) to the Robot Phone is not to be ruled out, but with the classic optical stabilization instead of the robotic gimbal.
The boldest claim is that there will be stylus support, with a new Magic Pen featuring AI capabilities.
