As Honor prepares to bring the Magic9 Pro Max to the global stage, the phone has arrived in our office for review. This latest flagship marks a major redesign and a deeper partnership with ARRI, the legendary Hollywood video camera manufacturer. Before we can share a full hands-on review, we are starting with an unboxing and first impressions, including the Moss Green unit, its included accessories, and the first camera samples taken at Honor's Los Angeles launch event.
The Moss Green Magic9 Pro Max arrives in a package that keeps things straightforward. Inside, Honor includes a green-tinted transparent silicone case, a 100W charger, and a USB cable. The charger, however, uses a USB-A port rather than USB-C, which feels like a missed opportunity in a phone this premium in late 2026.
Compared with the previous generation, which felt visually understated with its glass back, simple circular camera module, and muted dark grey finish, the Magic9 Pro Max is a clear design evolution. The new model adopts a more dynamic aesthetic inspired by ARRI movie cameras, and the Moss Green colorway gives it a distinctive, premium look.
Honor has built the phone around a single-piece metal chassis, with a rear glass cutout to support wireless charging. On the sides, there are two notable controls: a customizable AI Button on the left and a dedicated camera control key that supports both touch and press interactions, similar to the camera key found on iPhone Pro models.
Holding the Magic9 Pro Max
In hand, the Magic9 Pro Max feels like a serious step forward for Honor's flagship line. The standout feature is, of course, the camera hardware. Still, as Honor has discovered in recent years, top-tier optics need equally strong software to deliver on their potential. That is where the ARRI collaboration becomes especially important, with the company's logo on the glass serving as a constant reminder of the partnership.
For readers who may not be familiar with the name, ARRI is the German company behind the Alexa line of cinema cameras, which have become an industry standard for professional filmmaking. That association is exactly what Honor wants to bring into the smartphone camera conversation.
The Magic9 Pro Max is packed with ARRI's creator tools, including the ARRI Image Science color pipeline, ARRI Looks, a dedicated ARRI LogC3 Curve, and ARRI Wide Gamut 3 10-bit color support with full APV 4:2:2 chroma sampling. In practical terms, that means a much more visually lossless format and a greater degree of creative control for serious video shooters.
In-camera creator features
Recording in 10-bit log gives creators access to a wider range of tones and colors. You can either grade the footage to your own preference or choose from more than 10,000 LUTs supported by ARRI's LogC3 Curve. A LUT, or Look-Up Table, maps input color values to output color values, allowing you to adjust contrast, saturation, color balance, and overall visual style. One particularly useful feature is the ability to add a LUT inside the camera app while capturing log footage, so you see a preview closer to your intended final image instead of a flat, desaturated log recording.
We had the chance to attend Honor's special Magic9 Pro Max launch event in Los Angeles, and we put the phone through its paces by taking a variety of photos and videos. Below are a few of our early shots, captured using the pair of 200MP imagers in both bright light and low-light conditions. More samples are coming soon, so stay tuned as we continue testing the Honor Magic9 Pro Max.
Honor Magic9 Pro Max main camera samples
Honor Magic9 Pro Max telephoto camera samples
