Author | Lu Weixin | SHARK_CHILI_LU
Some time ago, Honor unveiled its most imaginative product of 2026—the Robot Phone. The most memorable moment of this product was when the camera module rose from the back of the device. It turned the collaboration between Honor and ARRI into an intuitive physical action, but it also "tied" the imaging experience of the Robot Phone to a complex mechanical structure.
If the Robot Phone is a new form factor explored through their collaboration, then the Magic9 series aims to bring this imaging capability into Honor's mainstream flagship product line, making it accessible to a broader consumer base.
Moss Green: Giving the Smartphone Some "Personality" First
In the past couple of years, the "Oreo" design with large camera Decos on flagship smartphones has become commonplace. It seems that without such a large circular module on the back, one would hardly dare to call their device an "imaging flagship."
Honor, however, has broken away from this conventional thinking by designing a horizontal "Director's Eye" for the Magic9 Pro Max. Instead of continuing with the familiar centered circular ring design, it arranges three circular lenses in a traditional structure closer to photographic equipment, surrounded by annular metallic textures. You might not mistake it for a cinema camera, but at first glance, it is clear that Honor wants imaging to be the visual center of this phone.
The "Moss Green" colorway is one of the most iconic colors in the early film industry. As time passed, the metal shells of various projectors and cameras in old studios developed a unique patina, and that distinct hue is precisely Moss Green.
Thus, Honor borrowed this greenish-blue imagery to effectively tone down the ostentatious feel often seen in co-branded products. Meanwhile, the ARRI logo next to the lenses clearly indicates Honor's collaboration partner. The ARRI logo and the Moss Green colorway give the phone the vibe of "photographic equipment" while retaining the everyday practicality expected of a candybar flagship.
The main body of the device adopts a rare unibody aluminum alloy structure among Android flagships, while the battery back cover uses a glass panel to facilitate wireless charging. The front of the Magic9 Pro Max features a 6.8-inch flat screen with a bezel width of 0.98mm, making it one of Honor's rare large flat-screen flagships.
Image source: Unobjective Lab
Without the burden of altering the body structure to accommodate a gimbal like the Robot Phone, the Magic9 Pro Max features a less dramatic exterior, trading it for a more conventional and easily adaptable flagship form factor.
Image source: Unobjective Lab
The Value of Co-Branding Must Be Reflected During Shooting
The imaging configuration of the Magic9 Pro Max can be described as "fully loaded." Both the rear main camera and telephoto lens feature 200-megapixel large sensors, utilizing approximately 1/1.28-inch and 1/1.4-inch sensors, respectively. The main camera has an equivalent focal length of 24mm, and the telephoto has an equivalent focal length of 85mm. Both lenses are rated for CIPA 8.0-level image stabilization. The ultra-wide-angle lens boasts50 megapixels and an equivalent focal length of 12mm, comparable to action cameras.
These configurations from Honor clearly lay a solid foundation for both photos and videos, but the true highlight of the collaboration with ARRI lies in the workflow from capture to final production.
All Magic9 series smartphones have incorporated the ARRI Cine Mode: for those who want a quickly shareable shot, you can preview the Look while framing and record directly in SDR or HDR formats. For those who prefer to color grade themselves, you can record 10-bit LogC3 footage, retaining more room for post-production adjustments in the AWG3 color space. Honor also provides APV 4:2:2 encoding and a LUT workflow.
Simply put: either shoot straight out of the camera or leave the color decisions for post-production. Honor's Cine Mode also includes shooting tools like focus peaking and false color monitoring, making it more convenient for professional creators.
Currently, the official ARRI Look library contains a total of 9 categories and 87 styles, while the Magic9 Pro Max comes preloaded with 2 authentic Looks and 12 stylized Looks.
For ordinary users, it is crucial to find the right tone before shooting and maintain a consistent color character across the main camera, telephoto lens, and different lighting conditions. Whether the skin tones, highlights, and shadow transitions in a video look natural speaks more to the practical value of the co-branding than the sheer number of filters.
The "ARRI Cine Live" feature also perfectly reflects the philosophy of this phone. By long-pressing the record button in ARRI Cine Mode, the Magic9 Pro Max can capture three seconds of footage after the press, with the option to choose between 16:9 or 2.39:1 aspect ratios, and apply an ARRI Look.
When shooting a car driving by on the street or a turning moment on stage, recording starts only after you press the button. This is more controllable than guessing which moment before or after the shutter press a standard live photo will capture. This is a brand-new attempt by Honor to condense the cinematic mode into everyday snippets.
Of course, Honor has also addressed an issue often overlooked in smartphone imaging launch events: audio.
The Magic9 Pro Max incorporates a directional microphone and three omnidirectional microphones, offering audio presets such as distance enhancement, macro enhancement, voice enhancement, and voice purity. When shooting video, just because the visual can zoom in doesn't mean the human voice from over ten meters away can naturally be brought closer. If the audio recording can indeed reduce lateral noise, the overall viewing experience of the video will be greatly enhanced.
Image source: Unobjective Lab
What I have some complaints about is that currently, all ARRI Looks need to be "activated" by entering the ARRI Cine Mode separately.
In other words, Honor's built-in portrait mode and photo mode still follow Honor's own shooting workflow. This might make users feel that the ARRI "co-branding" is essentially just a standalone app embedded in the Magic9 series, without applying its full-chain capabilities across the entire imaging function. I hope that in the next generation of products, this imaging capability can be expanded to more areas.
Beyond a Photography Tool, It Remains a Great Smartphone
In terms of battery life, the Magic9 Pro Max features an 8800mAh battery, supporting 100W wired and 80W wireless charging. For creators, a large battery means more than just a big number on the spec sheet: keeping the screen on for framing, recording repeatedly, reviewing footage, and transferring videos to other devices consumes far more power than casually snapping a few photos. The large battery brings tangible "peace of mind" and the confidence to go out without needing to carry a separate power bank.
Image source: Unobjective Lab
The 6.8-inch screen on the front of the phone adopts a low-reflection design, with Honor claiming a reflectance as low as 1.5%. This makes it easier to compose and review shots during outdoor shooting.
In terms of performance, it is powered by the sixth-generation Snapdragon 8 Elite. As Qualcomm's latest 2nm flagship chip, it can not only smoothly run all AAA blockbuster games on the market but also deliver performance comparable to professional equipment during high-load video recording and editing.
Meanwhile, the AI features in MagicOS 11 attempt to take over the tedious tasks after shooting. However, since we have already published a separate article introducing these features, those interested in MagicOS 11 can refer to "From 14 Steps to Over a Hundred: Honor MagicOS 11 Redefines the 'Execution' of AI Smartphones."
Conclusion
The Robot Phone released some time ago provided a clear enough answer: it proves that Honor is willing to redesign the smartphone for a new way of shooting. The Magic9 Pro Max, on the other hand, accepts the "constraints" of a candybar flagship, grounding the collaboration in imaging hardware, color workflows, audio, and system features.
The Magic9 Pro Max is not meant to replace an ARRI cinema camera. Rather, it aims to help ordinary people more easily capture selective, continuous, and re-watchable footage when recording their travels, performances, or friends.
The Robot Phone has already made people remember the first "encounter" between Honor and ARRI. Now, the Magic9 Pro Max needs to bring this collaboration into the daily lives of more people.