Standing out in the smartphone world is mighty difficult in 2024. When giants like Apple and Samsung hog so much of the spotlight and refuse to let go, how do other phones ensure they don’t get overlooked? In the case of the Honor 200 Pro, it does so by being wildly unique.
After launching in China at the end of May, Honor just launched the Honor 200 Pro internationally. I’ve been using it for the last couple of weeks, and it has a few distinct features that make it unlike any other smartphone I’ve used so far in 2024.
Have you ever seen a phone like this?
The Honor 200 Pro’s design is what initially stuck out to me, so let’s start there. The phone comes in three colors: Moonlight White, Black, and Ocean Cyan. I have the Ocean Cyan one (if that wasn’t clear from the photos), and it’s stunning.
The majority of the phone’s back has a wave-like pattern that Honor says “draws inspiration from the mesmerizing waters of the Maldives.” It’s 100% marketing jargon, but that doesn’t diminish just how incredibly good the Honor 200 Pro looks. The area around the camera ditches the waves for a simpler blue/green color, and it creates a lovely two-tone design.
I expect there will be some folks out there who think this is a bit much, and while I initially did at first, I’ve come around to really loving what Honor did here — as have friends and family members I’ve shown the phone to. Genuine creativity with smartphone design is an increasing rarity in 2024. Honor bucked that trend as much as it possibly could, and I couldn’t be happier that it did.
Numerous times while using the Honor 200 Pro, I’ve had moments throughout the day where I’ve found myself simply staring at the back of the phone, admiring its design. It sounds corny, I know, but as someone who sees and uses a lot of very dull smartphones, it’s so damn refreshing to have a phone that puts this much emphasis on its aesthetics.
And it’s not just that the Honor 200 Pro looks nice. The phone’s construction is also top-notch. At 199 grams, the Honor 200 Pro isn’t so heavy that it’s uncomfortable to hold, but it’s also not so light that it feels cheap.
The IP65 dust and water resistance rating isn’t as robust as the IP68 rating on phones like the Samsung Galaxy S24 and Google Pixel 8, but it’s still enough to protect the Honor phone against water splashes and rain. All of the buttons feel good, the external speakers are loud and crisp, and there’s even an IR blaster on the top frame you can use to control TVs, cable boxes, etc.
I haven’t used any outright ugly phones this year, but I also haven’t used any with a design this creative — one that feels like there was genuine thought and purpose put into it. That’s how the Honor 200 Pro feels, and it’s one of my favorite things about the phone.
High-quality (and creative) cameras
As you’ve probably noticed by now, the Honor 200 Pro has a fairly large camera bump on its rear. It’s a large oval-shaped module with three camera sensors and a flash — and there’s a lot to dig into.
The star of the show is a 50-megapixel Super Dynamic H9000 main camera with an f/1.9 aperture. It’s joined by a 50MP Sony IMX 856 telephoto camera with 2.5x optical zoom, plus a 12MP ultrawide camera with a 112-degree field of view. Around the front is a 50MP selfie camera.
The photos captured with the 50MP main camera are excellent. They’re sharp, have a very nice natural bokeh, and are often filled with lovely colors. Honor’s image tuning is particularly impressive, with the Honor 200 Pro often striking a lovely balance of bright, contrasty colors without overdoing it. I’ve also really enjoyed the 2x crop you can do with the main camera, similar to the iPhone 15 Pro.
What about the 50MP telephoto camera? It’s great. The Honor Magic 6 RSR has one of my favorite telephoto cameras on a phone today, and the Honor 200 Pro proves Honor continues to excel here
Although the 2.5x optical zoom range isn’t the most impressive you can find on a phone in 2024, the quality of the 2.5x photos is superb. It’s not the best camera for zooming in on super far-away subjects, but if you want a tighter view of something relatively close by (or you want to get a closer look at a very cute and very fuzzy bumblebee), it’s a champ.
The other thing worth mentioning about the Honor 200 Pro’s camera is its portrait mode. Although nothing new for a smartphone in 2024, the Honor 200 Pro’s portrait mode includes three exclusive filters co-engineered by Studio Harcourt — the legendary Paris-based photography studio founded in the 1930s.
Even as someone who isn’t an avid portrait mode user, I’ve had a lot of fun playing with these Harcourt portrait filters. The Harcourt Color and Harcourt Classic filters crop photos to a 5:4 aspect ratio for “more artistic portraits” and have the most distinctive style. They really do give photos a wholly original look from the main camera mode, and the end result can be mighty pretty. I haven’t used any other phone this year that’s made me want to explore portrait photography as much as the Honor 200 Pro has, and it’s something I’ve really appreciated.
Finally, the ultrawide and selfie cameras have been fine if nothing to write home about. I wish the ultrawide camera had a wider field of view and that it had a higher megapixel count, but it gets the job done. I’ve taken good-looking pictures with the selfie camera, but only often multiple attempts to make sure I get a photo that’s properly in focus.
Display, performance, battery, and more
So far, we have a lovely design and a great camera system with a creative portrait mode. What else is great about the Honor 200 Pro? It has an impressive array of other hardware specs, including a new smartphone chip I’ve not used before.
On the front of the phone is a 6.78-inch AMOLED panel. It has a refresh rate of up to 120Hz, a 2700 by 1224 resolution (437 pixels per inch), and up to 4,000 nits of peak brightness. In other words, this is an excellent display. Colors are bright and vibrant, blacks are dark and inky, and not once have I had any issue seeing the screen outdoors in direct sunlight. The screen is curved, which I’m normally not a huge fan of, but it’s so subtle that it hasn’t caused any issues during my time with the phone.
I also really appreciate how many display settings Honor provides. Just like on the Honor Magic 6 RSR, there are settings/display modes for filtering out blue light, fine-tuning the screen’s color temperature, and enabling an e-book mode for a monochrome look.
Performance has been equally great. Under the hood is the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 — a new chip Qualcomm announced this March. It’s a slightly less powerful version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 found in phones like the Galaxy S24 Ultra, but you’d be hard-pressed to notice it.
Apps open quickly, the user interface is snappy, and graphically intense games like Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile run flawlessly — even with the highest possible graphics. The Honor 200 Pro does get a bit warm after about 10 minutes of gaming, but it’s nothing overly concerning. This was my first time using a phone with the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, and it’s been a positive one, to say the least.
Also fantastic is the battery life. Thanks to the huge 5,200mAh battery inside the phone, plus the excellent efficiency of the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, the Honor 200 Pro has easily been a two-day smartphone for my use. You can kill the battery in a single day if you’re pushing it to the limit nonstop, but for almost everyone, the Honor 200 Pro should last a day and a half at the bare minimum.
The good news doesn’t stop there. When you have a depleted battery, you don’t have to wait long to get it back up to 100%. That’s because the Honor 200 Pro supports up to 100W wired charging and up to 66W wireless charging — among the fastest charging speeds you’ll find on a phone in 2024.
Honor 200 Pro price and availability
The Honor 200 Pro was launched in China earlier this year with a starting price of CNY 3,499 (around $480). Its global price is quite a bit higher, at 699 pounds (roughly $890). For that price, you get 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.
At that price, that puts the Honor 200 Pro right in line with smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus, the iPhone 15 Pro, and the Google Pixel 8 Pro. And you know what? It goes toe-to-toe with them just fine. Honor has no plans to launch the Honor 200 Pro in the United States, but if you live in a market where it is available, it’s well worth your consideration if you’re in the market for a high-end flagship.
A good year for good phones
Throughout my time with the Honor 200 Pro these last couple of weeks, I’ve been reminded of how good of a year 2024 has been for truly excellent smartphones. There have been some stinkers, yes, but for the most part, it’s been a stellar year for fans of quality handsets.
The big dogs like Samsung and Google haven’t disappointed, from high-end flagships like the Galaxy S24 Ultra to solid midrangers like the Google Pixel 8a. Other brands like Motorola and OnePlus have had some high points, too, thanks to devices like the OnePlus 12 and the latest Moto G Stylus.
And when you step outside of the U.S. market to see what’s been happening overseas, things are just as impressive — if not more so. Earlier this year, my colleague Andy Boxall called the Xiaomi 14 Ultra “the best smartphone camera I’ve ever used.” In a head-to-head camera test with the Galaxy S24 Ultra, the Vivo X100 Pro came out on top. Even more budget offerings, such as the Tecno Pova 6 Pro and the Poco F6, have also managed to impress.
The Honor 200 Pro is yet another entry in a very good year of very good phones. It may not be one that you or I can buy, but for those who can, it’s a downright stunning one that absolutely deserves your attention.
