Honor 200 Pro Review: Honourable yet Expensive Camera Phone

Honor has been making strides in the Indian smartphone market with its official return. In less than a year, the company has introduced several smartphones that offer unique features and capable cameras. Building on this hype, the brand introduced the Honor 200 Pro. The latest handset from Honor is targeted at the premium segment and comes with a price tag of Rs 57,999 for the sole variant with 12GB RAM and 512GB of internal storage.

The Honor 200 Pro comes equipped with a premium design language and offers pro-grade cameras to stiffly compete with the likes of Samsung and Apple. The phone also packs flagship specifications and features, which sure makes it an interesting device. However, is it enough to entice premium buyers? Here’s what you need to know.

Honor 200 Pro Design: Premium and Sleek

• Dimensions – 63.3 x 75.2 x 8.2mm
• Weight – 199g
• Colours – Black and Ocean Cyan

Honor knows how to design smartphones. In the past, we have also seen the company bringing out some uniquely designed phones. Now, its re-entry, the brand is leaving no stone unturned to impress customers with its Honor 200 Pro design. The handset has two colour options: Black and Ocean Cyan. I got the latter for the review, and boy, it surely has a soothing finish.

The Honor 200 Pro is available in Black and Cyan colour options.

The rear panel of the device comes with a wavy texture finish that is inspired by the natural coastline. The design has a velvety finish, making it slippery, so using a case is advisable with this one. The phone also features a large pill-shaped camera module that houses the camera prowess.

The handset is slim, has an 8.2mm thickness, and weighs 199 grams, which makes it feel comfortable to hold. The weight distribution is also good so you won’t feel uneasy about prolonged usage. My only complaint is that it could have a better IP rating. The phone features an IP65 rating, which looks underwhelming compared to the competition. We have phones in a lower price bracket that offer IP68 or IP69 ratings.

Honor 200 Pro Display: Colourful and Bright

• Display – 6.78-inch 1.5K AMOLED curved display
• Refresh Rate – 120Hz screen refresh rate
• Other Features – 3840Hz PWM Dimming, 100 percent DCI-P3 colour gamut, 4,000nits peak brightness

The Honor 200 Pro comes loaded with a tall 6.78-inch display. The curved screen on all four sides delivers a bezel-less experience. The display offers bright and colourful visuals. The handset provides Widevine L1 support coupled with HDR10+ support, which allows you to watch HDR content on Netflix, Prime Videos and YouTube. While watching ‘Ring of Power Season 2′, the display showed rich colours and the dark scenes came out to be good with deep blacks.

The handset comes loaded with a quad-curved AMOLED display that offers vibrant colours.

The phone also packs a dynamic 120Hz screen refresh rate that allows a smooth scrolling experience. The phone also has some interesting display features to make the visual experience customisable. You get colour modes: Natural and Vivid. There is also a Video enhancer that enhances the colours and contrast of videos on different streaming platforms. Moving on, the Circadian Night Display helps adjust the colour temperature automatically. Moreover, you get 4,000nits of peak brightness, making it a bright display for use in outdoor conditions.

The handset also comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor that works well, though the position is a bit lower than my liking. However, you get to choose between animations, which are always fun to use. One area where I feel the company could have done better is protection. The phone does not come with any sort of Corning or any other display protection, which makes it mandatory to apply a good screen protector.

Honor 200 Pro Software: Bloatware is a Mood Killer

• Software – MagicOS 8.0
• Version – Android 14
• Updates Promised – 3 Years of OS updates and 4 years of security patches

The Honor 200 Pro runs on Android 14, which is based on Magic OS 8.1

The Honor 200 Pro comes loaded with MagicOS 8.0, based on the Android 14 operating system. The user interface is easy to get used to and offers some good levels of customisations and features. The company claims to have added AI features like Magic Capsule, Magic Portal, Magic Ring, and more. If you want to know more about the software, then you can head to the Honor 200 review to learn more in-depth.

Honor 200 Pro Performance: Smooth Operator

• Processor – Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3
• Memory – 12GB (LPDDR5X)
• Storage – 512GB (UFS 3.1)

The Honor 200 Pro is loaded with the flagship-grade Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor. The same chipset is also present in Xiaomi 14 Civi, which is almost Rs 10,000 cheaper than the Honor 200 Pro. Although the synthetic benchmarks show some excellent results, they look slightly underwhelming compared to the likes of the OnePlus 12, Motorola Edge 50 Ultra, iQOO 12, and more. You can check the benchmark scores below:

In day-to-day use, you will not face any problems or lag. Even with demanding tasks, the phone doesn’t throttle much, which is good.

While playing Call of Duty: Mobile with default settings at High and Very High graphics and frame rates, respectively. Even with Very High Quality and maximum frame rate, I noticed no frame drop. However, the phone got slightly warm around the camera module, but it was not at an alarming level.

Honor 200 Pro Cameras: Star of the Show

• Rear – 50-megapixel OmniVision OV50H sensor with f/1.9 aperture + 12-megapixel Ultra-Wide Camera + 50-megapixel Sony IMX856 2.5x portrait sensor
• Front – 50-megapixel Sony IMX906 sensor with f/2.1 aperture

The cameras are the biggest highlight of the Honor 200 Pro, which focuses on portrait photography. For this, the brand partnered with Studio Harcourt, a French photography studio famous for its portraits.

Honor 200 Pro portrait camera samples. (Tap to expand)

The integration works in Honor’s favour as you get some fantastic and well-detailed portrait shots from the phone. The 2.5x camera captures good-quality photos in both daylight and low-light conditions. The bokeh effect in the background looks natural, and the skin tone is not oversaturated.

The phone has three Harcourt modes: Harcourt Vibrant, Harcourt Colour, and Harcourt Classic. I liked the Harcourt Classic mode as it delivered some well-defined black-and-white portraits that look studio-level.

Honor 200 Pro daylight camera samples. (Tap to Expand)

The phone also delivers good daylight photography. I got detailed and punchy colours consistent throughout the testing period. The dynamic range is handled right, balancing the images’ overexposed parts.

Honor 200 Pro ultrawide camera samples. (Tap to Expand)

The ultrawide camera is not as consistent as the primary sensor. That said, it still manages to click balanced colours, but you can see some distortion along the edges, which sort of spoils the mood.

Honor 200 Pro low light camera samples. (Tap to Expand)

Coming to the low light performance of Honor 200 Pro, the primary sensor does a good job again. The noises are kept to a minimum, and the phone is able to preserve the colours when the light is low. The ultra-wide angle was again not up to the mark as the photos came out to be less detailed and full of noises.

Honor 200 Pro Battery: Decent Backup, No Fast Charger in Box

• Battery Capacity – 5,200mAh (Dual-cell)
• Wired Charging – 100W SuperCharge
• Wireless Charging – 66W Wireless SuperCharge
• Charger – 100W (Not Included)

The handset comes loaded with a 5,200mAh battery that delivers a good output. With casual to moderate usage, the phone lasted almost two days. Under heavy usage, the phone delivers almost a full day of battery backup.

The Honor 200 Pro offers a decent battery life, though there is no charger in the box.

In our battery loop test, the phone lasted for 26 hours. It also supports 100W fast charging support, although the company is not offering any charger with the box, which is a real bummer. The phone also supports 66W wireless charging, but sadly, the brand currently does not sell the wireless charger in India. Regarding charging speeds, the phone was charged 33 percent in 15 minutes, 65 percent in 30 minutes, and fully charged in one hour.

Honor 200 Pro Verdict

The Honor 200 Pro seems to be the brand’s best attempt to capture the premium segment. The latest handset offers a premium design which looks sleek and unique. The display looks crisp, and you will definitely enjoy watching movies or playing games. The performance is satisfactory, and you will not face any trouble during your day-to-day usage. The cameras are the star of the show and capture some good results in both daylight and low-light conditions. The battery life is decent, though the software is still bloatware-ridden.

That said, the Honor 200 Pro targets fierce competition that includes iQOO 12 (Review), OnePlus 12 (Review), Motorola Edge 50 Ultra, and even Xiaomi 14 Civi (Review).