Big battery, small price: the Honor Magic 8 Lite review
22/3/2026
Translation: Elicia Payne
I couldn’t resist reviewing the Honor Magic 8 Lite when I found out how big the battery was. Yet, this affordable mid-range smartphone disappoints – I was hoping the battery life would be much longer.
The OnePlus 15 lasts over 24 hours thanks to its 7,200-mAh battery. So when I heard the Honor Magic 8 Lite comes with a 7,500-mAh battery and less powerful hardware, I was optimistic the battery would last even longer. It turns out, the Nothing Phone (4a) lasts just as long despite having a significantly smaller battery and offers better features in the under-400-euro (or -franc) price range.
When long battery life is a letdown
Silicon-carbon batteries led to a significant increase in battery capacity last year. They require less space than conventional lithium-ion batteries but achieve the same capacity. Manufacturers can use this technology to produce smaller batteries with the same capacity – or batteries of the same size with a higher capacity. The Magic 8 Lite has a 7,500 mAh battery – and the Latin American version even has an 8,300 mAh battery.
Feeling hopeful, I set the display to half brightness and run the PCMark Work 3.0 battery test. I use the app to check the battery life on all smartphones. It performs various tasks – such as browsing the internet, checking email, playing games, watching videos, or editing photos – in a continuous loop, and gives me comparable data. If I tested the smartphone by using it for my personal needs, it’d be too biased.
The result’s disheartening. The Magic 8 Lite lasts 17 hours and 17 minutes. This isn’t exactly a bad figure – it easily gets me through the day – and lasts over two hours longer than the [Magic 8 Pro](/page/der-kleinere-akku-wird-dem-honor-magic-8-pro-in-europa-zum-verhaengnis-40854. However, the OnePlus 15 manages 24 hours and 34 minutes with its slightly smaller battery. In the same price range as the Magic 8 Lite, the Nothing Phone (4a) also lasts 17 to 18 hours with its 5,080-mAh battery – and you get a much better overall package.
A decent mid-range smartphone
My main argument in favour of the Magic 8 Lite has gone up in smoke. Here’s a quick overview of the rest of the features:
- Charging up to 66 watts is fast, but Honor doesn’t offer wireless charging.
- With IP68/69 certification, the Magic 8 Lite is protected not only against submersion but also against high-pressure washers.
- It’s designed to withstand drops from heights of up to 2.5 metres.
- The 6.79-inch AMOLED display has a high resolution of 2640 × 1200 pixels and a refresh rate of up to 120 hertz. The typical brightness of 800 nits is good, and in High Brightness Mode it reaches up to 1800 nits for use in direct sunlight.
- 8 gigabytes of RAM and 256 or 512 gigabytes of storage are sufficient.
- MagicOS 9 is still based on Android 15, and Honor offers a six-year update guarantee.
- The Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 is enough for everyday use, but lags behind the Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 in the Nothing Phone (4a) in benchmark tests.
Unlike the Nothing Phone (4a), the Magic 8 Lite doesn’t have a telephoto camera. Instead, Honor’s equipped the device with a 108-megapixel main camera – 24 mm, f/1.8, and a 1/1.67-inch sensor – as well as a 5-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera – 17 mm, f/2.2 – which has a tiny 1/5.0-inch sensor that doesn’t deliver anything extraordinary.
On the phone screen, photos taken with the main camera look good in daylight. I wouldn’t have any concerns about sending or posting them. But, when I view the images at their original size, the blurriness is noticeable. You can’t see it in the lettering, but the leaves on the bush are lacking detail.
I’ve noticed the same thing with the ultra-wide-angle camera, which performs better than I expected.
In the dark, however, you can’t use either of the cameras. The main camera’s night mode overexposes the photos and they still turn out blurry.
The ultra-wide-angle camera doesn’t have a night mode at all and only produces images that are far too dark.
The front camera takes decent selfies with a 16-megapixel resolution in daylight. I’ve seen sharper photos of myself, but I’d still send this one.
When it’s dark, I only take selfies if I have a light source shining on my face. There’s no night mode for the front camera.
In a nutshell
The battery isn’t as impressive as I’d hoped
With an extra-long battery life, the Honor Magic 8 Lite had the chance to shine amongst the crowd of mid-range smartphones. With its still lengthy – though now average – running time, it’s not much different. Even in this price range, there are more appealing models with better features. Especially, when you think of the Nothing Phone (4a).
Pro
- Six years of software updates
- Large battery
- IP68/69
Contra
- MagicOS 9 still based on Android 15
- Battery life shorter than expected
- Cameras are useless in the dark
Header image: Jan Johannsen
Jan Johannsen
Senior Editor
Jan.Johannsen@galaxus.deAs a primary school pupil, I used to sit in a friend's living room with many of my classmates to play the Super NES. Now I get my hands on the latest technology and test it for you. In recent years at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, now at Digitec and Galaxus.
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