Review Summary
Expert Rating
In less than a year since its official return, Honor appears more confident – perhaps even bullish – about its latest smartphone offerings. The new Honor 200 series, especially the Honor 200 Pro, is packed with cutting-edge features likely to attract several tech-savvy, number-focused customers. However, the latest upgrades come at a significant cost of Rs 57,999 – which is Rs 20,000 more than last year’s Honor 90‘s (review) launch price.
What may make matters trickier is the segment Honor 200 Pro occupies. It competes with the likes of Motorola Edge 50 Ultra (review), which also features the same Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 SoC from Qualcomm. Moreover, one can even consider the new Google Pixel 8a (review) for the purest Android experience. The Xiaomi 14 Civi (review), featuring the same Snapdragon chipset and boasting Leica cameras, is available with a relatively more affordable price tag.
In this detailed review, we will see whether the Honor 200 Pro can stand out against its rivals.
Table of Contents
Verdict
The Honor 200 Pro proves to be a reliable smartphone, be it performance, cameras, and display. Its battery performance is also decent if not the best. Users may particularly enjoy taking portrait shots as the Harcourt partnership produces some stunning portrait shots in both bright and dim conditions. However, the pricing could’ve been more aggressive to gain an edge over rivals.
Design and display
| Smartphone | Honor 200 Pro | Xiaomi 14 Civi | Motorola Edge 50 Ultra |
| Thickness | 8.2mm | 7.75mm | 8.59mm |
| Weight | 199 grams | 177.6 grams | 197 grams |
| IP rating | IP65 | IP54 | IP68 |
Compared to last year’s Honor 90, the new Honor 200 Pro is all about refinements. While there’s not much noise about its walnut-smashing durability, both the screen and body offer adequate protection, as they should. The phone has an official IP65 rating to provide respectable protection against dust and water. The other ports and buttons (volume rockers, power button, IR blaster, and USB-C port) remain standard.
Sadly, colour options are limited, which include Black and Ocean Cyan. The latter, which I am reviewing, may remind you of the Xiaomi 14 Civi with a multi-textured back. It is slightly heavier and thicker than Xiaomi’s offering, but that’s expected due to a larger 5,200mAh battery onboard. The oval rear camera module also adds to the overall thickness, making it quite noticeable. I like the finish of the smooth back panel, but the weight distribution could’ve been better.
| Honor 200 Pro | Xiaomi 14 Civi | Motorola Edge 50 Ultra | |
| Display size | 6.78-inch AMOLED | 6.55-inch AMOLED | 6.7 AMOLED |
| Peak brightness | 4000 nits | 2800 nits | 2500 nits |
Honor has introduced a quad-curved display complimented by smooth edges. The in-hand feeling is undoubtedly premium, though the size could be slightly overwhelming if you have small hands. The viewing experience is super punchy, even under harsh sunlight. The 1.5K 6.78-inch display (1,224 x 2,700 px) also gets top-notch features and certifications you’d expect from a device priced above Rs 50,000. This includes a 120Hz refresh rate, wet touch support, and even DXO Mark Gold certification.
I compared the Honor 200 Pro’s display performance against the Xiaomi 14 Civi and Motorola Edge 50 Ultra. While there wasn’t a significant difference in the colour rendering, the 200 Pro offered brighter output. My favourite display feature is the “e-book” mode, which provides a soothing black-and-white interface for reading. Hopefully, more OEMs can add this feature.
Cameras
More than the design and performance, Honor is focusing heavily on the Honor 200 Pro’s camera capabilities. The company has also partnered with Paris-based Studio Harcourt for colour optimisation, especially for portrait shots.
The phone boasts a 50MP wide camera using the H9000 sensor, a 50MP telephoto camera with 2.5x optical stabilisation, and a 12MP ultra-wide camera. The front also includes a 50MP camera complimented by a depth sensor.
In a nutshell, the Honor 200 Pro packs capable cameras, and can be highly useful if you enjoy taking shots or selfies for your social media. Its portrait mode is one of the best in the segment, offering brilliant separation between background and foreground. It may struggle to detect accurate skin tones, though photos look aesthetic.
Daylight and lowlight
For daylight and low light shots, I compared the Honor 200 Pro against the Xiaomi 14 Civi and Motorola Edge 50 Ultra.
When compared to the Xiaomi 14 Civi, the Honor 200 Pro’s daylight shots appear brighter and more vibrant, making them more social media-ready. Even the details in Honor’s images are relatively more prominent.
Against the Edge 50 Ultra, the Honor 200 Pro maintains high sharpness and details, though its images might appear slightly dull. However, this can be easily adjusted using the native editing app. The ultra-wide photos captured by the Honor 200 Pro offer better sharpness and dynamic range than the two rivals, although the colour science may not always match that of the primary camera.
The Honor 200 Pro even fared fairly well against its competitors in low-light conditions, at least in our test. The phone may enhance colours occasionally, but the noise remains minimal without compromising sharpness.
Portrait
Portrait shots with human shots turned out brilliant, especially with Harcourt colour modes (Vibrant, Colour, and Black and White). It appears the smartphone is doing more than just overlaying a filter over the photo as the result includes stunning sharpness and separation of foreground and background. Even noise remains surprisingly minimal.
As mentioned, skin tone detection may not necessarily be accurate, but the image looks appealing nonetheless.
Compared to the Xiaomi 14 Civi, the Honor balanced out light and shadows well. Even the edge detection is solid.
Even selfies with portrait mode are stunning. The Motorola Edge 50 Ultra came closest in terms of skin tone detection and details, though Honor’s detection appears more natural.
Video
Video performance of the Honor 200 Pro was also equally impressive. The phone supports 4K60fps recording, which is a good step forward. However, the selfie camera only supports 4K30fps, which may not go well with upcoming content creators.
Overall, the video recording experience was decent, but the Motorola Edge 50 Ultra provided better stability and colour accuracy. While the Honor 200 Pro excels in capturing stunning photos, its video performance could use some improvement.
Performance and software
As mentioned, the Honor 200 Pro boasts Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 Soc, which also powers the Xiaomi 14 Civi and Motorola Edge 50 Ultra. The phone comes in a single storage configuration of 12GB LPPDR5x RAM and 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage. This single variant is available on Amazon for Rs 57,999, without offers and an Amazon coupon.
Based on our benchmarks, the Honor 200 Pro is slightly behind its Snapdragon 8s Gen 3-powered rivals, though it attains respectable scores overall.
In real life, the performance was smooth, and I did not face any noticeable lags. The MagicOS 8 offers plenty of customisations, though it has some strange pain points.
For example, you may struggle to take screenshots when the phone is locked. Exiting the car-specific “Ride mode” could be tricky too.
Similarly, there are features I thoroughly like and hope more brands adopt. For instance, Magic Portal will let you drag and drop text and images smoothly across apps, similar to drag and drop on Windows. This can prove to be versatile for saving images and text in the notes app from the web. I also like the “Honor MagicRing” interface that lets users transfer files with other Honor devices. Other features include iOS-inspired Smart Capsules (dynamic notch) and Personalised Lock (Lock screen personalisation).
| Smartphone | Pre-loaded apps | OS Updates |
| Honor 200 Pro | 49 | 3 years OS + 4 years security updates |
| Xiaomi 14 Civi | 53 | 3 years OS + 4 years security updates |
| Motorola Edge 50 Ultra | 33 | 3 years OS + 4 years security updates |
The gaming experience on the Honor 200 Pro is decent at best. While BGMI did not have haptic support, I did not face any mistouches during my review. Even the frame rates were consistently high after 30 minutes of BGMI playtime on Ultra HDR graphics. Compared to the Xiaomi 14 Civi, the Honor 200 Pro managed thermals more efficiently after 30 minutes of BGMI. You can find more in-depth analysis here.
Compared to the Motorola Edge 50 Ultra, the Honor 200 Pro performed better in the same gaming round. Even battery optimisation during the gaming round was quite satisfactory.
Battery
Speaking of battery, the Honor 200 Pro exhibited solid performance against the Xiaomi 14 Civi. It’s good to see that Honor has provided fast wireless charging support, though you’d need a proprietary charger to enjoy its benefits. At the time of writing this review, the wireless charger remained unavailable on Amazon.
The box also skips the adapter, though Honor has 100W charging support. With a proprietary charger arranged by the brand, the phone attained full charge from 20 percent in 32 minutes, which is brilliant considering the size of the battery.
Honor has used a “silicon-carbon” design to maintain a slim profile and ensure efficient thermal management. While the battery is still based on lithium-ion technology, the outer layer features silicon to prevent overheating under intense loads, such as fast charging.
Final verdict
Compared to last year’s Honor 90, the Honor 200 Pro offers heaps of thoughtful upgrades and refinements. The brand’s partnership with Harcourt also adds new excitement to the overall camera segment.
My software experience with the MagicOS 8 was pleasant, but Honor must consider reducing the pre-installed apps on the smartphone to compete successfully against Motorola and OnePlus. It may also consider providing a charger in the box as users currently have to rely on a single official distributor (Amazon India) for proprietary accessories.
The biggest takeaway for Honor might be to adopt a more thoughtful pricing strategy to gain an edge over established rivals. For customers seeking similar performance, the Motorola Edge 50 Ultra, with its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC, is a solid option. However, if you’re a content creator looking for a smartphone with exceptional photo capabilities, the Honor 200 Pro is sure to impress.
Editor’s rating: 7.5 / 10
Reasons to buy
- The Honor 200 Pro with Harcourt partnership offers stunning portraits.
- Its display output is bright and punchy.
- The Honor 200 Pro boasts a sleek build despite a chunky battery.
Reasons to not buy
- Without offers, the Honor 200 Pro is expensive.
- Its video recording also needs improvements.
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