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Honor kicked off its flagship reveal with a bold teaser: the Magic 8 Pro faces Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro in a nighttime photography shoot filmed from a helicopter — a dramatic preview released just ahead of Honor’s October 15, 2025 launch.
Helicopter showdown: night mode put to the test
The short clip, shared widely on Chinese social platforms, shows both phones shooting cityscapes from high above while a camera operator leans out of a chopper. Turbulence and motion make this a true stress-test for stabilization and low-light capture, not just a staged comparison. Both handsets produce usable images, but the footage is clearly designed to emphasize Honor’s strides in night photography.
Where the Magic 8 Pro appears to gain ground
In side-by-side frames, the Magic 8 Pro comes across as sharper with a wider dynamic range — distant lights and building textures look more defined, and colors pop without obvious oversaturation. Honor credits an AI-driven enhancement pipeline that fine-tunes details after capture, aiming to boost clarity while preserving natural tones. By contrast, the iPhone 17 Pro delivers the familiar Apple approach: consistent, realistic rendering rather than punchy flair.
What we know about the camera and battery
- 200MP periscope telephoto — 1/1.4-inch sensor, f/2.6 (for long-range detail)
- 50MP main sensor — 1/1.31-inch, f/1.6 (for low-light sensitivity)
- 50MP ultra-wide (for wider scenes and context)
- AI-based post-capture enhancer to boost clarity and dynamic range
- Rumored 7,200mAh silicon-carbon battery with 120W wired fast charging
Honor hasn’t published full specs yet, so these details come from teasers and leaks. If accurate, the combination of large sensors, a capable periscope lens and aggressive software processing could make the Magic 8 Pro a serious contender in the flagship camera race.
Why this stunt matters
This airborne comparison is as much marketing as measurement. With the iPhone 17 Pro already on sale globally, Honor is using a high-visibility moment to signal confidence in its imaging system. For photographers and flagship shoppers, the key question is consistency: can Honor match Apple’s reliable, realistic results across varied real-world scenes, or is this a one-off showcase?
We’ll get clearer answers once Honor unveils full specs and publishes controlled comparison shots after the October 15 launch. For now, the teaser puts the Magic 8 Pro squarely in the conversation about which phones lead low-light mobile photography.
Source: gizmochina
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