Huawei Honor 20 Pro vs Honor Magic 8 Pro Air

Compared 2 smartphones : Huawei Honor 20 Pro Manufactured in June, 2019, with display 6.26 with chipsetHiSilicon Kirin 980, vs Honor Magic 8 Pro Air, Manufactured in January, 2026 with chipsetMediaTek Dimensity 9500. Below are specs, tests, pros and cons for each device

Key Differences

Device key advantages
Reasons to choose Huawei Honor 20 Pro
    Reasons to choose Honor Magic 8 Pro Air
    • Larger display: 6.31in
    • Higher pixel density: 461ppi
    • Higher refresh rate: 120Hz
    • Lighter design: 155g vs 182g
    • Higher battery capacity: 5500mAh vs 4000mAh
    • Newer Bluetooth version: 6.0 vs 5
    • Built-in eSIM
    • Includes charger

    Versions

    Available versions and configurations
    Memory Options - 8/128 GB
    - 8/256 GB
    - 12/256 GB
    - 12/512 GB
    - 16/512 GB
    - 16/1024 GB

    Review

    Key Specs Huawei Honor 20 Pro and Honor Magic 8 Pro Air
    Display
    Color accuracy, sharpness & brightness
    Camera
    Main & front camera tests
    Performance
    App & system performance
    Games
    3D gaming performance
    Battery
    Battery life, charging speed & type
    Connectivity
    Connectivity features
    NanoReview Score
    Overall score by NanoReview
    Adjust each parameter’s importance to find the best match for you.
    Customize your score
    Function
    Importance (Weight)
    Display:
    Camera:
    Performance:
    Gaming:
    Battery:
    Connectivity:
    Higher weight means greater impact on NanoReview score.

    Tests & specs

    Specs & test comparison

    Display

    Display quality comparison
    Type IPS LCD OLED
    Size 6.26 in 6.31 in
    Resolution 1080x2340 pixels 1216x2640 pixels
    Aspect ratio 19.5:9 19.5:9
    Pixel density 412 ppi 461 ppi
    Refresh rate 60 Hz 120 Hz
    Adaptive refresh rate No Yes (1-120 Hz)
    Max brightness 500 nits 1800 nits
    HDR support No Yes, Dolby Vision
    Screen-to-body ratio 84.2 % 90.4 %
    Features n/a - DCI-P3
    - Always-On Display
    - DC dimming
    Display test
    Peak brightness (auto)
    Huawei Honor 20 Pro
    494 nits
    Honor Magic 8 Pro Air
    n/a
    sRGB gamut100 %n/a
    PWM (Flicker)333 Hzn/a
    Response time33 msn/a

    Design & Build

    Design and ergonomics comparison
    Height 154.6 mm (6.09 in) 150.5 mm (5.93 in)
    Width 73.9 mm (2.91 in) 71.9 mm (2.83 in)
    Thickness 8.4 mm (0.33 in) 6.1 mm (0.24 in)
    Weight 182 g (6.42 oz) 155 g (5.47 oz)
    Water resistance No IP69
    Cooling system n/a Vapor chamber
    Back panel Glass n/a
    Frame Metal Metal
    Colors - Black
    - Blue
    - White
    - Black
    - Gold
    - Orange
    Fingerprint sensor Yes In-Button Yes, In-Display
    Screen-to-body ratio
    Huawei Honor 20 Pro
    84.2 %
    Honor Magic 8 Pro Air
    90.4 %

    Performance

    Testing Huawei Honor 20 Pro and Honor Magic 8 Pro Air In benchmarks
    Processor
    Chipset HiSilicon Kirin 980 MediaTek Dimensity 9500
    Max Frequency 2600 MHz 4210 MHz
    CPU Cores 8 (2 + 2 + 4) 8 (1 + 3 + 4)
    Architecture - 4/1.8 (Cortex-A55)
    - 2/1.92 (Cortex-A76)
    - 2/2.6 (Cortex-A76)
    - 4/2.7 (C1-Pro)
    - 3/3.5 (C1-Premium)
    - 1/4.21 (C1-Ultra)
    Process TSMC TSMC
    Transistor Size 7 nm 3 nm
    Neural Processor Yes MediaTek NPU 990
    Graphics Mali-G76 MP10 Mali-G1 Ultra MP12
    GPU Cores 360 1536
    GPU Frequency 720 MHz 1716 MHz
    FLOPS 518.4 GFLOPS 5271.5 GFLOPS
    GeekBench v6
    Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
    Huawei Honor 20 Pro
    955
    Honor Magic 8 Pro Air
    3366
    Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
    Huawei Honor 20 Pro
    2503
    Honor Magic 8 Pro Air
    10603
    Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)9553366
    Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)250310603
    Geekbench Compute (GPU)n/a24660
    AnTuTu 10
    AnTuTu 10
    Huawei Honor 20 Pro
    591363
    Honor Magic 8 Pro Air
    4290399
    CPU1896131263745
    GPU1587361443960
    Memory121205494242
    UX1218091088452
    NanoReview Score5913634290399
    3DMark Wild Life
    3DMark Wild Life
    Huawei Honor 20 Pro
    2481
    Honor Magic 8 Pro Air
    n/a
    Max Surface Temp.46.7 °Cn/a
    Stability47 %n/a
    Graphics Test14 fpsn/a
    Graphics Score2481n/a
    PCMark 3.0
    PCMark 3.0
    Huawei Honor 20 Pro
    8855
    Honor Magic 8 Pro Air
    n/a
    Writing score10875n/a
    Web score7309n/a
    Video editing5734n/a
    Data manipulation7972n/a
    NanoReview Score8855n/a

    Memory

    RAM
    RAM Size 8 GB 12 GB
    Memory Type LPDDR4X LPDDR5X
    Memory Frequency 2133 MHz n/a
    Channels 2 4
    Storage
    Storage Capacity256 GB256 GB
    Storage TypeUFS 2.1n/a
    Memory CardNoNo

    Software

    OS Android 9.0 (Upgradeable to Android 10) Android 16
    OS Size 13 GB n/a
    UI Skin Magic 4.0 MagicOS 10

    Battery

    Volume 4000 mAh 5500 mAh
    Max Charging Power 225 W 80 W
    Battery Type Li-Po Silicon Carbon (Si/C)
    Removable No No
    Wireless Charging No Yes (50 W)
    Reverse Charging No n/a
    Fast Charging Yes (50% in 30 min) Yes
    Full Charge Time 1:25 h n/a
    Battery Life Test
    Battery Life
    Huawei Honor 20 Pro
    20:55
    Honor Magic 8 Pro Air
    n/a
    Web Browsing08:17 hn/a
    Video Playback12:21 hn/a
    Games05:04 hn/a
    Standby Mode103 hn/a

    Main camera

    Matrix 48 MP 50 MP
    Photo resolution 8000x6000 pixels 8192x6144 pixels
    Zoom Optical, 3x Optical, 3.2x
    Flash LED LED
    Stabilization Optical Optical
    8K Recording No No
    4K Recording Yes (Up to 30 fps) Yes (Up to 60 fps)
    1080p Recording Yes (Up to 60 fps) Yes (Up to 60 fps)
    Slow Motion 480 fps (720p) 240 fps (1080p)
    Wide-angle lens 117 ° 112 °
    Lenses count Standard: 48 MP
    Telephoto: 8 MP
    Ultra-wide: 16 MP
    Macro: 2 MP
    Standard: 50 MP
    Telephoto: 64 MP
    Ultra-wide: 50 MP
    Features - Bokeh effect
    - Pro mode
    - RAW support
    - Bokeh effect
    - Pro mode
    - RAW support
    Main lens
    Matrix48 MP50 MP
    Aperturef/1.4f/1.6
    Focal length28 mm23 mm
    SensorSony IMX586n/a
    Sensor size1/21/1.3 (0.77)
    Pixel size0.8 μm1.2 μm
    AutofocusPhase autofocusLaser autofocus
    StabilizationOpticalOptical
    Telephoto
    Matrix8 MP64 MP
    Aperturef/2.4f/2.6
    Focal length80 mm74 mm
    Sensor size1/4.41/1.2 (0.83)
    StabilizationOpticalOptical
    Ultra-wide lens
    Matrix16 MP50 MP
    Aperturef/2.2f/2.2
    Focal length17 mm16 mm
    Sensor size1/3.1n/a
    StabilizationDigitalDigital
    Main camera DxOMark results
    Photo quality
    Huawei Honor 20 Pro
    117
    Honor Magic 8 Pro Air
    n/a
    Video quality
    Huawei Honor 20 Pro
    97
    Honor Magic 8 Pro Air
    n/a
    Overall camera score
    Huawei Honor 20 Pro
    111
    Honor Magic 8 Pro Air
    n/a

    Front camera

    Matrix 32 MP 50 MP
    Photo resolution 6528x4896 pixels 8192x6144 pixels
    Aperture f/2.0 f/2.0
    Focal length 26 mm 21 mm
    Sensor BSI CMOS n/a
    Sensor size 1/2.8 1/2.93 (0.34)
    Pixel size 0.8 μm 0.6 μm
    Autofocus No Phase autofocus
    Stabilization Digital Digital
    Video resolution 1080p (Full HD) at 30 fps 2160p (4K) at 60 fps
    TOF 3D sensor No No
    Selfie camera DxOMark results
    Photo quality
    Huawei Honor 20 Pro
    104
    Honor Magic 8 Pro Air
    n/a
    Video quality
    Huawei Honor 20 Pro
    126
    Honor Magic 8 Pro Air
    n/a

    Connectivity

    Wi-Fi version Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac) Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be)
    Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
    - Wi-Fi Direct
    - Wi-Fi Hotspot
    - Dual Band
    - Wi-Fi MiMO
    - Wi-Fi Direct
    - Wi-Fi Hotspot
    - Wi-Fi Display
    Bluetooth version 5 6.0
    Bluetooth features LE, A2DP LE
    USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
    USB version 2 2
    USB features - Charging
    - USB Storage Mode
    - OTG
    - Charging
    - USB Storage Mode
    - OTG
    GPS - GPS
    - GLONASS
    - Beidou
    - GPS
    - GLONASS
    - Beidou
    - Galileo
    - QZSS
    - NAVIC
    NFC* Yes Yes
    Infrared Port No No
    Connectivity
    SIM Count*22
    SIM TypeNanoNano
    SIM ModeDual SIM StandbyDual SIM Standby
    eSIM Support *NoYes
    Hybrid SlotNoNo
    2G BandsGSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900n/a
    3G BandsHSDPA 850, HSDPA 900, HSDPA 1900, HSDPA 2100n/a
    LTE Bands*LTE (B800/B900/B1800/B2100/B2300/B2500/B2600)n/a
    LTE category21n/a
    5G SupportNoYes

    Sound

    Speakers Mono n/a
    3.5 mm Jack No No
    FM Radio No No
    Dolby Atmos No No
    Speaker Test
    Max Volume
    Huawei Honor 20 Pro
    84.9 dB
    Honor Magic 8 Pro Air
    n/a

    Other

    Class Flagship Flagship
    Announced May, 2019 yr January, 2026 yr
    Release Date June, 2019 yr January, 2026 yr
    Launch Price ($) 600 n/a
    Sensors - Proximity Sensor
    - Gyroscope
    - Accelerometer
    - Ambient Light Sensor
    - Compass
    - Fingerprint sensor
    - Proximity Sensor
    - Gyroscope
    - Accelerometer
    - Ambient Light Sensor
    - Compass
    - Face Sensor
    - Fingerprint sensor
    Charger Included n/a Yes, 80 W
    * Attention! Config, frequencies, NFC, and other specs may vary by region.

    Results

    After analyzing the data, we consider Honor Magic 8 Pro Air the clear winner in this comparison.

    Survey

    Which smartphone would you pick?
    0 (0%)
    0 (0%)
    Total Votes: 0

    User comments

    Share your opinion or ask questions below