The best Honor phones money can buy in 2021

Publish date: 2023-04-20

Honor is arguably the original sub-brand, coming as an off-shoot of Huawei back in 2013/2014. Honor was sold to Zhixin New Information Technology in late 2020, primarily due to the US sanctions against Huawei. The brand is still dedicated to offering quality smartphones, though. They have plenty of phones at various price points, ranging from entry-level to the flagship segment. Today we’re here to show you the best Honor phones around, so let’s jump right in.

The best Honor phones:

Editor’s note: We will regularly update this list of the best Honor phones as more devices hit the market.

1. Honor 50 series

Robert Triggs / Android Authority

Honor revealed the Honor 50 series earlier this year, and these are its latest mid-range offerings. We’ve got three models on offer: the Honor 50 Pro, Honor 50, and Honor 50 SE. The Pro model is understandably the best of the bunch, featuring a Snapdragon 778G chipset, a quad rear camera (108MP+8MP+2MP+2MP), dual selfie cameras, a 120Hz OLED screen, and 100W wired charging for the 4,000mAh battery.

Meanwhile, the standard Honor 50 features the same chipset, a similar screen, a slightly bigger battery, and the same rear camera system. But it opts for a single selfie camera and 66W wired charging. At the bottom of the pile is the Honor 50 SE, and it features an LCD panel, a more modest chipset, and drops a 2MP sensor. 

Learn more: Honor 50 hands-on preview

The Honor 50 series is only available in China right now, but Honor has confirmed that these devices are coming to global markets and will offer Google Mobile Services later this year. The Honor 50 Pro starts at ~$580 in China, so we’re guessing it’ll be $700 to $800 in the likes of Europe.

Honor 50 SE specs:

Honor 50 specs:

Honor 50 Pro specs:

2. Honor 20 Pro

Looking for a high-powered Honor device that still has Google Services? Then the Honor 20 series is currently your most widely available bet, and the Honor 20 Pro is the most capable device in the family.

The Honor 20 Pro packs a Kirin 980 processor (also seen in the Mate 20 and P30 series), plenty of RAM, 256GB of storage, a 4,000mAh battery, and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. You’re also getting a flexible quad-camera setup, featuring a 48MP primary shooter, 16MP ultrawide camera, 8MP telephoto sensor, and 2MP macro camera.

Honor’s device isn’t perfect, though, using an LCD screen rather than an OLED panel, and going without an IP rating or wireless charging. Regardless, it’s one of the best Honor phones you can find.

Honor 20 Pro specs:

3. Honor 30 Pro Plus

The Honor 30 Pro Plus might be the phone to get if you liked the idea of the Huawei P40 but wanted a little more bang for your buck. Between the 90Hz OLED screen, 4,000mAh battery with 40W charging, and dual selfie cameras that are actually useful, there’s a lot to enjoy here.

Honor’s high-end phone also delivers a versatile triple rear camera setup, featuring a 50MP RYYB primary camera, 5x 8MP periscope camera, and 16MP ultrawide shooter. Otherwise, we also have extra features like 27W wireless charging, IP54 splash resistance, and 256GB of storage. Unfortunately, don’t expect Google Mobile Services as is the case with other recent Huawei flagships.

Honor 30 Pro Plus specs:

4. Honor Magic 3

The first full-fledged Honor flagship series since the company’s independence is here. The Honor Magic 3 trio brings high-end Snapdragon chipsets, 120Hz OLED screens, a 4,600mAh battery, and 66W wired charging.

Honor’s top model is the Magic 3 Pro Plus, and it’s equipped with a Snapdragon 888 Plus SoC, a unique rear camera setup (50MP main, 64MP monochrome, 64MP ultrawide, 64MP periscope), and 50W wireless charging. On the other end of the spectrum is the standard Magic 3, bringing a Snapdragon 888 chipset, lacking a zoom camera, and missing out on wireless charging. The Magic 3 Pro and Pro Plus also get an IP68 rating while the standard device settles on IP54 splash resistance.

Best of all, all three phones support Google Mobile Services. This means you can get the Play Store and a host of other apps that have been missing from previous Honor devices since late 2019. Unfortunately, availability is still spotty right now. But hopefully we will see widespread availability soon.

Honor Magic 3 specs:

Honor Magic 3 Pro specs:

Honor Magic 3 Pro Plus specs:

5. Honor 9X

The Honor 9X earns a spot on our list by being one of the best Honor devices that still comes with Google Play Services. Unfortunately, that also means it’s showing its age a bit. You’re getting a Kirin 710F processor, 64GB to 128GB of storage, and a triple rear camera layout (48MP main, 8MP wide, 2MP depth). This is pretty much in line with Huawei’s budget wares from 2019.

Honor’s phone stands out from the pack thanks to its pop-up selfie camera, too (16MP), resulting in a notch-free screen. You’re also getting a 4,000mAh battery, and we found that it easily gave us a full day of usage. So this is worth considering if you can find a good deal on it.

Honor 9X specs:

6. Honor 20 Lite

In the market for something a little cheaper and want one of the best Honor phones on a budget? Then you can do far worse than the Honor 20 Lite, essentially being Honor’s take on the P30 Lite in many ways.

The Honor device packs a Kirin 710 chipset, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a 3,400mAh battery. So it’s definitely a mid-tier phone in terms of core specs, but you shouldn’t have issues with everyday performance. Other notable specs include a triple rear camera (24MP main, 8MP wide, 2MP depth) and a 32MP selfie camera.

If anything, the most significant weaknesses are the old micro-USB port instead of USB-C and the lack of fast charging. But it’s still one of the few Google-toting choices in Honor’s budget portfolio.

Honor 20 Lite specs:

7. Honor 8S 2020

The Honor 8S 2020 is the same phone as the 2019 device, with the sole difference being that the 2020 model is only available in a 3GB/64GB variant (as opposed to 2GB/32GB and 3GB/64GB). Nevertheless, the phone is still an okay option for those looking for a backup device with Google support.

The low-end power means even lightweight 3D games might be a struggle here, while multitasking might be a bit of a problem due to the amount of RAM. Other notable if ho-hum specs include a single 13MP rear camera and a 3,020mAh battery. So unless you absolutely must have a cheap Honor phone, we’d recommend you look at devices from the likes of Samsung, Realme, and Xiaomi.

Honor 8S 2020 specs:

That’s our look at the best Honor phones on the market right now, and there’s pretty much a device for every price segment here.

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