Checks all the right boxes
The Honor Magic 8 Pro finally feels like a proper all-around flagship with very few compromises. There are still a couple of drawbacks here and there, but Honor has clearly managed to put together a genuinely well-rounded flagship this time.
Pros
- Premium-looking design that feels flagship-grade
- Strong performance paired with a large battery and fast charging
- Brighter display that holds up better
- Higher-megapixel zoom camera delivers cleaner long-range shots
Cons
- Not officially sold in the U.S.
- Too many pre-installed Honor apps out of the box
- Plastic back feels out of place on a flagship
Familiar OnePlus comfort zone
The OnePlus 15 feels very familiar in a classic OnePlus way, even though the design has moved on quite a bit from its predecessor. It is fast, delivers a clean and smooth experience, and offers fast charging with strong battery life. Although there is no Hasselblad tuning this time around.
Pros
- Premium design with excellent build quality
- Reliable performance with big battery and fast charging
- Clean, smooth software experience
- Durable Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection
Cons
- Telephoto zoom camera is weaker
- No Hasselblad tuning
- Display downgrade drops QHD+ resolution
While the Galaxy S26 series is still a few weeks away, other brands have already beaten Samsung to the punch by launching their flagship smartphones. We already have several Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5-powered flagships on the market, including the iQOO 15, Realme GT 8 Pro, Xiaomi 17, and more.
Honor recently unveiled the Magic 8 Pro with a flagship-grade set of specs and features, putting it head-to-head with rivals like the OnePlus 15. It brings a large display, a capable camera setup, a big battery, and long-term software support, making it a serious contender in the premium segment.
Both phones offer a very similar overall package, but if you are deciding between the Honor Magic 8 Pro and the OnePlus 15, which one makes more sense for you? Let us take a closer look at how the two flagship phones compare.
Honor Magic 8 Pro vs. OnePlus 15: Pricing and availability
Honor unveiled the Magic 8 Pro in its home market of China on October 15, 2025. The flagship later made its way to global and European markets on January 8, 2026. Like previous Honor phones, however, the Magic 8 Pro is not launching in the U.S. or Canada.
Pricing starts at £ 1,099, and the Honor Magic 8 Pro is available in a single configuration with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. The phone is also available for pre-order in select European markets, including Germany and Spain. It comes in three color options: Sunrise Gold, Sky Cyan, and Black.
The OnePlus 15 made its global debut on November 13, 2025, and unlike the Magic 8 Pro, it is available for purchase in the U.S., albeit a little later than its initial launch. The OnePlus 15 is also sold in India, Europe, and the UK.
Pricing for the OnePlus 15 starts at $899 / £849 / ₹72,999 for the base variant with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The higher-end model costs $100 more and bumps the configuration up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. The OnePlus 15 comes in three color options as well: Infinite Black, Ultra Violet, and Sand Storm.
Honor Magic 8 Pro vs. OnePlus 15: Design and display
OnePlus used to have a distinct design language, but that identity has slowly faded, and the OnePlus 15 makes that especially clear. The phone looks eerily similar to most 2026 flagships, with a flat-edged design, rounded corners, a clean back, and a square-ish camera module in the top-left corner.
It looks very similar to the OnePlus 13s, just larger, and most of the distinctive design elements that once set OnePlus apart are now gone.
The Honor Magic 8 Pro, on the other hand, builds on the design language Honor established with the Magic 7 Pro. It follows the familiar slab-style flagship design with flat edges and curved corners, but both the front and back glass subtly curve at the edges, making the phone more comfortable to hold. The camera module on the back is centered towards the top and circular.
Both phones are also quite similar in size and dimensions, and they weigh almost the same as well, with the Honor Magic 8 Pro coming in at 219 grams and the OnePlus 15 at 211 grams.
One area where both phones shine is durability. The Honor Magic 8 Pro and OnePlus 15 both come with IP68 and IP69K ratings, meaning they can handle dust, water immersion, and even high-pressure water sprays.
The difference starts to show up in the type of materials used on both phones, though. OnePlus uses Gorilla Glass Victus 2 for display protection, while Honor relies on its in-house NanoCrystal Shield. On the back, OnePlus uses glass on some variants, whereas the Honor Magic 8 Pro uses a plastic-reinforced material, which feels slightly out of place on a flagship phone.
The differences start to narrow once we move to the front. The Honor Magic 8 Pro features a 6.71-inch LTPO OLED display with a refresh rate up to 120Hz and 4320Hz PWM dimming for better eye comfort. It supports Dolby Vision and HDR Vivid playback and can reach up to 6,000 nits of peak brightness during HDR content, though regular high brightness mode tops out at around 1,800 nits.
The OnePlus 15, meanwhile, comes with a slightly larger 6.78-inch LTPO AMOLED display that also supports Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and HDR Vivid. One advantage the OnePlus 15 has is its higher 165Hz refresh rate, which gives it an edge in supported games, while the Honor Magic 8 Pro caps out at 120Hz. That said, the OnePlus 15 also maxes out at around 1,800 nits in high brightness mode, putting both phones on similar footing for outdoor visibility.
Honor Magic 8 Pro vs. OnePlus 15: Hardware and specs
Being 2026 flagships, you can expect top-end specs from both the OnePlus 15 and the Honor Magic 8 Pro, and that is exactly what they deliver. Both phones are powered by Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, which is easily among the fastest and most efficient processors available right now for Android flagships.
Thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, both phones also support Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. In terms of memory and storage, the Honor Magic 8 Pro comes in a single configuration with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. The base variant of the OnePlus 15 also offers 12GB of RAM but only 256GB of storage, while the higher-end model bumps this up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.
When it comes to battery and charging, both OnePlus and Honor have adopted silicon-carbon battery technology, allowing them to pack larger batteries into slimmer designs. The Magic 8 Pro houses a sizable 7,100mAh battery, just slightly smaller than the OnePlus 15's 7,300mAh cell.
Both phones support extremely fast charging, with the Honor Magic 8 Pro offering up to 100W and the OnePlus 15 pushing it to 120W.
In real-world use, both phones should comfortably last a full day on a single charge, and topping them up should be quick regardless of how heavy your usage is. Any noticeable differences in battery life will likely come down to software optimization rather than hardware.
Category |
Honor Magic 8 Pro |
OnePlus 15 |
|---|---|---|
OS |
Android 16, MagicOS 10 Seven major OS upgrades |
Android 16, OxygenOS 16 Four major OS upgrades |
Display |
6.71-inch, LTPO OLED, 1256 x 2808 pixels, 120Hz, NanoCrystal Shield |
6.78-inch, LTPO AMOLED, 1272 x 2772 pixels, 165Hz, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 |
Processor |
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
RAM |
12GB |
12GB / 16GB |
Storage |
512GB |
256GB, 512GB |
Rear cameras |
50MP main + 200MP telephoto (3.7x zoom) + 50MP ultrawide |
50MP main + 50MP telephoto (3.5x zoom) + 50MP ultrawide |
Front camera |
50MP |
32MP |
Ingress protection |
IP68 + IP69K |
IP68 + IP69K |
Connectivity |
Global 5G, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, NFC, IR sensor |
Global 5G, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, NFC, IR sensor |
Security |
Fingerprint (under display, ultrasonic), Face unlock, PIN, Pattern, Password |
Fingerprint (under display, ultrasonic), Face unlock, PIN, Pattern, Password |
Battery |
7,100mAh |
7,300mAh |
Charging |
100W USB-C fast charging 80W wireless charging |
120W USB-C fast wired charging 50W wireless charging |
Dimensions and weight |
161.2 x 75 x 8.3 mm; 219g |
161.4 x 76.7 x 8.1 mm; 211g |
Colors |
Sunrise Gold, Sky Cyan, Black, White |
Infinite Black, Ultra Violet, Sand Storm |
Speaking of which, let us talk about the software. The Honor Magic 8 Pro ships with Android 16 out of the box, layered with Honor's own MagicOS 10. Like previous versions, MagicOS 10 looks eerily similar to iOS, with Honor borrowing quite a few UI elements for its own interface.
There is also no shortage of pre-installed Honor apps and bloatware on the Magic 8 Pro. The upside here is long-term support, as Honor is promising seven major OS updates for the phone, which is significantly more than the four major OS upgrades that the OnePlus 15 offers.
The OnePlus 15, on the other hand, runs OxygenOS 16 based on Android 16 out of the box. Unlike Honor, OnePlus relies heavily on Google apps for most core functions, which results in a much cleaner and smoother software experience, in my opinion. Both phones also come loaded with a wide range of AI features, so you are not missing out on that front, regardless of which one you choose.
Honor Magic 8 Pro vs. OnePlus 15: Cameras
Moving on to the camera systems, you expect flagship phones from Chinese smartphone makers to come with capable camera hardware, and both the OnePlus 15 and Honor Magic 8 Pro largely deliver on that front.
On the Honor Magic 8 Pro, you get a 50MP primary camera with an f/1.6 aperture, multi-directional PDAF, and OIS. This is paired with a 50MP ultra-wide sensor and a massive 200MP telephoto lens offering 3.7x optical zoom. Up front, Honor includes a 50MP selfie camera alongside a ToF 3D depth sensor.
Android Central's Nicholas Sutrich went hands-on with the Magic 8 Pro cameras and came away impressed with the results. You can check out the camera samples from the Magic 8 Pro in his coverage.
The OnePlus 15, meanwhile, features a triple-50MP camera setup. This includes a 50MP primary sensor with an f/1.8 aperture, multi-directional PDAF, and OIS, a 50MP ultra-wide sensor, and a 50MP telephoto lens with 3.5x optical zoom. On the front, the OnePlus 15 uses a 32MP selfie camera.
While the OnePlus 15 no longer carries Hasselblad tuning, replacing it with OnePlus' own DetailMax Engine, the cameras remain quite strong overall. We've also extensively tested the cameras on the OnePlus 15, and you can check out full camera samples in our detailed OnePlus 15 camera review.
Honor Magic 8 Pro vs. OnePlus 15: Which should you buy?
Choosing between the OnePlus 15 and the Honor Magic 8 Pro largely comes down to availability. As mentioned earlier, the Magic 8 Pro is currently limited to a handful of global markets and is not available in North America, including the U.S. and Canada. The OnePlus 15, on the other hand, is available across most major global markets.
If both phones are available where you live, then it really comes down to personal preference. Both devices offer some of the best specs and features you can get on an Android flagship right now and should comfortably last you for years. They both pack large batteries with extremely fast charging, capable displays, and solid multimedia experiences, so you are not missing out either way.
The real difference lies in software. If you prefer a cleaner, faster version of Android, the OnePlus 15 is the safer bet, though it is limited to four major OS updates. MagicOS 10 on the Honor Magic 8 Pro looks heavily inspired by iOS, and if that does not bother you, it is a compelling option thanks to its longer software support, with up to seven years of major updates.
A proper Honor flagship
The Honor Magic 8 Pro is easily the most capable device Honor has released in a long time. It packs the flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, a large OLED display, and a big battery, while also offering long-term software support and a very capable camera setup.
Still OnePlus at heart
The OnePlus 15 represents a noticeable shift from OnePlus' previous design direction and drops Hasselblad tuning, but it still feels very much like a OnePlus phone in many ways. It runs OxygenOS 16 out of the box and continues to dominate when it comes to battery life and charging, delivering one of the best experiences you can get on a smartphone right now.
