Honor Magic 8 vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
Verdict
Honor Magic 8 and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra tie on the OH Rank at a score of 79. Honor Magic 8 wins on Performance and Battery; Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra wins on Screen and Main Camera. Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is 3.6mm wider than Honor Magic 8. Honor Magic 8 is the more recent release, from Oct 23, 2025.
Score Breakdown
Performance /15
Battery /15
Screen /15
IP Protection /15
Main Camera /15
Selfie /5
Video /5
SD Memory /5
Software /5
Desktop Replacement /5
TOTAL
79
79
Honor Magic 8
74mm (2.91in) · Oct 23, 2025 · Rank #10
13+14+13+12+12+3+4+0+5+3 = 79
SUPERIOR* TOP Battery Endurance* TOP Software* TOP Desktop Replacement
EDITORIAL: 5mm shorter and 2mm narrower, Magic 8 comes with a much bigger battery and improved main and telephoto cameras. It steals Vivo's formula of battery+screen+camera to deliver a great package. The selfie is still AF-less and the USB-C stayed a disappointingly slow 2.0 but gained the Display Port 1.2 skill to allow for desktop replacement functionality. This is a great flagship, if you can get it.
PROs
74mm narrow body, flagship grade build with a small and symmetrical camera bump, top SD 8 Elite Gen 5 with UFS 4.0 performance, 48hr endurance from a 7000mAh Si-C battery with sub-60min 90W (80W wireless) charging. >1700nits bright 460ppi LTPO AMOLED screen with Dolby Vision certification and >4300Hz PWM, IP69 protection. great pics from a 50MP 24mm OIS PDAF main + 64MP ~70mm OIS PDAF telephoto + 50MP 12mm dual-pixel PDAF ultrawide, very good video recording, up to 7 years of OS updates, tons of AI tricks and good desktop replacement functionality
CONs
limited market availability, no AF on 50MP 21mm selfie, videos can differ across lenses, no SDmemory slot, slow USB-C 2.0 port (but with Display Port functionality)
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
77.6mm (3.06in) · Feb 3, 2025 · Rank #12
11+7+15+12+14+5+5+0+5+5 = 79
FLY* TOP Selfie* TOP Video Recording* TOP Software* TOP Desktop Replacement* TOP Screen
EDITORIAL: The S25 Ultra may be an incremental upgrade in hardware and camera tech but it is a world leader in AI functionality as Samsung turns to AI software to set itself apart from the competition. This is a phone with top performance, a full day of battery life, excellent photo and video results and 7 years of very stable OS package. Included is DeX - still the very best desktop replacement software there is. The screen, while not the brightest minimizes reflections and is more usable outdoors than any other. This year, Samsung decided to give us an Ultra with improved battery endurance and faster charging too. The lack of expandable memory is the only thing keeping the S25 Ultra back. The included stylus lost its Bluetooth but still works great.
PROs
Snapdragon 8 Elite, >1400nits ~500ppi LTPO AMOLED screen with HDR10+ and anti reflective coating, excellent 200MP main camera joined by 10MP and 50MP telephoto lenses and a 50MP ultrawide, tried and true 12MP PDAF Selfie, 7 years of OS updates and AI features ahead of the pack, amazing DeX computer replacement software
CONs
218gr 77.6mm wide glass and metal brick with a small 5000mAh battery, >60min slow 45W (15W wireless) charging, Samsung's refusal to include expandable SDmemory storage (do you know how big are these 8k video files?), the ecosystem that's trying to lock you in since 2019
Both phones here were scored by me, using the same ten categories, with no ads, sponsorships, or manufacturer relationships — this comparison is as objective and honest as it gets.
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