Porsche Design Honor Magic 6 RSR review: Taking things to a whole new level

The Magic 6 Pro is one of my favorite phones of the year; it has considerable camera upgrades from last year, a gorgeous design that stands out, powerful hardware, and interesting software features. So when Honor announced it was making a Porsche Design variant of the device, I was obviously interested.

I used the Porsche Design Magic V2 RSR foldable when it debuted, and it had plenty of unique design characteristics that made it distinctive — even more so than the standard Magic V2, which isn't a bad phone to look at by any measure. With the Porsche Design Magic 6 RSR, Honor is turning things up a notch, delivering what is possibly one of the best phones of 2024.

The Porsche Design Magic 6 RSR has custom styling and is available in interesting color choices, and it comes with 1TB of storage and 24GB of RAM, which is just overkill. I used the device as my daily driver for over two weeks, and here's why I think it is the best version of the Magic 6 Pro.

Porsche Design Honor Magic 6 RSR: Pricing and availability

Honor unveiled the Magic 6 RSR Porsche Design on March 18 in China, and the phone made its debut in the U.K. on May 2. The phone is also headed to the Middle East, Malaysia, and Germany in the coming weeks.

The Magic 6 RSR is available in a single variant that has 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, and it costs £1,599 ($2,004) in the U.K. That's considerably more than its retail price of 9,999 RMB ($1,380) in China, and a sizeable premium over the standard version of the Magic 6 Pro, which is available for £1,099 ($1,378) in the U.K. Honor is running a deal right now that discounts the device by an additional £250 ($313), bringing the cost down to £849 ($1,064). That said, the standard model has 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

Porsche Design Honor Magic 6 RSR: Design

Design is the biggest point of differentiation with the Porsche Design Magic 6 RSR, and there is a lot to go over. The standard Magic 6 Pro has a pillow camera island (Honor's words, not mine) that looks great in its own right, and with the Magic 6 RSR, the brand went with a new design that stands out much better.

The camera module uses Porsche's "iconic hexagonal structure" that evokes the "essence of precision and high-performance characteristics of sports cars." The camera island is made out of titanium, and it contrasts well with the glass back.

The phone is available in two color variants — Agate Grey and Frozen Berry — and while I wanted to take a look at the grey model, the pink Frozen Berry variant stands out much better. Honor says the color "exudes a sense of boldness and fearlessness, adding an element of exclusivity to the device." I don't know about the fearlessness, but the color is definitely bold, and it grabs quite a lot of attention. And on that subject, the same color extends to the mid-frame as well.

What I don't like about the design is that the glass back has a glossy coat, and it is a smudge magnet. If anything, the vegan leather of the standard Magic 6 Pro feels much better to hold and use. The glossy texture continues on the sides too, and Honor should have used a matte coating on both variants.

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Although I don't like using cases with my phones, the glossy back of the Magic 6 RSR necessitates one, and Honor bundles a minimal leather case in the package that does a terrific job. The case makes it significantly easier to hold the device, and it has a much better feel — Honor should have used this at the back as standard. And yes, the case has Porsche Design branding highlighted prominently, and there's even needless stitching along the middle.

Anyway, the other unique design trait is the flyline at the back that creates a wedge, and it immediately differentiates the device. There's Porsche Design branding for good measure, and while I wasn't initially sold on the color, I've grown fond of it in the two weeks I used the device.

The phone is still heavy at 237g, but it has good weight distribution, and the curvy profile means it is easy to hold. It retains IP68 ingress protection — a must-have feature on a device that costs over $2,000 — and while the in-screen module sits a little lower on the screen, it isn't particularly awkward to access.

On the whole, the Porsche Design Magic 6 RSR has all the accouterments you'd want in a custom variant, and it is different enough to the standard Magic 6 Pro that it has its own visual identity.

Porsche Design Honor Magic 6 RSR: Hardware and screen

I'm not going to talk too much about the hardware as the Porsche Design Magic 6 RSR is nearly identical to the standard Magic 6 Pro in this regard. It has the same 6.8-inch 120Hz OLED panel that goes up to 5,000 nits in HDR content, and there are absolutely no issues in daily use. 

The panel gets bright, has outstanding color vibrancy and contrast levels, and there's a decent amount of customizability. What's different is that Honor is using a dual-layer OLED that guarantees panel longevity, and while the screen is just as bright as the regular variant, it will stay that way a lot longer. 

The 2800 x 1200 resolution isn't quite as high as the QHD+ panels that you get on most other phones in this segment, but it holds up well for all daily usage scenarios. Honor eschewed Corning and went with its own NanoCrystal Shield coating, and it does a good job protection the phone — it took a tumble onto a tiled surface a week after I started using it, and came away unscathed. Incidentally, I decided to use a case after that incident (that back really is very glossy).

Honor's always-on mode allows you to have the entire screen awake, including the background — similar to how it works in iOS — or you can switch to just having a clock or a custom style. While the device isn't quite as bright as its rivals in outdoor use, it shines at media playback, and HDR content in particular is a delight.

As for the hardware, the Porsche Design Magic 6 RSR is powered by the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 as the standard model, and it comes with 24GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage. Look, 24GB of RAM is unnecessary on a phone as you can't really use that much memory, but I like that the phone has 1TB of storage. I tend to take a lot of videos these days, and storage is a real problem; this is one of the reasons why I don't like using the Pixel 8 Pro and its pitiful 128GB of storage.

There are no issues with the Magic 6 RSR in daily use, and the phone handles intensive gaming without breaking a sweat. I didn't see any slowdowns on my unit, and even with extended gaming, there was no overheating. Similarly, I didn't run into any issues with connectivity — the phone had a stable signal throughout.

The only issue with the hardware is the haptic engine — it just doesn't do anything. This has been an issue on Honor phones for a while now, and even if you enable system haptics, you don't notice any feedback while using gestures. I was able to manually trigger it while using Gboard, but that's about it. The vibration motor isn't active while using the back gesture, navigating the UI, or in any other scenario.

Porsche Design Honor Magic 6 RSR: Battery

The Porsche Design Magic 6 RSR has the same 5600mAh battery as the regular model, and it uses the same silicon-carbon tech to increase longevity of the battery. You get 80W charging and 66W wireless charging, and there's 5W reverse charging as well. Honor bundles the requisite charger in the box.

While I didn't see any issues with the battery on the regular Magic 6 Pro, that isn't the case on the Magic 6 RSR. The phone has unusually high battery drain in idle, and it only manages to last a day. It got to as low as 7% with heavy use by the end of the day, and as I don't charge my phones overnight, I decided to plug it in the next day. However, idle draw is so high that the phone switched off by the time I got up the following day; this hasn't been an issue on any phone in recent memory.

Most other phones with 5000mAh battery last considerably longer with the same usage patterns, and while most devices I used in 2024 go up to a day and a half, the Magic 6 RSR is woefully short on all measurable metrics in this area. It still lasts a day, but you will need to plug it in by nighttime.

Porsche Design Honor Magic 6 RSR: Cameras

We have a dedicated camera review of the Magic 6 Pro, so I'm not going to talk about the cameras too much here. The Magic 6 RSR retains the same camera configuration as the standard model, and that means you get a 50MP main camera with an interesting variable f/1.4-2.0 lens and a 1/1.3-inch sensor. It's not quite as big as a 1-inch sensors in the Xiaomi 14 Ultra and Find X7 Ultra, but it takes standout images and videos.

The main camera is joined by a 50MP f/2.0 wide-angle lens, and a 180MP f/2.6 telephoto lens that shoots at up to 2.5x optical zoom. The camera interface is similar to what you get with most brands, with plenty of toggles, modes, and scenes available. What I like about the Magic 6 RSR is that it is able take images of fast-moving objects incredibly well; I put that to good use to take photos of our ten-month-old baby.

There's AI-assisted scene recognition as well, and you get three custom styles — Natural, Vibrant, and Authentic. The Authentic mode has a vignette to it, so I went with the Vibrant mode. And like with most other phones, you get a decent Pro mode.

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This goes without saying, but the Magic 6 RSR takes outstanding photos in daylight scenarios. Shots have plenty of detail and good color rendition, and I don't have any issues with the quality of the resultant shots. The phone does a magnificent job in low-light situations as well, and while the Xiaomi 14 Ultra and Find X7 Ultra have a slender edge in this regard, the Magic 6 RSR gets pretty close.

Like its Chinese rivals, the Magic 6 RSR does a magnificent job with portrait shots. There's the option to choose from various focal lengths, and you can adjust the bokeh. The one thing to note is that beauty effects are enabled out of the box in this mode, and it is aggressive — you'll need to disable the mode to get accurate shots.

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In a similar vein, the phone does a great job with shots going up to 2.5x, and while there is some fringing with the wide-angle lens, it delivers usable shots in all situations. 

While I don't take many selfies, the few that I managed to take with the front camera had poor color balance and just didn't measure up to the rear cameras. As a whole, the Magic 6 RSR has one of the best camera packages of any phone today.

Porsche Design Honor Magic 6 RSR: Software

The global version of the Magic 6 RSR comes with MagicOS 8.0 based on Android 14 out of the box, and it includes all the AI features that Honor introduced, including Magic Portal. But as I got the Chinese version of the device, I wasn't able to test the feature; ironically, I got two variants of the Magic 6 Pro thus far, but neither has the global build.

As such, there isn't much to talk about in this section. MagicOS 8.0 is a definite upgrade, and it brings much-needed tweaks to Honor's phones. That said, issues from previous version of the interface are still intact; long pressing on an app doesn't pull up the app info, so you'll have to go into the settings, go to the Apps list, and manually locate the app if you want to change its notification settings.

The overview pane is also in need of an overhaul, and I don't like the split notification pane with the toggles to one side and notifications on the other. Other than that, the interface itself is fluid, and you get a good amount of customizability. Honor guarantees four platform updates as standard, but the brand isn't as quick to roll out those updates.

Porsche Design Honor Magic 6 RSR: The competition

The Xiaomi 14 Ultra continues to be my recommendation if you need a flagship that takes the best photos and videos. The 14 Ultra has a gorgeous design in its own right, and it is the only phone I used this year that outshines the Magic 6 Pro in the imaging section. Coming in at £1,299 ($1,628), it isn't affordable by any measure, but it costs less than the Magic 6 RSR, and I like its software better. That said, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra only goes up to 512GB, and there isn't a 1TB model available.

Of course, there's the regular Magic 6 Pro to consider. The phone has the same internals as the Magic 6 RSR, and it costs a lot less. You still get terrific cameras, a great design with a leather back, vibrant screen, and incredible hardware. The Magic 6 Pro has 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, and it is available for as low as £849 ($1,064) as of writing.

Porsche Design Honor Magic 6 RSR: Should you buy it?

You should buy this if:

• You like the look of the Magic 6 Pro and want a custom variant
• You need terrific cameras
• You need a bright AMOLED panel with plenty of customizability
• You need all the extras

You shouldn't buy this if:

• You want the best value
• You need multi-day battery life

If you're considering the Magic 6 Pro and want something that stands out a bit more, the Porsche Design Magic 6 RSR may just be the phone for you — provided you're ready to shell out the premium. The Porsche Design label continues to carry a premium, and while the Magic 6 RSR has double the memory and storage, it costs £500 ($626) more. But if that's not a consideration, you'll love what the phone has to offer.

The design is distinctive, and the hexagonal camera island combined with the color choices allows the Porsche Design Magic 6 RSR to turn heads. I still don't like the decision to use a glossy coat at the back on the Frozen Berry model, but the bundled leather case solves that issue without obscuring the design too much.

The rest of the device isn't too different to the standard Magic 6 Pro; you still get the same terrific cameras, the screen is one of the best around, and it has one of the best hardware packages available today. The battery life isn't as good as other flagships I used, and the vibration motor doesn't do much. But outside of that, there aren't any noticeable issues.

Ultimately, choosing between the Magic 6 Pro and Magic 6 RSR comes down to pricing; if you don't mind paying a premium, the Magic 6 RSR is the way to go. It has unique styling and 1TB of storage, and I think this is Honor's best phone yet.