HONOR Magic9 Pro Max Launches – ARRI Co-Branding, Native LogC3 Recording, Dual 200MP Cameras

Smartphone Filmmaking

by Johnnie BehiriToday

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HONOR has launched the Magic9 Pro Max in China, and for the first time, the ARRI logo sits on the phone itself and on the box. Following the Robot Phone in August, this is the second device from the two companies’ Cinematic Imaging Partnership and the first to bring native ARRI LogC3, ARRI Wide Gamut 3, and the ARRI Look Library into the mainstream Magic Series flagship. Here is what ARRI actually put into it, and what remains an HONOR claim.

The Magic9 Pro Max pairs a 200MP main camera on a 1/1.28-inch sensor at f/1.57 with a 200MP telephoto on a 1/1.4-inch sensor at f/2.6, both with OIS and CIPA 8.0-rated stabilization, plus a 50MP f/2.0 ultra-wide. Processing runs on HONOR’s own 6nm Imaging Chip H1. In the ARRI CINEMA mode, the phone records 10-bit video in ARRI LogC3 and ARRI Wide Gamut 3 at up to 4K 60fps, with 14 preset ARRI Looks on the device and 87 gradings available from the ARRI Look Library. ARRI’s release also lists APV 10-bit 4:2:2 recording and a four-microphone directional array. Chinese pricing starts at RMB 6,499 (around $970 at roughly ¥6.7 to the US dollar).

We covered the partnership when it was announced at MWC 2026, discussed it on Focus Check ep106, and looked closely at the HONOR Robot Phone when it shipped as the first product of the collaboration. The Robot Phone was a mechanically ambitious device with a motorized titanium gimbal arm and a ¥9,999 price. The Magic9 Pro Max is a more conventional flagship at a lower price point, which is exactly why ARRI describes it as the moment the collaboration becomes visible “at product level for the first time.”

The logo on the camera bump

The physical co-branding is the part ARRI leads with in their press release. The company says a dedicated version of its logo was created for miniaturized reproduction next to the phone’s cameras, and that the branding extends to the packaging as well. According to HONOR, the rear camera architecture takes its cue from ARRI’s three-lens turret ARRIFLEX cameras of 1937, reinterpreting the 1+2 layout with the main, telephoto, and ultra-wide cameras grouped in an asymmetrical module. The raised module is positioned to keep fingers out of the frame, and the body uses an all-metal unibody enclosure.

For ARRI, their brand on a consumer phone is a bigger step than it sounds. The company has spent more than a century operating only at the top end of the industry, and until this year its branding appeared on cinema cameras, lenses, and lighting. Leica, Hasselblad, and ZEISS all took this route with Huawei, Xiaomi, OnePlus, and Vivo respectively, but those partnerships were framed around stills photography. ARRI’s angle is the moving image, and the Magic9 Pro Max puts that on a device that will sell in far greater numbers than a gimbal-phone concept.

What ARRI actually licensed

ARRI is careful to describe its contribution as “selected elements of ARRI Image Science” across capture, color management, real-time preview, and finishing. In practice, that means three named technologies. Native LogC3 recording in the ARRI Wide Gamut 3 color space preserves more usable highlight, shadow, and color information for grading. ARRI Looks allow the operator to preview a finished aesthetic at the moment of capture. And, new for the Magic9 Pro Max compared with the Robot Phone, the device gets access to the ARRI Look Library, which ARRI positions as further establishing its image science within HONOR’s mobile portfolio.

HONOR breaks the Looks down further: 14 presets ship on the phone, comprising two established ARRI conversion Looks and 12 stylized Looks, while the ARRI Look Library offers 87 predefined creative color gradings. These are the same Look Library grades that ARRI users know from the ALEXA side, so anyone who already works with ARRI Looks in post should find the naming and rendering intent familiar. LogC3, 10-bit color depth, and Wide Gamut 3 are only available in the ARRI CINEMA mode, and HONOR notes that feature availability may vary by camera and shooting mode.

The choice of LogC3 rather than LogC4 is the same one HONOR made on the Robot Phone, and the logic holds. LogC3 is the curve of the ALEXA Mini, AMIRA, and Mini LF era, and it is the most widely supported ARRI encoding in existence, with free conversion LUTs and native handling in every major NLE and grading application. The ALEXA 35 moved to LogC4 and AWG4 under REVEAL Color Science to carry the dynamic range of the ALEV 4 sensor; a 1/1.28-inch phone sensor has no need for that headroom. Panasonic’s paid LogC3 firmware for the LUMIX GH6 established the precedent for licensing the curve outside ARRI hardware back in 2024.

Cameras, chip, and the dynamic range claim

The ARRI CINEMA mode records at up to 4K 60fps and brings resolution, frame rate, shutter, ISO, white balance, focus, lens selection, aspect ratio, stabilization, exposure compensation, audio presets, and display mode into a single interface. That is a reasonably complete manual control set for a phone, and it is the part of the workflow that will matter most to anyone using the device as a B-camera on a documentary or branded job. ARRI’s release lists APV 10-bit 4:2:2 recording, Samsung’s open Advanced Professional Video codec; HONOR’s own release does not name the codec.

On the hardware side, HONOR says the Imaging Chip H1 runs AI noise reduction in the RAW domain in real time and delivers 18.8 TOPS/W. HONOR’s lab data claims the integrated pipeline improves signal-to-noise ratio by 8dB and supports up to 14 stops of dynamic range. Both figures come with the footnote that they are based on defined test conditions and may vary by environment. As with the Robot Phone, ARRI’s own release attaches no dynamic range figure to the device at all, and the 14-stop number is HONOR’s, not ARRI’s.

That distinction is worth keeping in mind. In our Lab Tests, the DJI Osmo Pocket 4P with its 1-inch LOFIC sensor posted the highest dynamic range we have measured across more than 70 cameras. A manufacturer claim of a certain amount of stops from any sensor should be read as a claim until someone puts a chart in front of it.

Both 200MP cameras carry CIPA 8.0 stabilization, with the main camera adding what HONOR calls 3° gimbal-level stabilization on top of OIS. The 50MP ultra-wide completes the rear array, and a 55MP square-format front camera works with a 3D depth sensor to capture 1:1 and crop flexibly to vertical or horizontal framing without rotating the phone.

Audio, monitoring, and the accessory kit

The Cinematic Directional Microphone uses a four-microphone array for camera recording, with stereo speakers for playback. For monitoring on set, the 6.8-inch (17.3cm) LTPO OLED panel offers up to 10,000 nits of peak brightness and an anti-reflective coating with a reflectance rate HONOR puts at as low as 1.5%. The peak figure refers to highlights rather than sustained full-screen brightness, but a low-reflectance panel is more useful outdoors than a bright one, so the combination is the right priority for a device that doubles as its own monitor.

Three optional accessories extend the phone into something closer to a rig. HONOR positions the Teleconverter G200 and Teleconverter G500 for long-range shooting, and the HONOR SmallRig Mobile Video Kit for handheld operation and accessory expansion. Availability of all three is listed as varying by market, and HONOR has not published pricing for them. The phone runs on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, with an 8,800mAh silicon-carbon battery (8,600mAh rated), 100W wired and 80W wireless charging, and IP68, IP69, and IP69K ratings.

Why ARRI is doing this

The Magic9 Pro Max is the clearest expression yet of ARRI’s third business, Content Creation, alongside Motion Picture and Live Entertainment. When we sat down with Thomas Riedel, Chris Richter, and David Bermbach at NAB 2026, shortly after Riedel acquired the company, the answer to reaching a broader market was partnerships rather than a cheaper ARRI camera. Two shipping phones in six weeks suggests that strategy is moving quickly. What the partnership has not yet produced is independent evidence that phone LogC3 tracks the real curve closely enough to intercut with ALEXA material in a single grade. That question is still open, and it is the one that decides whether the logo on the back means anything on a timeline.

Price and availability

The HONOR Magic9 Pro Max is on sale in China now in Shadow Black, Glacier Silver, and Moss Green, in four configurations: 12GB+256GB, 12GB+512GB, 16GB+512GB, and 16GB+1TB. Pricing starts at RMB 6,499 (around $970 at roughly ¥6.7 to the US dollar). HONOR says regional rollouts across Europe, MEA, SEA, and other international markets will be announced shortly, while ARRI directs all questions on specifications, pricing, color variants, and channel availability to HONOR. For more information, please visit the HONOR website and the ARRI press release.

Would native LogC3 change which phone you carry as a B-camera, or is the color science only as good as the sensor behind it? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!