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Honor Magic 5 Pro vs Samsung S23 Ultra: Galaxy Killer?

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Buy the Galaxy S23 Ultra:

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and Honor Magic 5 Pro are both super-high-end flagships from two very different brands. Samsung is the big incumbent — the default choice for a lot of people buying an Android phone. Honor is more the plucky upstart. Once part of Huawei, and now trying to capture back some of the market share of its former parent company.

The Honor flagship is quite a bit more affordable than Samsung’s, but still not cheap by any means. So let’s take a look at how these two compare, and whether it’s worth saving some money by going with Honor.

0:00 Intro
0:34 Hardware & Performance
4:35 Software
7:48 Cameras
11:11 Conclusions

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26 Comments

  4. thing with the tele lens of the honor is; it has "only" 3.5x but it's 50mpx binned down to 12.5 and it has a much bigger and more capable sensor than those on the s23u, the samsung has only 10 mpx which get upscaled to 12.5, which…is pretty suboptimal.
    in the end you have to ask yourself if you want less zoom but with better quality, or more zoom with inferior quality.
    main sensor is no competition i think, the wider aperture and the bigger sensor of the honor outclass the samsung with ease, can't beat physics.

  5. Having reluctantly switched from Huawei to Samsung a couple of years ago, and I've felt the software has let it down. A lot of the process that were a one step process, like cropped screenshots and split screen, are a 2/3 step in my S21 Ultra

  9. All of Samsung's mobile range is overrated. Owned the S21 and S22 Ultra, since I've moved over to other brands I've realized you are paying for the brand. Also I've experienced quite a few hardware issues with Samsung-branded phones. It shows when mobile company's own a monopoly they get lazy in their production quality and innovation, Iphone is another perfect example of high-priced mobiles with many issues.

  10. S23 ultra is great for cheap oversharpening photos and videos which you can't fix. Imagine buying "the best" phone in the world and you need to download 3rd party app for fixing the issue, which honestly, can't be fixed. I will go with Honor, it's pure optics

  18. There is no doubt that the Honor magic5 pro take better overall photos against s23 ultra which seems a lot un-natural compare to other Flagship phones. Very bright. On the other hand the Honor bring probably the most natural photos I have see from a smartphone and very close to Oppo x6 pro and Huawei P60.
    The advantage of s23 ultra is the periscope 10x "optical zoom" which take the best photos on that specific zoom. Also the flexibility to have 1 more good camera on your side. But until 10x zoom, Honor is a winner without dumb even thought it takes great images at 10x.
    Overall, is what you looking for and what is your budget. In my point of view the S pen and the 10x optical zoom is the strongest things about s23 ultra and Honor is probably the best display on market atm, great performance all around and better photos ulti 10x zoom. Also Honor cost 200 euro/dollars less and comes with 512gb 12ram. s23 ultra is a bit expensive for what it offer even thought offer 2 unique things "S pen and 10x optical zoom". But yes, the Honor is a true winner in cameras all around

  22. The difference is more £350 the honour is around £800 with 500 gigs of storage
    Where is the Samsung S23 is about £1750 with 500 gigs of storage + you have to pay for the charger which is outrageous in my opinion with so much money spent.

  23. Really want to get the honor magic 5 Pro. But strangely it is much costlier than S23U in UAE for reasons known to honor only. Whereas all around the world it is cheaper.

  24. I had a Huawei p40 Pro, it broke so I got a honor magic 4 pro. When my contract ends in February I will be getting the magic 5 pro. If the Huawei Mate 60 pro gets released global I will buy that outright. The photos look better on the honor than the Samsung

  25. The S23 Ultra's face unlock and finger print sensor is absolute garbage. I am in the process of returning one, but Samsung's return policy is just horrendous and it's next to impossible to return it and get a refund. To be completely honest I still much rather use my Huawei P30 Pro than Samsung "flagships". I would stay away from Samsung.

  26. The performance is similar, on paper. Once you get to heavily demanding games, the S23U gets really unstable after a few minutes and gets really hot. Meanwhile the Magic only gets slightly warm and the fps stays consistent thru out.