Honor knows its new 600 Pro has ‘familiar premium aesthetics’ — but it beats the i Phone 17 Pro in two key ways | Tech Radar

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Honor knows its new 600 Pro has ‘familiar premium aesthetics’ — but it beats the i Phone 17 Pro in two key ways

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The Honor 600 Pro alongside the i Phone 17 Pro (Image credit: Future)

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Honor is pitching its newest mid-ranger (which succeeds the Honor 400 Pro outside of China) as a rival to the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE, but the 600 Pro’s undeniably Apple-inspired looks invite comparison to the i Phone 17 Pro instead.

There’s the full-width horizontal camera module, the “precision-carved unibody design”, and the identical arrangement of the phone’s rear lenses and sensors. The Honor 600 Pro also comes in a choice of Black, Golden White, and Orange, which is an odd trio of colors that I’m sure I’ve seen offered elsewhere recently.

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Jokes aside, these similarities are, I suspect, completely intentional on Honor’s part, and no doubt the brand knew it was in for a barrage of good-humored ribbing when it teased the 600 series earlier this month. But Honor is also confident that 600 Pro offers enough in the way of unique features to be considered more than just an industry imitator. And it’s right to be.

“The [600] series has been designed to balance familiar premium aesthetics with Honor’s own distinctive identity,” the brand told Tech Radar. “While it reflects broader industry trends towards minimalist and refined forms, it also introduces unique Honor elements, such as the unibody cold-carving process, ultra-narrow bezels, and carefully crafted material finishes.

“For the Honor 600 Pro specifically, the updated camera module design was driven by both functional and aesthetic considerations — enabling a more balanced layout while supporting the upgraded imaging system, including the periscope telephoto lens, and creating a cleaner, more modern visual language compared to the previous generation.”

In justifying the 600 Pro's new design, Honor is alluding to two of the three biggest selling points of its latest smartphone: the improbably thin display bezels, the 200MP main camera, and the almighty 7,000m Ah battery.

The Honor 600 Pro features a near-borderless display (Image credit: Future / Honor)

Starting with the display, the 600 Pro boasts a 6.57-inch AMOLED screen (2728 x 1264) whose surrounding bezels measure just 0.98mm — the thinnest of any phone, ever. For reference, the display bezels on the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and i Phone 17 Pro measure 1.42mm and 1.44mm, respectively. I've personally never used a phone with bezels narrower than 1mm, so the 600 Pro’s near-borderless screen is quite something to behold.

The 600 Pro’s rear camera system comprises a 200MP wide lens (f/1.9), a 12MP ultra-wide lens (f/2.2), and a 50MP periscope telephoto lens (f/2.8) with 3.5x optical zoom, which is a versatile setup for different shooting situations. You’ll, of course, get plenty of AI assistance to go with all that hardware, too, including Honor’s AI Color Engine and its new Super Moon 2.0 night mode.

We’ve come to expect i Phone-, Pixel-, and Samsung-beating batteries from the best Android phones out of China, and the Honor 600 Pro is no different. It packs a 7,000m Ah silicon-carbon cell under the hood, which is significantly bigger than the 5,300m Ah battery inside last year’s Honor 400 Pro and just a tad smaller than the 7,300m Ah battery in the ridiculously long-lasting One Plus 15.

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The i Phone 17 Pro Max, meanwhile, runs on a 5,088 m Ah battery.

Other key features of the Honor 600 Pro include its Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset (which is also used in the Samsung Galaxy S25 series), a dedicated AI button for easy AI-powered video creation (we’ve got a Tik Tok on Honor’s AI Image to Video 2.0 tool coming soon), and 80W wired and 50W wireless charging.

In other words, Honor’s latest mid-ranger isn’t really a mid-ranger at all. It boasts specs that rival — and in some cases, surpass — those of bona fide flagships like the i Phone 17 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, and if Honor can get the price right, we could be looking at one of the best-value phones of the year.

We know the 512GB model costs the equivalent of £620 in Malaysia, but Honor hasn’t yet confirmed official UK pricing — availability in the US and Australia seems unlikely, though Honor did recently launch the 400 Pro in the latter region, so the 600 Pro could follow at a later date.

We’re still putting the Honor 600 Pro (as well as its cheaper sibling, the Honor 600) through our full review process, so you can expect to read our verdict on both phones in the coming days. But in the meantime, rest assured that Honor’s latest ‘Number Series’ device is much more interesting than its unoriginal design might have you believe. Besides, who doesn't like orange?

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Axel is Tech Radar's Phones Editor, reporting on everything from the latest Apple developments to newest AI breakthroughs as part of the site's Mobile Computing vertical. Having previously written for publications including Esquire and Four Four Two, Axel is well-versed in the applications of technology beyond the desktop, and his coverage extends from general reporting and analysis to in-depth interviews and opinion.

Axel studied for a degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick before joining Tech Radar in 2020, where he earned an NCTJ qualification as part of the company’s inaugural digital training scheme.

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• Honor knows its new 600 Pro has ‘familiar premium aesthetics’ — but it beats the i Phone 17 Pro in two key ways

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