Smartphones have been trying to replace everything from point-and-shoot cameras to gaming consoles for years. Now, HONOR wants to take things a step further by bringing a little Hollywood filmmaking magic to its latest flagship. And it’s not doing that alone. The HONOR Magic 9 Pro Max touts a cinematic imaging partnership with ARRI, the legendary German camera manufacturer whose equipment has been used in countless film and television productions.
I got to experience this partnership firsthand during a trip to Los Angeles, where HONOR arranged a workshop at ARRI’s studio. There were professional cinema cameras, carefully controlled lighting setups, and, rather unusually, a smartphone being put through its paces alongside the big guns. Having spent time shooting with the Magic 9 Pro Max afterward, including during a trip to Yosemite National Park, I have to say that this is one smartphone-camera collaboration worth paying attention to.
A smartphone goes toe-to-toe with an ARRI cinema camera
The highlight of the LA workshop was a pair of carefully designed shooting environments. One focused on a person in a controlled lighting setup, while the other recreated a more cinematic living-room scene, complete with mood lighting and a couch. Both environments had an actual ARRI cinema camera and the HONOR Magic 9 Pro Max recording the same subjects.
More importantly, both devices were shooting in LogC3. We got to view the resulting footage side by side on a monitor, and the similarity was genuinely surprising. The Magic 9 Pro Max came remarkably close to the professional camera’s overall look, with my impression being that it was roughly 90–95% there in these particular scenes. HONOR later shared the footage with us, allowing for a closer look at the comparison.
Of course, this isn’t some grand declaration that smartphones will soon make professional cinema cameras redundant. The ARRI camera has access to a different ecosystem of lenses, accessories, and professional controls, and the detail and clarity differ.
But that’s not really the point. The Magic 9 Pro Max gets surprisingly close to the overall visual character of the footage, and that’s an interesting proposition for creators who want to experiment with filmmaking without investing in an entire professional camera setup.
What the ARRI partnership actually brings to the table
The interesting bit here isn’t simply that HONOR has slapped an ARRI logo onto its camera interface. The collaboration brings selected elements of ARRI Image Science into the phone’s video workflow, covering image capture, colour management and real-time preview.
At the centre of this is ARRI LogC3, a logarithmic recording profile paired with ARRI Wide Gamut 3 (AWG3) and 10-bit colour. In simpler terms, LogC3 gives creators a relatively flat-looking recording with more flexibility when adjusting colours, contrast and exposure during editing. It isn’t necessarily meant to look spectacular straight out of the camera. Think of it as a more flexible starting point rather than a finished Instagram-ready clip.
HONOR also includes 14 preset ARRI Looks, comprising two default options and 12 stylised treatments. There’s an additional library of 87 ARRI Looks, along with support for compatible third-party LogC3 LUTs. These can be previewed while recording, so creators can get an idea of how the finished footage might look without committing to a particular colour treatment immediately.
The dedicated ARRI CINEMA mode brings these controls together in one interface, with options for adjusting exposure, shutter speed, ISO, white balance, focus, and recording settings. It also supports recording at up to 4K 60fps, making this more than just a collection of cinematic filters.
Taking the cinematic workflow beyond the studio
What I particularly liked was that the workflow wasn’t restricted to the controlled environment of the ARRI studio. I extended my US trip and took the Magic 9 Pro Max along to Yosemite National Park, where I shot plenty of footage of the landscapes and surroundings. This allowed me to explore the camera away from carefully arranged lighting and people who know exactly where to stand.
The phone made it fairly straightforward to switch between the available focal lengths and experiment with LogC3 footage. More importantly, I could apply ARRI Looks directly on the device rather than having to transfer every clip to a computer. After trying several options, my current favourites are ARRI-5120 (Vibrant) and ARRI-3110 (Aesthetic). Both offer noticeably different treatments, depending on the mood I want from the footage.
There’s also the option of taking things to a desktop editing workflow. Footage can be imported into DaVinci Resolve, where creators can apply compatible LUTs downloaded from ARRI’s website. ARRI itself recommended DaVinci Resolve during our workshop. Having both an on-device editing route and a more traditional desktop workflow makes the feature considerably more interesting, especially for people who are already comfortable experimenting with colour grading.
There’s a catch with the camera selection
While exploring ARRI CINEMA mode, I did run into a limitation that feels a little odd for a phone putting so much emphasis on cinematic versatility. The interface offers 24mm, 35mm, 48mm, and 85mm framing options. The first three use the primary camera, while the 85mm option switches to the telephoto camera.
What’s missing? The ultra-wide camera.
The 12mm ultra-wide lens isn’t available in ARRI CINEMA mode, meaning creators can’t use the same LogC3 workflow when shooting expansive landscapes or dramatic wide-angle scenes. That’s a missed opportunity, particularly when travelling or filming architecture, where an ultra-wide perspective can be incredibly useful. Given how much emphasis HONOR places on the video experience, I would have liked to see all three rear cameras supported.
Beyond that, my early impressions of the camera system have been positive. Stabilisation has been good during my time shooting in Yosemite; the footage looks promising, and switching between focal lengths is straightforward. The phone also packs HONOR’s dedicated Imaging Chip H1 alongside its flagship Snapdragon processor, with the imaging chip playing an important role in the company’s computational imaging and video pipeline.
I’ll reserve a deeper assessment of image quality, low-light performance, and stabilisation for the full review, but here are a couple of snaps for you to enjoy till then, to feast your eyes.
A few extras, and some questions remain
HONOR also has optional accessories for people who want to push the camera system further. I briefly tried the larger G500 teleconverter during our visit to Warner Bros. studio, where we captured a few shots using its extended zoom capabilities. The results looked promising, although I don’t have sample images from the accessory to share just yet. There’s also a smaller, lighter G200 teleconverter, which I haven’t had the opportunity to try.
Audio is another interesting part of the phone’s video proposition. During our conversations, the ARRI team explained that its expertise lies primarily in the visual side of filmmaking; although its cinema cameras support external microphone inputs, ARRI isn’t in the business of making microphones. That’s where HONOR has had to develop its own approach, including a dedicated directional microphone system. I haven’t had enough time to properly test the audio capabilities, particularly while travelling solo, so that’s something I’ll be exploring more closely for the full review.
HONOR’s ARRI partnership has me intrigued
Camera partnerships aren’t exactly new in the smartphone industry. We’ve seen OnePlus and OPPO work with Hasselblad, while Xiaomi has its long-running collaboration with Leica. What makes HONOR’s approach interesting is its emphasis on cinematography and video creation rather than simply chasing better-looking photographs.
After spending time with the Magic 9 Pro Max in the ARRI studio and taking it along to Yosemite, my first impressions have been genuinely good. The LogC3 workflow is accessible, the ability to experiment with ARRI Looks directly on the phone is useful, and the studio comparison gave me a glimpse of just how far smartphone videography has come. There are limitations, and a few important questions around consistency, audio, and overall camera performance still need answering.
But the foundations look promising. The Magic 9 Pro Max isn’t going to replace a professional ARRI cinema camera, nor does it need to. What it could do is make a more serious filmmaking workflow accessible to a much wider audience. That’s an exciting direction for smartphone cameras, and I’ll be putting the phone through considerably more demanding tests before delivering a final verdict. Stay tuned for the full review.
