HONOR MAGIC5 LITE

MID-RANGE MARVEL

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With styling advice pinched from Honor’s high-end models, you might well mistake the Magic5 Lite for the outgoing Magic4 Pro. Both have curved-edge displays, super-slim bezels and tempered glass rears, each with a sizeable circular module to contain its cameras.

But the polished central frame here is polycarbonate, not metal. It’s satisfyingly light, rather than straying into toy-like territory, and the frosted finish does a great job of disguising fingerprints. The silver model’s pearlescent effect is easy on the eye, or there are less flashy green and black options.

The spec sheet has been trimmed quite a bit to keep the price in check, but the screen has survived relatively unscathed: this 6.67in OLED’s 120Hz refresh rate is a lot more enticing than the 60Hz of the Google Pixel 6a. Colours really pop and contrast is epic, even if brightness isn’t class-leading.

The down-firing speaker sounds clear enough for a mid-range blower, with decent volume for listening to podcasts or following recipe videos, but you’ll still want headphones for music.