Standing on the roof of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, CNET tested a special cinema mode created by the movie camera company ARRI on Honor’s new smartphone. The feature allows users to shoot videos with distinct vintage film color profiles, such as a grainy 1960s look with a teal sky.
ARRI Partnership and Cinema Mode
Announced on Wednesday, the Honor Magic 9 Pro Max features ARRI’s Nostalgia look, bringing color configurations normally found on the company’s cinema cameras—which cost between $80,000 and $95,000 brand new—to a mobile device. Instead of releasing a cheaper hardware camera, ARRI integrated its color technology directly into the phone’s camera app through a dedicated ARRI Cinema mode, as reported by CNET.
The cinema mode utilizes the phone’s 200-megapixel wide and 200-megapixel telephoto cameras to capture footage in a wider 2.39:1 theatrical aspect ratio. Users can access ARRI’s Look Library and install LUT files, which are either preloaded or downloaded from Honor and ARRI websites, to closely mimic the look of an ARRI Alexa camera.
During a media demonstration at ARRI’s Los Angeles facility, CNET observed that footage recorded on the Magic 9 Pro Max shared similar color shading and detail with an Alexa camera under ideal lighting, though the cinema camera performed better in fine shadow details. CNET tested the phone on a faux rainy-evening film set and while watching the sunset at Griffith Observatory, noting that the available black-and-white and color options offer plenty of creative choices for video.
Hardware Specifications and Availability
The Magic 9 Pro Max features a 6.8-inch display, an 8,000-mAh battery supporting 100-watt wired charging and 80-watt wireless charging, and runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 processor. The device resembles an iPhone with its unibody metal design and two-tone back glass, coming in moss green, shadow black, and glacier silver.
Alongside the main wide and telephoto lenses, the camera system includes a 50-megapixel ultrawide camera that does not support ARRI Cinema mode. The 55-megapixel front-facing camera uses a square sensor similar to Apple’s Center Stage, enabling vertical selfies regardless of how the phone is held, which Honor states is a first for Android.
The phone operates on Android 17 with Honor’s MagicOS 11 overlay and supports Apple’s AirDrop via Quick Share. Honor has not yet revealed the pricing or release date for the Magic 9 Pro Max, and CNET noted that the device will not be coming to the United States.
