The Honor MagicPad 2 12.3, released a couple of years ago, received a decent Active Use Score of 9:42 hours. However, its web browsing performance was lacking, scoring only 7:56 hours. Today, we will evaluate the next-generation 12.3” tablet from Honor and its performance.
The Honor MagicPad4 features a 12.3” OLED display with a resolution of 3,000 x 1,920 pixels and is equipped with a 10,100mAh battery. While it maintains the same screen size as its predecessor, it offers significant enhancements, including a higher refresh rate (165Hz vs. 144Hz) and peak brightness (2,400 nits vs. 1,600 nits). The battery capacity is nearly identical to the previous model, being just 50mAh less, with both supporting 66W Honor SuperCharge for fast charging.
The Honor MagicPad4 has a 10,100mAh battery and comes with a 66W chargerThe new tablet outperforms its predecessor by nearly an hour, achieving an Active Use Score of 10:31 hours. This includes an impressive improvement in video playback time by almost 2 hours and a slight boost in gaming performance. Additionally, call time has also seen improvement; however, note that as this is a tablet without cellular connectivity, we assess its performance using WhatsApp calls.
Unfortunately, web browsing remains a weak point for the MagicPad4. It is powered by a more capable 3nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset, while the MagicPad 2 used the 4nm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3. The new chipset also introduces upgraded connectivity with Wi-Fi 7 support, compared to the previous model's Wi-Fi 6. It's important to mention that we conduct our tests at calibrated brightness, so the additional peak brightness of the new display does not impact the scores.
The Honor Pad X9 is a budget-friendly option featuring an 11.5” LCD (120Hz, 2,000 x 1,200px) and a Snapdragon 685, paired with a smaller 7,250mAh battery. Surprisingly, the X9 achieved an Active Use Score of 13:17 hours with nearly 12 hours of web browsing time.
On the higher end, the Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro offers an 11.2” IPS LCD (144Hz, 3,200 x 2,136px), powered by a Snapdragon 8 Elite and a 9,200mAh battery. It outperformed the MagicPad4 with an Active Use Score of 13:39 hours. The OnePlus Pad 3 also features the Snapdragon 8 Elite, featuring a 13.2” IPS LCD (144Hz, 3,392 x 2,400px) and a 12,140mAh battery, but registered a score of 10:49 hours—slightly better than the MagicPad4 despite its larger battery capacity.
Using the interactive widget above, you can adjust sliders to explore different usage scenarios, such as reducing call time or increasing video playback duration.
The Honor MagicPad4, with its 10,100mAh battery and 66W SuperCharge support, offers competitive specifications. While there are other tablets with higher power ratings, such as the OnePlus Pad 3 and Pad 4, the MagicPad4 holds its own in this area.
However, the charging results are somewhat disappointing. At the 15-minute mark, it only surpassed the Redmi Pad 2 Pro, which has a 12,000mAh battery, but is paired with slower 33W charging. This trend continued into the 30-minute charging test.
By the conclusion of the 100% charge test, the MagicPad4 completed charging in 1 hour and 40 minutes—a respectable, albeit not exceptional performance. For comparison, it matched the OnePlus Pad 4, which has a larger 13,380mAh battery and a faster 80W charger. The only slower devices were the more budget-friendly models like the Honor Pad X9 and Redmi Pad 2 Pro. The X9 took 24 minutes longer to charge, but it's important to note that a full charge on the X9 generally lasts longer than on the MagicPad 4.
Charging Speed
- in 15 min
- in 30 min
- Time to full charge (from 0%)
Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro
Honor MagicPad 2 12.3
OnePlus Pad 3
OnePlus Pad 4
Honor Pad X9
Honor MagicPad4
Redmi Pad 2 ProXiaomi Pad 8 ProOnePlus Pad 3OnePlus Pad 4Honor MagicPad 2 12.3Honor Pad X9Honor MagicPad4Redmi Pad 2 ProThe Honor MagicPad4 shows significant improvements in battery life; however, it still needs work in terms of web browsing performance. Although Honor offers several phones featuring 80W and even 100W charging capabilities, only one tablet exceeds 66W. It's time for Honor to expand its offerings in this area. Now, we will continue working on the full review.
