HONOR Magic9 Pro Max and ARRI LogC3: what's ARRI, what isn't, and how to grade it

The HONOR Magic9 Pro Max records 10-bit ARRI LogC3 in ARRI Wide Gamut 3 at up to 4K 60p, so standard LogC3 LUTs and Resolve's color management work on its files. ARRI supplied the encoding and the Looks. The sensors, lenses, noise reduction and the 14-stop claim are HONOR's. Europe and the UK should get it in January 2027, with no euro or sterling price yet, and CineD says it won't go on sale in the US.

The first looks from the Los Angeles press event judge the color. We went through the part you meet after the shoot: which settings to use in Resolve, where grey should sit, what the APV files do in Premiere, and how much ND a phone at ISO 160 needs. We haven't shot with this phone, so the hands-on notes below come from CineD and Digital Camera World, and the maths is ours.

Which parts are ARRI and which are HONOR?

ARRI's press release talks about "selected elements of ARRI Image Science". Split out, the list looks like this.

Digital Camera World compared the phone with an ALEXA at ARRI's Los Angeles studio. Its writer found the palette close through the same ALEXA LUT, while the phone still showed the compression and processing you'd expect from a phone. Expect the color to match and the texture to give the phone away.

HONOR Magic9 Pro Max video specs at a glance

How do you grade HONOR LogC3 in DaVinci Resolve?

Treat the clip like footage from an ALEXA Mini. These settings apply to clips shot in the LogC3 profile only, because SDR and HDR clips already have the Look baked in.

1. Set the timeline to Rec.709 Gamma 2.4, or your delivery space.
2. Add a Color Space Transform on a node near the end of the tree.
3. Set Input Color Space to ARRI Wide Gamut 3 and Input Gamma to ARRI LogC3.
4. Set Output Color Space to Rec.709 and Output Gamma to Gamma 2.4.
5. Do exposure and white balance on nodes before the CST.

The other route is a LUT. On the phone, the ARRI ALEXA Look is the classic LogC3 to Rec.709 LUT, and ARRI Video is a brighter, more saturated version. The Look Library is free from ARRI to anyone, and HONOR's China site also links a Rec.709 LUT and a Look pack.

If you're cutting it with an ALEXA 35, remember that camera records LogC4, so the clips need a conversion before they share a timeline. With a Mini LF or an AMIRA, the phone already sits in the same encoding.

Where should you put grey on LogC3?

ARRI's curve document says every LogC3 curve maps 18% grey to 0.391, which is code 400 of 1023. HONOR's phone has false color, so check what it shows against a grey card once, then trust that reading.

Two unknowns sit behind that chart. ARRI's LogC3 is a family of curves, one per exposure index, and the top of the curve moves with EI. An ALEXA records the EI in its metadata. HONOR hasn't said which curve the phone writes at ISO 160, and Resolve's CST offers one LogC3 entry. ARRI says the EI 800 formula stays within 10% across EI 200 to 1600 up to scene white, so the error should stay small in the midtones.

The second one is clipping. At EI 800 the curve has room for about 8.3 stops above grey. HONOR claims 14 stops in total from a 1/1.28-inch sensor, so we'd expect the phone to clip well below the top of the waveform. Panasonic says this outright in the GH7 manual: its licensed LogC3 follows EI 800 and clips the equivalent of 2 stops early at 60 fps or below. We found no such note from HONOR. Before a real job, blow out a lamp, read the flat line on the waveform, and note that value. That's your white point for the shoot.

Will APV files open in Premiere or Final Cut?

CineD states that Premiere doesn't support APV natively. A feature request on Adobe's community forum, with more users adding their voice, asks for it. We found no Adobe or Apple statement promising support.

A ProRes 422 HQ transcode from FFmpeg looks like this: ffmpeg -i clip.mp4 -c:v prores_ks -profile:v 3 -pix_fmt yuv422p10le -c:a pcm_s16le clip.mov. Our FFmpeg 8 build lists the APV decoder, but we haven't run this on a HONOR file. Swap the file name for whatever the phone writes.

HONOR hasn't published bitrates. It says APV files run about 20% smaller than ProRes at a similar quality target. For a rough idea of storage, Samsung's table for the Galaxy S26 Ultra gives the APV figures below. Treat them as a planning guess for HONOR's phone.

Only one site we read, Daily Camera News, talks about writing straight to an external SSD, and HONOR doesn't confirm it. Buy the 512 GB model if you plan to shoot APV.

How much ND does the phone need at ISO 160?

HONOR lists one aperture per camera, and CineD says it shot mostly at native ISO 160 with a variable ND on the SmallRig cage. Start from the sunny 16 rule (f/16 at 1/160 s for ISO 160), open up to the lens, then slow down to 1/50 s.

A 2 to 5 stop variable ND won't hold 180° in full sun on either camera. Our Osmo Pocket 4P ND guide walks through the same sum at ISO 1600, and the 82mm variable ND guide covers the X-cross problem at high stops. We found no thread size for the SmallRig kit's filter mount, so check it before ordering.

What limits should you check first?

CineD's first look lists these from real use, and the workarounds are our suggestions. CineD discloses that HONOR paid its flights and accommodation.

Reviewers split on stabilization. Digital Camera World found panning and walking on the main camera solid, with a visible crop. CineD's writer wasn't impressed and thinks rival phones do better. We'd plan on the crop, whichever side you believe.

HONOR vs iPhone 18 Pro vs Galaxy S26 Ultra for Log video

LogC3's value is the shared recipe. Our iPhone 18 Pro ProRes RAW guide shows how much guessing Apple Log 2 still needs in Resolve, and the Blackmagic Camera for Android guide covers which phones get Log in that app. iPhone still wins on file handling: ProRes goes everywhere without a transcode. On the HONOR, the Resolve setup is the easy part and the codec is the hurdle. If you're updating first, our Resolve 21.2 guide covers what changed.

How much is it in Europe, and when does it arrive?

Android Headlines reports 12GB of RAM with 256GB or 512GB for Europe, and guesses the price could pass €1,500. HONOR hasn't confirmed that figure. In Hong Kong the G200 teleconverter costs HK$1,599, the G500 HK$3,299 and the SmallRig cage HK$2,199, and we found no European accessory prices.

One more thing to check in January: Notebookcheck reports a 7,030 mAh battery in a hands-on video of a global unit, against 8,800 mAh in China. That comes from a phone shop's TikTok clip, so it isn't confirmed for Europe. A China import should keep the bigger battery, but check warranty cover, software language and network bands first.

Who should buy it, and who should wait?

HONOR Magic9 Pro Max questions people ask

Sources

• ARRI press release (28 September): what ARRI contributes, APV, press image used for our cover
• HONOR launch release and China product page: specs, China price, LUT downloads
• CineD first look (6 November, trip paid by HONOR) and launch article: ISO 160, limits, availability, APV in Premiere
• Digital Camera World (4 November): ALEXA color comparison, stabilization
• ARRI, Log C curve in VFX: code 400, EI curves and formula
• ARRI Look Files and LUT Generator: free Look Library, LUT formats
• Panasonic GH7 manual: LogC3 clipping note
• Samsung Developer, APV: bitrates, Resolve 20.2 and FFmpeg 8; Blackmagic Resolve 20.2 guide; Adobe feature request
• Unwire HK (4 November): Hong Kong prices; Android Headlines: European memory options; Notebookcheck: global battery report
• Daily Camera News: external SSD mention
• Cover image: HONOR / ARRI press kit, cropped to remove text. ND, storage and frame rate figures, and the curve graphic, are our own calculations