Honor’s latest flagship model took top spot in a respected camera quality benchmark from DxOMark, an important win in the vendor’s push to surpass big-name rivals including Apple.

The freshly-unveiled Honor Magic4 Ultimate bested former parent Huawei’s P50 Pro; Xiaomi’s Mi 11 Ultra; the Huawei Mate 40 Pro+; and Apple’s iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max, which were ranked fifth equal in DxOMark’s numbers.

In a statement, Honor Device CEO George Zhao hailed the DxOMark ranking as proof of the Honor Magic4 Ultimate’s “exceptional camera performance”, noting the device is the “pinnacle” of the vendor’s R&D efforts.

The DxOMark rating buoys a claim Honor made during MWC Barcelona 2022 that its latest flagship range equalled Apple in most areas and exceeded the US vendor in camera performance.

Honor Magic4 Ultimate features a quad-camera set-up comprising a 50MP wide module with a custom 8-pixel lens; a 64MP ultra-wide unit with dual free-form lens and 126-degree field of view; 64MP periscope telephoto; and 50 MP spectrum-enhanced unit, all running a custom-made image processor.

The 50MP wide module sports a “massive 1/1.12-inch sensor and a large aperture of f/1.6” capable of matching the light sensing performance of leading cameras, Honor stated.

DxOMark noted the Honor Magic4 Ultimate delivered high-quality photos in all test categories and lighting conditions, with a set up “particularly suitable for action photography”.

Honor Magic4 Ultimate runs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 gen 1 5G mobile platform, a 6.81-inch LTPO display and Magic UI 6.0, Honor’s latest Android-based platform which it unveiled yesterday (16 March).

The model is set to launch in China later this year priced from CNY7,999 ($1,260), in black or white colours.