I purchased the HONOR MagicPad 3 Pro.
A high-performance yet lightweight high-end tablet
The HONOR MagicPad 3 Pro is a high-end Android tablet equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.
While featuring a large 13.3-inch display and a 12,450mAh battery, it weighs a light 595g.
Although it’s the Chinese version, it comes with proper language support, and the Google Play Store can be installed and used without any issues.
This review was conducted on the 12GB+256GB version running firmware 10.0.0.110(C00E100R101P1).
On AliExpress, you can purchase it for $580.40 using the promo code IFPI7W2M until 11/20 at 16:59.
- The only tablet with Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 currently available
- 13.3-inch display with 165Hz support
- Bright screen with a measured 717 nits
- 12,450mAh battery with bypass charging support
- Octa-speakers with IMAX Enhanced & DTS:X support
- Video output support via USB 3.2 Gen 1 port
- Multi-language and Google Play Services support
- Touch latency improvements not yet implemented
| HONOR MagicPad 3 Pro (YLP-W00) | |
|---|---|
| OS | Android 16 |
| RAM | 12GB / 16GB LPDDR5X |
| Storage | 256GB / 512GB UFS 4.1 |
| SoC | Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
| Display | 13.3-inch 3200 x 2136 (3:2 aspect ratio) 165Hz refresh rate LCD |
| Dimensions | 293.88 × 201.38 × 5.79mm |
| Weight | 595g |
| Rear Camera | 13MP (Main) + 2MP (Macro) |
| Front Camera | 9MP |
| Battery | 12450mAh |
| USB Port | USB Type-C (USB 3.2 Gen 1) |
Index
- 1 A high-performance yet lightweight high-end tablet
- 2 Display: A beautiful 165Hz screen
- 3 Back Panel: A unique texture
- 4 Speakers: Powerful bass
- 5 Ports: 66W charging and video output support
- 6 Performance: 30 minutes of gaming at an average of 60 FPS with low power consumption
- 7 Excellent language support even on the Chinese version
- 8 Conclusion
A charger is included, the type that is limited to 40W in 100V regions.
A screen protector is not pre-applied.
Display: A beautiful 165Hz screen
The HONOR MagicPad 3 Pro features a 13.3-inch LCD display with a resolution of 3200 x 2136.
When measuring the brightness with an LX-1336B while playing an HDR video at full screen with maximum brightness, it reached a peak of 717 nits.
It’s quite bright for an LCD.
It’s a unit that indicates the level of brightness; the higher the number, the brighter the screen.
It’s generally considered that you need around 400-500 nits for comfortable viewing indoors and 800-1000 nits for outdoors.
Incidentally, many devices limit the maximum brightness unless auto-brightness is turned on.
With its 3:2 aspect ratio display, the bezels are minimal when viewing manga in a two-page spread.
When watching videos, there are black bars at the top and bottom.
It features a “Super Dynamic Display” that enhances brightness and contrast using AI, and a “Vivid Display” feature that boosts sharpness and color, both of which work with the YouTube app.
There are also numerous eye-care features, such as blue light reduction and dry eye relief, designed to reduce eye strain during prolonged use.
The refresh rate goes up to 165Hz.
Internally, it also seems to support 90Hz and 144Hz.
When measured with the Touch Sample Rate Tester, the touch sampling rate was around 250Hz on average for both single-touch and multi-touch Movement Rate.
It relates to how sensitive the screen is to touch.
A higher number often means a faster response to touch.
However, the actual touch latency is not determined by this alone; other factors also contribute to the final touch delay.
As a rule of thumb, a Movement Rate that is about twice the screen’s refresh rate is average, over three times is high, and gaming phones often reach 5-6 times.
The touch latency measured with the WALT Latency Timer was a total of 51.5ms.
The product information mentioned Q-Sync, which claims to improve touch sensitivity, but it seems to be provided via an OTA update and has not been implemented yet.
This is the time it takes for the screen to respond after being touched.
The smaller this number, the faster the response.
Gaming phones typically have around 25ms, while standard smartphones are generally in the low 30-40ms range.
It supports Widevine L1, allowing for high-quality streaming playback on services like Amazon Prime Video.
Back Panel: A unique texture
The back is metal but has a slightly rough, leather-like finish that resists fingerprints and smudges.
It weighs 603.9g.
For comparison, the OnePlus Pad 3, another 13-inch class tablet with a Snapdragon 8 Elite and a 12,140mAh battery, weighs 684.8g, so this feels significantly lighter, partly due to its slim profile.
Speakers: Powerful bass
The HONOR MagicPad 3 Pro is equipped with eight speakers, arranged symmetrically.
The volume is substantial, and the bass is powerful, allowing you to enjoy videos and games with immersive sound.
The treble is a bit more subdued, but still perfectly clear.
You can choose between Honor Sound spatial audio and stereo audio in the settings.
Stereo audio seems to support IMAX Enhanced and DTS:X.
Checking the supported codecs with Bluetooth Codec Changer reveals support for AAC, aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, LDAC, and LHDC.
LHDC V5 compatible earphones are not restricted by manufacturer and can be used with devices from other companies.
Ports: 66W charging and video output support
The HONOR MagicPad 3 Pro has a 12,450mAh battery that supports 66W fast charging.
With USB 3.2 Gen 2 support, video output to a monitor via DisplayPort Alt Mode is possible, and PC collaboration features are also available.
By turning on ‘Smart Battery Capacity,’ you can extend the battery’s lifespan by not charging it to 100%.
It also supports charging optimization and direct power supply (bypass charging), allowing for extended gaming sessions while reducing battery heat and strain.
It supports Wi-Fi 7, and I was able to connect at a link speed of 2882Mbps.
Unfortunately, being the Chinese version, it does not support the 6GHz band.
While it includes an accelerometer and gyroscope, it lacks proximity and magnetic sensors.
The power and volume buttons are located on the top left side when facing the screen.
There is no fingerprint sensor; only face unlock is available.
Performance: 30 minutes of gaming at an average of 60 FPS with low power consumption
As the only tablet equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in 2025, the HONOR MagicPad 3 Pro delivers world-class performance.
In Geekbench 6, the spoofed package name version (= unaffected by the manufacturer’s unfair boosting) scored 1310 in single-core and 5176 in multi-core, while the regular version scored 3646 in single-core and 10508 in multi-core.
The large difference suggests that the device uses package name detection to control performance.
Many manufacturers have been caught cheating on popular benchmark apps like AnTuTu. They detect the app by its package name and then relax thermal controls or lock the CPU to high clock speeds to inflate scores.
This behavior is different from normal app usage, leading to situations where “benchmarks are great, but other apps don’t run as well.”
Since each manufacturer’s boosting behavior differs, comparing boosted results is meaningless.
Therefore, it’s crucial to change the package name to disguise the benchmark as a regular app to get an accurate, unboosted score.
This is explained in more detail in this article.
It’s a benchmark that quantifies the CPU’s processing power, used in tasks like background blur and text processing.
Single-core performance is important for light, everyday tasks, while multi-core performance is crucial for heavy gaming and other demanding applications.
A single-core score of 1200 and a multi-core score of 3000 or more is generally sufficient for a comfortable experience.
Benchmark results are compiled in this article.
In the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Stress Test with a spoofed package name, the score went from 7605 to 6286.
As mentioned, the performance is likely suppressed for regular apps based on package name detection, but even so, its GPU performance surpasses the Snapdragon 8 Elite.
Moreover, the stability is quite high at 82.7%, with the battery temperature rising only to 42°C.
Wild Life Extreme is a benchmark that uses the Vulkan API and 3840×2160 resolution graphics to quantify GPU performance.
A higher score indicates smoother 3D rendering in games, and high Stability means the device can maintain high performance for extended periods.
However, this is just a general, simplified indicator for Vulkan API usage. Considering that most popular games do not use the Vulkan API, the score is not very useful, and its main purpose is to check heat generation during GPU usage.
It only allows for inferences, such as assuming that if performance is good in Vulkan, it will likely be high in OpenGL as well, or if it tends to overheat, maintaining FPS in actual games might be difficult.
In PCMark Work 3.0 (spoofed package name version), which measures performance in everyday tasks like document editing, the score was 12511.
This benchmark quantifies the processing performance for tasks like web browsing and editing images/videos.
A higher score means faster processing, but the balance with battery consumption is also important, so a lower score isn’t necessarily bad.
A score of 8000 or more is generally sufficient.
It is equipped with UFS 4.1 storage and LPDDR5X memory.
It seems to prioritize write performance over read performance; while the read speed is decent, both sequential and random write speeds are top-class.
Sequential read/write speeds affect the time it takes to copy large files or encode/decode videos.
Random read/write speeds are for small file operations and are more important for app and game performance.
When playing the CPU-intensive game Genshin Impact for 30 minutes in Performance Mode with all graphics options set to the highest, 60 FPS mode enabled, and measured in Nod-Krai using Scene 8, it averaged 60 FPS with a power consumption of 97mW per FPS.
The battery temperature rose to a maximum of about 34°C.
It has low heat generation, good power efficiency, and plenty of overhead.
Lower power consumption per FPS indicates better power efficiency.
Good power efficiency means less battery drain, while poor efficiency leads to rapid battery depletion.
A phone that is inefficient in games tends to have high battery consumption in other apps as well, often making it feel like the battery drains quickly.
Average FPS (frames per second) indicates how smoothly the display is maintained; higher is better.
(To be more precise, a higher average FPS combined with fewer “janks” or stutters results in a smoother perceived experience.)
When playing the GPU-intensive Honkai: Star Rail for 30 minutes in Performance Mode at the highest graphics settings, spamming Acheron’s Technique in Penacony’s “Golden Hour,” it averaged 59.9 FPS.
The battery temperature rose to 39°C.
While the power consumption is slightly higher than in Genshin Impact, it’s phenomenal that it can maintain a near-constant 60 FPS at high resolution.
The game mode allows you to enhance visuals for better visibility and enable direct power supply.
There is also a feature to stabilize the frame rate, which allows for even smoother gameplay, albeit with a slight increase in power consumption.
Regarding touch sensitivity, you can adjust settings like touch sampling rate and swipe sensitivity.
Excellent language support even on the Chinese version
Although it is the Chinese version, the HONOR MagicPad 3 Pro has excellent multi-language support, and fonts are displayed correctly.
No special procedures like using ADB commands are needed; you can simply select your language during setup.
You can enable Google Play Services from “Users & accounts” in the settings, and then install and use the Play Store by downloading its APK.
Unlike HUAWEI, it’s great to be able to use any app you like.
It is Play Protect certified, so there are no restrictions on app usage.
To make apps easier to use on the large screen, features like a taskbar for app switching, forcing app orientation, and split-screen view are available.
Conclusion
- The only tablet with Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 currently available
- 13.3-inch display with 165Hz support
- Bright screen with a measured 717 nits
- 12,450mAh battery with bypass charging support
- Octa-speakers with IMAX Enhanced & DTS:X support
- Video output support via USB 3.2 Gen 1 port
- Multi-language and Google Play Services support
- Touch latency improvements not yet implemented
As expected from a tablet with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, it delivers extremely high performance, maintaining a near-constant 60 FPS average in both Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail over 30 minutes.
While the LCD display is a slight drawback, it is impressively bright, rivaling OLEDs, and also supports a 165Hz refresh rate.
Once the touch latency improvement feature, Q-Sync, is implemented, it will make touch-sensitive FPS and rhythm games more enjoyable, likely positioning this as a high-performance, cost-effective tablet that leaves other gaming tablets behind.
On AliExpress, you can purchase it for $580.40 using the promo code IFPI7W2M until 11/20.