I reviewed the Honor 600, and it’s more than just an iPhone clone

The choice of great mid-range smartphones is increasing in 2026, with the best from Samsung, Google, and Nothing now being joined by the latest from Honor.

The Honor 600 doesn’t try to be a “flagship killer,” or anything quite so marketing-led, but instead wants to tempt you with a sensible spec sheet and a durable, if a bit too familiar design.

It almost succeeds for me, apart from one silly feature omission that annoys me every time. You may not feel the same, but here’s what the Honor 600 is like as an everyday phone.

6.5/10

SoC

Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 4

Display dimensions

6.57-inches

Battery

6400mAh

Rear camera

200MP main / 12MP wide-angle

The Honor 600 is a mid-range phone that doesn’t try to do too much. The reliable processor is matched to a sizable battery, and the compact overall dimensions make it a good everyday phone.

Pros & Cons

• Durable design
• Compact dimensions
• Bright AMOLED screen
• Fast charging

• Always-on screen lacks always-on option
• Software bugs can affect calls
• Software setup irritations

Specs, price, and availability

The Honor 600 is not officially available in the US, but is being sold globally, including the UK. At the time of writing, only the price in euros is available. The 8GB/256GB model is 650 euros, and the 12GB/512GB version is 700 euros.

This converts to around £560 and £605, or $760 or $820. It puts the phone in competition with the Samsung Galaxy A57, the Nothing Phone 4a Pro, and the Google Pixel 10a.

There is an Honor 600 Pro, which costs more and comes with a faster processor, but it’ll be available in only a handful of locations. In other words, Honor is pinning its mid-range hopes for 2026 on the non-Pro Honor 600.

Honor 600 design

Nothing like the iPhone. Nope

Tired of great big phones you can’t fit in your pocket? The Honor 600 may be the answer. Its footprint is a touch larger than the Samsung Galaxy S26, and a little thicker at 7.8mm, but just as easy to hold and store.

The Honor 600’s shape is highly reminiscent of the Apple iPhone 17, from the way it contoured corners to the placement of the twin camera lenses on the back, which has also taken further inspiration from the iPhone 17 Pro Max. The orange color scheme and the Honor 600 Pro’s camera is even more Apple-inspired.

I like the tactility of the metal frame and careful avoidance of sharp edges, the way it has IP68, IP69, and IP69K dust and water resistance, plus a drop resistance rating too, as these are unusual to find altogether on a mid-range phone.

There’s a physical AI button on the side of the Honor 600, and through an iOS-like interface, you can customize what it does on a single, double, or long press. In the camera app it works as a shutter release, and a long press activates burst mode. You can’t swipe to activate a zoom though.

Leave the copycat design aside (best to avoid the orange version too, unless you welcome the inevitable iPhone comparisons), and the Honor 600 is a well-proportioned, manageable phone with an almost bezel-less design and impressive durability specs.

Honor 600 camera

More versatile than the specs suggest

A 200-megapixel main rear camera is the headline here, which has an f/1.9 aperture and optical image stabilization (OIS). It’s joined by a 12MP wide-angle camera. There’s no telephoto camera here, which is reserved for the much more expensive Honor 600 Pro.

A dedicated telephoto camera is a rarity at this price, and it makes the Nothing Phone 4a Pro look very attractive if you want one, but the Honor 600’s camera otherwise holds its own, spec-wise, against the Galaxy A57 and Pixel 10a.

The good news is, the 2x shortcut in the camera app produces some very good photos with solid consistency, very little noise, lots of detail, and only limited use of digital enhancements. Go further than this with the zoom, and things get far worse, though, so 2x should be the limit.

Otherwise, the 200MP main camera is fine. Colors are bright and vibrant, exposure is decent, and the HDR treatment makes indoor photos against harsh sunlight acceptable. That said, it does struggle a little due to the f/1.9 aperture, as sunlight can wash photos out in some conditions, and introduce a surprising amount of lens flare when it may not be wanted.

Overall, the camera is acceptable and more versatile than the initial specs suggest, but don’t expect much beyond photos best suited for quick sharing on social media.

In the Gallery app, there’s a host of generative AI features to try out. There’s an extensive Image to Video editor, where a simple text prompt turns stills into a short video. pre-generated video templates, and AI editing tools for object removal and sky retouching, too.

Honor 600 software and performance

Frustrations can affect calls

It’s Android 16 and Honor’s MagicOS 10 onboard, which Honor will apparently support with up to six years of OS updates. It’s Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 processor inside, and I’ve been using the model with 8GB of RAM.

First, the good things. Once you’ve set it up, MagicOS 10 is snappy and fluid, and it’s easy to find the settings you want. It’s missing cool innovations like Samsung’s AI-powered settings adjustment, though, where you can use the search box to change a setting, rather than look for it manually.

Microsoft’s SwiftKey keyboard is the default option, but once I changed to Google’s Gboard, I found interacting with the phone fast and natural. There’s a lot to be said about a moderately compact phone’s dimensions and how easy it makes one-handed use. All my usual apps, from Reddit to Threads, via parking apps and WhatsApp, work without issue.

Now, the not-so-good things. Setup is a bit long-winded, especially due to the three times you have to dismiss Honor’s “requests” to create an Honor ID before you’ve even started using the phone. Next, it installed a host of unwanted games despite being told not to.

I’ve also had problems with accepting incoming calls when the phone is locked. When you go to answer, it forces you to unlock the phone, when the incoming call splash page disappears, and you have to tap the pointless Dynamic Island rip-off pill icon at the top of the screen to get it back.

It may just be me, but I still haven’t found a seamless way to answer calls that doesn’t give the caller ample time to just hang up. Other gremlins, like Google Discover disappearing one day and returning the next, and sporadic notification alerts, show MagicOS still needs refining to compete with Samsung’s OneUI 8.5, iOS 26, and even newcomers like NothingOS, too.

Honor 600 always-on screen that’s not always on

Why? Why do this?

The Honor 600’s software can frustrate, but not nearly as much as Honor’s decision to hobble the always-on screen. This isn’t a problem unique to Honor, as Motorola continues to do the same, but you can only activate the always-on screen with a tap, and not have it displayed all the time.

It’s still called an always-on screen, but it lacks true always-on functionality, and not only is it annoying, but it’s a waste of a lovely screen. The Honor 600’s 6.57-inch AMOLED screen has a 2728 x 1264 pixel resolution, a 120GHz refresh rate, thin bezels, and a host of eye protection options.

Best of all, it’s really bright and even in bright outdoor sunlight, I’ve had no problem seeing it. However, the auto-brightness is reluctant to give you all the brightness, and I’ve found I have to manually increase it. Again, why hold back a feature that makes the phone better to use?

Honor 600 battery and charging

Solid performance

Outside China and a few other regions, the Honor 600 has a 6400mAh battery, down from the 7000mAh cell seen in the Chinese versions. It has wired charging only, and supports up to 80W using Honor’s proprietary charging block.

During light use, with around two hours of screen time per day, the battery lasted into the third day on a single charge, but increase this use and add some gaming, and the Honor 600’s battery will last two days.

This is somewhat in line with what I expected. The Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 and 5,000mAh battery in the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro struggled to reach two full days of use, and the extra capacity in the Honor 600 has made two days a realistic expectation.

I ran the 3DMark app’s Steel Nomad Lite 20-minute benchmarking test, and it took just 8%, while a 40-minute 1440p YouTube video at full brightness over Wi-Fi took 6%. Recharging the battery using an Anker Prime charger rated to beyond 80W saw the battery reach 50% in 23 minutes, and 100% in about an hour. It’s a great performance, which makes the Honor 600 an easy phone to live with.

Should you buy the Honor 600?

I have been happy enough with the Honor 600 as my everyday phone. It runs my apps, the battery lasts two days, the design is comfortable to hold, I’m not worried about durability, and the camera is acceptable.

I should be saying, sure, it’s a good phone to buy. However, the Honor 600 has made life difficult for itself due to the various software gremlins I’ve already encountered (which makes me think more will arrive the longer I use it) and the irritating way it handles the not-always-on screen.

It’s frustrating, as if the software were a little more polished, particularly around calls, and the always-on screen was actually always-on, there wouldn’t be any major downsides here. Instead, you’ve got to be prepared for these things, and the chance of other bugs showing up, if you buy the Honor 600.

If you’re fine with that, the Honor 600 is a solid mid-range Android phone that has taken one too many side glances at the Apple iPhone’s design.

6.5/10

SoC

Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 4

Display dimensions

6.57-inches

Battery

6400mAh

Rear camera

200MP main / 12MP wide-angle

The Honor 600 is a solid addition to 2026’s range of very tempting mid-range phones, but is let down by software bugs that can really frustrate, and an annoying decision around the always-on screen.