As Samsung prepares to unveil its latest flagship, the Galaxy S26 series, the South Korean company will be facing tough competition from Honor.
Chinese company Honor unveiled its latest flagship, the Magic 8 Pro, last week.
AI in 2026
The Honor Magic 8 Pro, launched in China last year, will be available in South Africa from 1 March.
Samsung is expected to launch its new Galaxy S26 series on 25 February, and while The Citizen did get a sneak peek at the series, the content is embargoed until then.
What is clear, though, is that artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to take centre stage in 2026.
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Magic 8 Pro
The Honor Magic 8 Pro offers significant upgrades over last year’s Honor Magic 7 Pro in terms of processor, battery capacity and camera zoom capabilities.
It features the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, and a 7 100mAh-7 200mAh silicon-carbon battery with 100W wired/80W wireless charging. It also has a dedicated AI button, a physical key on the side of the device, offering a customisable shortcut to AI features and common actions like controlling the camera.
Pricing
But, a significant feature is the price, with Honor saying it will be lower than last year’s Magic 7 Pro.
It’s unclear what Samsung’s Galaxy S26 will retail at, but a series of competition is brewing about the affordability and price of flagship devices.
While official South African pricing for the Galaxy S26 is not yet available, leaks suggest potential pricing based on conversions from expected European prices, with the baseline model expected to be around R20 700 and the Galaxy S26 Ultra around R32 850.
In terms of how much it will retail for, Honor confirmed that the recommended price of the Magic 8 Pro is R27 999.
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