Honor’s 400 phones are midrangers built to last

Honor has announced the 400 and 400 Pro, two midrange phones that launch today in the UK and Europe. They’re capable-looking handsets in plenty of respects, but stand out mostly for the guarantee of six years of software support, bested only by Google’s Pixel 9A for the price.

In fairness, at £699.99 / €799 (around $900), the 400 Pro is really a flagship in its own right. It’s powered by 2023’s Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, and boasts a 6.7-inch AMOLED screen, IP68 and 69 ratings, and sizable 5,300mAh battery (with an even larger 6,000mAh cell outside Europe). The triple camera is impressive too, with a 200-megapixel main shooter, plus an ultrawide and telephoto.

I’m a bigger fan of the regular 400 though, and not just because at £399.99 / €499 (around $560) it’s substantially cheaper. It has straight sides, rather than the curved edges of the Pro model, and combined with a smaller 6.5-inch display it’s much more comfortable to use.

The 400 ships with the same main and ultrawide cameras as the Pro, only giving up on the telephoto. Its IP65 water-resistance is a little less comprehensive, and the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 won’t offer quite as much power, but the combination of the same large battery and a smaller screen should give this great endurance. The main downside for me would be giving up the Pro’s wireless charging.

Importantly, Honor’s commitment to six years of OS version updates and six years of security patches is the same for both phones, and should see them through to Android 21 in 2031. That matches Samsung’s promise for its Galaxy A56, and falls just one year short of the seven years guaranteed for the Pixel 9A. Both 400 phones arrive running Honor’s MagicOS and Android 15, and include a unique AI image-to-video feature powered by Google’s Veo 2 model, currently not available on any other phones.

While I’m not entirely sold on the 400 Pro’s near-flagship price tag, the base 400 looks like a compelling alternative to the Pixel 9A and Galaxy A56. It’s cheaper than either, should last for about as long, and bests both on quite a few specs.

Photography by Dominic Preston / The Verge