Earlier this month, HONOR launched its latest flagship phone in South Africa in the form of the Magic7 Pro.

We have since published our review of the device, noting that it is a great all-around flagship phone. We also touched on the camera performance, but now we’re diving a little deeper by looking at one of the standalone features called AI Super Zoom.

“Every detail sharper, no matter the distance. With multiple focal lengths in perfect sync, far-off views feel right in front of you,” reads a description of the AI-powered feature by HONOR.

So, with that in mind, we decided to test it out whether AI Super Zoom is indeed as helpful as advertised, or whether a future iteration with more refinement is needed.

The full specifications of the HONOR Magic7 Pro are as follows:

To kick things off, it should be noted that AI Super Zoom happens in the moment, and is dependent on an internet connection to operate, as the technology is cloud-based, according to HONOR. This, of course, brings up questions around the regulations for on-device AI and where the information to power this AI feature is stored, but that’s perhaps a conversation for another time.

Back to the AI Super Zoom, and you cannot edit an image to leverage the Super Zoom technology after the fact. There is the ability to enhance an image in your gallery with an AI Enhance feature, but Super Zoom is limited to use right then and there.

When you fire app the camera app, there is an interface for the level of zoom, with 0.5x, 1x, 2x, 3x, and 6x listed as the quick-tap default options. Swiping slowly on the interface brings up a digital zoom to finely calibrate the level of zoom, going all the way up to 100x.

The AI Super Zoom function is for anything between 30x and 100x, although we must point out that it must be selected in order to work. This means that two-handed operation is a must, and perhaps more importantly, capturing images of stationary objects like buildings and architecture is the best application of the feature.

If you plan on doing so for wildlife or sports photography, this may not be the best use of the AI-powered feature, in our opinion.

You’ll also probably want to get a tripod of some kind. We have made similar remarks when 100x zoom first started to appear on flagship phones a few years ago, as you need to keep the device as steady as possible to capture an image. The Magic7 Pro has as focus-locking tool, but from 50x to 100x zoom, is still going to struggle to keep the camera locked and in focus, with even the most subtle of movements usually meaning an object is not framed properly.

This leads us to another point when trying to use this feature – patience – as you’re probably not going to get it right on the first try.

As for the results of the images we captured, once we had things steady enough, were mixed results.

One thing for certain is that you can tell when the AI Super Zoom filter has been applied to an image, with the textures looking far smoother than expected, and the outline of objects having a defined edge.

It is comparable to what we have seen with AI-generated images and video of late, with there being telltale marks that the content is not genuine. Ultimately, it can be quite hit or miss at the moment, as the back of the Anglo-Boer War Memorial below illustrates, as the AI Super Zoom has able to refine detail in the statue itself without looking odd.

This is in contrast with the flowers above, which look overly waxy with the AI Super Zoom applied.

Is AI Super Zoom an interesting tool to play with? Certainly. Is it perfect? Far from it.

As HONOR’s on-device AI gets better, perhaps a future iteration will be able to yield more consistent results. As it currently stands, however, it should be seen as a reason to purchase the Magic7 Pro alone, nor is a feature that makes the camera system superior to similarly specced flagship phones.

Thankfully though, there are plenty of other elements to HONOR’s latest flagship that are noteworthy.

You can read our review of the Magic7 Pro, by clicking on the post embedded below.