Honor announced the Honor 20 and Honor 20 Pro at an event on 21 May 2019, but it took a little longer for both handsets to be made widely available. The two models feature the same power under their hoods and a similar design, so what defines the Pro model over the standard one?

Our full reviews are linked above, but if you want the skinny on the differences between the two handsets, then we break it down below.

Honor 20 Pro

What's the same?

  • Display
  • Processor
  • Storage
  • Front camera

The Honor 20 and Honor 20 Pro feature a very similar design. Each handset has the same 6.26-inch display with the same resolution (2340 x 1080).

The two models both offer a fingerprint on the side - not in-screen or a dedicated front/rear area like many phones - and both have a 32-megapixel punch-hole front camera within the display.

They also deliver the same internal power in the Kirin 980 chip and 256GB storage. Neither offer microSD support for storage expansion.

What's different?

While there are multiple similarities between the Honor 20 Pro and the Honor 20, there are also a few differences.

Design

  • Honor 20: Dynamic holographic design
  • Honor 20 Pro: Dynamic holographic design, 3D curved glass

The Honor 20 Pro has a more striking finish compared to the Honor 20. Both feature what Honor is calling a 'dynamic holographic finish' but the Pro model features 3D glass, which the standard model does not.

Measurements

  • Honor 20: 154.3 x 73.9 x 7.9mm, 174g
  • Honor 20 Pro: 154.6 x 73.9 x 8.44mm, 182g

The Honor 20 is the slimmer and lighter of the two devices, but also features a slightly lower-capacity battery as a result.

Rear camera

  • Honor 20: 48MP main + 16MP super wide + 2MP depth assist + 2MP macro
  • Honor 20 Pro: 48MP main + 16MP super wide + 8MP telephoto + 2MP macro

The rear camera is the main point of differentiation between the Honor 20 Pro and the Honor 20.

Both models have quad rear cameras, both of which feature a 16-megapixel super wide-angle sensor (with a 117-degree field of view) and an f/2.2 aperture, alongside a 2-megapixel dedicated macro lens with an aperture of f/2.4.

Where they differ is that the Pro model offers an 8-megapixel f/2.4 telephoto sensor with 3x optical zoom lens, optical image stabilisation. The standard model has a 2-megapixel depth sensor instead, so no optical zoom there.

The main event camera is slightly different too: the Pro's 48-megapixel is paired with an f/1.4 aperture, while the standard model has the same sensor, but it's paired with an f/1.8 aperture - so can't let in quite as much light (but that's a marginal difference).

RAM

  • Honor 20: 6GB RAM
  • Honor 20 Pro: 8GB RAM

Despite offering the same storage capacities and the same processor, the Honor 20 has 6GB of RAM, while the Honor 20 Pro has 8GB of RAM. That should make lighter work of running multiple tasks, although we doubt you'll notice a lot of difference in use.

Battery

  • Honor 20: 3,750mAh
  • Honor 20 Pro: 4,000mAh

The Honor 20 Pro has a 4,000mAh battery, while the Honor 20 has a less capacious 3,750mAh battery. Either handset is good enough to last through a full day of rigorous use.

Both offer Honor's 22.5W SuperCharge fast charging, offering 50 per cent battery in 30 minutes, but neither support wireless charging.

Price (at launch)

  • Honor 20: £399/€499
  • Honor 20 Pro: £549/€599

The Honor 20 Pro was £150 more than the Honor 20 at launch - which seems rather steep considering the subtle differences between them.

Honor 20

Conclusion

The 'Pro' name is questionable in relation to the 'not-Pro' Honor 20 - because, let's face it, they're more-or-less the same handsets - which makes us lean towards the Honor 20 as the bargain handset to grab. The Pro's tweaking of maximum aperture, zoom lens and slightly more battery and RAM don't make enough difference to warrant the price bump for us.

Interestingly, given the current furore between the US and Honor's parent company, Huawei, we suspect these two handsets will be the final ones to arrive in the UK and Europe with full Google services (the Honor View 30, announced late 2018, is nowhere to be seen outside of China just yet). Don't take that as a bad thing though: it's likely an excuse to grab a bargain, and we'd say the Honor 20 is the one to get.

This article was originally published 21 May 2019 and has been updated to reflect pricing and changing market context