KUALA LUMPUR: Smartphone brand HONOR has secured cinematic endorsements from Hollywood camera manufacturer ARRI and the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas), as demand grows for movie-quality video on mobile devices.
With its latest flagship device, the HONOR Magic9 Pro Max, the company aims to bring professional-grade video capabilities to smartphones through the integration of cinematic colour science and image-processing technology.
MEETING DEMAND FOR A CINEMATIC LOOK
With the growing popularity of short-form video, consumers increasingly expect more than high-resolution footage.
They want a cinematic look characterised by natural transitions between light and shadow, detailed dark areas, true-to-life skin tones and consistent colour reproduction.
Previously, achieving this standard required expensive professional cinema cameras, extensive lighting equipment and complex post-production colour grading.
BRINGING HOLLYWOOD TECHNOLOGY TO MOBILE
Integrating technology from ARRI, the German camera manufacturer behind Oscar-winning films such as Parasite, Dune and Everything Everywhere All at Once, into a smartphone required complex engineering solutions.
Unlike professional cinema cameras, which use large sensors and advanced heat-dissipation systems to capture extensive image data for post-production, smartphones must process every frame in real time within a compact body.
To reproduce ARRI’s cinematic aesthetic using a smaller sensor while managing heat and power consumption, HONOR recalibrated its colour science from the ground up.
PROFESSIONAL COLOR GRADING IN A SINGLE TAP
Through the collaboration, the HONOR Magic9 Pro Max has had its video-processing pipeline redesigned to support the ARRI LogC3 format and ARRI Wide Gamut (AWG).
This allows the camera to retain more detail in highlights and shadows while capturing richer colour information.
By combining its in-house imaging chip with official ARRI Looks, HONOR allows users to apply professional film-production colour styles instantly with a single tap.
This removes the need for users to have prior knowledge of colour grading.
LOCAL RECOGNITION AT THE MALAYSIA FILM FESTIVAL
The technology has also received recognition from the Malaysian film industry.
Finas has designated HONOR as the Official Cinematic Imaging Smartphone Partner for the 35th Malaysia Film Festival (FFM35).
HONOR and Finas also plan to expand their strategic partnership through long-term initiatives to support the development of the local creative sector.
By bringing a century of cinematic imaging expertise into a single device, HONOR aims to give everyday mobile footage a more authentic cinema-grade quality.