South Africa’s Best Budget Smartphone Powerhouse of 2025

HONOR 400 LITE

The HONOR 400 Lite is a standout budget smartphone in South Africa for 2025, offering a strong mix of features, performance, and price. Here's an in-depth review covering all critical aspects:

Design & Build

The HONOR 400 Lite sports a sleek, slim design with dimensions of approximately 161mm x 74.55mm x 7.29mm and weighs just 171g (including the battery), making it lightweight and easy to hold. It comes in stylish Marrs Green and Velvet Black colors, with a grippable matte finish frame that provides good water and dust resistance (IP65 rating). The build includes metallic edges that add to the premium feel despite the use of some plastic components to keep costs down. It's also SGS Drop Certified for added durability. This design balance makes it practical for everyday use without feeling bulky or cheap.

Display

The phone features a large 6.7-inch AMOLED display with Full HD+ resolution (1080 x 2412 pixels) and a smooth 120Hz refresh rate. It delivers vivid colors with 100% DCI-P3 coverage and impressive brightness levels up to 3,500 nits, ensuring excellent outdoor visibility even in direct sunlight. This display offers crisp, immersive visuals for media consumption, gaming, and day-to-day tasks with eye-comfort features like a circadian night display to reduce blue light exposure during nighttime use.

Performance

Under the hood, the HONOR 400 Lite is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7025 Ultra chipset paired with 8GB or 12GB of RAM (with HONOR RAM Turbo virtual RAM technology enhancing multitasking). Performance is smooth and consistent for everyday activities including messaging, web browsing, video streaming, and multitasking through multiple apps. The chipset handles casual gaming reasonably well, though more demanding 3D games may cause occasional slowdowns. Overall, it is a dependable performer for a budget device.

Software & AI Features

Running on MagicOS 9.0 based on Android 15, the HONOR 400 Lite offers an updated, user-friendly interface with thoughtful features and six years of guaranteed software updates, enhancing device longevity. A notable highlight is the dedicated AI Camera Button, a first for Android phones that quickly launches the camera and activates Google Lens for functions like menu translation or landmark recognition. Other AI capabilities include AI Eraser, AI Outpainting, AI Motion Sensing, and Magic Capsule features designed to enhance photo and video creativity and user experience.

Camera & Superzoom

The rear camera setup includes a powerful 108MP main sensor paired with a 5MP ultra-wide/depth sensor. The camera delivers sharp, vivid photos in good lighting conditions with accurate colors and good detail, ideal for casual photography, social media, and content creation. The 5MP ultra-wide lens is adequate but does not impress as much. Video recording maxes out at 1080p at 30fps; there is no 4K video support. The 16MP front camera includes a selfie light for clearer selfies and video calls in low light, although it offers less detail compared to higher-end models. Despite some inconsistency in low light and AI features sometimes over-processing images, the cameras punch above their weight for the price point and user segment.

Audio

While detailed audio specifications are scarce, the HONOR 400 Lite supports stereo speakers that offer clear sound for calls, media, and casual gaming. The device maintains decent audio quality for a mid-range device, suitable for everyday entertainment needs.

Battery & Charging

A 5230mAh battery powers the HONOR 400 Lite, easily lasting a full day of heavy usage including streaming, browsing, and gaming. It supports 35W HONOR SuperCharge, which quickly replenishes the battery so users can stay connected and productive with minimal downtime. This combination of battery capacity and charging speed is excellent for budget users who need reliability and convenience throughout the day.