HONOR Magic Vs review: Holds its own against the foldable giants
Note: We previously looked at this device, but since a lot of the details weren't finalised we couldn't be too specific on certain points.
Foldable phones seem like they could be the next big thing - although Samsung released their first Fold nearly 4 years ago, there hasn't been a lot of competition in the UK, with companies like Oppo and Xiaomi releasing their own models exclusively in China.
That could be set to change though, with HONOR stepping up the crease, and companies like Oppo rumoured to be bringing what they've learned in the Asian market to a more global scale.
HONOR was established in 2013 as a Huawei sub-brand but stepped out from their shadow to go it alone in 2020. They manufacture smartphones, laptops, and accessories, including the HONOR Magic5 Lite which we reviewed back in February.
The HONOR Magic Vs is a foldable phone from Honor, intended to rival the likes of Samsung (HONOR)The HONOR Magic Vs is part of the latest Magic line and is a foldable phone running on a first-generation Snapdragon 8+. In terms of design, it looks very similar to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4, which has the pleasure of being the current go-to thought for a foldable phone in the UK.
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The HONOR Magic Vs is very thin - 12.9 mm thick when closed, and 6.1 mm when open. It's 160.3mm high (around 6.3 inches) and has a width of 72.6 mm when closed, and 141.5 mm when open. In addition, it weighs just 267g including the battery, which is a measly 4g heavier than the Samsung Galaxy Fold4.
The net result is that it's light and portable, as well as being a good size - it's not too bulky in terms of height, width, or thickness, and it lacks any unnecessary bezel that might add to the size. It comes in two colours - Cyan, and Black.
The screens are large, with the outer screen measuring 6.45 inches, and the inner screen a mighty 7.9 inches. The aspect ratios are a bit weird though - the outer screen is 21:9 (2560x1080), while the inner screen is 10.3:9 (2272 × 1984).
The Honor Magic Vs comes in two colours - Cyan and Black (HONOR)Both screens are OLED, and offer a colour range of 1073.7 million colours. When using the phone, the first impression of the screen is great - it's bright, crisp, and clear, with the external screen offering a reasonably standard experience for a mobile device.
The inner screen however is a different story - it's just as crisp and clear but it's also huge, which is something that is perfect for people like me with medically poor eyesight. It's also important to state now that you absolutely cannot see a crease in the screen because it isn't to screens - it's one OLED screen that folds with the phone.
The downside is that the logistics of the screen aren't as promising as you might think at first. For starters, the screen essentially just mirrors the external screen, meaning that your 5 x 7 icon layout remains 5 x 7 - the icons just become a bit bigger and a lot more spaced out.
On top of that, the inner screen lacks a lot of practical usages - you don't really gain anything when you watch video on it for example, since most video is designed to be viewed in 16:9. This means the video is the same as is it on the external screen, it's just got black bars above and below it.
The HONOR Magic Vs screens are large, bright, and have great contrast and colour (HONOR)On the plus side, web browsing is fantastic on the inner screen, with a lot of websites even defaulting to the desktop view as opposed to the mobile view, which is typically better optimised and designed. Documents and text are also much easier to view on the internal screen.
Since the screen gains a lot of width relative to its height, you can zoom in on things a lot further than you can on the external screen while still keeping all of the width of the page on the screen. Again, this is something that's perfect for people like me who might be visually impaired, or people who just like things big.
There are also some neat features related to the internal screen - if you open a youtube video for example, you can prop the screen to a 90-degree angle, and the video will default to the top part of the screen. you can then read comments on the bottom, or even split the screen and run another app completely on the bottom half.
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If you open the keyboard while the screen is propped, it feels like you're on a tiny laptop, and it's actually really comfortable and intuitive. In addition, videos which are vertical, like the videos on TikTok, Instagram Reels, and Youtube Shorts, actually look better on the internal screen, since a lot of the text and icons tend to sit outside of the video itself.
The Honor Magic Vs contains three powerful rear cameras, and two front cameras (one for each display) (HONOR)Inside, the phone runs on a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 and benchmarks marginally better than a Galaxy Fold4 - scoring around 3950 on Geekbench 5, compared to the 3636 that the Fold4 achieves. It also boasts 12 GB ram and 512 GB of storage, which makes it a competent multitasker.
The phone has a good-but-not-great camera setup, with the rear cameras being somewhat less impressive than the HONOR Magic 5 Pro. It's worth noting that the Samsung Galaxy Fold4 doesn't offer the best camera either - camera compromises seem to be reasonably common on foldable phones and so we perhaps shouldn't hold it against the HONOR Magic Vs too much.
At the rear, the HONOR Magic Vs has 3 cameras, one at 54 Mp (f/1.9), and then a 50 Mp ultrawide lens. It also offers an 8 Mp telephoto camera with an optical zoom of up to 3x.
Despite my previous comments about foldable camera compromises, the cameras on the HONOR Magic Vs are impressive. The shots have great colour and contrast and do well in low-light conditions. It does video too - up to 60 FPS at 4k.
The internal screen is great for browsing documents, emails, and the web (HONOR)The phone actually has two selfie cameras - one on the external screen and one on the internal screen. This is a nice touch, and both cameras are identical - 16 Mp (f/2.4), capable of shooting fantastic selfie shots in all lighting conditions.
Where the phone does miss out is the ability to use the rear camera as a selfie camera with the phone open. The Samsung Galaxy Fold4 does this, and I feel like it's a real missed opportunity from HONOR - when you open the phone, the rear camera and external screen are right next to each other, and selfie lovers will be gutted to hear they can't do this on the HONOR Magic Vs.
The device comes equipped with a 4900 mAh battery, that charges with 6A SuperCharge. It actually lasts a really long time - with very minimal usage I managed to get nearly two weeks out of it, and with normal usage, it lasted nearly two, which is exceptional for a modern-day smartphone.
It also supports two SIM cards, 5G, and comes equipped with HONOR's proprietary Magic OS 7.1, which is based on Android 13.
HONOR Magic Vs Verdict: 4/5
Although we don't have official confirmation of the price yet, we can expect it to be reasonably cheaper than the Samsung Galaxy Fold4, based on the European retail price of €1599 (which is around £1400). With that in mind, it's a really good offering, even if it lacks some of the foldable features that Samsung boasts.
The phone is well designed, with the internal foldable OLED looking sturdy and well-protected. On the downside, the phone isn't IP rated at all, and thanks to the inherent design of a foldable phone, it's hard to protect with a sturdy case to prevent damage from accidental dropping or bashing.
When looking at it as just a foldable phone, it does great - it's a truly fantastic contender to the foldable phone market. As "just a phone" however, it suffers from a high price tag without any real performance to show for it.
The high price tag nets you the perks of a foldable phone, but not much else. This isn't a reflection on the HONOR Magic Vs, however, and more a comment on foldable in general.
I suspect people who like the idea of a foldable phone but are scared off by Samsung's high price tags will flock to this phone - provided the confirmed price is as low as we anticipate.
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