Honor Magic Vs hands-on: Samsung better watch out
Honor surprised everyone earlier this year when it announced that it would be the very first Chinese company to launch a book-style foldable outside its domestic market. Since then, the company confirmed that this foldable would come out in January 2023, beating the rumoredGoogle Pixel Foldto the punch. We now know that the foldable will be the Magic Vs, the awkwardly named successor to Honor’s first folding phone, the Magic V.
While Honor is still some weeks away from bringing the foldable to international markets, pitting it againstthe best phones out there, I had the chance to test the hardware and get an idea of what we can expect from it in the future. The software is still unfinished on the device, but it’s clear to me that Honor is doing a lot of things right. The Magic Vs shapes up to be a worthy competitor for theSamsung Galaxy Z Fold 4.
Honor Magic Vs: Refined hardware
The Honor Magic Vs is only the company’s second foldable after the original Magic V, but it already feels more refined and sturdier than many other second-generation devices. The advantage for Honor here is that it didn’t have to start from scratch. The Magic V is clearly related to theHuawei Mate X2, so it’s likely that Honor could build on top of the work started by Huawei before the company split from its former parent.
It’s also clear why this phone is called the Magic Vs and not the Magic V2. When you compare it to its predecessor, there aren’t too many differences. The form factor and basic hardware are almost the same, safe for significant reductions in weight and depth, and a bigger battery inside—one with a capacity of 5,000mAh that charges at 66W, to be specific. This is joined by the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1, up to 12GB of RAM, and up to 512GB of storage.
The exterior screen is a 120Hz 6.45-inch 1080p OLED with an aspect ratio of 21:9, while the inner screen is close to a square at 7.9 inches with a 90Hz refresh rate and a resolution of 2272x1984. The crease in the middle of the interior screen is still noticeable when you run your finger over it and look at the device from certain angles, but it’s better than some of the competition. Leaving the interior screen at a refresh rate of 90Hz only is a weird decision, too, but it makes sense when you consider that Honor positions the Magic Vs as a device that you may easily use as a standard smartphone. The focus is simply on a great exterior screen experience.
To achieve the smaller footprint and the bigger battery, Honor had to shrink the folding mechanism and make better use of the space inside the foldable. The company says it re-engineered the hinge compared to the predecessor, drastically removing the individual components down to only four individual parts. That way, the durability of the folding phone is also said to be improved. Honor promises up to 400,000 folds during the device’s lifetime, equivalent to 100 folding actions per day over more than 10 years.
Overall, the action provided by this simplified hinge is good, with closed and opened positions snapping in place firmly. The Honor Magic Vs falls short when you want to use it in a half-opened state, though. The hinge tends to keep forcing its way to finishing its movement, whether that’s opening or closing completely, and it’s not possible to firmly snap it into a place other than fully open or fully closed. Samsung’s hinge is much better in that regard, allowing for half-open positions.
Even if the Honor Magic Vs is a small upgrade on paper compared to its predecessor, it is still an exciting handset. After all, it will come to Europe in an official capacity, complete with offering Google apps and services. No other Chinese Fold-style foldable has made this jump yet, which finally means that Samsung has some proper competition to look forward to.
Honor Magic Vs: The smartphone-first foldable
In contrast to Samsung with the Z Fold lineup, Honor was careful to not compromise on the exterior screen on the Magic V and Vs. The company says that it conducted research that showed that about 50% of foldable owners carry a regular smartphone next to their foldable because most folding handsets make some compromises when you want to use them as a phone. The Honor Magic Vs wants to fix that with its 21:9 outer screen and its relatively light weight, which is supposed to make it feel more like a regular phone.
For the most part, the Magic Vs offers just that experience. When using it folded, it’s only marginally bulkier and harder to use than a modern Android flagship phone. The 21:9 ratio is still somewhat weird compared to most other phones that have switched to a 19.5:9 ratio these days. It definitely feels much closer to a regular screen than the Z Fold 4’s awkward 23.1:9 (and yes, thatisa very welcome improvement over the Fold 3 already!). This had me comfortably use the Magic Vs in its folded form factor a lot of the time, and had me only ever switch to the bigger interior screen when it makes sense—like looking at documents, doing more serious emailing, or viewing my route on Google Maps or my shots on Google Photos.
There are still a few compromises. When you hold the Magic Vs for a prolonged period of time, it does start to feel significantly heavier than a regular phone. Once folded open, it feels a lot easier to manage as the weight is better distributed. I also don’t like that the outer phone design is unsymmetrical, and the screen is curved on only one side. Thankfully, it’s a super subtle curve that you’re hard-pressed to notice, and nothing like the curves on other Honor phones or even the Google Pixel 7 Pro. The design still feels interrupted and incomplete unless fully folded open, though that’s an issue for almost all Fold-style folding phones.
In the grand scheme of things, this is nitpicking. If you want a foldable that works great as a regular smartphone, then the Honor Magic Vs is the hardware to look out for.
Honor Magic Vs: Magic OS 7 coming soon
The Honor Magic Vs that was provided to me shipped with pre-release software. The international launch is still more than a month or two away, so the company is still working on finalizing the build. That’s why I won’t judge the software experience on the foldable itself right now, just like I won’t talk about the cameras, which are supposed to get even better with more software updates.
Honor already announced a few features for the Chinese version of the Magic Vs that are worth talking about, though. Like most other Chinese manufacturers, the company offers two different versions of its software—one without Google apps for its domestic market and one with Google apps for international releases. These two versions aren’t always exactly the same, and they often come with significant differences in pre-installed apps and services. However, the Chinese version gives us some glimpses of what Honor hopes to achieve with its software and what it wants to do differently.
Like what Samsung offers on the Z Fold 4, Honor promises to add advanced split-screen options with different view sizes. And like on other Honor phones, you’ll also be able to use floating windows for apps, collected in Android’s floating bubble interface for even more flexibility. Other than these foldable-specific features, Honor’s next custom build on top of Android, Magic OS 7, is supposed to come with new animations and other visual changes, a simpler way to connect with other Honor devices, and more.
Honor also advertises a “Magic Text” option that allows you to copy and paste text from images, though this might be a Chinese-exclusive alternative to Google Lens, which is going to be available on the international version anyway.
The software is supposed to be based on Android 13, though some of Honor’s marketing material currently says it’s still Android 12. It’s possible that this is a limitation for the Chinese version only, though, and that the international version will ship with Android 13 right from the start.
The Honor Magic Vs has the right ideas
The Honor Magic Vs is not perfect, but that’s an issue for all phones in this emerging form factor. Based on the hardware alone, the Magic Vs definitely offers the fewest compromises, though. Its exterior screen can serve as a decent smartphone, and its interior display takes care of the rest when you need that bigger screen. The build quality is sturdy, and the battery life is promising.
All in all, it’s clear that Samsung is finally getting some competition for its Galaxy Z Fold 4, which is so far the only internationally available book-style folding phone. That alone makes the Honor Magic Vs one of the most interesting foldables to launch next year, especially as it might be the first of many great, but so far China-exclusive alternatives. Samsung needs to offer an enticing alternative next year with the Z Fold 5 if it wants to keep its competitive edge.
Stay tuned for our full review next year, once we get our hands on the final software and hardware. As interesting as the Honor Magic Vs is in its current state, the software has historically been a weak spot for Honor, so it remains to be seen if it can measure up to Samsung’s excellent foldable optimizations.
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