HONOR Magic V Foldable Phone Competes With Samsung Z Fold3

HONOR has just launched its Magic V foldable phone, a first in the company’s history. Despite rumors of an RMB 13,999 price, prospect users will be relieved to see the official RMB 9,999 price (approximately $1,570).

Like Huawei’s Mate X2 foldable, the Magic V is based on a design similar to Samsung’s Z Fold3 that has become the de-facto standard. Samsung got the first design right, giving it a two-year lead, but competitors are now catching up.

The HONOR Magic V has a 7.9-inch, 2272×1984, 90Hz folding display that the company says is “creaseless,” and we certainly hope it’s true. There’s also a 6.45-inch exterior display for one-hand usage or quickly checking some notifications.

Both displays are slightly larger than the Z Fold3 and might positively impact the user experience. We’ll have to see when we review it, but that would make sense based on our experience using these foldable.

Honor promises a sound experience, thanks to IMAX-certified and DTS:X Ultra-powered speakers. We can’t wait to hear it.

Additionally, the Magic V is slightly thinner than its arch-competitor, but probably not enough that it would be a sway factor when it comes time to decide.

The camera setup seems promising as it features three 50 MP cameras in the back. There are the Primary and Ultrawide cameras, and we expect these to feature great camera hardware.

The third camera is a “Spectrum Enhanced Camera” that captures light that is a bit outside the typically visible spectrum. This kind of technology is often used in Astro-photography, but it could, in theory, yield more data used to improve visible-light photos. I don’t think that Honor would add a camera just for Astro.

Additionally, a 42MP Selfie camera is integrated into each display, raising the total number of cameras to five.

The phone is powered by the excellent Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, which we have reviewed in detail at its recent launch in Hawaii. A 4750 mAh battery (66W charge) ensures that a steady energy supply keeps the phone going.

Users can choose between 256GB or 512GB of storage with 12GB of RAM. There’s no microSD storage option, it seems.

In 2022, the “foldable phones” competition will heat up big time as Oppo, Honor, TCL, and others enter this market. We’ve told you that Foldables were going to be big. The number of units sold skyrocketed in 2021, and it looks like it will grow exponentially in 2022.

Hubert Nguyen
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: Foldable Smartphones, Honor