Newsletter
HONOR has announced its new foldable flagship, the HONOR Magic V3. This handset comes as a successor to the Magic V2, and it launched in China. Its global launch is also expected, and it will probably be announced for global markets at IFA 2024 in September. We’re still not sure, though.
The HONOR Magic V3 is even thinner than its predecessor
With that in mind, this smartphone is even thinner than the Magic V2, and even thinner than expected. It was rumored to be 9.7mm thick, but it’s only 9.2mm thick (not counting the camera bump, of course). The HONOR Magic V2 was 9.9mm or 10.1mm thick, depending on the model. Do note that the 9.2mm thickness applies to the vegan leather model, the glass models are 9.3mm thick.
Now, the HONOR Magic V2’s predecessor felt like a normal phone in the hand when folded. The Magic V3 will feel even better judging by these numbers. The HONOR Magic V3 also weighs only 226 grams (vegan leather model, glass models weigh 230 grams), while its predecessor weighted 231/237 grams. So that’s an improvement too.
It’s lighter than the Galaxy S24 Ultra, despite the fact it’s a foldable phone
This weight puts some regular smartphones to shame, which is a true accomplishment by HONOR. That’s the weight of some regular, non-folding smartphones, a number of them are even heavier than 226 grams. For comparison’s sake, the iPhone 15 Pro Max weighs 221 grams, while the Galaxy S24 Ultra weighs 232 grams.
HONOR poked some fun at Samsung a couple of days ago, related to the thickness of the Galaxy Z Fold 6. The company used the Magic V2 to do that, and this phone pushes things to a whole new level.
The Magic V2 was not IP-rated, well, this phone is. It comes with an IPX8 rating, which is very welcomed. Its hinge has also been thinned down, it measures 2.84mm. That hinge can be folded up to 500,000 times, the company says.
The battery capacity is much higher than what the Galaxy Z Fold 6 offers
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 fuels the HONOR Magic V3, so HONOR didn’t skimp out on power. A larger vapor chamber cooling system is also included. To top it all off, a 5,150mAh battery sits inside of this smartphone, and even larger battery than in the HONOR Magic V2.
The device offers 12GB or 16GB of RAM, and it comes in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage options. Only the 256GB storage model includes 12GB of RAM, the other two offer 16GB of RAM. HONOR used LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage inside the HONOR Magic V3, by the way. Android 14 comes pre-installed with MagicOS 8.0.1.
HONOR even managed to squeeze in 50W wireless charging support
This is a silicon-carbon battery, and it’s a lot bigger than what the Galaxy Z Fold 6 has to offer. That phone comes with a 4,400mAh unit. This phone supports 66W wired charging, and 50W wireless charging too. Wireless charging was not included in the Magic V2, so it’s a true accomplishment that HONOR managed to do that here and make the phone even thinner.
The phone includes a 7.92-inch main display with an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz. Its cover display also has an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz, though it measures 6.43 inches. HONOR also mentioned a 5,000-nit peak brightness for HDR content, and a 1,800-nit global peak brightness, which is impressive. That goes for both displays. Both panels also offer a 4,320Hz PWM dimming to protect your eyes.
The cameras have been improved too, there’s a periscope telephoto camera on the back now
The HONOR Magic V3 has three cameras on the back. The main one is a 50-megapixel unit with an f/1.6 aperture. A 40-megapixel ultrawide camera (f/2.2 aperture, 112-degree FoV) is also included, as is a 50-megapixel periscope telephoto camera (f/3.0 aperture, 3.5x optical zoom, 100x digital zoom).
The phone comes in Black, Green, Red, and White color options. The black variant combines metal with vegan leather, while all the other variants have glass on the back. A side-facing fingerprint scanner is also included, as are two SIM card slots.
When unfolded, the phone measures 156.6 x 145.3 x 4.35-4.4mm. When folded, it measures 156.6 x 74 x 9.2-9.3mm. The 226-gram weight applies to the black model, while the other variants weigh 230 grams.
The HONOR Magic V3 with 12GB of RAM is priced at CNY8,999 ($1,240) in China. The 16GB RAM model with 512GB of storage costs CNY9,999 ($1,378), while the 16GB RAM variant with 1TB of storage costs CNY10,999 ($1,516). The phone will be more expensive outside of its homeland, of course.
