Review Honor Magic Vs

introduction

Foldouts outside of China are going global left and right, aiming to challenge Samsung’s dominance in the field, and the Honor Magic Vs is the latest to make its international debut. A second-generation foldable from Honor, the Magic Vs builds on last year’s V, adding refinement to the moving bits, improving the camera system, and tweaking the displays and battery.

We got our first look at the Magic Vs late last year, and while that unit was ready for prime time in terms of hardware, it wasn’t definitive when it came to software. This right here is, so you’ll get the usual test results, including battery life (spoiler: solid) and camera samples—we couldn’t test these three months ago.

The Magic Vs relies on a foldable 7.9-inch OLED display that’s still limited to 90Hz (Samsung’s Z Fold4 can do 120Hz). It’s now brighter than the Vs, Honor says, as is the 6.45-inch display, which Candies refresh up to 120Hz.

The folding mechanism is new on the Vs, compared to the V, with Honor ditching gears in favor of a gearless hinge. The reduction in complexity and the adoption of magnesium and titanium alloys in the construction have made the V about 10% lighter than the V, a very welcome development. Even with a larger battery than the previous model: 5,000 mAh versus 4,750 mAh.

A couple of changes to the camera system make the Magic Vs a more capable cameraphone, in our opinion. A telephoto replaces the 50MP “ultra-spectrum” module on the Magic V that we never got to try. It may be a relatively modest 8MP 3x unit, but Some telephoto is better than no telephoto. The 54MP main camera is also new to this generation, while the 50MP ultrawide has been carried over. A pair of 16MP selfie cameras, a hole punch display, bring the count to 5 cameras.

The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 works inside the Magic V, adding an edge over the Magic V’s chipset. And in the months between the initial release in China and the global launch, Honor put together an Android-based build of Magic UI 13 (the one we had for hands-on was on Android 12), so it’s quite current on the software front.

Honor Magic Vs specifications at a glance:

• Body: 160.3×141.5×6.1mm, 267g/261g; Glass front, glass back or faux leather back, magnesium alloy frame, titanium alloy folding mechanism.
• Screen: 7.9″ foldable OLED, 1B colors, 90Hz, HDR10+, 1984x2272px resolution, 10.3:9 aspect ratio, 382ppi; Display cover: OLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, HDR10+, 6.45″, 1080x2560px, 431 ppi.
• chipsets: Qualcomm SM8475 Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 (4 nm): Octa-core (1×3.0 GHz Cortex-X2 & 3×2.5 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4×1.80 GHz Cortex-A510); Adreno 730.
• Memory: 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM.
• Operating system/software: Android 13, Magic UI 7.1.
• Rear camera: Broad (main): 54 MP, f/1.9, 27mm, 1/1.49″, 1.0µm, PDAF; Ultra wide angle: 50 MP, f/2.0, 13mm, 122˚, AF; Telephoto: 8 MP, f/2.4, PDAF, 3x optical zoom, OIS.
• Front camera: 16 MP, f/2.5, (wide).
• Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30/60fps (10bit), 1080p@30/60fps, Gyro EIS, HDR10+; Front camera: 1080p@30fps, Gyro EIS.
• Drums: 5000mAh; 66W wired, 5W wired reverse.
• Various: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); NFC; Infrared port; stereo speakers.

Honor Magic Vs unboxing

The Magic Vs ships in a large black cardboard box with a subtle stripe pattern and a matte finish. Inside, the phone is unfolded in a tray with the accessories in further boxes placed in dedicated compartments – a decidedly premium, if not entirely environmentally friendly presentation.

Bundled peripherals include a 66W adapter to match the phone’s specified charging capabilities and a cable to match.

Also inside the box is protection for the back of the phone, the only surface that doesn’t feature a display of some sort. It’s a combined snap/adhesive design – it will go without the adhesive strip, but the adhesive provides an extra layer of hold, of course.