Honor clearly is aware of what it is doing with foldables, and though the Magic V2 launched a 12 months in the past, it continues to be among the many thinnest and lightest gadgets round. The ultra-thin design is a significant differentiator, and it’s the most important purpose why I used the Magic V2 extra than simply about another foldable in 2024 — it does not really feel cumbersome within the least.
Honor is placing all of the learnings from the Magic V2 towards its newest foldable, the Magic V3. The foldable retains one of the best options of its predecessor, however it’s thinner and lighter, and that makes it even higher to carry and use. Coming in at simply 9.3mm folded and an unimaginable 4.4mm unfolded, the Magic V3 is unbelievably skinny.
The total design is essentially the identical as final 12 months, however the Magic V3 switches to a brand new digital camera module that is much like that of the Magic 6 Pro, and it appears to be like rather more elegant. What I like essentially the most in regards to the digital camera island is that it’s centered, and there isn’t any wobble in anyway when utilizing the Magic V3 on a desk; this was a bugbear on the V2.
At 226g, it’s 5g lighter than the V2 whereas providing a much bigger 5150mAh battery. By distinction, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 6 weighs 13g extra, and also you get a a lot smaller 4400mAh battery. To offer you extra context, the Pixel 9 Pro XL weighs 221g, and it does not fold in half. Honor as soon as once more is proving that it’s the model to beat on the subject of foldable designs, and the Magic V3 appears to be like and appears like a tool that is just a few generations forward of what Samsung is providing.
The hinge has a clean articulation, and it does not take a lot effort to unfold the system. Honor says the hinge has higher sturdiness this time round, and that it could possibly stand up to 500,000 unlocks. It is slightly stiffer than the hinge on the V2, however that is factor — it permits the V3 to remain locked at varied angles between 40 to 150 levels. What continues to be nice is that the hinge does not result in a noticeable crease — it undoubtedly is not as evident as Samsung’s providing.
While Honor did not change the size of the internal and outer screens, each panels have higher brightness ranges, and class-leading PWM dimming. Honor can be rolling out a defocus mode that is meant to alleviate eye pressure, and the model continues to cleared the path on the subject of eye consolation.
Ingress safety was an space the place Honor lagged behind its rivals final 12 months, and fortunately, the Magic V3 will get IPX8 water resistance as normal, permitting it to climate the weather significantly better. Honor can be rolling out daring new colours, and the inexperienced variant does an important job accentuating the design of the digital camera housing.
Honor is positioning the Magic V3 towards one of the best foldables, so it is not astonishing that the system will get the most recent tech. It is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, and comes with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage with the bottom mannequin. It has the most recent connectivity modem, NFC, USB 3.1 with DisplayPort 1.2, and within the little I used the system, I did not see any points with lag or jitter whereas gaming.
Obviously, battery life is a key space of consideration on a foldable, and the Magic V3 has a 5150mAh battery that makes use of a silicon-carbon substrate to extend longevity. While I have not used the system sufficient to gauge battery life, I bought a day’s value of use between prices, and I do not see any issues on this space.
Honor is upgrading the cameras as effectively, with the Magic V3 providing a brand new 50MP digital camera alongside a 40MP wide-angle lens and 50MP zoom lens with 3.5x optical zoom. The foldable will get lots of the identical options because the Magic 6 Pro, together with AI-based scene recognition and motion-tracking.
Honor doubled down on AI-assisted software program options in Magic OS 8.0, and the Magic V3 runs the 8.0.3 construct out of the field that comes with just a few extras. Honor is teaming up with Google to convey the search large’s finest AI options to its gadgets, and that is completely the best transfer; Google has class-leading translation and picture modifying AI options, and now you can use these on the Magic V3.
While Honor bought quite a bit proper with the Magic V2 final 12 months, the model tousled availability; the foldable went on sale within the U.Ok. on the finish of Q1 2024 — six months after its world debut — and that was undoubtedly detrimental to its gross sales figures. Honor is not making that mistake this time round; the Magic V3 can be out there within the U.Ok. beginning September 5, and it has mainstream service backing.
Coming in at £1,699 ($2,233), the Magic V3 is positioned towards the Galaxy Z Fold 6. I’ll reserve judgement for the overview, however for those who’re prepared to change to a foldable and need one thing that is simply as simple to make use of as an everyday telephone, the Magic V3 must be in your radar — it is likely one of the finest telephones I utilized in 2024.
