So far, the undisputed king of the foldable smartphone market has been Samsung and its Galaxy Z Fold series. There is also Huawei with its Mate X5, the problem is that there are no services Google works strongly against this device. Apart from that, OnePlus Open or Google Pixel Fold, but none of these smartphones were able to threaten the foldable phone from the South Korean manufacturer.
Now, Honor, which until recently was an integral part of the aforementioned Huawei and currently operates independently of the Chinese giant, has such ambitions. Honor has several successful foldable phones under its belt (including the praised by me Honor Magic Vs model or the newer Magic V2), but it is the Honor Magic V3 that is supposed to challenge Samsung.
The Chinese are quite eager to “attack” their competitor. An example? They recently revealed that one of the edges of the Magic V3 has a microscopic “apology” engraved for Galaxy Z Fold 6 owners. Honor apologizes to them for the fact that the new flagship is slimmer than Samsung devices.
Honor Magic V3 now available in Europe. Slim and powerful
The Honor Magic V3, which made its European debut on Thursday, does indeed boast a sleek body. According to the manufacturer, it is the world's slimmest foldable smartphone. It weighs 226 grams and is only 9.3 mm thick when folded. For comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 weighs 239 grams and is 12.1 mm thick.
The new Honor smartphone is to stand out not only with its dimensions, but also with its excellent screen and performance. Magic V3 is equipped with two displays. The external one is a 6.43-inch OLED panel (1060 × 2376 pixels) with a refresh rate of 120 Hz and a peak brightness of up to 5000 nits.
In turn, when we open the smartphone, our eyes will see a 7.92-inch LTPO AMOLED screen (2156 × 2344 pixels), which also offers a 120 Hz refresh rate with a peak brightness of 1800 nits.
The main screen of the Magic V3 has been covered with an additional layer of NanoCrystal Shield, which is supposed to be characterized by exceptionally good scratch resistance. The Honor device also meets the IPX8 waterproof standard, which means that we can submerge it to a depth of up to 2.5 meters without fear of damage.
The heart of the Magic V3 is the Snapdragon 8 chip Gene 3, one of the most efficient mobile systems on the market. It is supported by 12 or 16 GB of RAM and 256/512/1 TB of memory for user data.
The built-in battery has a capacity of 5150 mAh and can be charged at up to 66 W (wired) or up to 50 W (inductive). The Honor device is to be characterized by high operating culture, which is ensured by its own cooling system with a vapor chamber (HONOR Titanium Vapor Chamber).
Magic V3 has a set of three cameras:
- main 50 MP, f/1.6, 1/1.56″ sensor, PDAF, OIS;
- 40MP ultra wide angle, f/2.2, 1120AF;
- 50MP telephoto lens, f/3.0, 1/2.51″ sensor, PDAF, OIS, 3.5x optical zoom.
At the conference in Berlin, we also learned the European prices of the Magic V3. As you might expect, it's not cheap, although manufacturers of foldable smartphones have already accustomed us to the fact that these are rather premium devices. For the Honor foldable in the version with 12 GB RAM + 512 GB of data memory, we will pay 1999 euro. For now, we don't know the Polish price of the device.
Honor MagicBook 14 14 and Magic Pad 2, or “one more thing”
During the conference at IFA 2024, Honor also presented two other devices. We are talking about the Honor MagicBook Art 14 (2024) laptop and the Honor MagicPad 2 tablet. The first of the devices stands out primarily for its… removable camera. The external camera module can be connected and disconnected from the laptop (after disconnecting the camera, insert it into a special pocket in the housing).
This is the Chinese manufacturer's original idea to combat the unfortunate “notches” that seriously spoil the look of screens in new laptops. The idea is quite risky, but – whatever you say – effective.
In addition, the MagicBook Art 14 is a light (just over 1 kg) and slim (13 mm thick) laptop equipped with a 14.6-inch OLED panel with a resolution of 3120 × 2080 pixels and an aspect ratio of 3: 2. The device's screen offers a 120 Hz refresh rate, as well as full coverage of the DCI-P3 and sRGB color gamut.
The heart of the MaciBook is the budget Intel Core Ultra 5 125H or the slightly more powerful (but still quite budget) Intel Core 7 155H. The user has access to 16/32 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD drive.
Honor MagicPad 2 is a 12.3-inch tablet with an OLED display with a resolution of 1920 × 3000 and a refresh rate of 144 Hz. The device supports HDR10 technology, and the maximum display brightness is 1600 nits.
MagicPad 2 weighs only 555 grams and is 5.88 thick. The tablet is powered by a powerful Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 system, and we also have 8 or 16 GB of RAM and from 256 to 1 terabyte of data space. In addition, there is a large 10050 mAh battery with a fast charging function with up to 66 W.
There are also Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3 modules, as well as a set of 8 speakers with the IMAX Enhanced certificate. However, there is no LTE/5G modem, which somewhat limits the capabilities of this device.