The Honor Magic Vs is the successor to the Honor Magic V foldable phone and looks set to give the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 a real run for its money.
The phone is already on sale in China and has been confirmed to arrive in European markets soon, so we know all the specs and features on offer.
Below, you’ll find everything you need to know about the Honor Magic Vs, including its design, display, power, cameras, and details on when it might launch in your region.
To the point
- What is this? The latest foldable phone from Honor
- when is it coming out? November 30, 2022 in China, then globally in Q1 2023
- How much is it? CNY 7,499 (around $1,050 / £880 / AU$1,580) in China and €1,599 in Europe (around $1,700 / £1,405 / AU$2,525)
Release date and price of Honor Magic Vs
Honor Magic Vs was unveiled in China on November 23, 2022, and shipping began on November 30.
Fast-forward to MWC 2023 in February and with the launch of its new flagship, the Honor Magic 5 Pro, the company has also locked down European prices, with regional availability yet to come.
In China, the Honor Magic Vs starts at CNY7,499, which translates to around $1,050 / £880 / AU$1,580. This is for the model with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, but there are also more expensive configurations, topped off with the 12GB/512GB model for CNY 8,999 (around $1,260 / £1,060 / AU$1,890).
As expected, prices outside of China are higher, with the phone priced at €1,599 in Europe (around $1,700 / £1,405 / AU$2,525).
Project Honor Magic Vs
The Honor Magic Vs looks very similar to the Honor Magic V or the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, with a large foldable display that opens onto a tablet-like surface, or can be folded to leave the device larger than a smartphone.
There is a hole-punch camera on the foldable display, as well as a large secondary screen that can be used when the phone is closed, with its own hole-punch camera.
The Honor Magic Vs comes in cyan, black, and orange hues, or at least those are the colors listed in the global press releases – some photos show other hues as well.
It weighs 261 g and is 160.3 mm high, with other dimensions of 141.5 x 6.1 mm when unfolded and 72.6 x 12.9 mm when folded. This makes it both thinner and lighter than the previous model.
It should also be able to withstand multiple uses, with Honor claiming the Magic Vs is capable of withstanding over 400,000 bends.
Honor Magic Vs Display
The foldable screen on the Honor Magic Vs is a 7.9-inch OLED with a resolution of 1984 x 2272 with 381 pixels per inch, a refresh rate of 90 Hz and a brightness of up to 800 nits.
The hinge design allows the Magic Vs to fold up non-stop according to Honor, with the company claiming no creases in the center of the display – something that even the best foldable phones have struggled with.
As for the external screen, it is a 6.45-inch OLED display with a resolution of 1080 x 2560 with 431 pixels per inch, a refresh rate of 120 Hz and a brightness of up to 1200 nits. So in many ways it’s actually a better screen than the mainstream foldable display.
Honor Magic Vs cameras and battery
On the back of the Honor Magic Vs is a triple-lens camera consisting of a 54MP f/1.9 main camera, a 50MP f/2.0 ultra-wide-angle camera with a 122-degree field of view, which can also be used for a macro shot, and an 8MP f/2.4 telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom.
There’s also a 16MP f/2.45 camera on the secondary display, though oddly enough Honor hasn’t said anything about the selfie camera on the foldable screen.
As for the battery, it’s 5,000 mAh, which is more than the battery in its predecessor, as well as in the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4. It also charges quickly, up to 66 W. This is apparently enough to charge a full 100% in just 46 minutes
Honor Magic Vs specs and features
There’s plenty of power here, and the Honor Magic Vs uses the high-end Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset. It’s not as powerful as the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, but it’s the best chipset seen in any 2022 Android phone.
This is paired with a choice of 8GB or 12GB of RAM and 256GB or 512GB of storage. The Honor Magic Vs also supports 5G and runs on MagicOS 7.0, which is Honor’s custom interface based on Android 12. The company has also committed to three years of OS updates and five years of security updates for its international release.
It also has dual stereo speakers and supports the company’s new Magic Pen stylus. All in all, on paper at least, it looks like it could easily be one of Honor’s best phones and could give Samsung some serious foldable competition