introduction

Honor just unveiled what their third-generation big foldable is, although the name might not be so self-explanatory: the Magic V2 arrives to replace the Vs, which was a significant enough change from the original V to count as something more than a mid-cycle update. We were invited to the Magic V2 announcement event in China and spent some time with early samples of the new foldable, and have some initial impressions to share.

Honor Magic V2 hands-on review

First things first though. As these are pre-production units of the Magic V2, they don’t run anything like commercial-grade firmware, so we’ll limit our observations to the hardware only (and there’s a lot to look at).

Next in line is the question of availability. Honor isn’t detailing international plans for Magic V2 for now, but hopefully things can end up like Magic V with a global launch in a few months. It’s just us being so optimistic, though.

Now let’s move on to the device itself for a quick rundown of the specs. Some of the most impressive numbers come from the dimensions and weight ranges where the footprint is smaller than that of an iPhone 14 Pro Max, but more importantly, so is the weight: Honor has managed to shave off around 30g Vs weight to bring the number to an impressive 231g (with some caveats depending on the material of the back panel, but more on that later). The Magic V2 is also the first foldable of its kind to drop below 10 mm thick, albeit only slightly.

Honor Magic V2 hands-on review

The displays have also gotten improvements across the board. The internal one now supports up to a 120Hz refresh rate (90Hz on the Vs) and maximum brightness is specified at 1600nits (800nits on the old model). The claimed brightness of the lid display has also been doubled, to 2500 nits. Both are LTPO OLEDs, of course, and feature 3840Hz PWM dimmers. The diagonals remain unchanged at 7.92 inches on the fold-out panel and 6.43 inches on the cover, but the looks have been changed slightly.

The camera system has also undergone some changes. The rear setup now features two 50MP modules for main and ultrawide (a bit of a step up from the Vs’ 54MP + 50MP arrangement) and a new 20MP telephoto that offers 2.5x zoom (the Vs had a unit simpler than 8MP 3x). Two 16MP selfie cameras, one per display, round out the picture, now with f/2.2 apertures versus Vs f/2.45. We’re not doubting the changes are in the right direction, but we’ll still have to wait for verification from a review unit.

The Honor Magic V2 specifications at a glance:

  • Body: 156.7×145.4×4.7/4.8mm unfolded, 156.7×74.0x9.9/10.1mm folded, 231g/237g; Glass front, eco-leather or glass back, magnesium alloy frame, titanium alloy folding mechanism.
  • Screen: 7.92″ Foldable OLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, HDR10+, 2156x2344px resolution, 402ppi; Display cover: OLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, HDR10+, 6.43″, 1060x2376px, 402 ppi.
  • chipsets: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (4nm): Octa-core (1×3.36GHz Cortex-X3 & 2×2.8GHz Cortex-A715 & 2×2.8GHz Cortex-A710 & 3×2.0GHz Cortex-A510); Adreno 740.
  • Memory: 256GB 16GB RAM, 512GB 16GB RAM, 1TB 16GB RAM.
  • Operating system/software: Android 13, Magic UI 7.2.
  • Rear camera: Broad (main): 50MP, f/1.9, PDAF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 50MP, f/2.0, PDAF; Telephoto: 20 MP, f/2.4, PDAF, OIS, 2.5x optical zoom.
  • Front camera: 16MP, f/2.2; Lid camera: 16 MP, f/2.2.
  • Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60fps, Gyro EIS, HDR10+; Front camera: 4K@30fps.
  • Drums: 5000mAh; 66W wired charging
  • Various: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); NFC; Infrared port; stereo speakers; stylus support on both displays.

Honor also had a lot to say about the new carbon-silicon battery used in the Magic V2, touting its significantly improved energy density. We don’t doubt it’s at least partially responsible for the weight reduction, even if the capacity has remained the same at 5,000mAh. The new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset should help squeeze out a little more life as well.

Honor Magic V2 hands-on review

These are more or less the basics covered; let’s see what that Magic V2 in the hand is all about.

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Philip Owell

Professional blogger, here to bring you new and interesting content every time you visit our blog.