TechPhonesGoogle and Samsung step aside: 5 ways Honor’s V3 foldable betters the big brandsWe got an early hands-on with Honor’s new foldable – here are its best featuresWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
TechPhonesGoogle and Samsung step aside: 5 ways Honor’s V3 foldable betters the big brandsWe got an early hands-on with Honor’s new foldable – here are its best featuresWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
We got an early hands-on with Honor’s new foldable – here are its best features
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
Now that theGoogle Pixel 9 Pro FoldandGalaxy Z Fold 6are official, we’ve got a good idea of what the foldables scene looks like in 2024. But one addition we’re expecting in the next few months is the Honor Magic V3 – the thinnest and lightest book-style foldable around – which we got to preview in an early hands-on session with the Chinese version of the phone.
1. Lighter and thinner
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
Google’s done a great job of shrinking its Pixel 9 Pro Fold from 281g – the weight of the originalPixel Fold– to 257g, but it’s still heavier than both the 239g Galaxy Z Fold 6 and 226g Honor Magic V3. This makes the Magic V3 the joint-lightest big-screened foldable around (sharing the title with the Xiaomi Mix Fold 4).
The Magic V3 is also the thinnest foldable – at just 9.3mm when closed, and an incredible 4.4mm when unfolded – being barely thicker than the USB-C port used to charge it up.
This featherweight design and slender frame transform the whole foldable experience, zapping the heft typically associated with dual-screened smartphones, and here making it feel more like a ‘normal’ phone.
2. Bigger screens
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
Despite being thinner and lighter than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, the Honor Magic V3’s screens are bigger and more comfortable to use. This is especially true of the cover screen, which measures 6.43-inches compared to the 6.3-inch Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Pixel 9 Pro Fold, and benefits from a much slimmer bezel for a more all-screen feel. Going beyond inches, the Honor Magic V3 is also a bit wider, making it more comfortable to type on than Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 6.While Honor also wins out with cover display brightness, its main display brightness actually falls slightly behind the Pixel 9 Pro Fold and Z Fold 6, though all three phones enjoy a 120Hz smooth refresh rate, high dynamic range (HDR) across all their screens, and tempered glass for added durability.
It’s also worth noting that when unfolded, Honor’s inner display is a bit smaller than Google’s unfolded inner screen, so the new Pixel 9 Pro Fold takes the title of the biggest main display of any Western foldable, at 8-inches (just 0.8-inches larger than the Magic V3’s diagonal measure).
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3. Higher-resolution cameras
Honor, Google and Samsung load up their foldables with triple cameras, but only Honor crams super-high-resolution sensors in the ultra-wide, primaryandtelephoto cameras. Both Samsung and Google resort to lower resolutions for the secondary snappers.
Why is resolution a big deal? Over the last couple of years, in-sensor zooming has become much more popular thanks to improvements in computational photography. The Magic V3 has a 50-megapixel primary and telephoto camera, and a 40MP ultra-wide. This means it can take native 12MP photos when zooming between all three and beyond.
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
It’s also worth noting that Honor packs bigger sensors into the Magic V3’s camera as well, and big sensors typically result in superior photo quality.
The V3 (along with the Pixel 9 Pro Fold) also has a periscope zoom – a zooming system that produces superior shots than non-periscope cameras – so Honor’s camera spec looks set to trounce Samsung’s across the board.
4. Bigger battery
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 both have smaller batteries than you normally see on a typical smartphone. Many ofthe best Android phoneshave 5000mAh batteries, but the Pixel 9 Pro Fold’s is just 4650mAh, and the Z Fold 6’s is an even smaller 4400mAh.
For anyone mainly using the smaller cover screen, that should get you through a full day, but if you plan on opening your foldable up for hours at a time, it will drain faster.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, Vivo X Fold 3 Pro, Honor Magic V3 and Xiaomi Mix Fold 4.(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, Vivo X Fold 3 Pro, Honor Magic V3 and Xiaomi Mix Fold 4.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, Vivo X Fold 3 Pro, Honor Magic V3 and Xiaomi Mix Fold 4.
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
Nevertheless, considering the Magic V3’s much slimmer profile, its battery spec is seriously impressive. How well it’ll last per charge in real-world use we’re yet to test, but first signs are promising.
5. Faster charging
The Honor Magic V3’s 66W wired charging may not best the fastest non-folding phones out there, but it gets the gold medal for foldables, and with 50W wireless charging too (when matched with an official Honor charger), it’s both fastandversatile. That’s worth a whole lot.
Initial impressions
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
There’s every chance the Honor Magic V3 will take the title of best foldable around when it launches. While both the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 look set to win out with their artificial intelligence (AI) smarts, from a hardware perspective, it’s Honor’s incredibly thin, light foldable that seems like a more impressive-looking phone.
So check back for more on the Honor Magic V3, and if you’re on the hunt for one of the best foldables, you can scope out its other key competition in ourguide to the best foldable phones of 2024.
Today’s best Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Honor Magic V3 dealsGoogle Pixel 9 Pro Fold$1,629ViewSee all pricesSamsung Galaxy Z Fold 6$1,899.99$1,599.99ViewSee all pricesHonor Magic V3$1,899$1,799ViewSee all pricesWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Honor Magic V3 dealsGoogle Pixel 9 Pro Fold$1,629ViewSee all pricesSamsung Galaxy Z Fold 6$1,899.99$1,599.99ViewSee all pricesHonor Magic V3$1,899$1,799ViewSee all pricesWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Honor Magic V3 dealsGoogle Pixel 9 Pro Fold$1,629ViewSee all pricesSamsung Galaxy Z Fold 6$1,899.99$1,599.99ViewSee all pricesHonor Magic V3$1,899$1,799ViewSee all pricesWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Honor Magic V3 deals
Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold$1,629ViewSee all pricesSamsung Galaxy Z Fold 6$1,899.99$1,599.99ViewSee all pricesHonor Magic V3$1,899$1,799ViewSee all prices
Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold$1,629ViewSee all prices
Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold$1,629ViewSee all prices
Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold
Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold
$1,629View
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Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6$1,899.99$1,599.99ViewSee all prices
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6$1,899.99$1,599.99ViewSee all prices
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6
$1,899.99$1,599.99View
$1,899.99$1,599.99
$1,599.99
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Honor Magic V3$1,899$1,799ViewSee all prices
Honor Magic V3$1,899$1,799ViewSee all prices
Honor Magic V3
Honor Magic V3
$1,899$1,799View
$1,899$1,799
$1,799
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We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
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