Honor Magic V2 Review – Changing the Foldable Landscape

Last month saw the launch of the Honor brand’s first foldable smartphone. In doing so, it signified the first significant shift in the fold market. While a few options are available for prospective buyers, Samsung and Huawei have cornered the market since the first commercial foldable smartphone launched. The Honor Magic V2 brings a new player to the market and new options that other brands must consider.

Honor Magic V2 Build and Design

While the first few foldable smartphones offered unique takes on the design across brands, it has standardised over the five years of competition. The book design has been the go-to, in which a stock screen on the outside can be opened to reveal a more prominent, folding screen on the inside. The same applies to the design of the Honor Magic V2.

So far, nothing different. However, unboxing the Magic V2 reveals a sleeker frame than any other folding smartphone. Unfolded, it has an impressive 4.8mm thickness, which feels like a thin tablet. Folded, it measures 10.1mm thick. This is also great.

To put that into perspective, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold has a folded thickness of 13.4m, which is 3.3mm thicker. Compared to a more conventional smartphone, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is 8.6mm, which is just a 1.5mm difference. The Magic V2 is closer in size to a regular smartphone than a foldable device. It is labelled the thinnest and lightest foldable smartphone in the world. It’s even more impressive that it weighs lighter than the S24 Ultra.

Its lightweight and thin design can be attributed to its hinge technology, crafted in 91% titanium alloy for a sleek and rugged build.

Beyond the impressive numbers, the smartphone also has a great aesthetic. Its thin bezel screen – both inside and out – makes for stunning visuals. Both screens have LTPO OLED panels with 120Hz and HDR10+ support with IMAX-enhanced visuals. While the inner screen has 1,600 nits peak brightness, the outside has an impressive 2,500.

The foldable screen has an 88.5% screen-to-body ratio with a 2,156×2,344px resolution. The OLED panel has stunning visuals, and the increased size has improved. You can spend hours watching content and playing games, much in the way you would with a tablet, but only a lot lighter.

Honor Magic V2 Performance

The Honor Magic V2 features the Qualcomm SM8550-AB Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, released in early 2023. It’s not the most powerful chip available at its initial release, but it gets the job done.

While the camera has some AI capabilities that require extra processing, there isn’t as much focus on AI for other daily tasks. It’s also running Android 13, which is already a generation behind. Undoubtedly, any upgrade to Android 14 would come with a more considerable emphasis on AI, but that isn’t a significant requirement in 2024, where even the more prominent brands haven’t proved its usefulness as a must-have.

Utilising its MagicOS 7.2 firmware on top of Android 13, it delivers a mixed bag in performance. It does well with a set of features for the larger screen while providing great multitasking features. An essential feature of the foldable smartphone is its dual-app utilisation. Not only does the Magic V2 include this feature, but it also allows you to play two games simultaneously. It may just be a gimmick, but it still shows the flexibility of the software

Despite a good balance of useful daily features and gimmicks, it’s left a bit flat due to a few bugs, lack of customisation and some apps that don’t adapt well between the two screens. It takes a bit of shine off an otherwise excellent performance.

A Very Useful Camera

Another impressive aspect of the Honor Magic V2 is its camera. The triple-lens fixture features a decent configuration, including:

• 50 MP, f/1.9, (wide), PDAF, 8×8 dToF Laser AF, OIS
• 20 MP, f/2.4, 62mm (telephoto), PDAF, 2.5x optical zoom, OIS
• 50 MP, f/2.0, 13mm (ultrawide), AF

While it could’ve been an easy feature to overlook, Honor has not shied away from delivering great photography for its owners. Embedded in the setup is its use of Falcon Shot technology, a fusion of AI technology and fast capture, which means you’re getting more detailed visuals in each shot, even when the subject is moving.

The quality is excellent, with impressive shadows, colours and details captured. It also does well with night photography, landscapes and more. The one aspect of the camera that could be improved is its zoom capability. I’d guess the thin design has restrained the camera’s size, affecting the zoom capabilities. It won’t be able to compete with the more powerful Z Fold 5 camera, but it offers a few differences in approach that still make it a great daily driver for content creators.

The Honor Magic V2 is a Shakeup for the Foldable Market

The importance of the Honor Magic V2 cannot be overstated. Its predecessor, the Magic V, was launched in 2022 to limited markets and in limited numbers. Its release acted as a market test of what the brand could produce and what its customers would want from it.

The first significant discussion point is its price. It costs just R38,999. I say “just,” but that’s entirely relative. This, compared to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5, which launched at R45,999. That’s a R7,000 difference – the price of a second, reasonably decent mid-range smartphone. Honor has proven with its second foldable smartphone that it can keep the price down by some margin – a kind of mid-range foldable. This is great for the consumer, where market competition means better pricing and improved features as the market share begins to open up.

Another aspect of the Magic V2’s release is a bigger foldable market. With the more affordable price, there is potential for more prospective buyers of the foldable smartphone. This will add more features over time as the playing field equalises, as it did with the standard smartphone.

If you’re looking for something a bit cheaper, check out our review of the Mobicel Trendy 2.