Honor is again with its second foldable telephone of this 12 months. The Chinese phonemaker took the wraps off the Honor Magic Vs, the corporate’s first foldable certain for international locations outdoors its native China, on Wednesday.
The Honor Magic Vs is a book-style foldable telephone that is comparable in appear and feel to the Samsung Galaxy Fold 4, nevertheless it’s lighter by a number of grams. In addition to the folding display screen, the Honor Magic Vs packs all of the specs you’d count on from a 2022 flagship telephone into slick {hardware}. It boasts a strong Snapdragon 8 Gen Plus 1 processor, a big 5,000-mAh battery and 66-watt quick charging. It additionally has a triple rear digicam setup with 3x optical zoom.
Honor says it plans to launch this telephone within the UK and the EU, amongst different international locations and areas. The Magic Vs is now obtainable for preorder in China for 7,499 yuan, which converts to roughly $1,050, £880 or AU$1,575.
Ahead of the launch of the Honor’s Magic Vs at present, I had an opportunity to check a pattern unit for a number of hours. Honor emphasised that the software program and software-enabled options, together with the digicam, weren’t prepared for testing, so I’ll give attention to the telephone’s {hardware}.
Honor’s Magic Vs has a 7.9-inch inside show.
Sareena Dayaram/CNET
Needless to say, the headline function of the Magic Vs is the bendable show. Like the Galaxy Z Fold 4, the Magic Vs has one cowl display screen and one other inside display screen constructed to develop right into a tablet-sized show. I discovered each shows crisp, responsive and vivid. (So vivid that the display screen can operate as one thing of a light-weight or flash substitute when taking selfies. The cowl display screen mechanically brightens up while you take an image utilizing the front-facing digicam at the hours of darkness.) Each show additionally folds into the opposite with no discernible hole. It’s additionally price stating that, as a result of its 21:9 facet ratio, it is a tall and slender telephone when closed.
The Magic Vs’ interior show has a crease, sadly, though Honor mentioned it would not. In my expertise, the crease is well seen within the daytime from numerous angles and it is also discernible to the contact. Although it did not hassle me a lot, it should most likely be a deal-breaker for some. It could, nonetheless, be the trade-off of the book-style design for now. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 4 nonetheless has one, although it is much less noticeable than prior to now. While Huawei’s Mate XS 2, which has a wraparound-style foldable telephone design with one display screen, is mainly creaseless.
The Magic Vs is able to 3x optical zoom.
Sareena Dayaram/CNET
Despite the crease on the Magic Vs, watching films and flipping by way of footage is enjoyable and immersive on a tablet-sized show that may additionally match right into a pocket. The Magic Vs has slender {hardware}, which does not really feel that heavy for a foldable telephone weighed down by two screens. Honor credit the comparatively light-weight design to its upgraded hinge, which it says makes use of a single-piece casting processing know-how that “drastically reduces the number of components from 92 to 46 in the hinge, while maintaining its durability and sturdiness.” According to Honor, the telephone can face up to greater than 400,000 folds, or greater than 10 years of use in case you assume 100 folds a day.
Honor credit its revamped hinge with serving to to cut back the load of the telephone.
Sareena Dayaram/CNET
As I discussed earlier, the pattern unit despatched to me had restricted performance, so I have never had an opportunity to check the digicam, battery, efficiency and so forth. But do examine again at a later date as I’ll replace this text as soon as I obtain a remaining assessment unit. Honor says to count on a global launch by early subsequent 12 months.
Key specs for the Honor Magic Vs
- Display: 6.45-inch (cowl), 7.9-inch (inside)
- Resolution: 431ppi (cowl), 381ppi (inside)
- Refresh fee: 120 Hz (cowl)
- Battery: 5,000 mAh (66-watt charging)
- Camera: 54-megapixel (foremost), 50-megapixel (ultrawide), 8-megapixel (telephoto)
- Processor: Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1
- Weight: 261 grams
- RAM and Storage: 8GB + 256GB; 12GB + 512GB
