Introduction
The Magic V2, which was once an office favorite thanks to its slim profile (among other qualities), has now found a replacement. The Honor Magic V3 is going global, moving even further toward the pocket, while setting standards for durability and improving the camera system.
The V2 was the thinnest in its class when it launched, and so is the V3, at just 4.4mm in tablet form or 9.3mm when it comes to bar phone form. It’s also lighter, at 226g, thanks to an additional wireless charging coil and increased battery capacity. Is this Honor’s engineers or miracle workers?
Beyond the rhetoric, the weight and size reductions are due to improved materials, at least in part. The Magic V3's panels and construction are particularly robust, Honor insists, and they even had us torture a unit to see where it broke. There's also an IPX8 rating that goes further than the standard's minimum requirements.
Foldable smartphone cameras tend to lag behind the cutting-edge efforts of “regular” smartphones, and the Magic V3 is no exception. Yet this new generation significantly improves the zoom camera, reducing the number of compromises you have to make to fit 300 square centimeters of screen in your pocket instead of just 100 square centimeters.
The Magic V3's displays should be pretty good, according to the spec pages, though the only apparent improvement is the maximum brightness – more on that later. Of course, there's a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 to do the math, and half a terabyte (on the international model) seems like plenty of storage.
Here's a quick rundown of the key specs, before we move on.
Honor Magic V3 Specifications Overview:
- Body: 156.6 x 74.0 x 9.2 mm (folded), 156.6 x 145.3 x 4.4 mm (unfolded), 226 g; IPX8 water resistant (up to 2.5 m for 30 min), stylus support.
- Display: Main: 7.92-inch foldable LTPO AMOLED display, 1 billion colors, Dolby Vision, 120 Hz, 1,800 nits (peak), 2,156 x 2,344 px resolution, 9.78:9 aspect ratio, 402 ppi; Blanket: 6.43″ OLED, 1B colors, 120 Hz, Dolby Vision, 5000 nits (peak), 1060x2376px, 402 ppi, Nano Crystal Glass 2.0.
- Chipset: Qualcomm SM8650-AB Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (4nm): Octa-core (1×3.3 GHz Cortex-X4 & 3×3.2 GHz Cortex-A720 & 2×3.0 GHz Cortex-A720 & 2×2.3 GHz Cortex-A520); Adreno 750.
- Memory: 256 GB 12 GB RAM, 512 GB 16 GB RAM, 1 TB 16 GB RAM.
- Operating System/Software: Android 14, MagicOS 8.0.1.
- Rear camera: Large (main): 50 MP, f/1.6, 1/1.56″, PDAF, OIS; Telephoto lens: 50 MP, f/3.0, 1/2.51″, PDAF, OIS, 3.5x optical zoom; Ultra wide angle: 40 MP, f/2.2, 112˚, AF.
- Coverage/Internal Camera: 20 MP, f/2.2, 90˚.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 4K at 30/60 fps (10-bit), 1080p at 30/60 fps, gyroscope-EIS, OIS; Cover/Internal camera: 4K at 30 fps, 1080p at 30 fps, gyro-EIS.
- Battery: 5150mAh; 66W wired, 50W wireless, 5W reverse wired.
- Connectivity: 5G; eSIM; Dual SIM; Wi-Fi 7; BT 5.3, aptX HD, LDAC; NFC; Infrared port.
- Miscellaneous : Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); stereo speakers.
Unboxing the Honor Magic V3
The Magic V3 comes in a full-size black box with a full set of accessories – a premium product with proper treatment.
The included protective solution is particularly nice: the soft-touch faux leather back cover can be transformed into a stand thanks to the rotating octagonal camera ring. There is also a frame-shaped piece to attach to the case part, with adhesive strips to ensure it stays in place.
A 66W power adapter and a USB-A to C cable are also included to complete the connection.