Foldable phones have been out for a while now, but in 2024, the technology has reached a maturity level that we can truly consider “mainstream”. Every respectable brand has one in some shape or form: SAMSUNG, Google, OnePlus, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, HUAWEI, TECNO, and of course – HONOR.
With the HONOR Magic V3, the brand is stepping up its foldable game with a serious contender to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold6. We know they’re getting serious because HONOR has been taking jabs at the Galaxy Fold. It’s ironic because SAMSUNG themselves have been taking jabs at Apple and the latest iPhone for years.
We can at least agree that the unboxing experience of the HONOR Magic V3 is way better than the Galaxy Z Fold6. The device comes in a sleek black box with metallic print, reflecting the premium nature of the device. Inside, you’ll find the Magic V3, a 66W fast charger, a USB-C cable, and a protective case designed for the foldable form factor. HONOR also includes a SIM ejector tool and some basic documentation.
This is a stark contrast to the Galaxy Z Fold6, which fails to include even a basic charger in the package, let alone a free protective case.
W:ATCH HONOR Magic V3 video review
Build quality and design
The Magic V3 sets itself apart with its thin and lightweight design. Measuring just 9.2mm when folded and weighing 226g, it’s significantly thinner and lighter than the Galaxy Z Fold6, which feels bulkier in comparison. The slim profile makes it easier to hold and slip into a pocket, a rare feat for foldables.
HONOR claims the Magic V3 is “10 times more durable” than competing devices, thanks to its advanced materials. However, it only boasts an IPX8 water resistance rating, meaning it’s protected against water but lacks dust resistance. The Galaxy Z Fold6, with its IP68 rating, offers full protection from both water and dust, giving it an edge in durability for users in dusty environments.
The hinge on the Magic V3 is a masterpiece of engineering. It’s smaller and smoother than the Galaxy Z Fold6’s, contributing to the phone’s sleek profile. HONOR has designed the hinge to feel seamless, with less wobble when folding and unfolding. The Galaxy Z Fold6’s hinge, while chunkier, feels more solid and stable.
Aside from being thinner, the Magic V3’s rounded edges and curved corners make it more comfortable to hold compared to the Galaxy Z Fold6, which has sharper edges that can dig into the hand during prolonged use. This thoughtful design touch enhances the user experience for long sessions of reading, gaming, or multitasking.
The Magic V3 supports both a physical SIM slot and eSIM functionality, providing flexibility for users who want to maintain multiple numbers or switch networks seamlessly. However, HONOR has opted not to include expandable storage. In contrast, the Galaxy Z Fold6 offers similar SIM capabilities but lacks expandable storage as well. This makes choosing the right storage variant crucial for both devices.
The Magic V3 features stereo speakers that deliver crisp sound quality, but the bass lacks the depth of the Galaxy Z Fold6. For audiophiles or those consuming multimedia on their devices, the Z Fold6 might be the better choice. However, for casual listeners, the Magic V3 performs admirably.
Display
The Magic V3 features a wider cover screen compared to the Galaxy Z Fold6. This increased width makes typing and interacting with apps more “natural”, especially for users transitioning from traditional smartphones. We are so used to 6.7 inchers by now, and anything slimmer feels weird.
The inner display of the Magic V3 boasts minimal creasing—one of the most noticeable improvements over the Galaxy Z Fold6. We suspect that HONOR used some kind of non-reflective material to accomplish this. Having a thinner body might also have something to do with it, but this is all just speculation on our part.
Either way, that crease won’t be disappearing anytime soon, so we are more than happy with how it looks right now.
HONOR’s decision to go with a simple hole-punch on the inner display is very smart. Most of the time, you don’t even notice that it’s there. On the contrary, the Galaxy Z Fold6 has been working on the under-display camera forever, and we appreciate the seamless experience that it creates.
However, the camera has always produced underwhelming images, so it feels like we are spending too much effort to hide a camera that we are never going to use.
If we had our way, we would just completely eliminate that inner camera, but that’s just us. Can you live without that extra camera on the inner screen? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Performance
HONOR Magic V3 runs on MagicOS 8 based on Android 14, which now comes with features designed to maximize multitasking on foldable devices. Features like split-screen and floating windows are intuitive, and the UI takes full advantage of the larger inner display. SAMSUNG’s One UI on the Galaxy Z Fold6, however, remains far ahead – not only is it more polished with fewer bugs, but fold-specific features siuch as window management and task switching, feel richer.
HONOR has incorporated several AI features through Google Gemini, including a real-time language translation tool that uses the cover screen for easy interactions. While innovative, these features feel less mature compared to SAMSUNG’s Galaxy AI, which offers deeper integration and go beyond simple translation and object removal in photos. For example, SAMSUNG lets you sketch within photos and create AI-generated avatars from your photos.
We had a lot of fun using the real-time live translation feature, which can display translated text directly on the cover screen during conversations. This allowed us to converse to other nationalities using the phone as a translator.
It needs to be connected to the Internet to function, which can be a limiting factor if you don’t have a particularly strong or stable connection. Check out the video for a demonstration of how it works.
READ: HONOR Magic V3 AI translation
Powered by the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, the Magic V3 delivers exceptional performance in benchmarks, comparable to the Galaxy Z Fold6. Apps launch quickly, and multitasking is smooth. It also supports Wi-Fi 7, ensuring blazing-fast connectivity for streaming and online gaming.
HONOR Magic V3 performance benchmarks
Below are the performance benchmark results, taken with HONOR Magic V3 connected to Wi-Fi:
- AnTuTu: 1462196
- PCMark: 17590
- Passmark: 22674 (10559 CPU, 39493 memory, 342845 disk, 56151 2D, 80018 3D)
Gaming and entertainment
Equipped with dual stereo speakers, the Magic V3 delivers robust and immersive sound. The audio output is loud, with deep bass and crisp highs, ensuring an excellent experience for gaming, watching videos, or listening to music. For gaming, the directional audio provides a competitive edge, making it easier to pinpoint in-game sounds.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, combined with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage, handles demanding games effortlessly. Titles like Genshin Impact, PUBG Mobile, and CarX Street Racing ran at their highest settings without any noticeable frame drops or stutters.
MagicOS comes with a built-in Game Manager, which includes an in-game menu to enhance the gaming experience. You can do things such as customize gaming profiles, enter Do Not Disturb mode, enance on-screen visuals, and easily open apps like Facebook and YouTube in a mini-window.
READ: HONOR Magic V3 gaming review
If that’s not enough, the HONOR Magic V3 can run two games simultaneously, showcasing the processing power of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset. As an example, we were able to play Mobile Legends in the foreground while Genshin Impact runs in a mini window.
Keep in mind that this feature depends on the game – not all games can run in window mode. Ideally, you should only do this on games that you do not have to actively play such as RPGs or any other game with some kind of unattended auto-play feature.
Gaming benefits significantly from the 7.9-inch AMOLED inner display with its immersive aspect ratio. Colors are vivid, and the large screen size enhances visibility during gameplay. The foldable form factor essentially doubles the available screen real estate compared to traditional smartphones.
This inner screen is also perfect for emulating older console games, since its aspect ratio is closer to the 4:3 aspect ratio found on older CRT monitors and television sets.
After extended gaming sessions, the device’s temperature peaked at 47°C, primarily near the camera module. Anything below 50°C is good in our books, and thermal throttling was minimal, with performance dropping by just 12% over five minutes during intense gaming. The improved thermal design of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 contributes to stable performance even under heavy loads.
Storage speeds are excellent, with 1.6GB/s read and 1.4GB/s write speeds in our benchmarks, ensuring quick loading times for large games such as Genshin Impact.
Camera
HONOR Magic V3 packs enough hardware to make it photography powerhouse – if you look at the specs, this might be the best camera system that you can get on a foldable phone in 2024.
The rear camera setup includes:
- 50MP primary sensor: Sony IMX 906 large sensor and wide aperture with OIS for exceptional detail and low-light performance
- 50MP ultra-wide lens: Ideal for landscapes and group shots, maintaining edge-to-edge clarity
- 20MP telephoto lens: 3.5x optical zoom with OIS
For selfies, the Magic V3 packs two 16MP selfie cameras optimized for natural skin tones and sharp details.
Photos from the primary sensor taken during the day are rich in detail, with accurate colors and excellent dynamic range. The ultra-wide lens captures expansive scenes with minimal distortion, making it ideal for architectural shots or group photos.
However, our favorite has to be the periscope telephoto lens: The 3.5x optical zoom ensures sharp, high-quality close-ups.
For low-light photography, HONOR Magic V3 utilizes advanced image processing and AI-assisted night mode. Images are bright and retain a good level of detail without excessive noise. It can even take photos of the moon.
These enhancements, however, gives our photos that “overprocessed” look. Details are lost to sharpening and noise reduction, colors may appear saturated, and there can be a “halo” effect in sections of the photo where there the light shifts from dark to light.
WATCH: HONOR Magic V3 video test camera sample
Videos also look great – the Magic V3 now supports 4K video recording at 60FPS with HDR as an option. Zooming in could be improved – the way it jumps when it switches between lenses can be jarring, but overall the quality and stability being made possible by OIS lenses are a joy. Watch the video above to see what we mean.
MagicOS 8 introduces AI-powered enhancements like Magic Eraser, which can remove unwanted objects from photos. It works most of the time, and when it does, it really is like magic. There may be times when you have to keep trying to get the results you want, but the end-result can be very satisfying.
It might also be worth pointing out that HONOR has not announced any plans to charge for the AI cloud services, unlike SAMSUNG, who has hinted at plans to charge for Galaxy AI after 2025.
Battery and fast charging
HONOR Magic V3 packs a 5,150mAh battery. It uses third gen silicon-carbon battery technology, which delviers high energy density thus making its slim profile possible.
Based on our usage patterns, the device comfortably lasts a full day under moderate to heavy use, which mostly consists of camera, video streaming, and social media. Lighter usage can extend battery life into a second day.
According to accubattery, we average around 6 hours screen on time, with combined use at 18 hours. PCMark Battery Life benchmark gave us roughly 12 hours (11.75 hours). There was a time when this would have been commendable, but this is the norm in 2024.
What sets the HONOR Magic V3 apart from other foldables such as the Galaxy Z Fold6 is fast charging, which goes up to 66W. This means that it can go from 0 to 100% in just over 45 minutes.
In addition to this, HONOR finally adds wireless charging support at 50W. We missed this feature on the HONOR Magic V3, and its inclusion finally levels the HONOR Magic V3 up, as wireless charging is one of those features only found on flagships.
READ: SAMSUNG Galaxy Z Fold6 review
The way that the Magic V3 supports fast wired and wireless charging at 66W and 50W makes the 25W wired and 15W wireless charging on the Galaxy Z Fold6 look terribly outdated.
It also supports reverse wireless charging, which can come in handy though we rarely use this feature – we need all the battery juice for ourselves.
Takeaways
Priced in the Philippines at P89,999 the HONOR Magic V3 severely undercuts the SAMSUNG Galaxy Z Fold 6, which was priced at P113,990 at launch.
SAMSUNG Galaxy Z Fold 6 remains a strong contender with its superior dust and water resistance (IP68), extensive ecosystem, and mature software. However, the Magic V3 counters with its thinner, lighter design, larger cover display, top notch cameras, and fast charging.
The HONOR Magic V2 was an engineering marvel when it came out because of its extremely thin form factor, and with the Magic V3 it remains unmatched by any other foldable in the market. There’s the HUAWEI Mate XT Ultimate, but that’s a tri-fold phone.
The MagicOS ecosystem still has a way to go in terms of maturity, but overall it is one of the top foldables that you can buy in 2024.
READ: HONOR Magic V3 specs
