Honor is finally bringing its long-awaited Magic Vs foldable phone to fans outside of China – and with it an all-new mainstream flagship, the Magic 5 Pro.
The Magic Vs debuted last November in China, but only now has it officially launched in Europe at the MWC show in Barcelona.
The company’s second book-style foldable – similar to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 – the Magic Vs is designed to work just as well closed as it does when unfolded. It’s a phone you can open occasionally to get bigger, rather than a tablet you can put in your pocket.
Henry Burrell / Foundry
With that in mind, it has a hinge that closes completely flat and is about as thin as a foldable can get at 12.9mm. It even offers a higher refresh rate – 120Hz – on the outer display, while limiting the inner panel to 90Hz.
Powered by the top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 and equipped with a triple rear camera featuring a 54Mp main camera, 50Mp ultrawide and 8Mp 3x zoom, the Magic Vs has the specs to rival flagships not fully foldable.
Yet in that sense it’s surpassed by the Magic 5 Pro – first revealed to the world here in Barcelona. It’s a more classic flagship slab phone, powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, with a quad-curve OLED display and a rear camera with three 50Mp lenses.
Dominic Preston / Foundry
To be fair, it looks like a nice flagship phone by the numbers, but Honor thinks the display and camera should help the Magic 5 Pro stand out in an increasingly crowded market.
The screen is an expansive 6.81-inch panel, curved on all sides and powered by LTPO OLED technology that can operate at a refresh rate range of 1-120Hz. It even packs a dedicated display chip. to drive HDR and manage frame rates for video and gaming.
That’s pretty standard for the high-end market, but Honor has tried to differentiate itself by emphasizing health. The panel is the first LTPO to feature 2160Hz PWM dimming, which reduces flicker, plus a range of other technologies including reduced blue light emissions and dynamic dimming, all to reduce eye fatigue and sleep disturbances.
Dominic Preston / Foundry
The camera contains a trio of lenses and a trio of silly names. The ‘Eye of Muse’ ring design houses the ‘Star Wheel’ triple camera, all mounted on a ‘Gaudi Curve’ slope from the phone body.
What matters are the lenses. Each of the three cameras uses a 50Mp sensor, including a large 1/1.12-inch, OIS-compatible main camera. Actually, I lied – there’s another silly name coming, with “Falcon Capture” technology dedicated to taking photos of fast-moving subjects without blurring.
Honor also outfitted the phone with some motion-based gesture controls – waving your hand to scroll or clenching your fist to take a screenshot – but in my brief test, they seemed just as pointless and pointless as I expected. .
The regular Magic 5 was also revealed alongside the Pro. It looks similar and packs the same 8 Gen 2 chipset, similar curved display and another triple rear camera – albeit with slightly degraded lenses and sensors.
The big things you give up – alongside simpler cameras – are wireless charging and the IP68 rating.
The Magic 5 and 5 Pro were preceded last week by the Magic 5 Lite, which we thought was a great mid-range phone that couldn’t quite stand out in a crowded market when we reviewed it.
The Magic Vs are expected to go on sale soon – although the exact date hasn’t been announced – for $1,599, which discounts the Z Fold 4 by $200.
The 5 Pro will arrive sometime in Q2 – that’s April-June – and will cost $1,199, with the regular Magic 5 less at $899.
I’m reviewing the foldable Vs right now, so keep an eye out for my thoughts on the phone soon, and we’ll be putting the 5 Pro through its paces next week.
