Honor Magic V3 – Full Review (2024)
The Honor Magic V3 is the latest foldable flagship from Honor, continuing the brand’s push into the premium foldable smartphone market. This third-generation foldable comes with significant improvements in design, display, performance, and battery life, making it a strong contender in the growing foldable segment. Let’s break down the key aspects of the device:
Design & Build
The Honor Magic V3 boasts a sleek, premium design with notable improvements in its hinge mechanism. Honor has managed to make the device slimmer and lighter than many other foldables on the market, which addresses one of the main complaints users have had about foldable phones being bulky.
- Hinge: The refined hinge system allows for a more seamless folding experience. The crease in the display is less noticeable than before, thanks to Honor’s work on improving the durability and flexibility of the display.
- Build Quality: The phone features high-end materials, including glass and metal, giving it a robust yet sophisticated feel. When folded, it feels like a regular, sleek smartphone, and when opened, it transforms into a mini-tablet.
- Weight: Despite being a foldable, the Magic V3 feels well-balanced and not too heavy, which is a significant improvement over the previous models.
Display
The Honor Magic V3 comes with a dual-display setup, with a smaller external display and a larger foldable inner screen.
- External Display: The cover display is a 6.43-inch OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate. It offers a great experience for everyday use without needing to unfold the device. The colors are vibrant, and the brightness levels make it easily usable outdoors.
- Foldable Display: The inner display is a 7.92-inch OLED screen, also featuring a 120Hz refresh rate. It offers an immersive experience when unfolded, perfect for multitasking, watching videos, or gaming. The crease in the middle is minimal, though still slightly visible under certain lighting conditions. However, it doesn’t detract from the overall user experience.
- Durability: Honor has improved the durability of the foldable display, with better resistance to scratches and wear over time.
Performance
Powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, the Magic V3 is a powerhouse capable of handling demanding tasks with ease. Combined with up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage, it performs excellently in gaming, multitasking, and everyday use.
- Software: The device runs on MagicOS 8.0 based on Android 14, with optimizations specifically for foldable functionality. The multitasking experience is seamless, allowing you to run multiple apps side by side or take advantage of the larger display for enhanced productivity.
- Gaming: Gaming performance is smooth, even with graphic-intensive titles. The large display enhances the gaming experience, making it more immersive.
- Cooling System: Honor has integrated an efficient cooling system to prevent the phone from overheating during heavy usage, a welcome feature for power users.
Camera
The Honor Magic V3 features a versatile triple-camera setup that performs well in most scenarios:
- Main Camera: The 50MP primary sensor captures detailed and vibrant photos, even in low light conditions. Honor’s image processing ensures clear shots with accurate color reproduction.
- Ultra-Wide Camera: The 12MP ultra-wide sensor works well for capturing landscapes or group photos, though it doesn’t quite match the detail level of the primary camera.
- Telephoto Lens: The 20MP telephoto lens offers 5x optical zoom, providing sharp zoomed-in shots without losing much detail.
- Selfie Cameras: Both the front camera on the cover screen and the inner display perform well, with clear selfies and good performance in video calls.
While not the very best camera system compared to some of the top flagships, the Honor Magic V3 holds its own, especially given the challenges of integrating cameras into a foldable design.
Battery Life
One of the standout features of the Honor Magic V3 is its impressive battery life for a foldable phone. It comes with a 5000mAh battery, which easily lasts a full day of moderate to heavy use.
- Charging: The phone supports 66W fast charging, getting you from 0 to 50% in around 15 minutes and a full charge in less than an hour. It also supports 50W wireless charging, which is a nice addition for convenience.
- Battery Performance: Despite the dual displays and powerful internals, the phone is optimized for battery efficiency, which is often a concern with foldables. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset’s energy efficiency helps in this regard.
Software Features
The MagicOS 8.0 on the Honor Magic V3 brings several features designed specifically for the foldable format:
- App Continuity: Apps transition smoothly from the cover screen to the inner screen, making it easy to switch between modes without losing progress.
- Multi-Window Mode: You can run up to three apps at once on the large inner display, making multitasking a breeze.
- Stylus Support: For productivity users, the Magic V3 supports a stylus, making it useful for taking notes or drawing on the go.
Pros:
- Sleek, slim design for a foldable
- Excellent displays with minimal crease visibility
- Powerful performance with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
- Long battery life with fast charging
- Solid camera system
- Smooth multitasking and software optimizations
Cons:
- The foldable display, while improved, still has a visible crease in some lighting
- The ultra-wide camera is good but not exceptional
- High price point compared to non-foldable flagships
- Foldables still come with durability concerns over long-term use
Honor Magic V3 Full Specifications:
Design & Build
- Dimensions (Unfolded): 156.7 x 145.4 x 4.7 mm
- Dimensions (Folded): 156.7 x 74.1 x 10.1 mm
- Weight: ~231g
- Build: Glass front (when folded), glass back, and aluminum frame
- Hinge: Enhanced hinge mechanism with minimal crease visibility
Display
- External Display:
- Size: 6.43 inches, OLED
- Resolution: 2376 x 1060 pixels (~410 ppi)
- Refresh Rate: 120Hz
- Aspect Ratio: 20:9
- Internal Foldable Display:
- Size: 7.92 inches, OLED
- Resolution: 2344 x 2156 pixels (~416 ppi)
- Refresh Rate: 120Hz
- Aspect Ratio: 9:8.4
- HDR10+ support
Performance
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (4nm)
- CPU: Octa-core (1x Cortex-X4 at 3.19GHz, 5x Cortex-A710 at 2.8GHz, 2x Cortex-A510 at 2.0GHz)
- GPU: Adreno 740
- RAM: 12GB or 16GB LPDDR5X
- Storage:
- Variants: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB UFS 4.0 (non-expandable)
Camera
- Main Triple Camera Setup:
- Primary Camera: 50MP, f/1.9, PDAF, OIS
- Telephoto: 20MP, f/2.4, 5x optical zoom, PDAF, OIS
- Ultra-Wide: 12MP, f/2.2, 120˚ field of view
- Camera Features:
- Dual-LED flash, HDR, panorama
- 8K video recording at 30fps, 4K at 60fps, 1080p at up to 240fps
- HDR10+ video recording
- Front Camera:
- External Display Selfie Camera: 16MP, f/2.2
- Internal Display Front Camera: 16MP, f/2.2
Battery
- Battery Capacity: 5000mAh (non-removable, Li-Po)
- Charging:
- 66W fast charging (wired)
- 50W fast wireless charging
- Reverse wireless charging support
Operating System
- OS: MagicOS 8.0 (based on Android 14)
Connectivity
- SIM: Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
- 5G: Supported
- Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax), dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct
- Bluetooth: 5.3, A2DP, LE, aptX HD
- NFC: Yes
- GPS: Dual-band A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, Galileo, QZSS
- USB: USB Type-C 3.1, OTG
Audio
- Speakers: Stereo speakers
- 3.5mm Jack: No
Other Features
- Biometrics:
- Fingerprint scanner (side-mounted)
- Face unlock
- Sensors:
- Accelerometer
- Gyroscope
- Proximity sensor
- Compass
- Barometer
- Color spectrum sensor
Colors
- Available in multiple colors, including:
- Black
- Gold
- Silver
Price Range
- Expected to be in the premium range of foldable devices, with a starting price around $1,500 to $1,800 depending on the configuration.
These are the full specifications of the Honor Magic V3, making it a powerful and competitive option in the foldable smartphone market of 2024.
Conclusion
The Honor Magic V3 is a serious competitor in the foldable market, offering a premium design, robust performance, and solid battery life. With its refined hinge, excellent display quality, and thoughtful software optimizations, it makes a strong case for being one of the best foldable devices in 2024. It may still face competition from brands like Samsung, but Honor’s improvements in this model show they’re serious about leading the foldable smartphone revolution.
Rating: 9/10
