Honor Magic V6 Review: The Ultimate Foldable… Almost

Finest Costs Immediately: Honor Magic V6

The Honor Magic V6 initially broke cowl in China again in March, nevertheless it took some time to make its strategy to Europe. Now, it’s lastly in the stores within the UK, and it’s aiming to be the perfect foldable but.

Sadly for Honor, the competitors is stronger than ever, and it’s solely going to get more durable when Apple’s long-rumoured foldable hits the market. Does this slim powerhouse provide sufficient to stay compelling?

It actually seems the half, has one of many largest batteries of any foldable ever, it’s the primary to be IP69 licensed, and it’s one way or the other nonetheless one of many thinnest. We’re off to a great begin. I’ve been placing it to the check during the last couple of weeks, and right here’s what I believe.

Design & Construct

• Aluminium body, composite fibre again
• 219g, NanoCrystal Defend Glass
• IP69 rated

The Honor Magic V6 seems quite a bit just like the Magic V5, with essentially the most noticeable distinction being the form of the digital camera bezel. It’s now extra angular, with an octagonal form. New color choices additionally assist differentiate it from the final era.

The purple model might be essentially the most eye-catching; it has a deep, virtually blood-red rear panel with a textured end. I’ve the gold model, which can also be very flashy. Pals have commented that it seems like a telephone a Saudi prince or Kim Kardashian would use.

it one way or the other stays fingerprint-free regardless of being fairly shiny

The color shifts barely when the sunshine hits it; there’s a refined triangular repeating sample throughout each the hinge and the rear, and it one way or the other stays fingerprint-free regardless of being fairly shiny. It’s a cool look. The included case can also be super-premium, with a cream leatherette protecting and a rose-gold digital camera encompass that doubles up as a fold-out kickstand.

After all, if you need one thing rather less attention-grabbing, there are extra conventional black and white fashions. The latter has a hidden benefit, too – it’s the slimmest of the bunch at simply 8.75mm when closed, and Honor reckons it’s the slimmest foldable available on the market proper now.

I haven’t used the white one, and possibly it’s noticeably slimmer, however for what it’s value, the gold model undoubtedly seems and feels a bit thicker than my 8.9mm Galaxy Z Fold 7. I’m splitting hairs, although; this telephone continues to be thinner than lots of flagship bar-phones. So whether or not or not it’s the slimmest, it’s greater than slim sufficient to really feel good in your pocket.

It’s additionally value mentioning that the duvet show is now flat, with a extra symmetrical form. It makes the telephone look much more like a conventional bar telephone when folded shut, however the unavoidable squared-off nook of the hinge offers it away barely.

As essential as the size of a foldable are, the sturdiness is simply as essential. And fortunately, the Honor Magic V6 is constructed like a tank. It’s IP69-rated, the very best of any foldable telephone. This implies it’s basically resistant to mud, and it’ll stand up to dunks in recent water or blasts from jets of scorching water. Foldable tech has come a good distance.

it seems like a telephone a Saudi prince or Kim Kardashian would use

It’s additionally constructed to be robust, with anti-scratch ‘NanoCrystal Defend’ glass on the entrance, and a ‘Tremendous Metal’ hinge that improves the affect resistance. SGS certifications again up these claims, too, because the telephone has been awarded 5 stars for drop resistance. I haven’t handled my evaluation pattern too roughly, nevertheless it’s good to comprehend it ought to keep in a single piece if gravity will get the perfect of me.

Display & Audio system

• Outer: 6.52-inch 1080 x 2420 OLED 120Hz
• Inside: 7.95-inch 2172 x 2352 OLED 120Hz
• Stereo audio system

Foldables are all in regards to the display, so let’s begin with the star of the present, the interior show. It’s simply shy of 8 inches diagonally, which suggests it’s up there with a number of the largest book-style foldables available on the market. It’s virtually completely sq., which suggests it’s nice for operating two apps side-by-side.

This versatile display has a 120Hz refresh price and boasts a wild 5000 nits of peak brightness. It is best to at all times take these brightness claims with a big serving to of salt, however regardless, it’s a really vibrant show that’s straightforward to see open air.

The interior display has a shiny display protector (albeit with an anti-reflective coating), and that’s each a great and a nasty factor. As I’ve talked about in different foldable critiques, the extra matt display protectors do a greater job of disguising the crease, however in addition they entice fingerprints. This one doesn’t smudge up as simply, however regardless of Honor’s greatest efforts, you do get some undesirable reflections alongside the groove.

Talking of which, the crease is admirably shallow, and never too way back it might have been the perfect I’d ever come throughout. Nevertheless, I’ve been utilizing the Oppo Discover N6 virtually day by day because it got here out, and sadly, this one can’t fairly compete. It’s nonetheless tremendous spectacular, and miles higher than the Pixel 10 Professional Fold. It’s barely much less noticeable than the Galaxy Z Fold 7, too.

Transferring on to the outer show, it’s virtually indistinguishable from a flagship bar telephone display, except for being very barely narrower than normal. It has beautiful slim bezels on all sides, a zippy 120Hz refresh price, and an even-higher peak brightness of 6000 nits.

It simply looks like a traditional telephone. Then, whenever you desire a larger display to your content material, video games, or multitasking, you simply pop it open.

As has been the case with the previous couple of generations of Honor foldable, there’s no main draw back to utilizing the telephone folded down; it simply looks like a traditional telephone. Then, whenever you desire a larger display to your content material, video games, or multitasking, you simply pop it open.

As normal, Honor has put some effort into eye-protection options, and each screens assist 4320Hz PWM dimming. That’s one thing that you just’ll actually admire if you happen to’re delicate to flicker. Each screens additionally assist stylus enter, although sadly, I didn’t have an Honor stylus available to attempt it out.

The luxurious shows are backed up by a good set of audio system. The stereo pair creates a pleasant huge soundstage, can get greater than loud sufficient, and has a good quantity of low-end response. They’re no match for the bass-forward audio system of the Magic 8 Professional, however there’s solely a lot you are able to do with a chassis this slim.

Specs & Efficiency

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
• 16GB RAM
• 512GB storage

The Magic V6 has Qualcomm’s strongest chip inside, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, and the worldwide mannequin comes geared up with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. With a slim foldable telephone like this, thermal efficiency is at all times going to be a hurdle, however Honor has slapped a large vapour chamber in right here to maintain it operating at its greatest.

The V6 stored up with my day by day efficiency wants with out problem. With a foldable, I usually have three apps open without delay, dipping between every of them, and continuously taking part in music or streaming video on the identical time. Even nonetheless, the telephone barely broke a sweat.

You must fireplace up a fairly demanding recreation to get this telephone to battle a bit, and as luck would have it, I’m fairly hooked on NTE. It’s an open-world recreation with beautiful graphics and a large city map that almost all telephones battle to render, however the Magic V6 didn’t have an excessive amount of hassle.

The V6 stored up with my day by day efficiency wants with out problem

The sport ran easily on the “Excessive” graphics preset at 60fps, and whereas it did get fairly scorching, particularly across the digital camera space, the efficiency didn’t appear to endure. I had the perfect expertise utilizing a GameSir clamp controller, which stored the warmth away from my palms.

Honor Magic V6 benchmarks

In the case of benchmark scores, issues get fairly fascinating. Whereas a lot of the scores had been glorious, the telephone had severe hassle finishing the 3DMark Wildlife Excessive Stress Check. I usually run this check with the telephone unfolded, however it might overheat and kill the benchmark each time I attempted.

In equity, it has been fairly heat right here within the UK these days, however I haven’t had that occur earlier than. Operating the check on the duvet show, it was capable of full with a good rating, nevertheless it couldn’t try this on the foldable display. In real-world utilization, although, I by no means had such points.

Cameras

• 50 Mp f/1.6 foremost digital camera
• 64 Mp f/2.5 3x telephoto
• 50 Mp, f/2.2 ultrawide
• 20 Mp, f/2.2 selfie digital camera

The Honor Magic V6 has similar digital camera {hardware} to the earlier era, which suggests there aren’t any significantly thrilling developments to talk of.

However, with that mentioned, the V5 already had some of the spectacular digital camera setups of any foldable telephone, and the competitors hasn’t been pushing the boat out an excessive amount of – so it’s nonetheless top-of-the-line.

On the rear, you get a 50Mp foremost digital camera with a decently sized 1/1.56-inch sensor and a vibrant f/1.6 lens. It’s joined by a 50Mp ultrawide with a severely huge 13mm-equivalent FOV, and a really good 64Mp telephoto. There are additionally twin 20Mp selfie snappers, one punching by way of every show.

It is a very versatile set of lenses, enabling you to shoot every thing from tremendous huge landscapes to intimate portraits. As normal, it’s the telephoto that I loved utilizing essentially the most, and this may be the perfect telephoto digital camera ever to grace a foldable telephone.

It has a reasonably large 1/2-inch sensor, and it may possibly focus fairly shut up. Your topic solely must be about 20cm from the lens, and mixed with the 70mm equal focal size, that creates some beautiful compression and pure bokeh. 

After all, you possibly can zoom additional with a digital crop, and the digital camera app permits you to go all the best way to 100x if you need. For those who’re over 10x, you should use generative AI to scrub up the photographs, however even with out doing so, you may get fairly usable pictures at 20x or so.

this may be the perfect telephoto digital camera ever to grace a foldable telephone

I’ve already talked about how huge the ultrawide is, and I like that about it, however in any other case, it’s undoubtedly a step down in high quality in comparison with the opposite lenses. It’s additionally the least spectacular at night time, the place movement blur turns into exhausting to cope with. In the precise lighting, although, it’s able to some actually spectacular pictures.

The primary digital camera is, as ever, essentially the most dependable of the trio. The bigger sensor means it fares the perfect in low-light conditions, and it’s barely sharper than the opposite cameras within the daytime.

The selfie cameras aren’t something to write down dwelling about. They get the job completed, and so they’re completely wonderful for Zoom calls, however when you will have such spectacular cameras on the again, it’s actually value flipping the telephone round and making use of that cowl display to get correctly spectacular photographs.

Honor’s picture processing could be a little hit or miss, however I really feel prefer it’s getting extra constant, and when it hits, you may get some actually beautiful pictures. My foremost gripe is with movement blur in portrait mode. I’m undecided why, however I get lots of blurry pictures when synthetic background blur is enabled, even when the sunshine is first rate.

In any other case, I’m actually pleased with the photographs I captured on the Magic V6. The Harcourt portrait modes are as spectacular as ever, and the filters elsewhere allow you to change the look of your photographs fairly dramatically. I’m significantly into the Nostalgic Unfavourable filter, which supplies a beautiful contrasty, cross-processed look with blue shadows.

In the case of video taking pictures, the providing is rather less sturdy. That’s to not say it’s dangerous, however having spent lots of time with the Oppo Discover N6, I received used to having a good Log profile, 4K120 recording, and Dolby Imaginative and prescient. None of these are current right here. There’s a Log profile, nevertheless it solely works on the primary sensor, and it produces some unusually grainy shadows.

For those who don’t have fairly such skilled calls for, although, you’ll most likely be very happy with the video efficiency. You may shoot at as much as 4K 60fps on each digital camera besides the selfie digital camera, which maxes out at 4K 30fps. The stabilisation is nice, and the microphones are first rate, too.

Battery Life & Charging

• 6660mAh battery
• 80W wired charging
• 66W wi-fi charging

The Honor Magic V6 has the most important battery of any foldable telephone that I’ve examined so far. In some way, Honor has managed to squeeze a 6660mAh battery pack into this razor-thin body. Samsung, I hope you’re taking notes.

This capability pales compared to the Chinese language 1TB model of this telephone, which has an astonishing 7,150mAh battery, however, as we’ve seen quite a bit these days, EU rules imply we will’t get fairly such a large pack within the West.

Regardless, it doesn’t matter an excessive amount of as a result of this battery is greater than adequate. Regardless of utilizing the massive inner display continuously and taking a great deal of photographs, I managed to make this telephone final a day and a half all through most of my testing. After all, heavy gaming knocks that down a bit, however you’ll hardly ever, if ever, must cost this earlier than bedtime.

I managed to make this telephone final a day and a half all through most of my testing

Charging is fast, too, supplied you will have a powerful sufficient wall adapter (you solely get a USB-C cable within the field) to utilize the 80W speeds. I used to be capable of take this system from flat to virtually 70% charged in simply half an hour; you possibly can’t ask for far more than that.

For those who want wi-fi charging, you are able to do so with out sacrificing an excessive amount of velocity. The Honor Magic V6 will be juiced up at as much as 66W with an official Honor wi-fi charging pad.

Software program & Apps

• MagicOS 10, based mostly on Android 16
• A great deal of AI options
• Apple ecosystem compatibility

The Magic V6 runs MagicOS 10, Honor’s customized flavour of Android 16. It’s basically the identical software program that we’ve seen on the previous couple of Honor flagships, so if you happen to’ve tried a type of, you received’t be in for a lot of surprises.

Honor’s software program could be a little divisive. It strays fairly removed from the everyday Android expertise; As a substitute, it’s beginning to really feel nearer to iOS. Whether or not that’s a great factor or not will all rely in your preferences. That mentioned, it’s extraordinarily customisable, so if you happen to don’t just like the styling or the format of one thing, you can probably change it.

On the entire, I fairly prefer it. It feels fast and responsive, it seems good by default, and there are many instruments to customize it additional. As talked about, there’s lots of iOS affect, together with some Liquid Glass-like components, a Dynamic Island clone, break up notifications/fast settings, and the power to disable the app drawer. They’re not essentially the most unique decisions, however they work effectively, and most are completely optionally available.

Honor offers you tonnes of AI options, together with all the same old transcription, translation, and summarisation instruments, in addition to some very superior picture modifying options. 

Multitasking is nice, too. You may show apps side-by-side in break up view, after which add a 3rd that may simply peek out in conjunction with the display, springing into motion whenever you want it. Or, if you happen to want, you should use floating home windows and get much more on display without delay.

What I discover most enjoyable is the best way the Magic V6 is ready to combine with Apple merchandise

What I discover most enjoyable, although, is the best way the Magic V6 is ready to combine with Apple merchandise. Specifically, how effectively it really works with my MacBook. For those who set up the Honor Workstation app from the Mac App Retailer, you possibly can share recordsdata, copy and paste between gadgets, remotely management your telephone, and even use the V6 as a wi-fi second display.

However the enjoyable doesn’t cease there. The Honor Magic V6 may also natively browse and handle recordsdata in your iCloud account, and with Honor Join, you possibly can AirDrop recordsdata to and from iPhones, too. It’s nice if you happen to’re at all times hopping between ecosystems (as I usually am).

So, total, it’s a stable software program expertise, nevertheless it’s not with out its downsides. My largest grievance about Honor telephones has remained unaddressed for the previous few years. The battery administration is hyper-aggressive, and by default, it’ll kill background apps with reckless abandon. This implies you’ll usually endure severely delayed notifications till you do some tinkering and make sure that these apps keep open.

It’s straightforward sufficient to repair, and I can perceive the logic – as a result of Honor telephones at all times have glorious battery life – nevertheless it’s tremendous annoying, and I’d like to see it addressed.

Honor guarantees seven years of software program updates and safety patches for its flagship gadgets, matching the likes of Samsung and Apple. It doesn’t get significantly better than that, although you might be ready some time for the Android 17-based MagicOS 11.

Value & Availability

The Honor Magic V6 is out there to order now within the UK, and a lot of the world, although the US is excluded as normal.

Within the UK, it carries a lofty £1,999.99 price ticket, however introductory presents slash that every one the best way right down to £1,499.99.

There’s no phrase on how lengthy this provide will stick round, so if you happen to’re eager, it may be value leaping on this one early. The particular worth is out there from the likes of Argos, Currys, Very, and Amazon, however the perfect deal may be shopping for immediately from Honor, as they’re throwing in a bunch of free goodies like a smartwatch, projector, and headphones.

This launch provide makes discussing the pricing fairly difficult. On paper, the Magic V6 is much more costly than the V5, which launched final 12 months at £1699.99, and that stings, particularly contemplating it’s so just like its predecessor. Nevertheless, with the low cost utilized, it’s cheaper.

The Magic V6 is definitely some of the interesting foldable telephones available on the market proper now

It’s additionally presently extra inexpensive than lots of the different greatest folding telephones, together with the Motorola Razr Fold (£1,799), Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 (£1,799) and Google Pixel 10 Professional Fold (£1,749).

Must you purchase the Honor Magic V6?

The Magic V6 is definitely some of the interesting foldable telephones available on the market proper now. The {hardware} is attractive, the screens are spectacular, it’s highly effective, and the cameras are top-notch. If you need a large-screen foldable telephone, however don’t wish to compromise on the cameras an excessive amount of, it is a nice selection.

That mentioned, savvy customers might go for final 12 months’s mannequin and get a really related total expertise for a lot much less cash. It’s right down to £1,099.99 on Honor’s UK web site, it’s nonetheless mega highly effective, and it has the identical cameras. It received’t be in inventory ceaselessly, although.

It’s additionally value remembering that the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Z Fold 8 Extremely are anticipated in July 2026, with Apple’s long-awaited foldable iPhone possible in September. So, personally, I’d wish to see what they carry to the desk earlier than taking the plunge.

For those who can’t wait, the Honor Magic V6 is a wonderful possibility, and can possible stay so. I can’t think about Samsung matching the battery capability, and I very a lot doubt it’ll be outdone on digital camera efficiency. Apart from a number of software program niggles, it’s an excellent telephone.

Specs

• MagicOS 10, based mostly on Android 16
• Outer: 6.52-inch 1080 x 2420 OLED 120Hz
• Inside: 7.95-inch 2172 x 2352 OLED 120Hz
• Energy-button fingerprint sensor
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
• 16GB RAM
• 512GB storage
• Digital camera:
• 50 Mp f/1.6 foremost digital camera
• 64 Mp f/2.5 3x telephoto
• 50 Mp, f/2.2 ultrawide
• Twin 20 Mp, f/2.2 selfie digital camera
• As much as 4K @ 60fps rear video
• Stereo audio system
• Twin-SIM
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e/7
• Bluetooth 6.0
• 6660mAh battery
• 80W wired charging
• 66W wi-fi charging
• 156.7 x 74.5 x 8.8 mm (folded)
• IP69 licensed
• 219g
• Colors: Gold, Crimson, White, Black