After China, the Honor Magic V3, the new folding smartphone from the Chinese brand, is released this Thursday, September 5 in France. A smartphone that stands out for its finesse compared to its competitors.
An even thinner folding smartphone. Less than a year after the release of the Honor Magic V2 in France, Honor is back with its successor. This Thursday, September 5, the Chinese brand is launching its new model, the Honor Magic V3 in the country. With this smartphone at the same price as its predecessor, i.e. 2000 euros, Honor continues to focus on thinness to compete with Samsung and its other competitors.
We like
An even thinner smartphone
The thinness is still the most striking element of the Honor Magic V3. With a thickness of 9.2 mm folded and 4.35 mm unfolded, it is thinner than the Honor Magic V2 (respectively 9.9 and 4.7 mm). Also a little lighter (226 g), it is pleasant to hold. And this, whether with or without the cover provided by the manufacturer, which matches the color of the smartphone (black or green).
On the screen side, Honor does not change its recipe, which works well. On the outside, we find a 6.43-inch Amoled panel and a refresh rate of 120 Hz. On the inside, the manufacturer also offers an Amoled panel, 7.92 inches and with a refresh rate of 120 Hz.
We also appreciate that the fold is much less visible than on other folding smartphones, including the Samsung Z Fold 6, its main competitor. A fold that is also less noticeable to the touch and that you quickly forget about when using it, just like the waterdrop-shaped notch.
On the back, Honor stands out from the competition, with a “diamond” shaped photo module, which is not placed on the left side, but in the center, as on the Magic 6 Pro. A design that also allows the smartphone to stay in place when placed and folded, but which prevents it from being placed completely flat once unfolded.
A quality folding screen for working and reading
During our test, we used the phone more unfolded than folded. The Honor Magic V3 offers a screen of almost 8 inches, it is indeed ideal for several uses, starting with work. By folding it horizontally, it can be used as a mini-computer, with the keyboard at the bottom in a document or when writing messages.
We regret, however, that the screen is not always well divided, with a large black band appearing between the keyboard and a document you are working on and which can also be seen when using Google Chrome when the smartphone is folded like a computer.
The Honor Magic V3 is also practical for reading, with applications, especially media applications, which use the entire large screen of the smartphone to display content. It even has an ebook mode, to be activated in the settings and which makes the screen black and white, like on e-readers. An option that offers a pleasant experience, being designed to prevent eye fatigue when reading for a long time.
The Honor Magic V3’s large screen is also ideal for multitasking, allowing you to read and watch a video at the same time, for example. This multi-window mode is all the more practical since it can be used with each application installed on the smartphone and to split the screen horizontally and vertically.
Still very good autonomy
With a 5,150 mAh battery, the Honor Magic V3’s battery life is still one of its strong points. It easily lasts more than a day with typical use (social networks, internet, Youtube, games, photos, etc.).
Powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor (also found in the Samsung Z Fold 6), coupled with 512GB of storage and 12GB of RAM, the foldable smartphone can easily handle resource-intensive games like Genshin Impact. We were able to play it for almost an hour with excellent graphics quality, without any problems in terms of fluidity and with a full screen display. And, although the smartphone lost 20% of its battery life during our game, we were still able to use it for almost a day and a half afterwards. All with very reasonable heating.
Quality photos
On the back, Honor offers three photo sensors: a main 50 Mpx, a 50 Mpx telephoto lens and a 40 Mpx ultra-wide angle. On the front, there are two 20 Mpx wide-angle sensors (one on the external screen and one on the internal screen).
With these sensors, the photos are of quality. The Honor Magic V3 offers beautiful portraits, especially with the Harcourt modes (Classic, Vibrant and Color) inaugurated with the Honor 200 Pro.
The Honor Magic V3 also offers quality shots, day and night. The colors are vivid and we can clearly see all the details. A quality that is also there with photos taken on the move.
We are also not disappointed with the rendering of the Super macro mode (for close-ups), which renders all the details well.
The Honor Magic V3’s camera, however, sometimes tends to make the sky blue, making the photos less natural.
Similarly, if the night shots are of good quality, we regret that they are a little too bright compared to reality.
Honor has also added AI features like the Magic Eraser which, like on the Google Pixel, allows you to remove elements from a photo. These photos can also be used to search with an equivalent of Google’s “Circle to Search” function. With Honor, you just have to drag an image to one end of the screen to publish it on Instagram, search for an address on Google Maps or see the prices of a product on eBay.
We don’t like
An untapped size for entertainment
The Honor Magic V3 is great for work and reading, but its size is unexploited for videos. Whether on Youtube, Disney+ or another streaming platform, you end up with big black borders at the top and bottom when watching a movie or series on the unfolded screen.
Likewise on social networks like Instagram. It is better to watch stories with the smartphone folded to avoid having big black borders on the sides. Full screen display is also not offered for all games, except Genshin Impact or even Fortnite.
No charger supplied
The Honor Magic V3 supports 50W wireless charging and 66W fast charging, but the charger is not included in the box. In addition to the high price of the smartphone, you will have to pay an additional 50 euros to buy this charger on the Honor website. Without it, it took the smartphone 1h20 to go from 5 to 100%.
Few updates
While the Honor Magic V3 was built to last, with Honor claiming it can withstand 500,000 folds, the manufacturer disappoints when it comes to updates. For its foldable smartphone, it only offers four years of Android updates and five years of security patches, while Samsung offers seven years of Android and security updates for its Z Fold 6.
Note that the Honor Magic V3 is also the first folding smartphone to be IPX8 certified, meaning it can withstand immersion in water up to 2.5 meters for 30 minutes.
Conclusion
With this new folding smartphone, Honor is competing even more with Samsung. Not only is the Honor Magic V3 thinner than the Z Fold 6, but it is sold at the same price, with a better storage capacity (512 GB versus 256 GB). At this price, Honor offers some new features and continues to offer a high-performance smartphone, especially useful for work and reading, capable of lasting long hours.
But it’s still not recommended for people who are primarily looking to have fun with their smartphone. Which is a major limitation, for such an expensive product. On the other hand, Samsung’s expertise in the field and the durability promised by the Z Fold 6 still make it a better student.
