Honor Magic V3 Hands-On: Just as Easy to Carry and Use as a Nonfolding Phone

Honor has polished up its flagship book-style foldable phone. Despite what the name suggests, the Magic V3 represents the Chinese company's fourth-generation folding phone and builds on the large strides made by its predecessor, the Magic V2. The biggest changes are a more advanced telephoto camera, better software optimization, wireless charging and an IP rating for water resistance. However, the feature that's making the most headlines is the Honor Magic V3's ultrathin design, which makes the new phone the world's slimmest book-style foldable -- although by a slim margin of literally a couple of hair strands. 

The Magic V3 has all the trappings of a foldable flagship in 2024 -- an achievement made more impressive because of its slim body. It runs on the top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, packs a larger, 5,150 mAh battery with support for 66-watt wired charging and 50-watt wireless charging, features five cameras, including a 50-megapixel telephoto camera, and has new AI features to boot. Both screens also support a stylus, which Honor sells separately. 

Stuffing camera and battery components into a smartphone is a challenge for all phone makers. And when it comes to foldables, these features are even trickier to include since these phones need to fold in half. Other foldable phones worked around this, like the early Samsung Galaxy Z Fold models, which drew criticism for their bulky design, high price and subpar durability. Where the Honor Magic V3 sets itself apart is that it's able to include a larger battery than what's found in many candy bar-style phones sold today, into a foldable that's ultrathin.

As impressive as the Magic V3 is, it isn't perfect. With an IPX8 rating, the Magic V3 is not rated to offer protection against dust ingress. This means durability remains a concern. The V3 can withstand submersion under 1.5 meters of water for up to 30 minutes, the same as Google's new Pixel 9 Pro Fold. Also, the Magic V3 comes with four years of Android software upgrades and five years of security updates, which is the same as last year's Galaxy Z Fold 5 and OnePlus Open. But that's three years less than Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 6.

The Magic V3 was released in Honor's native China back in July for 8,999 yuan, which converts roughly to $1,265. That's significantly cheaper than the $1,799 Pixel 9 Pro Fold and $1,900 Galaxy Z Fold 6. However, it's likely the price tag will run higher in countries such as the UK and Australia. Honor has no current plans for a US release.

Read more: These Cool Foldable Phones Are Coming, Just Not in the US

Magic V3's design: Thin is in

The Magic V3's ultrathin and lightweight design is one of my favorite features about this phone, as it shows that foldable smartphones can be just as portable as standard phones. When I carried the Galaxy Z Fold 6 in one hand and the Magic V3 in the other, I could immediately feel and see the difference in heft. Honor credits the battery and hinge as some of the key reasons for an incredibly slim Magic V3. According to Honor, the Magic V3's hinge is made of stronger steel and rated to withstand 500,000 folds. That's a notable improvement over the Magic V2, which was rated for 400,000 folds.

In my experience, the hinge allowed the Magic V3 to fold and be propped open in a variety of angles. If I had to nitpick, at wider angles the upper screen ended up falling flat onto whatever surface it was on instead of staying in place. Compare that with the Galaxy Z Fold 6's hinge, which can keep the phone open at nearly any angle you want it like a laptop screen -- even the wider ones. I rarely ever used the phone in those wide angles, although others might. 

Apart from these, perhaps one of the most notable design features is the Magic V3's camera bump. Honor says the bump's octagonal shape was inspired by architectural dome structures. The camera bump is big and sticks out from the back of the phone. When folded, the phone doesn't lie flat and instead slopes upward. I had no issues with this personally, but Honor says it's keen on reducing the size of the bump. Honor was able to mask the camera bump by putting a stylish design around it.

Magic V3's displays

The Magic V3 has a 6.43-inch cover screen that flips open like a book to reveal a 7.92-inch inner screen. I personally love reading articles on the inner screen due to the expansive space for articles and the larger font size -- making it easy on my eyes. Of course this feature isn't exclusive to the Magic V3, but underscores the benefit of using a foldable phone. At the same time, the larger inner screen's keyboard took a little getting used to, but I don't anticipate this being an issue in the long run. The Magic V3 had a setting to separate the keyboard down the middle and push each half closer to its side of the screen, which allowed for easier two-handed typing -- similar to tablets and other large-screen phones.

One of the reasons foldable phones command a high price is their bendy screens, which have a vertical fold crease from top to bottom. In the Magic V3's case, the crease wasn't easily discernible, unless you maneuver the screen and try to locate it. I could, though, feel the crease when sliding my finger across the bend. I watched videos and read the news seamlessly without the crease feeling intrusive. 

Magic V3's five cameras

The Magic V3 has five cameras. There's a 50-megapixel main camera, a 50-megapixel periscope-style telephoto camera and a 40-megapixel ultrawide on the back of the phone. You can also use this trio to snap selfies thanks to the Magic V2's foldable design, which enables the cover screen to function as a viewfinder. There's a 16-megapixel camera on the cover screen and a second 16-megapixel camera under the display of the inner screen. 

Foldable phones aren't known for being the best phone cameras because there's less space to house larger image sensors and lenses. And while the Magic V3 makes some improvements, even boasting a fancy 50-megapixel periscope-style telephoto lens, this camera isn't on par with the performance from flagship bar-style phones such as the Google Pixel 9 Pro or the iPhone 15 Pro Max, each of which cost hundreds of dollars less.Magic V3's product expert, Hope Cao, told CNET in an exclusive interview that the camera performance was a key area Honor sought to improve in forthcoming models. Cao led the development of the Magic V3 over several years, from start to finish.

Take a look at the photos below to see the cameras in action.

The Magic V3's battery and performance

The phone handled virtually everything I threw at it without a hitch: watching videos, having multiple apps open at once, playing video games These activities included graphic-intensive games such as Genshin Impact, livestreaming YouTube videos and running Zoom video calls while taking notes.

I also ran a 45-minute battery endurance test during which I streamed live YouTube videos and jumped on video calls. The battery dropped from 90% to 82%. Based on anecdotal experience, the battery lasted me more than a full day (15 hours) with mild to moderate use that included watching some videos, reading the news and checking emails. The Magic V3 is right up there with the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, which has a smaller battery and lasts over 14 hours in our real-world tests. However, it uses a newer type of battery technology called silicon carbon.

Magic V3 software

The Magic V3's inner screen is optimized for more apps than its predecessor, with Honor claiming that over 800 apps worldwide have been optimized to make better use of the main screen. Apps previously not optimized for in the Magic V2, such as the CNN app, no longer have black bars on the sides of the screen without needing to change the settings. However, when you fold the screen in half to mimic a laptop, I found that significantly fewer apps supported a split view that could let me type or navigate on the bottom half of the screen that is lying flat. I'd love to see Honor do more with that, as it marks a big differentiator between foldables and regular bar phones, although perhaps it's not a reason to run out and buy one.

Magic V3's AI features

These days no phone launch is complete without new AI features, and the Magic V3 is no different. Honor's new phone packs several of Google's cloud-based AI features for the first time including AI Eraser, Face to Face Translation and Honor Notes Live Translation.

The Magic V3 also has AI features for enhancing photos, which include an AI Motion Sensing feature focused on reducing blurriness on fast-moving subjects and AI Portrait Engine for enhancing portrait photos

Magic V3 final thoughts for now

Honor hasn't revealed Magic V3 pricing outside China as of this writing. There, the Magic V2 and V3 both cost 8,999 yuan. The global version of the Magic V2 costs £1,700, which converts to roughly $1,885. If the Magic V3's global version ends up being the same price, that's £299 less than the £1,999 Galaxy Z Fold 6 and £199 less than the £1,899 Pixel 9 Pro Fold. But until we have a definite price, it's difficult to make a more holistic assessment of the Magic V3. 

My time so far with the phone has largely been spent discovering all the refinements Honor has made. The Magic V3's improved telephoto camera, IP rating and a larger battery are also welcome additions. However, I'd like to see Honor develop a bookshelf-style foldable phone with a dust resistance rating, which Samsung's rival Galaxy Z Fold 6 has. Photography performance could also improve, and despite its otherwise slimmer size, this phone still has quite the camera bump.

But perhaps what I enjoyed most about the Magic V3 is that its design offers a peek into a future where foldable phones are just as easy to carry and use as any other flagship phone. Even though there appears to be an uphill battle waiting for better Android app compatibility and lower prices to broaden availability.