Somewhat of an office favorite thanks to its slim profile (among other virtues), the Honor Magic V3 gadget has now replaced its predecessor. The Honor Magic V3 gadget is going global, making further strides towards pocketability, while also setting standards for durability, and improving upon the camera system.
The previous Honor Magic V2 gadget was the thinnest of its kind when it arrived, and now the V3 gadget follows suit, measuring just 4.4mm in tablet form or 9.3mm when folded as a phone. It has also become lighter, weighing 226g, even with the addition of a wireless charging coil and a bump in battery capacity. Is it engineers working at Honor or miracle workers?
Rhetorics aside, the weight and size reductions come courtesy of improved materials. The Honor Magic V3 gadget’s panels and build are particularly tough, Honor insists, and they even allowed us to test its durability to see where it breaks. This gadget also comes with an IPX8 rating, exceeding the minimum requirements of water resistance.
Cameras on foldable gadgets tend to lag behind industry-leading efforts on standard smartphones, and the Honor Magic V3 gadget is no exception. Still, this new gadget greatly improves the zoom camera, reducing the trade-offs for carrying 300 sq. cm of screen real estate in your pocket instead of the typical 100-ish.
The Honor Magic V3 gadget features displays that should be impressive, judging by the specs, even if the only apparent improvement is maximum brightness. Sure enough, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor handles the calculations, and with up to half a terabyte of storage on the international model, it feels ample for any use.
Here’s a quick rundown of the key specs for this gadget before proceeding.
Honor Magic V3 Gadget Specs at a Glance:
- Body: 156.6x74.0x9.2mm (folded), 156.6x145.3x4.4mm (unfolded), 226g; IPX8 water-resistant (up to 2.5m for 30 min), Stylus support.
- Display: Main: 7.92" Foldable LTPO AMOLED, 1B colors, Dolby Vision, 120Hz, 1800 nits (peak), 2156x2344px resolution, 9.78:9 aspect ratio, 402ppi; Cover: 6.43" OLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, Dolby Vision, 5000 nits (peak), 1060x2376px, 402 ppi, nanocrystal glass 2.0.
- Chipset: Qualcomm SM8650-AB Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (4 nm): Octa-core (1x3.3 GHz Cortex-X4 & 3x3.2 GHz Cortex-A720 & 2x3.0 GHz Cortex-A720 & 2x2.3 GHz Cortex-A520); Adreno 750.
- Memory: 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 16GB RAM, 1TB 16GB RAM.
- OS/Software: Android 14, MagicOS 8.0.1.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.6, 1/1.56", PDAF, OIS; Telephoto: 50 MP, f/3.0, 1/2.51", PDAF, OIS, 3.5x optical zoom; Ultra-wide angle: 40 MP, f/2.2, 112˚, AF.
- Cover/Internal camera: 20 MP, f/2.2, 90˚.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30/60fps (10-bit), 1080p@30/60fps, gyro-EIS, OIS; Cover/Internal camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS.
- Battery: 5150mAh; 66W wired, 50W wireless, 5W reverse wired.
- Connectivity: 5G; eSIM; Dual SIM; Wi-Fi 7; BT 5.3, aptX HD, LDAC; NFC; Infrared port.
- Miscellaneous: Side-mounted fingerprint reader; stereo speakers.
Honor Magic V3 Gadget Unboxing
The Honor Magic V3 gadget ships in a full-size black box with a complete set of accessories, including a faux leather snap-on back cover that also serves as a stand thanks to the swing-out octagonal camera ring. There’s also a frame-like piece with adhesive strips to keep it in place.
Design, Build Quality, and Handling
The Honor Magic V3 gadget focuses on being compact and lightweight, aiming to be as close to a high-end conventional phone when folded. At just 9.2mm thick and weighing 226g, the gadget succeeds in its mission.
Folded, the Honor Magic V3 gadget is wide but slim. Its curved panel edges and rounded frames enhance its thin profile, while in tablet mode, it measures 4.35mm thick, though our measurements showed a slight difference.
Honor invested in materials science for the Honor Magic V3 gadget’s durability. One test even included placing a unit in a washing machine. Its IPX8 rating allows it to withstand submersion in up to 2.5m of water for 30 minutes, surpassing the typical 1.5m standard.
The Honor Magic V3 gadget features Special Fiber, said to be 40 times more impact-resistant than the iPhone 15 Pro Max, while also being 40% thinner. Its Super Steel Hinge is rated for 500,000 folding cycles and is the thinnest in the industry at 2.84mm.
Finally, the Honor Magic V3 gadget includes a NanoCrystal shield for the cover display and a Super Armored Inner Screen. Its inner layers include silicone gel that solidifies upon impact, making the gadget more resilient than regular foldable gadgets.
The fingerprint reader is side-mounted and performs reliably for unlocking, though we prefer the under-display ultrasonic readers seen in other gadgets like the Vivo X Fold3 Pro.
Displays on the Honor Magic V3 Gadget
The Honor Magic V3 gadget doesn’t change much in terms of basic display numbers compared to its predecessor—diagonal sizes, resolutions, and a 120Hz refresh rate remain. Still, Honor claims improvements, particularly with maximum brightness. The foldable internal display features a 7.92-inch diagonal and a 2156x2344px resolution at 402ppi, with brightness levels up to 1,600 nits. However, our tests recorded 1,100 nits under bright ambient conditions, which is still quite impressive but lower than some competitors.
