The former Huawei sub-brand Honor has just announced its first foldable smartphone, the Honor Magic V. It uses a foldable form factor similar to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold device, combining a large internal folding screen with a smaller external display that can be used when the device is folded. Today is the Chinese launch of the foldable, starting at 9,999 yen (about $1,569) for the 256GB storage model. It will go on sale on January 18th.
The main feature of the Magic V is its foldable internal display, measuring 7.9 inches from corner to corner, with a resolution of 2272 x 1984 with a refresh rate of 90 Hz, and an aspect ratio of 10:9. This is slightly larger than the Samsung Z Fold 3 which has a 7.6-inch internal screen with a resolution of 2208 x 1768. Honor says the internal display of the Magic V is like using two 21:9 screens side by side.
The Magic V’s external display is also slightly larger than the Z Fold 3 at 6.45 inches (compared to 6.2 for Samsung), 2560 x 1080 resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, and 21:9 aspect ratio. Honor says this will help make the device more affordable. More useful when you don’t want to open it.
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When folded, the Magic V measures 72.7 mm wide, 14.3 mm thick and 160.4 mm high, and when opened it expands to 141.1 mm wide and 6.7 mm thick. That’s slightly wider than Samsung’s latest Z Fold, while generally being slightly thinner when folded. The foldable Honors are a bit heavier. It’s available in three colors: orange, silver, and black, and Honor CEO George Zhao says it should last when folded and unfolded 200,000 times.
Internally, the Magic V supports Qualcomm’s latest chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, which is paired with 12GB of RAM and 256GB or 512GB of storage. It has a 4750mAh battery that can charge up to 66W, giving you a 50 percent charge in 15 minutes. It’s 5G compatible and runs Honor Magic UI 6.0 on top of Android 12, which supports displaying multiple app windows at the same time, Honor says.
In terms of cameras, Honor has included three 50MP sensors on the back of the foldable device, which includes a main sensor, an ultrawide camera, and something Honor calls a “Spectrum Enhanced Camera”. We’ve followed up with the company for details on what exactly this third camera does. The Magic V has a pair of 42MP selfie cameras, one integrated into the external display and the other integrated into the foldable indoor display.
Honor joins a growing list of companies that have announced or started selling foldable smartphones. Recently, we saw Oppo announce looking for N late last year, xiaomi And Honor’s former parent company, Huawei It also has collapsible hardware. We met with Honor to find out if or when the Magic V will be released globally.
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