News + Trends
IFA 2023: Our reports from Berlin
by Luca Fontana
Honor Magic V2: The thin foldable smartphone is coming to Europe
1.9.2023
Translation: machine translated
With the Magic V2, Honor is currently bringing the thinnest foldable to Europe. But only the glass version, which is 10.1 millimetres thick when folded. However, you will have to be patient until the market launch.
The Digitec and Galaxus editorial team will be reporting directly from Berlin at IFA 2023. You can find all the news and background information published so far in our overview:
In July, Honor presented its Magic V2 folding smartphone for China. The European launch will now follow at the IFA in Berlin. Although Samsung has since presented the Galaxy Z Fold 5, the V2 remains the thinnest and lightest foldable.
Only the "thick" variant is coming to Europe
The Honor Magic V2 is available in two versions in China. The back is either made of artificial leather or glass. The latter variant is coming to Europe and is slightly thicker and heavier at 10.1 millimetres and 237 grams. The model with vegan leather holds the record for the thinnest foldable. It is 9.9 millimetres thick and weighs 231 grams.
Source: Jan Johannsen
Of the foldables from other manufacturers, the Mate X3 from Huawei comes closest. It measures 11.8 millimetres when folded and weighs 239 grams. The rest of the competition from Samsung, Oppo and Google is thicker and heavier. According to Honor, the thin design is made possible in part by a new type of silicon-carbon battery, which offers more capacity per volume.
Source: Jan Johannsen
The outer display of the Magic V2 measures 6.43 inches and has a resolution of 2376 × 1060 pixels. If you open it up, you can see 2344 × 2156 pixels spread across a screen diagonal of 7.92 inches. Honor uses an OLED display with a refresh rate of up to 120 hertz.
An overview of the most important specs:
- Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
- 16 GB of RAM
- 256 GB, 512 GB or 1 TB storage space
- 50 megapixel main camera (f/1.9)
- 50-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera (f/2.0)
- 20-megapixel telephoto camera (f/2.4)
- 16-megapixel frost camera (f/2.2)
- 5000 mAh battery, 66 watt Honor SuperCharge
- Android 13 with MagicOS 7.2
Impressively thin and light
The first impression of the Magic V2 is positive. The foldable looks thin and light, even without a direct comparison to the competition. It still appears stable.
Source: Jan Johannsen
The crease in the centre is comparatively flat and doesn't interfere much. Honor has made the hinge a little more stable. This means that you can better fold the display in half and even use the phone like this. The camera app recognises this, splits into the two halves of the screen and displays a preview of the gallery.
Source: Jan Johannsen
About the camera: The images in artificial light in the meeting room look good at first glance. The smartphone editorial team took a look at this and more in the detailed test. However, it will be a while before the Honor Magic V2 is available in Europe.
Source: Jan Johannsen
Price and availability
The Honor Magic V2 will be available in Europe from the beginning of 2024. The manufacturer has not yet announced an exact price. However, it is expected to be in the range of 1800 euros to 2000 euros. The price for Switzerland is also likely to be in this range.
Cover photo: Jan Johannsen
As a primary school pupil, I used to sit in a friend's living room with many of my classmates to play the Super NES. Now I get my hands on the latest technology and test it for you. In recent years at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, now at Digitec and Galaxus.