HONOR Magic V2 First Look – Hands-on and Unboxing of the world’s lightest and thinnest foldable phone that’s coming to Malaysia
HONOR is certainly making a name for themselves in Malaysia with a series of solid offerings of late including last year’s Magic5 Pro that was one of the most powerful yet affordable flagship phones in the market.
HONOR Magic V2 First Look – When folded down the phone is as slim as a conventional phone at 9.9mm
For 2024, they’re looking to add another feather in their cap as they’ll be launching their titular foldable the HONOR Magic V2 – in Malaysia that’s currently the world’s lightest and slimmest inward foldable. We managed to get a unit ahead of its official launch – here’s our HONOR Magic V2 first look and unboxing where we check out what their flagship foldable has to offer.
HONOR Magic V2 First Look – Build and Design
Intended as the successor to the HONOR Magic Vs foldable for the Malaysia market, the HONOR Magic V2 was first revealed for sale in China sometime in July last year with its Malaysia debut slated in the near future – specifically on 16th January 2024 where they will officially announce the price and preorder specials.
Compared to other competing foldables, the HONOR Magic V2 is currently the lightest inward-folding foldable not only in Malaysia but in the world, weighing in at just 231g which is almost a third lighter than a full can of soda. When fully unfolded, the phone is just 4.7mm thin which is mind boggling as it’s the thickness of three stacked credit cards. If folded down, our HONOR Magic V2 first look sample is just 9.9mm thin which is still slimmer than the average standard pattern smartphone.
@hitechcentury We get a firsthand look at the new Honor Magic V2 flagship foldable that has just been revealed at IFA 2023. A slim chassis at just 4.7mm thin when unfolded along with OLED displays and a flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor make it an impressive looking design indeed.@HONOR Malaysia #honormagicv2 #tech #fyp #hitechcentury #malaysia #techtok #sembanggadget #malaysiatiktok #longervideos #honor #firstlook #foldablephone ♬ Aesthetic – Tollan Kim
It sounds incredulous on paper but our doubts were dismissed when we managed to lay eyes on it in a super early preview fresh from its China debut last year, as well as in a special event last week where they demonstrated that it was light enough to float on a sheet of A4 paper set in a pool of water. Its nearest contender, the prior Honor Magic Vs for the Malaysia market looks chonkier in comparison, being 1.4mm thicker when unfolded, 3mm thicker when folded and 36g heavier in the bargain.
To achieve these impressive dimensions, HONOR has pulled out every engineering trick in the book with the use of a magnesium alloy frame for exceptional lightness and strength along with the use of a redesigned titanium alloy hinge that ensures it remains slim yet durable to achieve its world-record topping dimensions.
When held, the phone felt slim yet wonderfully premium on account of the glass and metal used in its design. Our HONOR Magic V2 first look sample’s titanium alloy hinge also felt exceptional, opening smoothly and able to hold itself up halfway up.
Pundits will naturally be curious if the redesigned titanium alloy hinge allows the main display to fold completely flat. While it technically doesn’t, it’s thus far the flattest implementation we’ve seen in awhile with a slight crease on the top and bottom edges that can only be seen when the screen is off. When folded down, the HONOR Magic V2 has no discernible gap. What makes it a triumph of engineering is that it is barely thicker than a conventionally designed phone.
Also bundled with our HONOR Magic V2 first look sample that’s specific to Malaysia is a casing that also protects the hinge and features an integrated kickstand, a fast 66W charger and accompanying USB-C cable as well as the usual literature.
HONOR Magic V2 first look – Specifications
Our HONOR Magic V2 comes in an iridescent shade of metallic purple with a satin finish that reflects tiny motes of silver when held up to the light while also nicely repelling fingerprints.
What draws the eye in though is its triple camera housing which is raised up from the backplate with a much shinier purple finish that houses a 50MP primary camera, a 50MP ultra wide angle camera and a 20MP telephoto camera. Both the primary and telephoto camera both have optical image stabilisation for judder free shots and up to 4K@60fps video capture.
The hinge itself and the sides are all finished in a shinier metallic purple that, alas, does attract smudges somewhat. Up front, our HONOR Magic V2 first look sample hosts a 6.43-inch LTPO OLED cover display with a 120Hz refresh rate that’s also colour accurate with a 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut on top of offering 2,500 nits peak brightness on top of HONOR’s emphasis on eye comfort and safety with 3,840Hz PWM dimming. Perched up top in a tiny punch hole is a 16MP selfie camera as well as a tiny grille for the earpiece.
Unfolding our HONOR Magic V2 first look sample reveals its main 7.92-inch LTPO OLED display that, like the over display, has a 120Hz refresh rate, 100% DCI-P3 and 1,600 nits peak brightness. In the upper right corner is another 16MP selfie camera.
The sides host a power button that doubles as a fingerprint reader along with a volume rocker while the base hosts the customary USB-C port and grilles for one of the two speakers that form a matching stereo pair with the other speaker located up top
While the HONOR Magic V2 earns accolades on account of its chart-topping slimness and lightness, it’s not just for show and is every bit a full-fledged flagship phone as it comes with top-shelf hardware that can go toe to toe with any premium phone in current service.
Our HONOR Magic V2 first look sample hosts a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor with the latest Android 13 and their Magic OS 7.2 firmware running under the hood paired with a whopping 16GB RAM as well as a massive 512GB of onboard storage. The latest fast WiFi 7 and 5G connectivity come as a matter of course befitting its status as a bona fide flagship foldable. For now, Malaysia will only have the above storage and RAM configuration available for sale with your choice of either purple or black colourways.
As it stands, the HONOR Magic V2 is a triumph of engineering in terms of how they’ve managed to make it so thin but the design does have a few interesting quirks, chief among them the lack of dust and water resistance so some care needs to be taken to minimise contact with either of the two potential agents.
Another interesting quirk with the design is that while it has a super slim 5,000mAh silicon carbon battery of new design that contributes significantly to its slimness and weight savings with 66W wired charging; it oddly lacks wireless or reverse wireless charging support.
That aside, this flagship foldable remains the slimmest and lightest foldable that money can currently buy in Malaysia though as yet, HONOR Malaysia hasn’t announced how much it will cost or what special gifts it will come with for preorders. In any case, it will be announced on 16th January 2024.
At launch in China, it retailed from 8,999 CNY and up which works out to RM5,987 though these prices will of course vary on account of local taxes.Stay tuned to Hitech Century and we’ll keep you posted on the latest updates and stay tuned for our full review!
HONOR Magic V2 first look sample courtesy of HONOR Malaysia. For more details please visit https://www.hihonor.com/my/