Honor Magic V3 Review – Is the World’s Slimmest and Lightest Inward-foldable Worth Your Money?

Honor has been constantly striving on improving their entire product line-up with every generation of devices and the new Honor Magic V3 is testament to their relentless approach to innovation as it not only surpasses its predecessor the Magic V2 but manages to send a shot across the bow to every other foldable maker in the market.

Ahead of its global unveiling at IFA 2024 and its Malaysia launch, we got our hands on an early sample for review. You can check out our first impressions here and our unboxing experience here. After taking it around for a spin, here’s our Honor Magic V3 review where we share if the world’s slimmest and lightest inward-foldable is worth your money.

Honor Magic V3 Review – Tougher, lighter, slimmer

One of the biggest bugbears when it comes to foldable form factors in smartphones is the fact that they are typically more fragile than an equivalently sized candy bar shaped phone while also being thicker in the bargain so as to accommodate the hinge mechanism and the fact that there are usually two displays integrated into the design.

Naturally, the more moving parts there are in a design, the greater the risk of failure and bar a few outliers, many foldable designs typically lack dust or water resistance.

In the case of the Honor Magic V3, they’ve addressed all these concerns in a decisive fashion while improving considerably on its predecessor Magic V2. Not only is our Honor Magic V3 review sample lighter by 5g at 226g, it’s also slimmer too when unfolded at 4.35mm and at 9.2mm when folded versus the V2’s 4.8mm and 9.9mm dimensions. 

To achieve this, Honor have used what they’ve referred to as aerospace-grade Special Fibre that exceeds the strength and lightness of Kevlar and carbon fibre for the chassis as well as a stronger and slimmer hinge design.

Honor has also managed to address the slight floppiness of the V2’s hinge and the new design in the Honor Magic V3 is able to fold halfway up and stay there which is essential as the Magic V3 introduces a number of features that take advantage of this semi-folded design.

Honor has also reinforced the front display with their Honor Nanocrystal Shield laminate seen on the earlier Magic6 Pro, allowing it to shrug off direct stabs from a chisel and a scalpel without a single scratch. Better yet, the Honor Magic V3 also has an IPX8 rating, allowing it to shrug off up to a quoted 2.5 metres of freshwater for up to 30 minutes. That, folks, is impressive.

When used over the course of the week our Honor Magic V3 review unit remained pristine with the Special Fibre chassis holding up well to regular use without incurring any minor scratches or nicks even when flung about tables, pockets and backpack sleeves willy-nilly without a casing. 

On that note, the bundled free casing is a fantastic freebie with the custom-moulded rear back snapping on neatly onto the Magic V3 while protecting the hinge and also offering an integrated kickstand.

As an afterthought they’ve also provided a front segment to protect the cover display but the front casing portion itself feels flimsy and requires backing tape to stay securely on the phone. Hopefully future casing designs will have a sturdier front half though it would be churlish to quibble seeing the bounty of other free kit they’ve provided that include a free 66W charger and, for early birds, a Magic Pen stylus. 

Unlike competing designs, the Magic Pen stylus is sized to the dimensions of a normal pen, has real heft and works with both the main and front display. Unfortunately, there’s no way to stick it to our Honor Magic V3 review unit as it is simply too slim to accommodate a stylus of its size nor does the provided casing have a means to attach the pen.

As flagship foldables go, the Honor Magic V3 has a large enough display and is slim enough to have the ergonomics of a normal candybar style phone while being lighter to boot and the exceptionally premium build quality can give the competition a run for their money.

Honor Magic V3 Review – Performance and Benchmarks

Our Honor Magic V3 review sample comes equipped with a set of specifications that can go toe to toe with any flagship phone. For Malaysia, the Magic V3 will come with only RAM/storage configuration though you do get a choice of three potential colourways -Classic Black, Silk Brown and Mossy Green.

Belying its slim dimensions, the Honor Magic V3 comes with the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor which is the most powerful chipset for flagship phones short of brand specific variants like that used in the Galaxy S24 Ultra. This is paired with 12GB RAM augmented by an additional 12GB of virtual RAM assigned off the onboard 512GB of non-expandable storage.

To keep the processor cool, the foldable comes with a titanium Vapour Chamber substrate to shunt heat away from important areas. Running under the hood is the latest Android 14 with Honor’s own MagicOS 8.0.1. According to Honor, devices in Malaysia will have 4 years of OS and 5 years of security updates which isn’t the longest in the market but which is a relatively fair duration.

Here’s how our Honor Magic V3 review sample stacks up on paper:

 

Price	RM6,999
Display	6.43-inch OLED, 2,376 x 1060 pixels, 120Hz, 5,000 nits peak brightness, 91.10% screen-to-body ratio [front display] / 7.92-inch LTPO AMOLED, 2,344 x 2,156 pixels, 120Hz, 1,600 nits peak brightness, 90.50% screen-to-body ratio [folding display]
Processor	Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
OS	Android 14 w/ Magic OS 8.0 [4 years OS and 5 years security updates]
Memory	12GB RAM / 512GB storage
Cameras	50MP F/1.6 w/ OIS + 50MP F/3.0 w/ 3.5X periscope zoom and 100x digital zoom & OIS + 40MP F/2.2 ultra wide [rear] / 20MP F/2.2 [front] / 20MP F/2.2 [inner folding display]
Battery	5,100mAh w/ 66W wired, 50W wireless
Size/Weight	0mAh w/ 66W wired, 50W wireless Size/Weight 156.6 x 145.3 x 4.35mm [unfolded] / 156.6 x 74 x 9.2mm [folded] / 226g

When subjected to synthetic benchmarks, our Honor Magic V3 review unit scored the following:

3D Mark Steel Nomad Light	1,675
3D Mark Steel Nomad Light Unlimited	1,473
3D Mark Solar Bay	8,410
3D Mark Solar Bay Unlimited	7,893
3D Mark Wild Life Extreme	4,582
3D Mark Wild Life Extreme Unlimited	4,570
Geekbench 6 Single core	2,179
Geekbench 6 Multi core	5,417
Geekbench 6 OpenCL	14,916
Geekbench 6 Vulkan	16,636
Geekbench 6 AI CPU Quanticised score	3,628
PCMark Work	16,108

At present, there’s no specific insight on the heat dispersal properties of the Special Fibre used in our Honor Magic V3 review unit’s chassis though the phone itself does have what they refer to as a titanium Vapour Chamber substrate to vent heat away from the processor.

In terms of benchmarks, our Honor Magic V3 review sample compares favourably with other devices running a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor like the Honor Magic6 Pro launched earlier this year which is impressive for how thin the phone is.

The integrated vapour chamber works as it says on the tin, offering effective temperature management for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor. In 3D Mark’s Steel Nomad Light stress test, the Honor Magic V3 managed a respectable 82.% stability score, maxing out at 46°C under full load and getting a best loop score of 1,369 while bottoming out at a 1,130 loop score.

As expected, our Honor Magic V3 review unit crushes any task asked of it including 4K video editing on CapCut without issue and productivity oriented tasks like editing documents on Google Docs and Microsoft Office and large spreadsheets ran as smooth as butter. The phone was also capable of tackling heavy gaming and demanding games like Warzone Mobile and Genshin Impact ran without issue.

The Magic V3 also has a host of AI capabilities including a new Live Translate mode that lets you perform voice and text translations in 10 languages including Bahasa Malaysia and Mandarin.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t do dialects like Cantonese but it’s nevertheless an impressive achievement. Another AI enhancement is its multitasking capabilities though you’re only able to max out at two apps simultaneously and one additional mini app like the calculator on top. 

Honor also leverages AI for their AI Honor Notes that is also able to translate 10 languages and also perform voice to text including recognising separate speakers when transcribing notes that works like a charm.

If there is one killer feature, it’s AI Honor Notes and its voice to text capabilities as this feature proved to be exceptionally handy for taking notes during meetings. Another novel feature is their AI Eraser that is able to delete unwanted objects or people in a shot – we’ll cover that shortly.

Perhaps the main quibble here is that some aspects of MagicOS still need a bit of polish such as when attempting to open up two apps simultaneously; the second app needs to be dragged in from the sidebar but it takes a painstakingly long drag gesture from the edge for the sidebar to even open up in the first place. 

Both the front and main displays are exceptional, offering superb colour rendition and pin-sharp text with excellent clarity that is legible under daylight conditions though the main folding display isn’t as bright as the front display. This time around, they’ve managed to further reduce the crease and it is only readily apparent if the main folding display is off.

The large main display was a delight for reading ebooks while the larger front cover display was sufficiently large enough to be comfortably used like a normal phone.

Of note here is that Honor has added novel AI Defocus Display technology into both displays that uses AI to defocus the display to reduce the risk of shortsightedness in users though it has to be manually activated in the settings and there doesn’t seem to be a tangible effect when in use. The paired speakers are also above par with good volume and detail. 

In terms of endurance, our Honor Magic V3 review unit managed close to two days thanks to its third generation silicon carbide battery and generally efficient app management. Your mileage will, of course, vary depending on how often you use the main screen and how bright you set both displays.

Honor Magic V3 Review – Cameras

Honor has surprisingly been able to pack an impressive amount of imaging hardware into the Magic V3. The primary 50MP camera has an F/1.6 aperture, making it one of the largest apertures seen in a foldable phone. The main camera also has optical image stabilisation too.

Paired with the main camera is a 50MP telephoto camera with 3.5x optical zoom as well as 100x digital zoom that also enjoys optical image stabilisation. You also get a 40MP ultra wide angle camera. The front display and the main inner display each pack a 20MP camera for selfies and video calls. For videos, the front and inner 20MP selfie cameras max out at 4K@30fps while the main real triple camera array is capable of up to 4K@60fps video.

While it is still outclassed by its sibling the Honor Magic6 Pro, the cameras on our Honor Magic V3 review unit acquitted itself admirably especially when compared to competing foldables.

Shots from the main 50MP camera are gorgeous and brimming with detail and the secondary 50MP telephoto camera with its periscope-zoom array captures good shots out to 3.5x zoom and the fact that it’s able to capture out to 100x digital zoom is a surprise, more so for a foldable though the results at maximum zoom aren’t stellar. Still, it’s a neat feature to have. The ultra wide angle camera is serviceable though it oddly renders colours that seem more muted than the main and telephoto camera. 

Interestingly enough, our Honor Magic V3 review unit also has the same Studio Harcourt filters in portrait mode as the Honor 200 series, which allows it to capture shots stills with their characteristic colour science though this is limited only to shots from the rear triple camera array.

The phone also gets AI Eraser to digitally erase unwanted items in a shot and does surprisingly well with subtle yet effective removal of a ceiling fan in our test shot.

All in, the Honor Magic V3 has a very capable set of cameras that can tackle the majority of imaging scenarios you’ll likely encounter.

Should you buy the Honor Magic V3?

As it stands, the Honor Magic V3 is an impressive feat of engineering and design with a breathtakingly slim chassis that is also surprisingly sturdy too with a reinforced Nanocrystal Shield front display. It also packs impressive flagship-grade hardware, respectable cameras and excellent battery life too though the software experience still needs a bit of polish.

If you aspire to own the current world’s slimmest foldable phone and an otherwise solid user experience, the Honor Magic V3 is one of the top choices that money can buy.

Honor Magic V3 review unit courtesy of Honor Malaysia. To purchase please visit their official site at https://www.honor.com/my/