Honor Magic V3 Review
Honor’s newest foldable, the Magic V3, is reaching global markets faster than past models and arrives with meaningful upgrades. Inside the box, you’ll find the Magic V3 itself, a premium leather–covered kickstand case with a front flap, a high–amp USB-C cable, and a 66W power adapter.
Pricing and Availability
The Magic V3 has just debuted internationally, and while its exact global price has yet to be confirmed, it’s expected to sit alongside other flagship foldables in cost. Honor offers a single configuration worldwide: 12GB of RAM paired with 512GB of onboard storage.
Honor Magic V3
₹185,990.00- Display: 7.92″ AMOLED (2156 x 2344 pixels)
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
- Memory: 16GB RAM, 1TB …
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Rear Camera System
Honor has overhauled the camera bump to mirror its flagship bar phones, reworking the dome module into a diamond-cut octagon. Key specs include:
- 50 MP periscope telephoto (1/2.51″ sensor, f/3.0, 190 mm focal length, 3.5× optical zoom, OIS)
- 50 MP main camera (1/1.56″ sensor, f/1.6 aperture, 26 mm field of view, advanced OIS with SMA actuator)
- 40 MP ultra-wide (f/2.2, 16 mm, 112° angle)
All three lenses support three colour profiles—Natural, Vibrant (default), and Authentic—so you can choose between lifelike tones, punchy contrast, or moody desaturation.
Honor’s Motion Sensing Capture automatically snaps a photo when it detects movement, and thanks to the Magic V3’s fast shutter, tracking subjects remains sharp across every rear lens. A collaboration with Studio Harcourt unlocks three AI-driven portrait styles (Vibrant, Colour, Classic Mono) that work even with the periscope sensor, producing studio-worthy shots from a folding phone.
For close-ups, the ultra-wide doubles as a macro lens, delivering richly detailed images of small objects. High-resolution main camera photos retain plenty of fine texture, while the periscope delivers clean 5× and 10× zoom shots—beyond that, digital magnification smooths details into a painterly aesthetic, but still looks surprisingly noise-free to an untrained eye.
Video Capabilities
The Magic V3 supports seamless 4K 60 fps recording across the ultra-wide, main, and periscope cameras—even while zooming up to 10× in one continuous clip. However, slow-motion is capped at 1080p 240 fps on the main sensor, with modest detail. There’s no 8K option or “ultra-stabilization” mode, but standard 4K footage remains impressively steady in windy conditions, with the main camera consistently delivering the richest depth and clarity.
A dedicated portrait video mode runs at 1080p, though edge detection can falter in low light. Speaking of night shooting: the main sensor’s Full-HD night video mode stands out, minimizing grain far better than the ultra-wide and periscope after dark. Photo performance follows a similar pattern—while low-light ultra-wide and periscope snaps can struggle with noise, the main camera shines, especially when capturing human subjects.
Perhaps most compelling, you can use any rear lens as your selfie cam by tapping an icon in selfie mode and unfolding the device—letting the cover display serve as your preview screen.
Selfie Camera
Both the outer and inner screens house the same 20 MP front shooter (f/2.2, 21 mm, 90° field of view). For traditional selfies, you simply use the primary display. If you prefer the superior rear optics, switch to cover-screen preview—then unfold the phone to frame and fire with any back camera just like a regular front-facing lens.
Selfies vs. Rear-Camera Selfies
- The ultra-wide rear lens fits more into the frame than the front camera, while the main rear sensor yields sharper detail and more natural background separation.
- Selfie video can record in 4K 30 fps (a rarity among foldables), and stabilization is rock-solid. Although front-cam footage doesn’t match the dynamic range of rear 4K, it remains highly usable for vlogging on the go.
- In low light, rear ultrawide clips hold no clear advantage over the front camera, but the primary rear sensor still leads for night selfies—capturing finer facial detail with less noise in both stills and portrait modes.
Thoughts on Camera
The Magic V3 raises the bar for foldables by equipping its flagship cameras as selfie options and delivering a versatile, high-end imaging experience. Between its collaborative AI portrait styles, motion-activated snaps, and continuous 4K across all lenses, it stands out as one of the most camera-focused foldables on the market.
Design and Build
Honor’s newest foldable arrives in three global finishes—Black, Forest Green, and Reddish Brown—while White stays exclusive to China. The Forest Green model pairs a deep, nature-inspired back panel with a glossy camera ring and hinge, plus dark-gray, matte side rails. Its rear shell uses “Super Fibre,” claimed to be 40× more impact-resistant than the iPhone 15 Pro’s glass, and curves gently into slim aluminium frames.
Measuring just 9.2 mm when folded and 4.35 mm when open, the Magic V3 reclaims the thinnest foldable title. At 226 g, it’s lighter than many flagship slabs, aided by a second-generation steel hinge and extra swing arms rated for 500 000 folds. It holds any angle from 45° to 135°, with a barely perceptible 78 µm crease, and seals against water to IPX8 standards—even surviving 2.5 m underwater for 30 minutes.
A Nano Crystal Shield protects the exterior display, while the interior uses Super Armor (silicon-gel plus nanoscale coating). Both panels accept stylus input. The side-mount fingerprint sensor now unlocks more quickly, and you can choose between full-screen always-on display or face unlock.
Displays
- Cover Screen: 6.43 in AMOLED, 402 ppi, up to 5000 nits peak brightness, 20:9 aspect ratio
- Inner Screen: 7.92 in AMOLED, 402 ppi, up to 1000 nits brightness, ~9.78:9 aspect ratio
Both panels showcase over a billion colors, support Dolby Vision, HDR10, HDR10+, and Widevine L1, and use LTPO to scale refresh rate from 1Hz to 120Hz. Honor’s Eye Comfort tech adds circadian night display, natural tone, dynamic dimming, and high-frequency PWM—4320Hz on the cover panel and 3840Hz inside.
Software and Features
Running Magic OS 8.0.1 on Android 14, the global firmware includes Google’s full suite plus AI tools like Gemini Assistant, Google Image Search via Magic Portal, AI Eraser, Face-to-Face Translation, and Voice-to-Text in Notes.
Foldable-specific multitasking features:
- Single or dual-panel home layouts
- A global taskbar for quick app switching
- Split-screen, floating windows, and horizontal mode
- Saveable split combos pinned to home
- Hover mode turns the inner display into a mini-laptop or video stand
- A Dynamic-Island–style UI element around the selfie cutout for live controls
Battery and Charging
A 5150 mAh silicon-carbon battery powers the device. It supports 66W wired fast charging and, for the first time in an Honor foldable flagship, 50W wireless charging.
Hardware and Performance
Inside sits Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 on a 4 nm process, paired with 12 GB LPDDR5X RAM and 512 GB UFS 4.0 storage. A titanium vapor chamber keeps temperatures in check. Gaming benchmarks include:
- Real Racing 3 at a steady 120 fps
- Call of Duty Mobile at 120 fps on Ultra
- Genshin Impact locked at 60 fps on max settings
Switching between the cover and inner displays mid-game is seamless, with no restarts or scaling issues.
Connectivity
Features include Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, dual-SIM 5G, Wi-Fi 7, and a USB 3.1 Type-C port doubling as DisplayPort. Extras include an IR blaster, X-axis linear vibration motor, three microphones, and symmetrical stereo speakers with DTS:X Ultra.
Final Thoughts
The Magic V3 refines everything that made the V2 great: faster performance, a larger battery with wireless charging, brighter and more advanced displays, IPX8 water resistance, a refreshed design, upgraded cameras, and the thinnest foldable form factor on the planet.
