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Introduction
Honor’s latest Flagship foldable is hitting international markets a lot sooner than previous models and it has been jam-packed with some much-needed upgrades. In the box you’ll find the device itself as well as a premium leather finished kickstand case with a front piece, a 6-amp charging cable and a 66W charging brick.
Pricing and Availability
The Honor magic V3 just launched in the global market, so I’m unaware of the global price at the time of writing this review. But I’ll be sure to put the price in the comment section down below as well as any purchase links. That said it should be in line with other Flagship foldable prices however it only comes in one variant with 12 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage.
Back Camera Review
Some of the most notable changes this year are seen inside the camera system which is what all foldables seem to be striving to improve upon in 2024. They have now changed up the camera module to look similar to their Flagship bar styled magic devices. But its Dome shaped module has been diamond cut into an octagon shape and to round it off, Honor have collaborated with Studio Harcourt to bring different AI portrait modes on.
I have traded in the telephoto camera for a new 1 in 2.51 inch sized 50 megapixel Periscope sensor with OIS, an f/3.0 aperture and a 190 mm focal length for 3.5 time optical zoom. the 26 mm 1 in 1.56 inch sized 50 megapixel main camera has an aperture of f/1.6 making it the largest aperture lens on any foldable smartphone and it now uses an 8 wide SMA actuator for superb OIS and lastly the ultrawide camera has also been upgraded to a new 40 megapixel sensor with an f/2.2 aperture and a 16 mm focal length for a 112° field of view.
All three of these sensors now offer three different colour profiles. there’s natural which is truer to life, vibrant which offers a nice balance and authentic which gives photos an autistic gloomy look. since Vibrance is the default mode and offers the best balance, that’s what we’ll be sticking to for the rest of these photos.
Motion sensing capture is thrown around which automatically takes a snap when it detects movement and thanks to Honor’s impressively fast shutter speeds, the magic V3 has no problems keeping moving subjects in focus and yes, this mode can be utilized across all the back cameras as mentioned earlier.
Honor has recently joined forces with Studio Harcourt offering three different AI portrait modes namely vibrant, colour and classic which gives users that original monochrome look. These different portrait Styles can be used with the Periscope sensor as well and it’s hard to believe that these shots were taken on a foldable smartphone.
There’s a super macro mode option which utilizes the ultrawide camera for a detail packed image when close up. the new ultrawide sensor takes very pleasing shots of scenery whether you use high-res mode or standard photo mode and the same can be said when taking the same photo with the main camera.
The Periscope takes questionable photos when set to high res, but things look fantastic when BN down in photo mode and it continues to please when zooming in further at five times and 10 times ranges though detail starts to dip when zooming in from 30 to 100 times.
Honor and now giving their foldables the same attention as their flagships with features such as continuous 4K 60fps video allowing you to switch from the ultrawide to the main to the Periscope all the way up to 10 times digital zoom in a single video. But unfortunately, slow motion video is limited to full HD resolution and 240 frames per second. It can only be used with the main camera and there is a lot to be desired when it comes to detail.
There is still no 8K video or Ultra stabilization video option, but all three sensors can record video at 4K 60 FPS and I was very surprised to see how stable they all came out considering it was a very windy day. all cameras produce detailed video, but there’s no doubt that the main sensor takes the lead here. There’s only a portrait video mode option for the main camera but it’s limited to 1080p resolution, and its Edge detection is questionable. That said regular 4K video comes out with fantastic natural depth whether shooting with the main or Periscope sensors.
Portrait video is underwhelming at night and while the Periscope comes out a tad underexposed and grainy the main camera offers a super night video mode option which left me very impressed, despite it being limited to full HD resolution. When recording regular 4K video at night the main camera certainly comes out looking the best, but far from the best I’ve seen before. At least it’s not filled with grain which is noticeable on the ultra-wide and Periscope footage, but now none of them really know how to handle light noise.
The ultrawide continues to struggle with light noise handling when taking a photo at night, but the main and Periscope produce very impressive images. The Periscope manages to take a very good five time zoom photo, but detail starts to take a back seat at a 10 time zoom range and just like we saw with day pics, long Zoom range photos are not exactly the magic V3 strong suit.
I was very impressed with the main camera when taking photos of a human subject at night and while the Periscope produced a great image, it struggled with clarity. Neither of them changed their effect when enabling portrait mode at night, but the main camera added even more detail to my face.
The Honor magic V3 takes the best photos and videos I ever seen produced from an Honor foldable and its main camera is up there with the best of the best. But the best thing about this back camera system is that you can use all of these cameras as selfie cameras
Selfie Camera
Before we start comparing back cameras to selfie cameras, it’s worth mentioning that both the outer and inner displays have punch hole cut out for the exact same 20 megapixel selfie camera with an f/2.2 aperture and a 21 mm focal length for a 90° field of view.
So, we’ll be sticking to the outer display selfie camera when taking Snaps to utilize the back cameras How to use Back Cameras for Selfies for selfies you just have to tap on the top left icon in the camera app when in selfie mode and then unfold the device the ARA display is then used as a preview screen and also allows you to control the camera app as you usually would.
Selfie Camera vs Back Cameras for Selfies Comparison
The rear ultrawide camera allows you to fit more into the frame when compared to the selfie camera and while the selfie camera still takes fantastic photos the main camera produces more detail and better natural depth.
The selfie camera caps 4K video at 30 FPS, but I’m very happy to see an option for 4K selfie video as many foldables limit selfie video to full HD. I was also rather surprised to see how stable selfie video came out. selfie video might not look quite as good as main video in terms of detail and dynamic range, but it still looks very good. it’s just awesome to know that you can use the very capable main camera to Vlog on the go.
Differences are a lot more Apparent at night which will most likely push users to stick to using the rear cameras for selfie videos but the rear ultrawide camera doesn’t perform too much better than the selfie camera when recording video at night. The selfie camera took a surprisingly good photo when compared to the ultrawide camera at night since the ultra white sensor messed up tonal range a bit. but the rear main sensor produced an incredible selfie photo at night adding in a lot more detailed in the selfie camera which is a similar case When comparing the main and selfie photos in portrait mode at night.
Selfie Camera vs Back Cameras
It’s extremely useful to be able to use the flagship main cameras as selfie cameras but the Honor magic V3 houses some very capable selfie cameras which is a very nice bonus considering most other foldables don’t really pay much attention to selfie camera performance.
Design and Build
Honor’s latest foldable brings three different colours to the global market namely black, green and reddish brown seemingly leaving the white variant as a China exclusive. I have the green variant and its forest-like dark Hue is very nice when combined with the glossy camera ring and hinge and dark grey matte finished side rails. The back plate is made from Super fibre which is supposedly 40 times more impact resistant when compared to the iPhone 15 Pro’s back glass. It shimmers in light and has a soft feeling touch. the back slightly curves on the left Edge which flows into the aluminium frames.
The magic V3 has once again broken records in terms of foldable thickness coming in at just 9.2 mm thick when folded and 4.35 mm when unfolded making it once again the thinnest foldable smartphone on the planet. It’s now lighter too at just 226 grams making it even lighter than Samsung’s bar styled Galaxy S24 Ultra. The device is now also lighter thanks to Honor’s second generation super steel hinge which is lighter, thinner and stronger than before.
It now also packs in an additional set of swing arms to Aid it in lasting for up to 500,000 folds. It can hold itself at any angle between around 45 to 135° and when completely unfolded there is a natural crease, but it’s apparently just 78 micron deep which is significantly better than the Z Fold 6’s 217 micron depth. Once you fold it back up, it’s not surprising that there is absolutely no Gap and Honor has now added a much needed feature that being an IPX8 water resistance certification, though it can be submerged even deeper than other foldables at a whopping 2.5 metre deep for up to 30 minutes.
The external display is protected by ant scratch Nano Crystal Shield while the inner screen is protected by super armor which uses silicon gel and Nano scale coating. Both displays offer stylus support. Just like with most foldables the magic V3 uses a side mounted fingerprint scanner, but it’s now a lot faster and more responsive. There’s now a full screen always on display option and of course there’s still Face Unlock.
External and Internal Display
Both displays are identical to the magic V2 that being a 6.43 inch OLED cover screen with 402 pixels per inch, an upgraded 5,000 nits of peak brightness which is just insane and a very pleasing 20 by 9 aspect ratio as well as a 7.92 inch OLED inner display with 402 PPI, an unchanged 1,600 nits of brightness and a 9.78 by 9 aspect ratio.
Both of them can display over 1 billion colours, they both support Dolby Vision, HDR10, HDR10 Plus and widevine L1 content and they both make use of LTPO technology for a 1Hz to 120Hz screen refresh rate. They are also both treated to Honor eye Comfort display technology with features such as circadian night display aid, natural tone, Dynamic dimming and high frequency PWM dimming. But while the internal display has remained at 3840Hz PWM, the cover screen has jumped up to 4320Hz.
Software and Features
Other than the new full screen always on display feature I mentioned earlier, there is now a standby clock which can be activated when half folded in multiple different positions and adjust it to your preference. The Honor magic V3 comes with magic OS 8.0.1 out the box which is skinned over Android 14 and since this is the global variant it’s filled with all of Google’s goodies as well as a few Google driven AI features such as Gemini which can replace Google Assistant once downloaded, Google image search with magic portal which uses Google to find more info on what’s on your screen, AI eraser to remove an object from an image, face-to-face translation and of course Voice to Text transcription in the Honor Notes app which allows you to use a voice recorder in the notes app and transform it into text.
Other than AI features magic OS has always been one of my favourite Android skins around thanks to its optimized feel and generous organization options with things such as large folders. But since this is a foldable there’s a lot more you can do in terms of multitasking. You can choose whether you’d like single or dual screens on your home screen, which is usually not an option, you can enable a global taskbar which can be brought up while inside an app. View suggested and all apps from the taskbar, drag a second app in for split screen, adjust window sizes, switch to a horizontal layout, save the split screen combo on your home screen for use later on and bring other apps in as floating windows and pin them to the side for easy access.
Hover mode can be used to transform your foldable into a laptop when typing or to watch videos propped up while utilizing the bottom half of the screen for another action and if that’s not enough the selfie camera can even turn into a dynamic Island to further enhance your multitasking experience which naturally works on the cover screen as well.
Battery and Charging
The Honor magic V3 packs in a slightly larger 5,150 Mah silicon carbon battery which can be charged up using the same fast 66W wire charging or for the first time ever seen on an Honor foldable Flagship 50W wireless charging.
Hardware and Benchmarks
The device also makes use of a new titanium vapor chamber which should keep all components running cool including 512 gigs of UFS 4.0 storage, 12 gigs of LPDDR5X RAM and of course the 4 nm run Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 CPU which means it produced some very high hitting benchmark scores across multiple different Benchmark apps and I wasn’t surprised to see it play games without a sweat.
We managed an average of 120 FPS while playing Real Racing 3 without any issues as well as a stable 120 frames per second when playing Call of Duty Mobile on Ultra frame rate mode. It’s also nice to see that we can shift from the inner display to the cover screen mid-match without facing any scaling issues or restarts. Lastly, we booted up Genshin impact which has a frame limit of 60 FPS and we averaged a rock solid 60 FPS the entire time with all the graphical settings maxed out.
Connectivity
Honor’s latest foldable also makes use of Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, dual SIM 5G and Wi-Fi 7 as well as a USB 3.1 type-C Port which doubles as a display port, an IR blaster, an X-axis linear vibration motor, three microphones and symmetrical dual stereo speakers with DTSX ultra.
Final Thoughts
Everything that made the magic V2 incredible and improved on it with the magic V3. It has better performance, a larger battery now, has wireless charging, software is more optimized and makes better use of AI, the displays are brighter and more refined, it’s now waterproof, its design has been reimagined, its cameras have been seriously upgraded and when it didn’t seem possible for foldables to get any thinner, Honor somehow managed to do that too. Let me know your thoughts on the magic V3 in the comment section down below.
