Honor Magic V2 Smartphone Review – The Honor Magic V2 is a foldable smartphone that was released by Honor. The Honor Magic V2 is yet to launch globally, but it will happen soon starting with the European launch. It was originally launched in July 2023 in China. 2023 is certainly the year of foldables as we have seen many exciting foldable releases from various smartphone makers.
Honor followed suit and launched an updated model of their famous Magic V foldable series, replacing their previous Magic Vs. It brought changes that will make Honor’s foldable smartphone remain a popular choice in this highly competitive foldable market. It also supports 5G and looks similar to its predecessor, Honor Magic Vs. Without any further ado, let’s begin with a review of the Honor Magic V2 and find out everything it has to offer.
Table of Contents
Honor Magic V2 Smartphone Review
Highlights
- The Honor Magic V2 features a 7.92-inch Foldable LTPO OLED panel with a resolution of 2156 x 2344 pixels for the main display. While the cover display gets a 6.43-inch LTPO OLED panel with a resolution of 1060 x 2376 pixels. Both displays feature a 120Hz refresh rate, and support for 1 Billion colors, among other things.
- It is powered by the flagship 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 5G processor, clocked at 1×3.36 GHz.
- The Honor Magic V2 is pre-loaded with Android 13 out of the box with MagicOS 7.2.
- The smartphone has a 50MP triple camera system on the back and a 16MP selfie camera.
- The Honor Magic V2 also has a Si-Ca 5000 mAh battery with 66W of fast wired charging and 5W reverse wired charging support.
Design and Display
In terms of design, there are very few changes apart from the obvious change in flash placement in the rear. Where it does bring improvements are in the form of weight and dimensions. The new Magic V2 is 30 grams lighter than the previous model, that is, Honor Magic Vs and it is also under 10mm when folded, which is something no foldables have managed to do as of yet. The back panel can be purchased in both glass and leather. The side and the mid-frame are made out of magnesium alloy, while the foldable hinge is made of titanium alloy.
Let’s talk about the displays of Honor Magic V2. The main display also got a big update and now supports a 120Hz refresh rate. The maximum brightness has also been doubled for both the main and the cover display. The main display features a new 7.92-inch Foldable LTPO OLED panel with a resolution of 2156 x 2344 pixels for the main display. The panel is optimized for IMAX Enhanced and HDR10+, so watching content on the main display will be a delight.
On top of that, the display gets plenty bright at 1600 nits, so HDR content will look gorgeous. Then there’s the cover display, which is a 6.43-inch LTPO OLED panel with a resolution of 1060 x 2376 pixels. Like the main display, it has a 120Hz refresh rate and 2500 nits of brightness, which is the brightest cover display as of yet. It is also HDR10+ certified and is protected by Nanocrystal Glass 2.0. The displays also support a stylus. The new Honor Magic V2 is available in Silk Black, Black, Silk Purple, and Gold.
Memory and Internal
The chipset powering the new Honor Magic V2 is the flagship 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 5G processor that is clocked at 1×3.36GHz. This is the fastest Android chipset that will run all your favorite apps in a jiffy. The app-opening speed is too fast to even notice. With the large screen and the fastest performance, any work you do on this foldable will be done fast.
This performance level is also carried over to the gaming side of things. The chipset is powered by the Adreno 740 GPU, so playing high-fidelity games like Genshin Impact, CODm, and PUBG, among other games is no problem here. The large size of the smartphone also helps in dissipating heat quickly, so there’s little to no heating even under load.
The smartphone comes with Android 13 out of the box with MagicOS 7.2 for better customization support. The new Honor Magic V2 comes with up to 16GB of RAM & 256GB/512GB/ 1TB of internal storage. The smartphone also has support for 5G connectivity for gigabit speeds.
Camera
The Honor Magic V2 has a triple camera setup in the back, consisting of a 50MP main camera, a 50MP ultra-wide camera, and a 20MP telephoto camera with 2.5x zoom capabilities. The main 50MP camera is properly optimized to take some fantastic shots that have great details with high dynamic range. The sharpness of these shots is also on point and looks quite natural. The 50MP ultra-wide also takes similar pictures with equally brilliant detail levels and this excellent performance carries over to the telephoto camera.
The telephoto camera was able to take some amazing 2.5x zoomed shots and the details in the shots are quite good, capable of going toe to toe with other flagship smartphones. Also, the shots taken at night from the rear camera look extremely well-lit and have a good amount of detail in them. On the front of both displays, there’s one selfie camera that is neatly presented inside a punch hole.
This is a 16MP selfie sensor that can take some great selfies with a good amount of detail and a very natural skin tone. When it comes to video recording, the rear cameras can shoot up to 4K@60FPS at 10-bit and the footage is stabilized with OIS and gyro-EIS. But the selfie camera can only shoot videos at a maximum of 4K@30FPS with gyro-EIS for stable video footage.
Battery and Others
The Honor Magic V2 has a Si-Ca 5000 mAh battery, which can provide a full day’s worth of battery, even with medium to heavy usage that includes a bit of photography, video streaming, and gaming. With lighter usage, you may get even better battery backup. With dark mode, the battery backup can be expanded further, thanks to the use of an LTPO OLED display.
Even if the smartphone does run out of battery, the 66W fast-wired charger will quickly recharge it within an hour. There’s support for 5W reverse wired charging as well. Apart from that, the Honor Magic V2 has support for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3, a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, NFC, stereo speakers, and a USB Type-C connector for charging. As for pricing, the phone starts at $1949 (Rs 1,62,499 in India) approx.
Honor Magic V2 Specifications Detail
Down below you can see the full specifications of the Honor Magic V2 smartphone.
| Specifications | Honor Magic V2 |
| Network | 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G |
| Announced | July 2023 |
| SIM | Dual SIM |
| Dimensions | Unfolded: 156.7 x 145.4 x 4.7 mm or 4.8 mm Folded: 156.7 x 74.1 x 9.9 mm or 10.1 mm |
| Weight | 231-237 g |
| Size | Unfolded: 7.92 inches Folded: 6.43 inches |
| Display | Unfolded: LTPO OLED 1B colors 120Hz HDR10+ IMAX Enhanced 1600 nits brightness ~402 PPI density Folded: LTPO OLED 1B colors 120Hz HDR10+ 2500 nits brightness 402 PPI density |
| Protection/Other | Stylus support nanocrystal glass 2.0 |
| Resolution | Unfolded: 2156 x 2344 pixels Folded: 1060 x 2376 pixels |
| OS | Android 13, MagicOS 7.2 |
| Chipset | 4nm – Qualcomm SM8550-AB Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 – International 4nm – Qualcomm SM8550-AC Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 – China |
| CPU | Octa-core 1×3.19 GHz (INTL) 1×3.36 GHz Cortex-X3 2×2.8 GHz Cortex-A715 2×2.8 GHz Cortex-A710 3×2.0 GHz Cortex-A510 |
| GPU | Adreno 740 |
| Card slot | No |
| RAM | 16GB |
| Internal | 256GB, 512GB, 1TB |
| Camera | 50 MP (wide), PDAF, Laser AF, OIS 20 MP (telephoto) PDAF, 2.5x optical zoom, OIS 50 MP (ultrawide), AF LED flash, HDR, panorama Max – 4K@30/60fps (10-bit), gyro-EIS, HDR10+, OIS |
| Selfie | 16 MP (wide) HDR Max – 4K@30fps, gyro-EIS |
| Loudspeaker | Yes (stereo speakers) |
| 3.5mm jack | No 24-bit/192kHz audio |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e/7, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct |
| Bluetooth | 5.3, A2DP, LE, apt-X HD |
| GPS | GPS (L1+L5), GLONASS (L1), BDS (B1I+B1c+B2a) GALILEO (E1+E5a), QZSS (L1+L5) |
| NFC | Yes, NFC-SIM, HCE |
| Infrared port | Yes |
| Radio | No |
| USB | USB Type-C 3.1, OTG, Display Port 1.2 |
| Sensors | Side-mounted fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity compass, color spectrum |
| Battery | Si-Ca 5000 mAh 66W wired 5W reverse wired |
| Colors | Black, Silk Black, Silk Purple, Gold |
| Expected Price | $1949 (Rs 1,62,499 in India) approx. |
Conclusion
The Honor Magic V2 is a foldable smartphone that is positioned as an alternative to Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5. It has an equally stunning display, performance, and battery, but has a better value, thanks to the lower price tag. It is also thinner and lighter than the Galaxy Z Fold 5, which can have a significant impact on the user experience and may change people’s perception of foldable smartphones.
To achieve a lower price tag, Honor had to cut some corners. These drawbacks are a lack of wireless charging and an official IP rating for dust and water resistance. So, if you don’t care much about wireless charging or IP ratings, then the Honor Magic V2 is an absolute gem. But if the lack of wireless charging is a deal breaker for you, then you should look elsewhere.
The obvious alternative would be the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 but it comes at a high price tag, so we have a different alternative for you and that’s the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra. It has both wireless charging and a water-repelling coating for better protection against water damage. It’s not the same as an official IP rating but it’s better than nothing and available at a cheaper price tag.
