Honor Magic Vs2 Smartphone Review – The Honor Magic Vs2 is a 5G foldable smartphone that was launched in October 2023 in China we hope that Honor will soon release it globally. However, we are yet to hear anything about an official announcement regarding the global launch of the Honor Magic Vs2. Honor has two different lineups of foldable smartphones, the HonorMagic V series and the HonorMagic Vs series.
The Magic Vs series usually comes after the main Magic V series and with that, the smartphone brings new features and enhancements. The same is true here. Honor claims that the new Honor Magic Vs2 brings some notable improvements over the Honor Magic V2 while retaining the same design. So, let’s begin with a detailed review of the Honor Magic Vs2 smartphone and see if this smartphone is worth purchasing.
Table of Contents
Honor Magic Vs 2 Smartphone Review
Highlights
- The Honor Magic Vs2 features a 7.92-inch foldable LTPO OLED panel While the cover display gets a 6.43-inch LTPO OLED panel.
- It is powered by the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, capable of reaching up to a 1×3.0GHz clocking speed.
- The Honor Magic Vs2 is pre-loaded with the latest Android 13OS out of the box with a MagicOS 7.2 user interface.
- The smartphone has a 50MP triple camera system on the back and a 16MP selfie camera.
- The Honor Magic Vs2 also has a Li-Po 5000mAh battery with 66W of fast wired charging and 5W reverse wired charging support.
Design and Display
The Honor Magic Vs2 does bring in too many differences in the design department and that can be a good thing. Honor decided to stick to the previous design philosophy which works but swapped in some new materials which has some significant effect on the smartphone. The Honor Magic Vs2 uses an enhanced form of Magnesium alloy for the body of the smartphone for better durability, while switching to titanium alloy allows for the hinge mechanism.
The use of titanium not only enhances the durability of the hinge but also makes it lighter. The new Honor Magic Vs2 is 2 grams lighter than the Honor Magic V2, which may not seem like a lot but remember the titanium alloy is stronger as well. Another change in the design is the new colors, Black, Purple, and Blue.
As for the displays, there are two on the smartphone as it is a foldable smartphone. There is a main screen that is foldable and features a 7.92-inch foldable LTPO OLED panel. There’s a secondary display that consists of a 6.43-inches LTPO OLED panel. Both displays support all the latest technologies, including 120hz refresh rate, HDR10+, and IMAX Enhanced viewing experience.
Both panels can also display up to 1 Billion colors. On top of that, they are LTPO displays, so the display hertz can dynamically scale to preserve better. However, there’s no mention of dust or water protection. Aside from this, the secondary display has 2500 nits of peak brightness to comfortably use the device outdoors. All in all, you will receive a flagship viewing experience on the foldable smartphone.
Memory and Internal
The Honor Magic Vs2 is powered by last year’s flagship processor, the 4nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor that can reach up to a 1×3.0GHz clocking speed. This is last year’s flagship chipset but is still one of the fastest Android chipsets in the world. However, this is one area where would still feel like there has been a downgrade considering the Honor Magic V2 has a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 having launched 3 months earlier. But it is what it is and Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 still has more performance than you will possibly use in daily day-to-day life.
All your apps will launch in milliseconds and its multitasking capabilities are through the roof, which will vastly improve your productivity. This incredible performance level can also be seen in the gaming side of things. The Adreno 730 GPU packs flagship performance, so playing high-fidelity games like Genshin Impact, CODm, and PUBG, among other games is no problem here and it can run them at smoother framerates. The smartphone also has support for 5G connectivity for gigabit speeds.
Foldable smartphones are also larger in size compared to traditional smartphones and the large size also helps in dissipating heat quickly. This is one of the reasons why there’s no overheating in the smartphone even under load. The other reason for this is the efficiency of the chipset, thanks to the 4nm manufacturing process. The smartphone comes with the latest Android 13OS out of the box withMagicOS 7.2 interface for better customization support. The Honor Magic Vs2 will be available for purchase with 12GB to 16 GB of RAM and 256GB to 512 GB of internal storage.
Camera
The Honor Magic Vs2 has a triple camera setup that consists of a 50MP main camera, a 12MP ultra-wide camera, and a 20MP telephoto camera with 2.5x zoom capabilities. This is where you will see another downgrade over the Honor Magic V2, which had a 50MP ultra-wide lens. The main 50MP camera takes multiple camera samples and then they get binned and processed into one single picture. The sensor is also properly optimized and that allows it to have great details with high dynamic range.
The 20MP telephoto camera is also quite a decent sensor as it manages to provide some of the most impressive zoomed shots, that is, at 2.5x Zoom levels. These shots are well-detailed and have a natural color tone. The ultra-wide camera also takes some great pictures even though it only has a 12MP sensor, which goes to show that megapixel numbers aren’t everything. But the 20MP sensor in the Magic V2 is slightly better than this foldable smartphone, especially at night. Speaking of night, the night photography isn’t too shabby here.
The main camera blows away other smartphones in the same price range. The sharpness of the night shots is also on point and looks quite natural. On the front of both displays, there’s one 16MP selfie camera that is capable of taking some great selfies with a good amount of detail. When it comes to video recording, the rear cameras can shoot up to 4K@60FPS, and the footage is stabilized with gyro-EIS.But the selfie camera can only shoot videos at a maximum of 4Kvideos@30FPS with gyro-EIS for stable video footage.
Battery and Others
The Honor Magic Vs2 has a Li-Po 5000 mAh battery, which is a high-performance battery and can provide a full day’s worth of battery with 10 – 20% still left in the battery at the end of the day. This is with medium usage that includes some cameras, social media, texting, and watching your favorite videos. However, if you include gaming into the mix, then the battery will not last that long and will need a recharge before the day ends.
When the smartphone runs out of battery, there’s support for a 66W wired charger that will quickly recharge the battery within an hour. There’s support for 5W reverse wired charging as well. Apart from that, the Honor Magic Vs 2 has support for Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, NFC, stereo speakers, and a USB Type-C connector for charging. As for pricing, the phone starts at $960 (Rs 79,890 in India) approx.
Honor Magic Vs2 Specifications Detail
Down below you can see the full specifications of the Honor Magic Vs2 smartphone.
| Specifications | Honor Magic Vs2 |
| Network | 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G |
| Announced | October 2023 |
| SIM | Dual SIM |
| Dimensions | Unfolded: 157.5 x 146.2 x 5.1 mm Folded: 157.5 x 74.4 x 10.7 mm |
| Weight | 229 g |
| Size | Unfolded: 7.92 inches Folded: 6.43 inches |
| Display | Unfolded: LTPO OLED 1B colors 120Hz HDR10+ Dolby Vision IMAX Enhanced ~402 PPI density Folded: LTPO OLED 1B colors 120Hz HDR10+ 2500 nits brightness |
| Protection | No |
| Resolution | Unfolded: 2156 x 2344 pixels Folded: 1060 x 2376 pixels |
| OS | Android 13, MagicOS 7.2 |
| Chipset | 4nm – Qualcomm SM8475 Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 |
| CPU | Octa-core 1×3.0 GHz Cortex-X2 3×2.5 GHz Cortex-A710 4×1.80 GHz Cortex-A510 |
| GPU | Adreno 730 |
| Card slot | No |
| RAM | 12GB, 16GB |
| Internal | 256GB, 512GB |
| Camera | 50 MP (wide), PDAF 20 MP (telephoto), PDAF, 2.5x optical zoom, OIS 12 MP (ultrawide), AF LED flash, HDR, panorama Max – 4K@30/60fps, gyro-EIS, HDR10+ |
| Selfie | 16 MP (wide) HDR Max – 4K@30fps, gyro-EIS |
| Loudspeaker | Yes (stereo speakers) |
| 3.5mm jack | No |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct |
| Bluetooth | 5.2, A2DP, LE, aptX HD |
| GPS | GPS (L1+L5), GLONASS (L1), BDS (B1I+B1c+B2a), GALILEO (E1+E5a), QZSS (L1+L5) |
| NFC | Yes |
| Infrared port | Yes |
| Radio | No |
| USB | USB Type-C 3.1, OTG, Display Port 1.2 |
| Sensors | Side-mounted fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass |
| Battery | Li-Po 5000 mAh 66W wired 5W reverse wired |
| Colors | Black, Blue, Purple |
| Expected Price | $960 (Rs 79,890 in India) approx |
Conclusion
The Honor Magic Vs2 is Honor’s latest foldable smartphone. As you have seen by now, the Honor Magic Vs2 is both an upgrade and a downgrade compared to the previous Honor Magic V2. It has a better build quality that is not only lighter but also more durable, which is a clear upgrade. But there are downgrades as well, specifically in the chipset and camera department.
The Honor Magic Vs2 is a league of its own and those downgrades are not downgrades and are justified for the price it asks for. Its only competition is with its previous models.
There are no clear alternatives for this foldable smartphone unless you don’t mind paying more. In that case, the Samsung Galaxy Z fold 5 smartphone is an excellent alternative to choose from, but it also costs a little more. If pricing is not a concern, you may as well go with the Honor Magic V2. Anyway, the final decision is up to you, so choose accordingly.
