What you need to know
- Honor Magic Vs launches globally and is priced at €1599. Availability will be announced soon.
- Honor also launches the new Honor Magic 5 and the Magic 5 Pro globally.
- The phones will be available in the second quarter of this year, starting at €899 and €1199, respectively.
After a successful launch in its home ground last year, Honor has debuted its second foldable smartphone, the Magic Vs, for the global market. After splitting up from Huawei, Honor has been announcing smartphones at a more significant pace and is making MWC 2023 its ground to showcase its devices for the global audience.
Alongside the foldable Magic Vs, the company has also announced its Magic 5 series, comprising Honor Magic 5 and the Magic 5 Pro smartphones. Last year, in an interview with our Harish Jonnalagadda, Tony Ran, the President of Honor Europe, revealed Honor's plans for the company for the next 12 months. He has mentioned that they will follow a dual flagship release cycle and release the Magic Vs in Europe. And they are truly sticking to their promises with the launch of the said phones at MWC 2023 this week.
Honor Magic Vs
While the foldable Magic Vs is technically the second foldable device from the company, it is the first to launch globally. The Magic Vs has two screens: an exterior 6.45-inch screen and a folding 7.9-inch screen, both marginally larger than the Galaxy Z Fold 4's screens. Both are also OLED panels with higher refresh rates at 90Hz and 120Hz, respectively.
The foldable device is powered by Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 coupled with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of onboard storage. It will be shipped with Android 13-based Magic OS 7.1. For optics, there is a triple rear camera system featuring 54MP primary camera, a 50MP ultra-wide/macro camera, and an 8MP camera for optical zoom.
Keeping the screens on is a 5000mAh battery, and Honor says it's an achievement for a foldable device with its compact form factor measuring 12.9mm (when folded). In addition, Honor indicates that the hinge mechanism, a core component for the foldable device, is said to withstand up to 400,000. In a recent teardown video of the device, the new mechanism uses very few components, making it 62% lighter than the predecessor.
Honor Magic 5 Series
The Honor Magic 5 series are the latest flagship Android phones from the company, and they are powered by Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. The Magic 5 Pro, the premium device in the lot, comes with a large 6.81-inch OLED screen, which curves on the edges. The device ships with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of onboard storage for the global market. The device is also shipped out of the box with MagicOS 7.1 (Android 13).
The device draws power from a 5000mAh battery with Honor's 66W SuperCharge. In addition, there is support for 50W wireless charging.
The Magic 5 Pro features three 50MP rear cameras housed in a circular camera module (which Honor calls the Star Wheel Triple Camera system), out of which one acts as the primary wide main camera, followed by an ultra-wide camera, a periscope telephoto camera that has 3.5x optical zoom, and 100x digital zoom.
On the front, the device features a pill-shaped cutout in the display that houses a 12MP selfie shooter accompanied by a 3D depth camera.
The Honor Magic 5, on the other hand, has a slightly smaller display than its sibling sporting a 6.73-inch panel. It also has curved edges and an OLED panel. Like the Pro model, it is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and shares the same storage, OS, battery, and selfie camera (minus the 3D depth camera).
The rear cameras, however, are slightly different though, they feature a 54MP wide primary camera, a 50MP ultra-wide angle lens, and a 32MP telephoto camera with 50x optical zoom.
Availability
As mentioned, the Honor Magic 5 series will be available in Q2, 2023. The Honor Magic 5 Pro will come in Glacier Blue, Meadow Green, Coral Purple, Orange, and Black colorways. The Magic 5 is limited to Black and Blue color options. The phones will be priced at €899 and €1199, respectively.
The Honor Magic Vs will have Cyan and Black colorways, although the exact availability of the device at the global level is still unclear. It will retail for an eye-watering €1599.
