In the couple of years Samsung’s Galaxy foldables existed alongside HUAWEI’s own iteration of foldable devices, there has been plenty of interest from other manufacturers in producing similar devices. Microsoft has their Surface Duo Android smartphone, though they do not feature folding displays. OPPO launched their Find N (not in Malaysia, unfortunately). Google is even considering a foldable Pixel at more accessible price ranges. Then there is HONOR and their new Magic Vs.
Inevitably the HONOR Magic Vs is going to be compared to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4, the current most popular foldable device out there. It is a slightly larger device offering a 7.9-inch foldable OLED display over Samsung’s 7.6-inch. In terms of resolution, it is also closer to the Galaxy Z Fold4 than the OPPO Find N at 1,984 by 2,272 pixels, which is also technically more than the Samsung. Its refresh rate is only at 90Hz though, the Samsung offers 120Hz. Still, it features HDR10+ colours and up to 800 nits of maximum brightness, which is still something.
When you fold up the larger display, you can still use the device with its 6.45-inch OLED display that offers Full HD+ resolution. You get 120Hz refresh rate with this one for the smooth UI feel. It also offers up to 1200 nits in brightness, which could be useful under intense sun light.
They really are targeting the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 with this Magic Vs. Underneath the expansive display, you can find a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, the same one you find on Samsung’s latest and most powerful foldable smartphone. The system on a chip (SoC) gets paired with up to 12GB of RAM for the best Android 12 experience you can find on modern devices. You get up to 512GB in storage with the device too, just in case you need all that space to store movies, audio files, work files, and even photos.
You would want that much space for photos with the MagicOS 7.0 device. Out the back is a triple camera set up that is headlined by a 54-Megapixel shooter. Alongside that is an 8-Megapixel telephoto lens and a 50-megapixel ultrawide camera. Unlike the Galaxy Z Fold4, the HONOR foldable only features one selfie 16-Megapixel camera that is lodged in the punch hole of the external display. That also means you get all uninterrupted foldable display.
Keeping everything running an entire day is a large 5,000mAh battery. If you need a quick charge before you leave the house, the 66W HONOR SuperCharge technology can fully charge the device within 46 minutes.
The HONOR Magic Vs has launched in China and is now taking pre-orders that are expected to ship out by November 30th. It come in three colours – Orange, Cyan, and Black. There are also apparently two other colour options for their highest specced model – Black and Gold. At launch, the HONOR Magic Vs is priced from CN¥ 7,499 (US$ 1,050/MYR 4,736*) all the way to CN¥ 10,888 (US$ 1,520/MYR 6,876*). There are no confirmed dates or official pricing for the local market just yet. We are expecting HONOR to launch the device sometime soon though, if they are launching the device here at all. They also mentioned that this will be their first international foldable smartphone, which makes its local launch all the more likely. More information on the HONOR Magic Vs can be found on their website.
*Approximately based on exchange rate of CN¥ 10 = MYR 6.32 as of 24/11/2022 on xe.com
