HONOR continues to push the limits of foldable phones with the new HONOR Magic V6.
While other brands are simply aiming to make their phones thinner and lighter, HONOR goes beyond that by making its foldable one of the toughest in the market. But that doesn’t mean it skimps on other departments, including performance, battery life, display quality, and more.
But how good is it really? Let’s find out in our HONOR Magic V6 review.
HONOR Magic V6 Specs
- Android 16, MagicOS 16
- Dual SIM, Dual Standby
- 7.95-inch LTPO 2.0 foldable display, 2352 x 2172 pixel resolution, ~403ppi
- SGS Minimize Crease Certified
- 5,000-nit peak brightness
- 100% DCI-P3
- 6.52-inch LTPO 2.0 AMOLED cover display
- 6,000-nit peak brightness
- 1-120Hz refresh rate, 4320Hz PWM dimming
- Stylus support
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 octa-core processor
- Adreno 840 GPU
- HONOR E2 power chip, HONOR C1+
- 16GB RAM
- 512GB internal storage, non-expandable storage
- 20-megapixel front camera
- 20-megapixel cover camera
- 50-megapixel (f/1.6, OIS) + 64-megapixel (telephoto, OIS) + 50-megapixel (ultra-wide) rear camera
- Side-mounted fingerprint scanner, Face Unlock
- IP68/69 dust and water resistant
- HSPA+, 4G LTE, 5G
- WiFi 7, Bluetooth 6.0
- GPS, A-GPS
- Dimensions: 156.7 x 145.6 x 4.0mm (unfolded) / 156.7 x 74.5 x 9.0mm (folded)
- Weight: 219g (White), 224g (Red, Gold, Black)
- Colors: Red, White, Black, Gold
- 6,660mAh non-removable battery, 80W wired, 66W wireless charging
Design and Build Quality
HONOR always markets its phones as tough and durable. You’d think it wouldn’t do the same with the HONOR Magic V6, considering that foldable phones are inherently more fragile than your usual brick phone.
@noypigeeks The new HONOR Magic V6 foldable takes on a 1-ton Piper aircraft. ✈️📱 Can it survive the drop? Watch the video to find out. Launching in the Philippines on August 18.@HONOR Philippines ♬ Power Surge – Wealthy Pearl
But you’d be wrong. HONOR showcased the Magic V6’s toughness by using a pickup truck to pull a 1-ton Piper aircraft, with the phone positioned in the middle. We saw it with our own eyes, and we can confirm that it survived.
Now, we know this is an exaggeration, especially considering that the aircraft’s wheels made it much easier to pull. But it’s still far more impressive than what any other foldable phone can do.
We also saw another demo where a model tried to crush the smartphone by putting all his weight on it while doing pull-ups. The device still survived.
All these demos highlight how tough the Magic V6’s aerospace-grade aluminum frame is, as well as its upgraded “Super Steel Hinge,” which is said to have survived 500,000 folds.
We also saw the device’s IP68/IP69-rated dust and water protection in action. HONOR claims it can be submerged up to 1.5 meters. During the demo, the models confidently played with the device in the pool, even dipping it a couple of times without causing any damage.
In real-world use, the HONOR Magic V6 does feel sturdy. Unlike other foldable phones that can feel fragile, this one feels comfortable to use daily, much like your normal brick smartphone.
More than its durability, what we actually like is how sleek this smartphone is. At 4.0mm when unfolded and ~8.8mm when folded, the Magic V6 is one of the thinnest, if not the thinnest, foldable phones available today.
It feels incredibly sleek to hold, even more so than a traditional smartphone. It’s very thin even when folded and simply feels great in the hands. It’s very light, too, at 219g. We can’t get enough of it.
The rear panel of this White colorway features fiberglass, which feels incredibly smooth, so much so that it can feel too slippery at times.
For added grip, you can use the included case, which features a faux leather material and a flap that magnetically attaches to the hinge. The added thickness and texture improve grip. Plus, the camera bezel doubles as a kickstand.
Apart from this White colorway, the Magic V6 is also available in Gold, which has the same rear material, and Red, which has a suede-like appearance. All models are resistant to fingerprint smudges.
Going back to the hinge, it feels solid and well-made. You can open it up to 120 degrees, stopping 30 degrees before it snaps itself closed.
Taking a tour around the device, we have a large 7.95-inch foldable display. The bezels are thick enough to protect the display while remaining inconspicuous.
There’s an ultra-thin flexible glass protecting the display. The crease is almost invisible and only noticeable from certain angles if you’re really looking for it.
Fold it closed, and you have a tall 6.52-inch AMOLED screen protected by HONOR’s anti-scratch NanoCrystal Shield. Like the main display, it has ultra-thin bezels and a punch-hole for the same 20-megapixel selfie camera.
The left side only has the hinge, which completely disappears when you open the device.
On the right, we have the volume controls and the lock/power switch, which doubles as the fingerprint scanner.
The top has the speaker and IR blaster.
At the bottom, we have two microphones, an SD card slot, the primary microphone, and the USB-C port.
On the back, we have the circular camera island with a subtle octagonal outer shape.
The cameras are arranged in a square layout. At the top is the 64-megapixel telephoto lens, next to what seems to be a placeholder. Below are the 50-megapixel main camera and the 50-megapixel ultra-wide lens.
What we do miss is an included stylus. The Magic V6 does support one, but it would have been nice to have one included, especially since it’s more expensive now.
Display and Audio
The HONOR Magic V6 features a large 7.95-inch LTPO 2.0 AMOLED foldable display with a 2352 x 2172 pixel resolution, ~402ppi, 1-120Hz refresh rate, 5,000-nit peak brightness, and 4320Hz PWM dimming.
There’s also the secondary cover display. It’s a tall 6.52-inch LTPO 2.0 AMOLED panel with a 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate and 4320Hz PWM dimming, but with a higher 6,000-nit peak brightness. Both displays support a stylus and AOD.
Both screens also support HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision.
Display quality is definitely great. Both displays offer ample brightness, the right amount of vibrancy and contrast, and a high refresh rate that you can definitely feel.
We then have stereo speakers for audio. When closed, the two speakers are symmetrical, but when opened, they are positioned diagonally, which can be annoying when using the phone handheld.
Sound quality is good, though. The trebles are crisp, and the bass is present. Loudness is ample, too. No problems here.
Hardware and Performance
The HONOR Magic V6 is powered by a 4.6GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, a 3nm chip with 2x 4.6GHz Oryon V3 Phoenix L cores and 6x 3.62GHz Oryon V3 Phoenix M cores, an Adreno 840 GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of non-expandable UFS 4.1 storage.
HONOR Magic V6 Benchmark Scores
It has one of the most powerful mobile chipsets on the market, so performance is never a problem. It’s blazingly fast at handling almost any task, including running multiple apps simultaneously on its large foldable screen.
However, you won’t get the best performance until you enable Performance Mode, which can lead to a bit of overheating. Overall performance was good enough under the default Balanced Mode, though.
The sheer power is mainly felt in gaming. Genshin Impact ran seamlessly under the High preset with 60fps enabled. PUBG Mobile ran smoothly under Ultra settings, as did Call of Duty Mobile in Max.
Farlight84 had no issues under Peak graphics, while Mobile Legends: Bang Bang ran under the highest available settings, as did Asphalt Legends Unite.
A couple of games are enjoyable on the bigger screen, but competitive titles like shooter games are more convenient to play on the smaller screen.
| Game | Graphics Settings |
| Genshin Impact | • Render Resolution: High • Visual Effects: High • SFX Quality: High • Frame Rate: 60 |
| PUBG Mobile | • Graphics Quality: Ultra HDR • Frame Rate: Ultra |
| Call of Duty: Mobile | • Graphics Quality: Max • Frame Rate: Max |
| Farlight84 | • Graphics Quality: Peak • Frame Rate: 60 |
| Mobile Legends: Bang Bang | • Resolution: HD • Map Quality: Ultra • Frame Rate: Ultra |
| Asphalt Legends Unite | • Visual Quality: High Quality • Frame Rate: 120 |
Software and User Interface
The HONOR Magic V6 ships with the Android 16-based MagicOS 10 interface. HONOR has pledged to provide 7 Android upgrades in the future—fitting for a flagship smartphone.
HONOR’s MagicOS does a good job of utilizing the large screen real estate. There’s a Dock at the bottom that’s customizable and gives you quick access to running apps for faster multitasking.
Of course, there are the iOS-like liquid glass elements with clean transparency effects and smooth blur.
Split-screen lets you fully utilize the large display for multitasking. You can have two apps running side by side, with a third one floating around.
HONOR also added a Multi-Flex function, allowing you to quickly launch three apps from the Dock with a single tap.
Fast-flex lets you switch from using one app to two by quickly unfolding the display halfway.
You also get tons of AI features like AI Writer, AI Memo, and more. There’s also AI Deepfake and Voice Cloning Detection, which are perfect for this day and age.
While other phones have a dedicated fourth physical button, the AI Button on the Magic V6 uses the power button instead. Instead of a full press, you just have to tap it. You can customize what it does in the settings.
We also spotted many AI features in the Gallery. There’s AI Eraser, AI Upscale, AI Cutout, AI Outpainting, and AI Style.
There’s also a dedicated window inside the Gallery for HONOR’s popular Image To Video generator and AI Cinema Colour for cinematic effects.
That power button also doubles as the fingerprint scanner, which, together with face unlock, worked seamlessly during our testing.
Cameras
The HONOR Magic V6 has a 50-megapixel 1/1.56-inch main camera with a 23mm lens, bright f/1.6 aperture, PDAF, and optical image stabilization. It is joined by a 64-megapixel telephoto camera with a 70mm lens, f/2.5 aperture, PDAF, and OIS.
There’s also a 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera with a 13mm lens and two 20-megapixel selfie sensors for each of the displays.
All the rear cameras can only record up to 4K@60fps video, with no 8K support. The selfie cameras can go up to 4K@30fps.
Daytime photos exceed expectations, at least for a foldable phone. Colors are pleasing, dynamic range is incredible, and details are rendered well.
It’s not as great as HONOR’s flagship brick phone, but it’s still great.
Low-light performance is not the greatest we’ve seen, but it’s still very good. Photos are well-exposed, colorful, and detailed.
The Magic V6 continues to impress with its telephoto camera. Shots have good colors, dynamic range, and tons of detail, even in low light.
Even the ultra-wide camera is good. Again, the sample shots are not the greatest we’ve seen, but it still impresses especially for a foldable. Colors, details, and dynamic range are good, although there’s a noticeable drop in sharpness when shooting at night or indoors.
We also got good photos from the selfie cameras. Skin tones are lifelike, dynamic range is surprisingly good, and details are on point even at night.
The HONOR Magic V6 has a camera system that greatly improved from previous iterations. It’s not the best camera phone out there, but the image quality is good enough to justify its presence on this expensive device.
Battery and Charging
Powering the HONOR Magic V6 is a 6,660mAh battery paired with 80W wired and 66W wireless charging.
We got good battery life, especially for a foldable phone. In fact, it managed to beat other brick phones in the premium category.
It lasted for 18 hours and 26 minutes in our PCMark Synthetic Battery Test and 22 hours and 9 minutes in our 1080p YouTube Battery Loop Test.
Charging speeds were incredible, too. The 66W wired charger can provide a 0-24% charge in just 15 minutes, with a full charge taking just 1 hour and 20 minutes. See the full charging test below:
- 15mins: 0-24%
- 30mins: 44%
- 45mins: 63%
- 1hr: 81%
- 1hr 15mins: 96%
- 1hr 20mins: FULL
Verdict
The HONOR Magic V6 is proof that foldable phones no longer have to compromise on durability, performance, or battery life just to offer a larger display.
HONOR managed to make the Magic V6 remarkably thin and light while still giving it a sturdy build, powerful hardware, excellent displays, and impressive battery life.
Its camera system is also more than capable, delivering great results in most conditions, while MagicOS makes good use of the large foldable display with useful multitasking features and a growing selection of AI tools.
Of course, it isn’t perfect. The lack of an included stylus is disappointing for a premium foldable, while the speaker positioning can be awkward when the device is unfolded. Performance Mode can also cause the phone to heat up, and its camera system still falls short of HONOR’s flagship brick phones.
Still, these are relatively minor compromises and nitpickings compared to what the Magic V6 offers. Its combination of a thin and lightweight design, impressive durability, powerful performance, excellent displays, and long battery life makes it one of the most compelling foldable phones we’ve tested.
If you’re looking for a foldable that doesn’t feel like a compromise compared to a traditional smartphone, the HONOR Magic V6 is an easy recommendation.
HONOR Magic V6 pricing and availability in the Philippines
The HONOR Magic V6 has an SRP of Php119,999 in the Philippines. It’s slightly more affordable than the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, which starts at Php123,990, OPPO Find N6 at Php139,999, and iPhone Duo at Php159,990.
It is available in HONOR physical stores, Shopee, Lazada, TikTok Shop, and Globe Telecom.
Pros
- Remarkably thin and lightweight
- Tough and durable build
- Excellent displays
- Powerful performance
- Functional multitasking, AI features
- Good overall camera quality
- Excellent battery life
- Fast wired and wireless charging
Cons
- No included stylus
- Performance Mode can cause overheating
- Speaker positioning can be awkward when unfolded