The Honor Magic V6 will soon be the best foldable device available

Honor is having quite the moment. From dominating MWC as the most talked-about brand, thanks largely to the RoboPhone, but underneath that, launching a succession of high-quality tablets, laptops, phones, and more, the company has been both commercially and critically successful.

And that even includes foldable phones. And, following on from its V5, the Honor Magic V6 is further indication that the company that once operated under the banner of Huawei is a smartphone giant in its own right.

Although I have the Honor Magic V6 in hand, at home, and have been using it for a week, Honor has requested that we save our full benchmarks for when it becomes available in the UK. So this is a hands-on review that we will update when the device is fully available.

Honor Magic V6: Design

Image 1 of 11

As with the MagicBook 14 Pro we tested earlier in the year, the design of the Honor Magic V6 is ostentatious. Our review unit has a very flashy gold chassis and back cover. Foldable devices already have a somewhat expensive look (they are also expensive), so the addition of gold makes the V6 look even more like a luxury. You can also get it in white, red, and black, though none of those options seems to make it look any more professional.

This is not to bemoan the quality of the V6, which is a superbly designed foldable. It's just 4.1mm thick when unfolded and only 9mm when folded up – that doesn't include the large octagonal camera bump, though. The back has a shimmery Honor logo, two volume buttons on the side, and a power button that doubles as a fingerprint sensor.

You will still notice an indent in the display where the two screens meet. However, this is only apparent when it catches the light. There's also only a slight bump when you run a finger over it.

The hinge is sturdy and tough. It doesn't seem to have any set positions, so if you only bend the phone slightly, it will snap back open. You can bend it halfway and have it sit on a surface (like all other foldables), which is great for selfies, timed photos, and videos.

Honor Magic V6: Displays

As with most foldables, you get two displays: a smaller one that you use more traditionally, and then the foldable screen. The smaller, outer screen is 6.52in, which is a slight increase in size from the 6.43in on the V5. It's an LTPO2 OLED display, with a 1080 x 2420 resolution and 406 ppi. It also has an Honor Anti-scratch NanoCrystal Shield.

However, open the Magic V6 up, and it reveals the main screen, a 7.95in LTPO2 AMOLED, with a 120Hz refresh rate. Without being able to test, we can only go by the naked eye, and we are not disappointed. The V6's foldable display is big, bold, and bright. Although the most pleasing aspect is the very skinny bezels, which give you such an immersive screen.

One argument for foldable displays is that you can see more with them, so spreadsheets and so on, but I often find that the best use case for them is news websites, social media, and comics books – you just get more space and screen for panels. On the V6, I can't say it was that handy for editing documents for work, as it is still just a bit too awkward. Though you do get a better view of that type of content.

Honor Magic V6: Specs and Performance

Inside the V6 is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which can be paired with up to 16GB of RAM. Without going into any benchmarks, the device is rapid and smooth with its transitions into front and internal screens – though you did get an annoying sound effect for it.

The Elite 8 Gen 5, however, is Snapdragon's latest chipset built on 3nm fabrication process. It promises super clock speeds (4.6Hx) and plenty of processing power for on-device AI (more on that in a moment). We can't benchmark the V6 as yet, but previous benchmarks for the Elite 8 suggest a strong-performing device.

AI enhancements are all over the V6, but what's most interesting is the Gemini co-pilot mode, where you can converse with Google's AI assistant about what's on the opposite screen. You can also take notes with AI Meeting Agent, or identify speakers and pull out bits of information.

All that extra AI is heavy for the processor, but thankfully, you gave a larger pair of batteries in the device; two 3,300mAh ones (6,660mAh in total), which is a big jump on the V5 and somewhat more than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7. Honor suggests this will allow the V6 to run for 24 hours, which is bold, as claims go, but not implausible.

On the rear of the Magic V6, inside the octagonal camera bump is a 50 MP wide lens (f/1.6, 23mm), a 64 MP periscope telephoto lens (f/2.5, 70mm) that has a 3x optical zoom, and a 50 MP ultrawide (f/2.2, 13mm) lens. There's also a 20 MP wide selfie lens (f/2.2) and a 20 MP cover camera that's also wide (f/2.2).

You get more versatility with foldable phones when it comes to the camera. Not just in how it can be used to take and record video without you holding it, but also the views you get. I could bend the screen in the camera mode and have the camera view and two of my most recent shoots on display. One shot in the Pro mode and one with the standard camera settings.

Honor Magic V6: Is it worth it?

Honor has found a knack for making high-quality handsets with all the things people really want. Long battery life, super camera systems, easy to use interfaces. And, with the Magic V6, it's done all that in a foldable, without any of the regional issues that have stopped UK and European consumers from getting their hands on the Huawei and Samsung models.

There is still a little wait for the Honor Magic V6. We will update this review with benchmarks and full opinions when it comes out fully. But our first impression is that this will likely be the best foldable device around.

Honor Magic V6 specifications

Display 7.95in Foldable LTPO2 AMOLED, 120Hz, 4320Hz

CPU Qualcomm SM8850-AC Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 (3 nm)

RAM up to 16GB

Storage up to 1TB

Cameras Rear: 50 MP, f/1.6, 23mm (wide), 64 MP, f/2.5, 70mm (periscope telephoto) with 3x optical zoom, 50 MP, f/2.2, 13mm (ultrawide). Front: 20 MP, f/2.2, (wide). Cover camera: 20 MP, f/2.2, (wide)

Connectivity Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0

Dimensions Unfolded: 156.7 x 145.6 x 4.0 mm. Folded: 156.7 x 74.5 x 8.8 mm

Weight 219g

Operating system Android 16 – MagicOS 10