The Honor Magic Vs is the company's second flagship foldable phone with serious Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 energy, but without the eyewatering cost attached to it.
Currently, it's available to pre-order in China only for 7,499 RMB (around $1,050 and £900), but with a plan to make the Magic Vs available in international markets next year, this could seriously spice up the foldable phone competition and start to drive prices down.
Foldable energy
Just because the price is lower doesn't mean Honor has skimped on any specs. This is flagship through and through with a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, up to 12GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage.
Alongside that, snap-happy people will be happy to see a 54MP main camera and 50MP ultrawide, paired with an 8MP telephoto. For power, the 5,000mAh battery (the largest of any foldable of its class) will keep this powered for hours.
And this is all crammed into a slim, durable frame at 0.5 inches thin when folded and a weight of 9.2 ounces. The innovative gearless hinge reduces the number of components needed to unfold the phone from 92 to just four, which means less potential problems and better strength — aided further by a gap-free closing hinge and what Honor is touting to be a "creaseless display."
We'll have to test that to see whether it's true, but so far, it all sounds encouraging.
Outlook
So far, it's set for launch in China, but as Honor itself has promised, this phone will be coming to international markets (most likely the U.K. and Europe). What that means is the Honor Magic Vs could put some serious pressure on what has been a luxury category of smartphones.
Foldable phones certainly look cool and people like the idea of owning one, but the price for what you get has felt a little extortionate when you compare that to what is possible in the standard slab category.
That makes the idea of a sub-£1,000 foldable seriously tempting. Whether Honor has pulled it off will be a question for a full hands-on review.
