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This folding phone is lighter than the iPhone 14 Pro Max

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Honor Magic V2 in purple.
Prakhar Khanna/Digital Trends

The Honor Magic V2 is official and just debuted as the slimmest and lightest book-style foldable phone. At 231 grams for the vegan leather variant and 237 grams for the glass back model, the device is lighter than the 240-gram iPhone 14 Pro Max.

The company has gone all-in, changed materials, and added more premium flair to design the Magic V2. The vegan leather model measures just 9.9mm when folded (and 10.1mm for the glass back variant), which is the thinnest yet for this type of folding phone. For reference, the Google Pixel Fold is 12.1mm thick, and the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 measures 14.2mm in thickness. As for the iPhone 14 Pro Max, it’s 7.9mm thick – just 2mm thinner than the Honor Magic V2.

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How Honor made the Magic V2 so thin and light

iPhone 14 Pro Max and Honor Magic V2 thickness comparison.
iPhone 14 Pro Max and Honor Magic V2 thickness comparison Prakhar Khanna/Digital Trends

To build the Magic V2, Honor used proprietary tech. It changed the build materials, battery, and hinge alloy. These three factors come together to make the Honor Magic V2 as slim and light as it is.

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Honor says that it has utilized titanium alloy in the hinge cover. For the unaware, titanium allow is an aerospace-grade material. According to the company, titanium possesses “the ideal balance between weight and strength.” It is 42% lighter than aluminum and 150% stronger than steel, as per Honor’s tests. Plus, the hinge body is made out of proprietary steel, which is 25% thinner and 20% stronger than the Magic Vs.

The Honor Magic V2 also features an all-new hinge design. The structure consists of seven sets of cams — three sets more than the Magic Vs. It is said to provide a more “stable and elegant experience with smooth opening and closing.” There is a new connective component built with the same steel as the hinge and is the size of a grain, which is 20 to 100 times smaller than its counterparts used in the previous Honor foldables.

According to Honor, the Honor Magic V2 is tested to last more than 400,000 folds, which should last up to 10 years if you unfold the device 100 times a day.

Honor says that the three-layer stacked screen driver architecture has long been a major obstacle for putting large batteries in thin and light folding screen mobile phones. To counter this, the company has incorporated a “three-in-one” display driver component to fit a 5,000mAh battery, which isn’t a lithium-ion cell but a silicon-carbon battery developed by Honor.

The Honor Magic V2 comes with flagship specs

Honor Magic V2 display.
Prakhar Khanna / Digital Trends

The thin and light form factor is combined with flagship specs on the Honor Magic V2. It features a 20:9 cover display, which is close to slab phones (the iPhone 14 Pro Max has a 19.5:9 aspect ratio). The 6.43-inch LTPO panel supports a 120Hz refresh rate, 2,500 nits brightness, and 2376 × 1060-pixel resolution. It unfolds to a 7.92-inch OLED screen with the same refresh rate and 1,600 nits brightness. Both the screens support stylus input, 100% DCI-P3 wide color gamut, and HDR10+.

The Honor Magic V2 is powered by Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset and comes with 16GB RAM. It will sell in 256GB and 512GB storage variants, but there’s also an Ultimate model that comes with 1TB of storage. It packs a 5,000mAh battery with support for 66W fast charging.

As for the optics, you get a 50MP primary camera, a 50MP ultrawide-angle sensor, and a 20MP telephoto camera. There are 16MP selfie shooters on the cover screen as well as on the inside. The smartphone runs MagicOS 7.2, based on Android 13. This includes smart features such as Smart Multi-Window, App Extender, One-Swipe Split, Horizontal Split, Vertical Split, and more.

Honor Magic V2 price and availability

Honor Magic V2 design.
Prakhar Khanna/Digital Trends

There is currently no word on the global launch of Magic V2. It will be available in four color options, including Black, Gold, Silk Purple, and Silk Black, which is a special version with a vegan leather back.

What about pricing? The Honor Magic V2 starts at 8,999 yuan (about $1,250 USD) for the 256GB storage version. The 512GB model costs 9,999 yuan (about $1,390), and the 1TB Ultimate Edition will cost you 11,999 yuan (about $1,670).

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Prakhar Khanna
Prakhar Khanna
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