Early foldable devices had various shortcomings compared to candybar phones. The screen had a noticeable crease, the processor was underpowered, no apps used it properly, a second-rate camera, and a small battery. After five orbits around the sun, the foldable device has been updated with its shortcomings fixed.
Last year, the Magic V5 was launched as one of the best foldable devices on the market. With the Magic V6, the desired perfection is now closer to reality.
SPECIFICATIONS
Honor Magic V6
External Screen – 6.52″ LTPO2 AMOLED, 120Hz
Inside – 7.95″ LTPO2 AMOLED 120Hz
Dolby Vision, HDR10+
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor (3nm)
2x Oryon V3 Phoenix L 4.6 GHz chips
6x Oryon V3 Phoenix M 3.62 GHz
Adreno 840 Graphics Chip
RAM 16 GB LPDDR5x
Internal Storage 512GB UFS 4.1
Primary Camera 50MP f/1.6, OIS (Wide Angle)
50MP f/2.2 (Ultra Wide)
64MP f/2.5, OIS (3X Telephoto)
4K 60p
Front Camera 20 MP f/2.2 (Front)
20 MP f/2.2 (Inner)
4K 60p
6600 battery mAh
Wired charging 80W
Wireless charging 66W
Dual SIM/Nano/5G telephony
NFC Yes
Infrared Yes
Waterproof IP69
Side-mounted fingerprint scanner
Selling price RM 7,699 (16/512GB)
RM 8,899 (16/1000GB)
SCREEN
The 6.52″ outer screen is from the LTPO2 AMOLED family with 120Hz refresh rate support. This outer screen is wide enough to make it easy to type on. It is still longer than the candybar device screen but much better than the screen ratio of the previous generation foldable device. In terms of size, it is the same as the V5 but with thinner bezels.
On the inside, a 7.95″ LTPO2 AMOLED 120Hz screen is included. The folding effect is becoming less noticeable, similar to the Oppo Find N6 that I reviewed a few months ago. The screen looks bright with good color display.
Both the outer and inner screens support HDR10+ and Dolby Vision content. I was able to display HDR content from Netflix, Prime Video, HBO Max and YouTube without any issues. Honor Magic Pen stylus support is also continued on both screens giving it an advantage over the Z Fold which no longer supports it.
BIOMETRICS
The side fingerprint scanner used detects fingerprints quickly and consistently only because it is built into the power button the size of the scanning area is quite small. Sometimes the finger fails to be detected. So I feel that unlocking with the face is faster in bright areas. There is no 3D facial scanning system like the Magic8. I miss this system because it is consistent no matter if it is light or dark.
DESIGN
The body design is still 4.1mm when open and 8.8mm when closed. Honor has reached the thinnest body level that can be used but the sides are now more boxy making it more comfortable in the hand.
The body is thin if the camera bump is not taken into account. The Magic V6's camera bump is so large that it makes the device impossible to lay flat on a table. The hump retains the octagonal design like last year.
The thin sides of the Magic V6 make it a bit difficult to open. I've used the Find N6 and Z Fold7 so I'm used to it and have a way to open the screen more easily. But if you're inexperienced, the process of opening the V6 screen in the first few weeks of ownership will be a bit of a challenge,
The screen hinge is sturdy and durable with this year being shown to be durable enough to withstand pressure when used to pull an airplane. Quite a bold gimmick because last year the durability was only tested by supporting the weight of a sofa.
Last year the thin body meant that the infrared emitter was not included. On the V6, the IR emitter is back and it is placed on the camera hump like on the Xiaomi 17. Thanks to Honor for bringing this feature back. I need an IR emitter for fans, air conditioners, TVs and speakers in a home that doesn't have smart ecosystem support.
The audio grille holes are still placed on different screen doors making the design asymmetrical. The body passes the IP69 standard in Malaysia and this is better than the V5 (IP59), Find N6 (IP59) and Z Fold7 (IP48). The Magic V6 is a foldable device with the best dust and water resistance capabilities on the market today.
The large hump on the back is made of a metal block that feels solid when tapped with a large glass panel covering the three main camera lenses. Honor includes a 54+50+64 MP sensor combination in the hump complete with a 3x telephoto zoom system. The two selfie cameras are 20MP. The camera specifications included are the same as the V5 with no changes to the sensors used.
Frame with a stick
I reviewed the Ferghana Red version with a velvet finish on the back panel. A very unique choice because I have never seen it used on a phone. It is soft with a furry texture but I am just a little worried about the long-term durability of this velvet panel.
I say this as a former owner of the LG G4 which was made of genuine leather. After a year the leather peeled off making the device look very unattractive. Honor provides a frame but it also uses the same velvet material.
The battery is 6600 mAh which is the largest on a foldable device surpassing the batteries of the V5 (5820 mAh) and the Find N6 (6000 mAh). Charging is also very fast at 80W wired and 66W wired.
SOFTWARE AND USAGE EXPERIENCE
The device we received uses MagicOS 10 based on Android 16. It provides a comparable experience to using the Magic8 Pro a few months ago and this means everything feels smooth, fast, responsive and it really feels like a flagship device. The fresher interface color scheme on MagicOS 10 makes it no longer look dull.
In tablet mode, there is a quick shortcut bar of frequently used apps along with the last three apps opened for quick switching. This bar can be opened by slowly scrolling up from the bottom of the screen. MagicOS 10 finally has a taskbar to facilitate multitasking. Up to 3 apps can be opened simultaneously with windows arranged side by side via Multi-Flex mode. This is similar to the Boundless View feature on the Oppo Find N6.
AI features are not left behind because we are now living in the post-self-employment era and relying on AI instead. Honor AI offers Magic Text, Magic Portal, AI Translate, Call Translation, AI Writing, AI Deepfake Detection and more. Even the feature of making animations from AI Image to Video returns with more options such as Bullet Time action, changing clothes, dancing, relaxing with pets and more.
Honor AI Edit – Left before and right after
This feature can be used only 3 times for free before being charged RM2.72 for each 5-second video generated. It's a bit expensive, but the fact is that the video processor still uses a cloud model and not directly on the device.
Honor is promoting Apple ecosystem support quite aggressively on the Magic V6. Among the things that can be done are accessing iCloud, using AirDrop, accessing phone files from a MacBook, and displaying Magic V6 on a MacBook. The feature that blew my mind the most was using Magic V6 as a secondary screen for the same MacBook Pro. This Sidecar-like feature was previously only supported on iPads.
Magic V6 as a secondary screen for MacBook
All these features are interesting for those who own iPhone devices. I don't want to write long because all the Apple ecosystems supported by Magic V6 have been touched on in the article below. This is done through the Honor WorkStation application that needs to be installed on the phone and MacBook.
Source – Honor Magic V6 — A Bridge Between Two Ecosystems
Honor promises support for 7 Android version updates and 7 years of security patches comparable to what Google, Oppo, and Samsung provide on their flagship devices in Malaysia.
BENCHMARK
Magic V6 is the second foldable device with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip after the Find N6. So below I list a few more foldable and flagship screen devices in the Malaysian market to give an idea of the performance differences between the devices.
Oppo Find N6 – Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 – Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy
Oppo Find X9 Ultra – Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra – Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy
Xiaomi 17T Pro – Dimensity 9500
Honor Magic8 Pro – Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
Vivo X300 Pro – Dimensity 9500
Apple iPhone 17 Pro – A19 Pro
Antutu 3D
Score Device
Honor Magic V6 3,439,798
Oppo Find N6 3,080,123
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 1,747,012
Oppo Find X9 Ultra 4,120,640
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra 3,136,285
Xiaomi 17T Pro 3,530,586
Honor Magic8 Pro 3,424,247
Vivo X300 Pro 3,507,869
Apple iPhone 17 Pro 2,634,345
Geekbench 6
Single Core Multi Core Device
Honor Magic V6 3529 9938
Oppo Find N6 3450 9393
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 2745 9060
Oppo Find X9 Ultra 3505 10277
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra 3651 10819
Xiaomi 17T Pro 3158 9766
Honor Magic8 Pro 3587 9853
Vivo X300 Pro 3507 10469
Apple iPhone 17 Pro 3560 8835
3DMark Wildlife Extreme
Chip Score
Honor Magic V6 6481
Oppo Find N6 6020
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 5633
Oppo Find X9 Ultra 7391
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra 7375
Xiaomi 17T Pro 6939
Honor Magic8 Pro 7659
Vivo X300 Pro 7075
Apple iPhone 17 Pro 5873
Judging from the benchmark scores, the Magic V6 is the most powerful foldable device on the market. It easily beats the Find N6 and Z Fold7 that compete directly with it. The user experience is similar to the same Magic8 Pro reviewed earlier this year. Smooth, fast, no issues and can be relied on in various situations.
Various applications can be run without any issues because of the flagship chip, the size of 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM is very large and the fast 512GB UFS 4.1 memory. Installing and launching applications is very fast especially if you have an ultra-fast internet connection.
Various applications can also be run at the highest settings and the battery mode is changed to Performance. By default, Balance is used which reduces power by half. With the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, no game on the Play Store can not be run smoothly.
CAMERA
Triple main camera 50MP wide angle with OIS, 50MP ultra wide angle and 64MP telephoto with OIS. Meanwhile, outside the 20MP camera, another 20MP camera is used placed on the foldable screen. There are various standard modes such as portrait, night and panorama that can be accessed by the user. In fact, this is the same camera system as the Magic V5 without any sensor changes. The only thing that has changed is the camera software.
On the Magic V5 I complained that the photos taken were yellowish and even though the sensor is quite large, they looked less sharp. On the Magic V6 the new software eliminates all these issues. The camera improvements that I saw on the Magic8 Pro last year have been carried over to the Magic V6.
The pictures look sharper, brighter with accurate color reproduction. There is no issue with the pictures looking a bit gloomy and dark even in good lighting situations. In slightly dark lighting situations, the pictures become a bit dark too. Honor's algorithm is still not as good as Oppo, Vivo, Huawei, Samsung and Xiaomi which can produce brighter pictures in the dark.
However, the portrait mode has a bug that makes it difficult to distinguish the main object from the background object. See the two pictures below. I focused on the two individuals on the left but the camera did not blur the three individuals on the right. The background blur effect on the spoon also looks fake.
These are the results of the camera's shots in 1x, 6X, 10x, 30x and 100X zoom modes. The results are quite good up to 10X because there is an OIS system. At the 30X setting, the picture starts to look less sharp and the colors look faded. The lack of sensor size can be seen. For the best zoom shots, you still need a phone with an additional camera set like those offered by the Oppo Find X9 Ultra, Vivo X300 Ultra and Magic8 Pro.
BATTERY
The 6600 mAh battery used is the largest used on a folding phone. It is larger than the Find N6 (6000 mAh), Magic V5 (5820 mAh) and Z Fold7 (4400 mAh). The Magic V6 can last all day consistently. SOT up to 11-12 hours is normal in moderate use.
I gave the Magic V6 to my son with the instructions to use the big screen to play Roblox. After 7 hours, my son said the battery was almost dead. Usually, folding screen devices only have a screen SOT of around 4-5 hours.
When the battery runs out, the 80W charger that comes with every purchase can recharge this giant battery in just 60 minutes. There is support for 60W wireless charging. For the battery capacity used, this charging time is very fast.
AUDIO
The physical speaker volume is only satisfactory and as I mentioned a few paragraphs above is unbalanced. One side speaker on top and another on the bottom. When held, one of the audio grilles will be covered by the hand. Honor's speaker design choice is strange. My main issue is that at the highest setting it is still not loud enough.
IN THE BOX
Here's what's included in the box.
1x Honor Magic V6
1x Plastic frame with stand
1x 80W USB-A charger
1x USB-A to USB-C charging cable
1x Manual
1x SIM pin
CONCLUSION
Honor Magic V6 is the most complete foldable device in the Malaysian market so far because of its powerful chip, smooth user experience, satisfactory camera, long-lasting giant battery, fast charging battery and the bonus of Apple's best ecosystem support on an Android device. It solves most of the issues I complained about in the Magic V5 review.
The downside is that it's thin so the process of opening the screen is a bit annoying. This is an issue I faced with the Find N6 and also the Z Fold7. The speaker is also not loud enough as it gets stuck at 70% setting compared to other phones in the market. These are all minor flaws.
I feel the biggest obstacle for the Magic V6 is the starting price of RM 7,699 (16/512GB) which is much higher than RM 6,999 (16/512 GB) last year. Because of the RAM crisis all devices are becoming too expensive. If you want a foldable device with the least compromise, the Magic V6 is for you.
Pros
The thinnest foldable screen. Comfortable to hold and lighter.
High specification Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, 16GB RAM and fast UFS 4.1 storage.
Satisfactory camera performance.
Large 6600 mAh battery with long-lasting 80W fast charging.
IP69 waterproof and dustproof.
Support for 7 Android versions and 7 years of security patches.
Support for the Apple ecosystem.
Cons
A little difficult to open because the sides are too thin.
Speaker audio is not loud enough.
Still no Flex Mode.
