Honor Magic V6 review - the finest foldable phone so far

I won't lie, I've been a bit of a foldable phone cynic for a while now. I can't deny they're almost always wildly impressive, but the high price points of the likes of the Google Pixel Fold and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold have always put me off feeling like I truly needed one. At least, that was the case until I started putting together this Honor Magic V6 review. After just over a month putting this phone through its paces, I don't know if I can go back.

Without ruining too much of the rest of this review, the Honor Magic V6 feels like a culmination of the brand's work in the foldable arena over the last half a decade or so. It's still not quite perfect, but it's closer than ever, improving on the most important issues with the previous model, the V5, and leaving the door open for software patches to fix the few remaining obstacles. So, are we looking at a new top entry for our guide to the best foldable phones? Let's find out.

Price and availability

Unfortunately, we haven't got the full details on the Honor Magic V6's pricing just yet. What we do know, though, is that the Magic V6 isn't getting a wide launch in the US. You can look at importing it from Europe or the UK, though. For this review, we received the 16GB+512GB version, which is the only configuration, in the Gold colorway.

Specs

Here are the Honor Magic V6's specs:

Performance and gaming

Given that the Honor Magic V6 packs the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, it should come as no surprise to learn that it's a snappy performer. However, there's a bit of a complication. It's a capable phone; that's not up for debate, especially when it comes to everyday performance. Sadly, though, it's not quite as good for gaming as some other 8 Elite Gen 5-powered devices I've used.

I'll admit, the difference between something like the REDMAGIC 11 Pro and the Honor Magic V6 isn't massive. It's more of a dent than a gulf, but the more you play, the more noticeable it is. Let's take the gameplay experience of Honkai Star Rail, for instance. With the graphics settings turned up as high as they'll go, in-game animations can suffer slightly. It's not egregious, but it's not the sort of seamless performance I know this processor is capable of. That leaves me wondering if it's more of a software issue than it is a hardware one.

Outside of some occasional blips, though, I still had a pretty great time playing through our list of the best mobile games on the Honor Magic V6, and if you're coming to this from any phone that's more than a year or so old or a mid-ranger, it should still feel like an improvement. It's also worth noting that if it is a software issue holding the V6 back, there's a chance Honor could release an update to improve performance potential. Essentially, there's still juice in this fruit; Honor just needs to squeeze it a little harder.

As for thermals, I'm pleasantly surprised by the Magic V6. Given how thin it is and some of my previous experience with foldable phones, I'd anticipated dealing with a toasty phone after a little bit of game time. Well, not quite. The phone actually does a pretty decent job of heat dissipation, with a small caveat in that the protruding camera island can get a bit warm after an hour or so of gaming.

Features and software

The Honor Magic V6 comes with the latest version of the brand's MagicOS 10 Android skin pre-installed. It's a pretty slick operating system, thanks to some readability and customization improvements over the past couple of years. I also appreciate that with most features, there's a short explanation the first time you use them, which is a nice touch, especially for those coming from an iPhone.

On the AI front, the Magic V6 comes with Google Gemini pre-installed, plus a free three-month trial for Google AI Pro. Honor also has its own swathe of AI features. There's Magic Portal, which is a bit like Circle to Search but with even more options, plus AI Memories, a tool you can use to store AI summaries of pages or videos to look back on later. Throw in AI-powered translation tools, deepfake detection, suggestions, and a bunch of other bits and pieces, and you've got probably one of the most cohesive AI suites available on mobile right now. It's not for everyone, but if you're an AI enthusiast, the V6 has you covered.

Of course, given that this is a foldable phone, it has some unique software features you can use to take advantage of the form factor. After a bit of a tutorial from the software, I figured out how to open multiple windows simultaneously on the unfolded display, and it's a game-changer for multitasking. I can have our Honkai Star Rail tier list open on one half of the screen while playing the game on the other, so I don't have to flit between apps while figuring out which character I'm pulling for.

Fast Flex is another fun feature made for the foldable form factor. Just by folding the phone slightly, you can trigger the phone's split screen, offering a kinetic alternative to selecting from options on the screen. There's also the option to drop floating app windows onto the display, which is handy if you're working on a document and want YouTube open in the background or vice versa.

Another software element worth highlighting is Honor's push to improve compatibility alongside Apple devices. With Honor Connect, you can receive iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch notifications on the V6, while you can use Honor WorkStation to integrate the phone into your MacBook workflow. If I were being cynical, I'd describe this as an 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em' kind of approach, but I use a Mac and an iPad, and I've already found these features pretty useful, and it makes using the V6 as my daily driver an even more tempting proposition.

On the bloatware front, there's a bit more than I'd like, as is usually the way with phones out of China, but it doesn't take long to clear it all out. In good news, though, the V6 comes with seven years of software and security updates, matching the likes of Samsung and Google Pixel, which is a bonus for those who don't want to have to upgrade their phone regularly.

Design

Everything about the Honor Magic V6 screams luxury. While that's what you'd expect, given the usual price point of foldable phones, it's still worth highlighting. It's remarkably thin, at 9.0mm when folded and 4.1mm when unfolded, which, just about, allows for a USB-C charging port. On paper, that makes it sound like this phone is fragile. However, it's anything but. The gold colorway is also lovely and makes the phone look as premium as it feels.

Another big win for the Honor Magic V6 is that it's IP68 and IP69 rated, making it the most dust- and water-resistant foldable phone to date. This is a pretty big deal, as dustproofing has long been an issue for foldable phones, with 2024's V3 only offering an IPX8 rating. Almost every tech journalist I know has described this durability issue as the main sticking point of foldable phones, and now it's not a factor. Throw in the fact that Honor has tested the Magic V6 at over 500k folds, and you've got the most durable book-style foldable phone to date.

Display

In the simplest of terms, the Honor Magic V6's foldable display is the best I've used to date. The unfolded 7.95-inch OLED display is ideal for all kinds of users, from productivity-oriented professionals who need two or three apps open simultaneously to gamers looking for as much screen real estate as possible.

Better still, the apparent crease of foldable phones gone by is barely noticeable here. It's only really visible if you hold the phone at a specific angle, and that angle is not the sort you'd usually see when using your phone for just about anything. You can feel it, ever so slightly, if you run a finger across the display, but in general, it's pretty well hidden.

As for the 6.52-inch outer display, well, that's also pretty fantastic. Honestly, I didn't spend much time using it, as the foldable display is the star of the show, but if it were the only display, this phone could still compete with the rest of the big-name flagships. It's even brighter than the inner screen, though both OLED displays offer dimming features for late-night scrolling, which is ideal if, like me, you often find yourself staying up too late doomscrolling.

Cameras

Given that the Honor Magic V6 is essentially a flagship phone, an alternative to the likes of the iPhone 17 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra in a foldable form factor, you'd expect it to pack some pretty impressive camera hardware. Well, you'd be right. It packs a 50 MP wide, 50 MP ultra-wide, and 64 MP telephoto lens, as well as 20 MP selfie snappers on both displays.

As ever, I got my dog, Floyd, to model for a few photos to test out the camera. I'm pretty impressed, for the most part. The resulting snaps are all nice and clear, with a lovely bit of software saturation that brings them to life. I think there might be a slight touch of over-processing, which makes my sweet boy look even grayer than he already is, but I can't deny that they're high-quality images. In simple terms, the cameras here are as good as any other flagship I've used. There are subtle differences, but overall, the V6 has smartphone photography almost entirely covered.

What's truly impressive, though, is the Magic V6's zoom potential. Even with a 20x zoom, images are sharp and detailed, which is more than you can say about the 10x or even 5x zoom of some of the Android phone competition, including the latest Samsung flagship and the REDMAGIC 11 Pro we mentioned earlier. Admittedly, I've seen similar tech from my experience testing the last couple of Xiaomi flagship phones, but that doesn't make it any less impressive.

Due to the Magic V6's form factor, enabling you to use the main camera to snap a picture of yourself while looking at the outer display, the selfie camera is a little more redundant than with most phones. Still, it's plenty capable of capturing shots worthy of social media. Again, there's a bit of processing going on, but it's not that egregious. Just remember to turn off any beautifying filters, as they can lend a certain uncanny valley vibe to your selfies.

Battery

The Honor Magic V6 packs a 6,660 mAh battery that, despite powering two displays and a beast of a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, just keeps going. During testing, I tracked the battery life for a full hour of gaming, which worked out at around a 14% loss. That's impressive. Essentially, you can get a full six hours of Honkai Star Rail or PUBG Mobile out of this phone and should still have enough juice to get you to the end of the day.

When it's time to charge, the Magic V6 gets the job done pretty quickly, thanks to 80W wired and 66W wireless charging capabilities. Wired charging is still, as ever, the fastest option, juicing the phone from flat to full in just under an hour, provided you have an 80W charger. I will say, considering everything else about this phone feels so premium, it does feel like Honor should include an 80W charger in the box. Still, that's becoming rarer and rarer these days, so I can't call out Honor alone.

Should you buy the Honor Magic V6?

If you've got the money and you want a foldable phone, I would absolutely recommend buying the Honor Magic V6. It's got it all - performance power, great cameras, and a sleek and stylish design. As I said right at the start of this review, having used the V6 as my main phone for the last few weeks, I can't imagine using anything else. The foldable form factor just lends itself so well to what I spend most of my time doing on my phone - gaming and watching videos - that a regular candybar phone just feels inferior now, even if it's a flagship.

As for the drawbacks, well, the most obvious issue is bound to be the price point. While we don't have a confirmed cost yet, foldable phones in general are still just too expensive for the average user. There's also a bit of an elephant in the room in that Apple's first foldable iPhone is anticipated to arrive in the next year or so, and that'll offer the V6 some real competition, unlike Samsung. In saying that, I can't find many reasons why I wouldn't recommend the V6. It's a real statement of intent from Honor, and if I wasn't paying attention before, I am now.

Alternatives

If you're still unconvinced by this foldable phone after reading our Honor Magic V6 review, here are a couple of alternatives to check out.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7

While I think the Honor Magic V6 is better in every department compared to the Z Fold 7, it's still the most feasible alternative, and Samsung carries a little more brand recognition outside of China that can work in its favor. It's worth noting, though, that we're anticipating the arrival of the next generation of Samsung foldables in the next few months, which could both give the V6 some tougher competition and make the 2025 model a bit cheaper.

iPhone 17 Pro Max

The best option for those who aren't sure about picking up a foldable or who'd prefer to stick with Apple is the iPhone 17 Pro Max. It's a little bit slicker for gaming, but otherwise, there isn't all that much to separate the user experience between these phones. It all comes down to your preferred form factor and operating system. For more information, check out our iPhone 17 Pro Max review.