Foldables have been around for a while now, and they’ve typically asked you to accept a few trade-offs in return for that second screen. But as the technology matures, those compromises are steadily disappearing — and foldables are finally hitting the mainstream. The HONOR Magic V6 is a perfect example, packing a remarkable amount of engineering into an exceptionally thin chassis. It measures just 4.0mm when unfolded, and even folded shut it comes in at only 8.75mm — exactly the same thickness as the iPhone 17 Pro Max, a conventional, non-folding phone. It could very well be the most innovative foldable money can buy.
That slimness isn’t an accident of clever folding — it’s the product of what HONOR calls its integrated compression design, an overhaul of six internal components (antenna, speaker chamber, SIM tray, USB-C port, NFC module and vibration motor), each miniaturised and repackaged into a denser structure to reclaim space without sacrificing performance or thermal headroom. Crucially, that thinness doesn’t come at the cost of endurance: the V6 packs a 6,660mAh silicon-carbon battery — which HONOR claims is the largest in any foldable — built on a next-gen cell that raises silicon content to 25%, well above the ~16% industry norm.
Durability is handled by the HONOR Super Steel Hinge, rated to 500,000 folds, alongside IP68/IP69 protection, UTG inner glass with a 44% shallower crease, and a 5,600-layer silicon nitride NanoCrystal Shield on the cover display. Driving it all is Qualcomm’s 3nm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 with LPDDR5X memory and UFS 4.1 storage, kept cool by HONOR’s E2 chip and a 0.22mm vapour chamber — making this, by HONOR’s reckoning, the first Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 foldable to market.
Unfolded, the Magic V6 serves up a 7.95-inch LTPO AMOLED panel at 2352×2172 pixel resolution, with a 1–120Hz refresh rate and up to 5,000 nits peak. The 6.52-inch cover screen is no afterthought — same 1–120Hz range, an even brighter 6,000-nit peak, and enough quality that you rarely need to open the phone for quick tasks. Both cover 100% DCI-P3, support stylus input, and pack HONOR’s eye-comfort suite, including 4320Hz PWM dimming. There’s no weak link here: cover and inner panel are evenly matched, so you get a flagship-grade screen open or closed.
I’ve spent the last few weeks living with the HONOR Magic V6, and it has genuinely impressed me. The two displays are a joy to use day to day, and despite everything packed inside, it never feels like a tablet folded in half — it’s the rare foldable I reached for without a second thought. Battery life comfortably sees me through a full day, and the cameras were a standout on a recent trip to Japan, delivering consistently striking results whether I was shooting wide city scenes or zooming in on detail.
In the ultra-thin foldable market, camera hardware is almost always the first casualty. The HONOR Magic V6 refuses to compromise and packs genuine flagship imaging power into the slim frame. The system is anchored by a 50MP main camera and a 50MP ultra-wide, but the real highlight is the 64MP periscope telephoto, which pairs a 1/2-inch sensor with 3x optical zoom (70mm equivalent)—a focal length that’s ideal for portraits and long-range detail and unusually ambitious for a foldable this thin. Backed by an AI colour engine and CIPA 6.5-rated stabilisation, the setup delivers crisp, high-fidelity results with accurate colour, strong low-light clarity, and flagship-level detail.
A cold, rainy night in Osaka is about as tricky as it gets for a phone camera, and the Magic V6 pulled it off like a pro. Here are a few more samples shot on the V6 — including a spectacular view of Mount Fuji on the way out of Tokyo.
This was a spectacular sight to witness Mount Fuji while leaving Tokyo.
On the software side, the Magic V6 runs MagicOS 10 on top of Android 16. Multi-Flex runs several resizable windows side by side, while Fast Flex triggers split-screen with a simple fold, both coming into their own on the inner display. On the AI front, there’s full Gemini integration, plus HONOR’s own AI for settings, photo editing, and meeting summaries.
Shaking Up the Foldable Landscape
Pricing for the Magic V6 starts at RM 7699 in Malaysia for the 16GB+512GB version or ~USD 1900 which puts it in the same territory as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7. Having lived with foldables from Samsung, Google, OnePlus, Oppo, and Vivo over the years, I don’t say this lightly: HONOR has absolutely hit it out of the park with the Magic V6. It fundamentally shifts expectations for what a device in this category can achieve. The only catch, though, is global availability, as the device is available in select markets in Asia, Europe and Middle East. Do stay tuned for the full review for a deep dive into the V6.