MWC: Hands-on with the Honor Magic V6 (and comparison to Magic V5)

While the Magic V6 isn’t coming to the UK for a few months yet, I was able to get my hands on an early device at MWC and nail down the full specifications to see what the key differences are between it and the Magic V5.

For anyone that has already bought the Magic V5, you can safely relax in the knowledge that your current flagship foldable smartphone hasn’t been resigned to the scrapheap just yet.

The differences are relatively small, so you can still feel safe buying the current model if you take advantage of the many deals that can see hundreds of pounds taken off the standard retail price – and often with a load of bundled stuff too.

The main benefits from the Magic V6 come in the form of the redesigned hinge and better screen protection with less glare, a bigger outer display (it’s now with a much smaller bezel and the corners are more consistently curved – and it definitely looks nicer), plus a bigger battery with faster charging. And we all thought the battery in the Magic V5 was amazing!

There’s also an improvement to the camera with CIPA 6.5-stop image stabilisation (also found on the Magic 8 Pro).

With the slightly thinner casing (you can now see a slight redesign of the USB-C port because of how thin it has become), the Magic V6 will once again be at the top of the tree. However, existing owners are likely enjoying pretty satisfactory battery life already.

If you are the owner of an earlier Magic V-series foldable, like the V2 or V3, or one from another company, the Magic V6’s huge 6,660mAh is quite insane – and it’s accompanied with 80W wired fast charging and 66W wireless charging support.

Ironically, you probably need fast charging the least on a phone that can easily surpass a heavy day of usage – but it’s perfect at giving peace-of-mind that you’re never, ever, going to fall short on battery even on the longest and busiest days.

Another improvement is the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, although we’ve long reached a point where such power is overkill for most users. However, with a wealth of AI features, the newer chip should help speed up the on-device processing for many of the features.

The Magic V6 continues to support Honor’s stylus, and with a less noticeable crease it should be even easier to create drawings on the inner screen. I did notice that the crease hasn’t disappeared entirely, but when you’re looking at the screen face-on, it’s as close to invisible as you can get.

Honor is also improving interoperability with Apple devices, including the iPhone, iPad and Mac computers. While many of these features are almost certainly going to trickle down to other Honor devices, out of the box you should be able to easily share files, including iCloud, work on iWork documents, use your Magic V6 with an Apple watch and more.

All in all, the Magic V6 is a very welcome update to the existing line-up, but nobody should be rushing to upgrade unless you have a nice level of disposable income. I don’t think Honor intends for you to do so, but if you haven’t yet bought a foldable then there really is nothing else on sale that comes anywhere close.

It’s not clear when the phone comes to the UK, but it has been stated as the second half of the year. For reference, the Magic V5 was announced in August last year. It may well be a bit sooner, and whenever it is I look forward to getting a chance to test it out fully.

Honor Magic V6 Hands-on Photos

Honor Magic V6 Key & Magic V5 Specifications