Honor Magic V2 and V2 RSR Porsche Design review

Competition

The Magic V2 may not be exactly hot off the press, but it's about as current as the Honor lineup has to offer and it's plenty competitive against others of its kind. You can have one for about €1600 and while that's hardly pocket change, big-screen foldables haven't been known for their affordability.

That said, opting for the Galaxy Z Fold5 does stand to save you some money - anywhere between €200 and €300 if you go for a base 12GB/256GB spec, though depending on market and moment, you could save as much and get the half terabyte. The Fold's biggest downside is its small and tall cover screen - you could try and rationalize around it, but you'll very likely end up wanting to spend more time with your large foldable folded that you've initially thought and the Galaxy is suboptimal in this state. The Honor, on the other hand, shines in one-handed folded use thanks to a sensibly proportioned display (unlike the Galaxy's) and nicely slim body. The Honor isn't water-resistant though, and the Z Fold5 does carry an IPX8 badge.

The Galaxy will likely serve you a lot better as a video camera and possibly as a camera altogether, though if you're leaning more into ultrawide photography, then go Magic. You can expect slightly better battery life on the Samsung, and noticeably faster charging on the Honor, though if wireless charging is a must, then you'd have to pick the Galaxy. Samsung's software is more polished, but the Honor does offer nice multi-window operation and has stylus support, so it's not really trailing too much. Overall, we'd say the Galaxy is the better value here.

The value proposition of the OnePlus Open is more debatable, with the numbers we're seeing being roughly €100 to €200 higher than the Honor's. It's only sort of water-resistant (IPX4), but it's something, and it lasts a little longer, while also being about as fast as the Honor to charge. The OnePlus also has a useful cover display and a competent multitasking solution, so things are mostly neck-and-neck. Where the Open has the biggest chance of justifying its premium is the camera - we can hardly think of a way in which the Honor is better in that regard.

Smallish, but chunky and heavy, the PIxel Fold is a differently proportioned alternative to the Magic V2, at €1500 to €1700 depending on who you ask. While we haven't actually tested the Pixel Fold, we can offer reasonably well educated speculation that it won't last as long as the Honor and will be significantly slower to charge. It does have an IPX8 rating, but somewhat questionable reliability to go with it. The Fold will likely have a rosier update future and probably slightly better camera system, though once again the Honor's ultrawide has the upper hand.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 • OnePlus Open • Google Pixel Fold

Verdict

The Honor Magic V2's has got a great display on the cover and a large bendy one inside, and makes proper good use of both. Its cameras aren't exactly cutting-edge, but where they fall short, they don't do so in a dealbreaking manner. And we were actually quite pleased by the main and the ultrawide units on the back, for stills in particular.

Battery life is bested by some key competitors, and there's no wireless charging capability, but the charging speed sort of makes up for that. The lack of an IP rating isn't great, we'll admit, and the lack of Android 14 upgrade doesn't bode well for the Magic's long-term software future.

Overall, the Honor Magic V2 is probably not the best value in its class. But its main claim to fame is its slim waistline, and if you want the benefits of a large foldable in as close as possible to a bar form factor, this one is shaping up as a top choice.

Pros

• Remarkably compact and lightweight for what it is.
• Excellent displays all around, with stylus support too.
• Speedy wired charging.
• Intuitive and functional multi-window implementation.
• Generally great photo quality from the main camera and the ultrawide in all conditions.

Cons

• No ingress protection rating.
• Battery life when unfolded is below average.
• No wireless charging.
• Still on Android 13, MagicOS has some limitations.
• No 4K video capture from the telephoto, video quality not great altogether.