Honor’s Magic V6 doesn’t have a new rabbit to pull out of its hat

Source: Engadget

Dimensions & Thickness

• Magic V5 (2024) – One of the four colourways measured 8.8 mm folded / 4.1 mm open; the other three were 9 mm / 4.2 mm.
• Magic V6 (2025) – The white version measures 8.75 mm folded / 4.0 mm open. The black, gold, and red colourways settle for 9 mm / 4.1 mm.

I appreciate the engineering savvy required to make a device this slim, but the push for ever‑greater thinness needs to stop. Last year’s Magic V5 crossed the millimetre‑wide rubicon from “slender” to “dainty,” to the point where, while holding it, I worried about durability. Foldables are regularly subjected to mechanical stresses that regular phones never encounter.

Build Quality & Durability

Honor claims the phone is well‑built to withstand the rigours of normal life, featuring:

• A scratch‑resistant display cover
• Impact‑resistant screen
• A far stronger hinge
• IP68/IP69 dust‑ and water‑resistance

These claims will undoubtedly be tested by sceptical reviewers once the device hits the market.

Weight

• White model: 219 g
• Black, gold, red models: 224 g

That’s lighter than the iPhone 17 Pro Max (233 g), a fact Honor has highlighted repeatedly in press briefings.

Internal Redesign & Battery

Honor has made massive design changes to the interior of the V6 to shrink many components. The redesigned structure includes a new antenna, speaker chamber, vibration motor, NFC module, SIM‑card slot, and USB‑C housing. All the space vacated by those components has been filled by a 6,660 mAh battery with 25 % silicon content.

“And when Alexander saw the breadth of his domain he wept, seeing as he had no more worlds to conquer.”
— Misattributed to Die Hard; the sentiment fits the handset.

Honor says the 6,660 mAh cell should allow 24 hours of video playback on the primary display.

Note: Only the international version receives this battery. The China‑only variant gets a CATL‑manufactured battery with >32 % silicon content and a capacity of over 7,000 mAh.

Specifications Overview

Cameras

The camera setup is essentially unchanged from the V5:

• Rear: Two 50‑MP lenses + a 64‑MP telephoto lens
• Front (cover & internal): 20‑MP f/2.2 selfie lens

Display

The primary screen remains the same size and resolution as before. The cover screen’s bezels have been trimmed, increasing the diagonal from 6.43 in to 6.52 in. Apart from that, it’s business as usual.

Performance

The V6 is the first foldable to ship with a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset. While it is an upgrade over the V5’s SoC, the performance gain is modest rather than transformative.

Software & Ecosystem Integration

On the software side, things are largely unchanged. One notable point from Honor’s briefing:

If you install Honor Connect on your iPhone and Mac, you can share files, extend your desktop, and even control your AirPods.

Honor has been pushing this cross‑platform integration for a while, but it was emphasized heavily this time.

• Pros: Allows the V6 to act as an extended display for macOS, a handy feature for users who already own Apple devices.
• Cons: Heavy reliance on Apple’s ecosystem may signal a lack of confidence in Honor’s own software experience, especially when the flagship foldable is marketed as “an ideal macOS companion.”

Verdict

At first glance, the Honor Magic V6 feels like a device released to satisfy a marketing demand rather than a genuine necessity. It shaves a few millimetres off the thickness, trims the bezels, and upgrades the chipset, but the core experience remains largely the same as the Magic V5.

To stay ahead of its rivals, Honor has nipped and tucked every possible improvement, yet the overall package feels more like an incremental refresh than a bold new step. If you value the thinnest possible foldable and the promise of deep Apple integration, the V6 may still be worth a look. Otherwise, you might be better off waiting for a more substantial generational leap.

The handset’s internals have been refined to the point where they’re almost identical to the version we saw less than a year ago. That’s not to say it’s a bad phone—the V5 was a lovely piece of kit—but I can’t help wondering whether holding this device back until Honor had more meaningful improvements would have been better.

At the time of publication, Honor hasn’t shared pricing and availability information, which we will update here when it’s announced.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/honors-magic-v6-doesnt-have-a-new-rabbit-to-pull-out-of-its-hat-130048729.html?src=rss