Honor’s Magic V6 is the first foldable with an IP69 rating
Source: The Verge
Honor Magic V6: The World’s Thinnest Book‑Style Foldable (and the First with IP69)
For the third year running (The Verge, 2024‑09‑05), Honor announced what it claims is the world’s thinnest book‑style folding phone.
For the second year (The Verge, 2023‑06‑??), the company paired that thinness with the biggest battery in any foldable.
This year, for its third and final trick, Honor made the Magic V6 the first foldable with an IP69 rating.
The Magic V6 was unveiled at MWC in Barcelona today. Honor has been a bit loose with timing to guarantee those three records:
- The V6 won’t go on sale in China until later this month.
- The international release is slated for the second half of the year.
- Pricing has not been announced yet.
I’ve had a sample of the phone for a few weeks, so the big claims aren’t purely hypothetical.
IP68 vs. IP69
Last year Google proved its hardware chops with the Pixel 10 Pro Fold (The Verge review), the first foldable with an IP68 rating (maximum dust protection and near‑top water resistance).
Honor has one‑upped Google: the Magic V6 boasts both IP68 and IP69 ratings, meaning it can survive immersion in water and exposure to high‑pressure, high‑temperature water jets. In other words, you could theoretically fold it in the bath, the shower, or even an industrial car‑wash.
Images & Captions
Closed, this is the thinnest book‑style foldable around.
The USB‑C port is essentially the limiting factor now.
This gold version isn’t actually the thinnest, but I do like its shimmering finish.
The camera is still big, but it sticks out from the body less than before.
Dimensions & Thickness
- Open: 4 mm thick
- Folded shut: 8.75 mm (white version; other colors are fractionally thicker)
That’s roughly the same thickness as an iPhone 17 Pro Max (The Verge review) and a hair‑splitting amount thinner than previous foldables:
- 0.15 mm slimmer than Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 (The Verge review)
- 0.05 mm thinner than last year’s Magic V5
While the differences are minute, it’s still delightful to hold a foldable that feels as thin as a conventional slab smartphone.
Battery
The Magic V6 packs a 6,660 mAh battery, up from 5,820 mAh in the V5 and 50 % larger than the Z Fold 7’s 4,400 mAh cell. I haven’t yet logged extensive usage data, but with two displays I expect it to comfortably last a full day and then some.
Honor attributes the larger capacity to a silicon‑carbon battery:
- Silicon content increased from 15 % to 25 %, boosting energy density.
- A 32 % silicon variant will be exclusive to the 1 TB version sold in China, reportedly breaking the 7,000 mAh barrier (exact capacity not disclosed).
Honor says the crease is reduced, but it’s not gone yet.
Other Notable Specs
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 (The Verge spec sheet)
- Memory / Storage: 16 GB RAM, 512 GB UFS 3.1
- Display: Dual 120 Hz OLED panels with stylus support on both
- Charging: 80 W wired, wireless (non‑magnetic Qi 2)
- Camera: Updated telephoto lens (performance yet to be evaluated)
Overall, the Honor Magic V6 pushes the envelope on thinness, durability, and battery capacity, while still leaving room for improvement in areas like crease visibility and camera performance.
Triple rear camera includes a 64‑megapixel, 3x periscope that Honor claimed in a press briefing is “the best telephoto in a foldable.” I can’t give that a fair test yet since my sample phone is still on pre‑release camera software, but I’d be surprised if it can beat the telephotos on Vivo’s recent foldables.
The Magic V6 has one more trick up its sleeve: Honor has leaned further into its efforts to build cross‑compatibility with Apple devices. The Magic V6 will apparently be able to support the full software feature set of AirPods, even including Find My tracking (though, oddly, it will not support any other Find My devices). That’s in addition to the ability to sync notifications to an iPhone, send them to an Apple Watch, and share screens and files with iPhones or MacBooks. Honor didn’t confirm to me if it has plans to join Google in supporting AirDrop, but you have to imagine it’s in the works.
The V6 may not be quite as outlandish as Honor’s gimbal‑equipped Robot Phone, also shown off at MWC. Each of its three records would feel quite minor in isolation, but hopefully they add up to a meaningful upgrade. We’ll find out for sure when the phone actually launches later this year.
Photography by Dominic Preston / The Verge
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- Dominic Preston