Honor Magic V6 review proves big foldables can finally work

After years of sour foldable experiences, the Honor Magic V6 flips the script. Its thin build, new IP68 + IP69 durability, two bright anti-reflective LTPO AMOLED displays, and a standout camera system make daily use feel less like an experiment—and more like a

The first time the Honor Magic V6 opened in my hands, it didn’t feel like a fragile gadget meant for novelty. It felt like a phone you could actually carry—because the hinges and the durability details were hard to ignore.

This is a large foldable. but it’s unusually slim when unfolded at 4.0mm for the white model (and 4.1mm for the black. gold. and red versions). Folded. it measures 8.74mm in white (8.75mm in person. as the review notes) and sits around iPhone 17 Pro Max-like thickness territory—156.7 x 74.5 x 8.74mm folded for white. and 156.7 x 74.5 x 9.0mm for the black. gold. and red models. It’s also light for its class: 219g for white and 224g for the other three colorways.

What makes that matter isn’t just feel-good engineering. The Magic V6 is the first large foldable the reviewer says to bring both IP68 and IP69 protection. IP68 is rated for complete dust protection and submersion up to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes. IP69 adds resistance to high-pressure water jets. The review contrasts this with the Galaxy Z Fold 7’s IP48 certification. saying it’s not fully dustproof—while Honor’s Magic V6 is.

In a category that has too often made buyers trade everyday confidence for form factor dreams, that shift lands immediately.

The design package is built to match it. The hinge is made from what Honor calls Super Steel—an aerospace-grade alloy with a 2. 800MPa tensile strength and rated for over 500. 000 folds. In testing, the hinge holds reliably between about 50 and 140 degrees. Beyond that range, the phone snaps fully open or closed rather than staying propped.

The review does include the kind of detail you can’t fake: a crunching sound sometimes appears when opening or closing. It hasn’t been shown to affect usability, but it’s still the sort of noise that doesn’t belong on a premium-priced device.

The Magic V6 also aims to change how the fold feels in motion, not just how it looks. The white model uses aerospace special fiber on the back. described as frosted-aluminum in look and feel. while the red version uses eco-leather with a suede-like finish designed for grip. The white is the lightest version but is called “quite slippery. ” which is exactly the kind of practical frustration foldable owners remember from other phones.

Not everything is perfect, though. Two daily frustrations show up clearly.

First: the camera bump. The reviewer says it’s large enough to make the phone feel top-heavy and to make it rock on flat surfaces. The review frames it as the unavoidable cost of fitting a serious triple-camera system into a thin body—but it’s still a daily reality.

Second: opening the phone. The magnets are strong enough that finding a grip between the two halves takes adjustment. The reviewer has gotten past it. but notes it can be a reminder of how long the learning curve can be when handing it to someone else. Honor is suggested to etch a notch or add another mechanical help.

Still, the screens are what make the Magic V6 feel like a complete phone rather than a compromise.

Inside is a 7.95-inch foldable LTPO AMOLED with 1–120Hz refresh, 2,352 x 2,172 resolution, 403 PPI, and 5,000 nits peak brightness. The cover panel is a 6.52-inch LTPO AMOLED with 1–120Hz refresh, 2,420 x 1,080 resolution, 406 PPI, and 6,000 nits peak brightness. Both screens include anti-reflective coating, described as new to this generation and “noticeable” in direct sunlight.

The review calls out the full display feature set: both panels are LTPO 2.0 OLED with 10-bit color and 4. 320Hz PWM dimming. Both support HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision. Refresh behavior is fully dynamic, dropping to 1Hz when idle and climbing to 120Hz. Three modes are available: Dynamic and High both reach 120Hz. with High offering a per-app toggle; Standard caps at 60Hz but stays dynamic within that ceiling.

The one crease problem remains. Out of the box. the reviewer says it was barely noticeable. but after a few weeks it became more visible—especially in certain lighting and angles—and it could also be felt under the fingertip. Oppo’s Find N6 is used as the comparison point, described as a true zero-crease panel.

If the crease is the remaining vulnerability in daily comfort, stylus support is the way Honor rounds out the experience. The Magic V6 supports a stylus on both displays. The review notes Samsung dropped S Pen support entirely on the Galaxy Z Fold 7, but Honor went in the other direction.

The camera system is where the reviewer’s enthusiasm gets specific.

The rear setup is a 50MP main camera at f/1.6 with OIS, a 64MP 3x periscope camera at f/2.5 with OIS, and a 50MP ultrawide at f/2.2 with autofocus. Both the inner and cover displays hold a 20MP selfie shooter at f/2.2.

The review says daylight photos are excellent across the board. with vivid colors. wide dynamic range. and reliable Portrait mode at both 2x and 3x. The full-resolution 50MP mode is available. but the default pixel-binned shots are sharper in most situations. so switching away from default is rarely needed.

The 3x telephoto is called the standout lens. It’s the lens the reviewer reached for most often in daily shooting. and it holds up across subjects and lighting. The review also mentions 6x capability as “more capable than you might expect” for usable social media results. while low-light at 6x won’t match the detail of closer zoom levels.

The ultrawide is labeled the weakest of the three: it performs well in good light, softens in dimmer conditions, and at night is barely usable. It’s considered fine for daytime and that’s where the reviewer draws the line.

For selfies, the reviewer says the Magic V6 doesn’t keep up. Selfie shots are “soft in a way that feels out of place” on a phone this expensive. The workaround is to open the phone and shoot using the rear cameras with the cover screen as a viewfinder. which the reviewer says produces excellent results—just with more effort.

Video support is also clearly spelled out: all three cameras record up to 4K at 60fps with HDR across all modes. Log recording is available in Pro mode on the main camera at 1x and 2x.

When it comes to performance, the Magic V6 is fast—but only if you understand the compromise baked into its default settings.

The phone runs on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, described as the most powerful Android chipset available right now. In daily use, it’s “fast, fluid, and never strained,” with apps opening instantly and multitasking staying seamless.

For demanding workloads, though, the default Balanced mode changes the story. Balanced mode prioritizes efficiency and thermals over raw output. Performance mode exists, but the reviewer says performance is “nerfed” by default.

The numbers are included in the review. In Balanced mode, the Magic V6 secured a single-core score of 755 and a multi-core score of 2,787 in Geekbench 6. In Performance mode, those numbers jump to 3,531 and 9,524. The gap can be alarming without context. and while the reviewer did not notice it in everyday use. it is clearly there.

Performance mode unlocks higher output—but it comes with thermal throttling under sustained load. The review says the AnTuTu benchmark could not even complete in Performance mode, with an overheating warning before finishing. Balanced mode keeps the phone stable and cool. but the reviewer describes it as leaving a significant chunk of the chip’s capability unused.

Honor has included a vapor chamber cooling solution. but the review says it only goes so far in a phone this thin. For everyday tasks it never matters, and Balanced handles daily use without breaking a sweat. For sustained intensive workloads like long gaming sessions, neither mode delivers a clear answer.

If the performance story is complicated, the battery story isn’t.

The global model packs a 6,600mAh silicon-carbon cell. The reviewer says battery life is where the Magic V6 separates itself from every other large foldable on the market. The reviewer consistently gets through a full day with charge to spare. even with the inner screen as the primary display and heavy use including doomscrolling. video consumption. and multitasking throughout the day. Standby battery life is also described as strong, with no worries about making it to the next morning.

Charging is listed as another highlight: 80W wired and 66W wireless. The review adds that Honor doesn’t include a compatible charger in the box. but a third-party 80W charger takes under an hour to get the phone from almost empty to full. The phone prompts users to unfold it for the fastest possible charging speed. The reviewer says they didn’t want to leave the inner display exposed while plugged in. so they charged it folded. and it still remained plenty fast either way.

MagicOS 10 also includes longevity options for charging. Charging can be capped at 70%, 80%, or 90% to preserve long-term battery health. Smart Charging can charge to 80% overnight and finish to 100% just before the alarm.

The review also notes that Chinese variants pack even larger cells: 6,850mAh and 7,150mAh depending on storage configuration. The global model is described as class-leading on battery endurance among large foldables, with the Chinese version extending that lead further.

Software rounds out the pitch.

The Magic V6 ships with MagicOS 10 based on Android 16, with Honor promising seven major OS upgrades. The review describes MagicOS 10 as having an iOS-style liquid glass aesthetic with translucency and soft blur, and says the translucency can be customized in settings.

There’s heavy focus on personalization and multitasking tools. The review lists themes. fonts. always-on display styles. lock screen layouts. and folder sizes that scale up to a 2×3 grid with 3×5 icons. It praises multitasking: split-screen with adjustable ratios. floating windows. and Multi-flex. which runs three apps in a scrollable layout on the inner display. The reviewer gives a personal routine example—using two-app split with messages alongside notes. or Google Books next to Instagram—and says it all works reliably.

The review flags one gap: browser support for split-screen. Neither Chrome nor Firefox worked in split-screen view. which is described as a notable omission because browsers are often the exact app you want alongside something else. Frequently used split-screen app pairs appear in the dock for quick access.

Honor’s Magic Portal is described as a system-wide contextual drag-and-drop tool: long-press content to bring up a sidebar of relevant apps and actions. with AI adjusting suggestions based on selected content and what the user has been doing. The reviewer says it works well enough but isn’t used daily.

Honor’s AI suite is also enumerated: real-time subtitles, live call translation, deepfake detection during video calls, AI Memories for screenshot organization, and Image to Video 2.0. Image to Video 2.0 generates short video clips from up to three reference images and a text prompt.

Connectivity with Apple devices is positioned as unusually practical. For Apple users, Honor Connect on iOS enables AirDrop-style file transfers and notification sync between the V6 and an iPhone. Honor Workstation on macOS can mirror the phone’s screen within macOS. The reviewer tested file sharing and says it works without friction.

The conclusion is simple: the Magic V6 is a large foldable that changed the reviewer’s mind.

The review’s headline argument is that the Magic V6 doesn’t reinvent the foldable category—it completes it. The first foldable with both IP68 and IP69 is framed as solving the category’s durability problem. Battery mileage is described as reliable. The camera system is described as not asking users to accept foldable-tier compromises. The OS is praised as finally catching up with other flagship Android skins.

Performance is acknowledged as unusual because Balanced mode caps output. and the reviewer ties that to daily experience not feeling compromised. The remaining dealbreakers aren’t hidden: the crease is still there. Oppo’s Find N6 proves it doesn’t have to be. and the camera bump is still an ongoing reality of the form factor that engineering hasn’t eliminated.

The reviewer recommends the phone, but notes availability and price barriers. Importing is described as the only viable option if you can’t wait. The Magic V6 is currently available for pre-order in Malaysia. and a conversion from that pricing places it at close to $1. 900. €1. 650. and £1. 400. Availability is expected to expand to more regions over the coming weeks, but regional pricing hasn’t been revealed.

Two alternatives are offered for readers who want different trade-offs. Oppo Find N6 is singled out as the only large foldable with a zero-crease display. The Find N6 is described as having larger screens, similar battery life and charging speeds, and competitive cameras. Its Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 uses a 7-core architecture versus Honor’s full 8-core configuration. but the review says performance in practice is similar because the Magic V6 is capped in Balanced mode anyway.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is presented as a budget-friendly option, described as almost a year old. It uses Qualcomm’s previous flagship chip. and One UI 8.5 is described as one of the best foldable software experiences out there. But it’s IP48 rather than IP68, and battery life trails the Magic V6 considerably.

Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold is described as the most rewarding phone in Google’s lineup and as being driven by software. The review says it offers the most refined version of Android tailored for large screens and is the test bed for Google’s AI experiments. with priority access not just to Android but to Google’s broader software ecosystem too.

The testing details close the loop on credibility. The reviewer used the Magic V6 as a primary phone since receiving a review unit in late April. It’s their first book-style foldable after years on slab phones. with prior foldable experience limited to a Galaxy Z Flip 3 and a Motorola Razr Plus 2023. both of which left poor impressions. Camera testing covered multiple lighting conditions across indoors and outdoors over several weeks. Performance benchmarks were run in both Balanced and Performance modes. Battery testing covered daily use across both displays over an extended period.

The review unit is the 512GB model with 16GB RAM in the white colorway, running the latest stable build of MagicOS 10 at the time of publication.

Honor Magic V6 foldable phone review IP68 IP69 MagicOS 10 Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 LTPO AMOLED camera 50MP 64MP 3x battery 6600mAh Android 16 foldable durability