The fight in the global segment of foldable smartphones is about to become intense with the arrival of Honor Magic Vs! For years, Samsung conquered a certain edge in the category because it was one of the few players operating in the global scene. The Korean firm launched four generations, and then consolidate its presence there. However, nothing is easily granted. The Honor Magic Vs comes to threaten the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold series (most specifically) with its own set of features, build, and design. Honor’s latest foldable device will be launched on MWC 2023, but ahead of that, Zack from JerryRigEverything managed to put the foldable under its stressful endurance tests.
More than a simple endurance test, this is the first time that we can see the Honor Magic Vs internals. We can see how it was crafted and how the components were aligned in this complex device. How does it compare to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4? Let’s find out!
Honor Magic Vs – It’s time to see the internals and see how it can survive JerryRigEverything’s torture
First and foremost important, we can see the Honor Magic Vs and the glorious outer display that makes it look like a regular smartphone. When folded, the device is a bit thick (for obvious reasons), however, that should not compromise your usage. One of the most notable parts of the design is the hinge. When folded, we can see that the phone has basically no visible crease. It’s microscopic, especially when we compare it with Samsung’s Z Fold crease. Curiously, Zack compares the two and we can see how easily light can pass through the crease left by the Z Fold hinge. Honor did some magic here, and it’s good to see this quality available in a new global player.
JerryRigEverything’s title makes a direct allusion to the hinge on the Honor Magic Vs. The crease on these devices has always been a target of controversy. With the Honor Magic Vs, the YouTuber states that the biggest “gap” of foldable has been fixed.
The Honor Magic Vs – the hinge is what makes the magic happen
He proceeds to check the phone and its external design. There is a shiny blue finish on the back, teasing the blue color option. Moreover, the phone boasts a rectangular camera module with a curved glass design and three shooters. When unfolded, we have a big gorgeous display with fairly thick bezels around. There is a punch-hole cutout, that sits a bit far to the right. After checking the phone and its visuals, Zack moves to the stressful part of the show. If you’re a sensitive person, get ready to see the torture.
Zack starts the show with his very appropriate knife. He begins to cut the edges of the display, easily removing the phone’s flexible frame. He begins to heat the display with a thermal blue, so he will be able to remove it without doing major damage. After the heat is applied, the knife makes a comeback, and Jerry begins to remove the flexible screen. Forget the part where I said, “without doing major damage”. Obviously, the screen does not survive his “Persuasive” methods.
Without the main display, we can start to see the internals and the foldable mechanism. The biggest surprise is that the outer display is still working fine. So they are really independent of each other. Removing the main screen will not give total access to the internals, so Zack decides to heat up the phone’s back. After removing it, we can see the camera modules and the battery tucked in the phone’s rear part. Once he removes the outer display, surprise! Another battery. Obviously, this complex design requires a dual-cell design to deliver some proper capacity. Also, the phone boasts fast-charging and the regular design can’t withstand that.
One of the best battery capacities in the category
The internals is well protected by a lot of plastic covers, and it’s necessary to remove all of them to start disassembling the components. Once he removes the two batteries, we can see that one has a 2930 mAh typical capacity, while the other has 2,070 mAh. That ends up in a 5,000 mAh capacity with support for 66W fast charging. Worth noting that this is way beyond what the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 can support. Samsung fears the Note 7’s ghost and keeps shipping phones with up to 25W charging.
Apparently, the phone has a good level of repairability
Zack proceeds to remove the SIM Card tray and to our surprise, the SIM card reader component is easily removable. If it’s easy to remove, it’s also easy to repair if you need it (Of course assuming you have enough courage and skills to disassemble a premium foldable phone). He then proceeds to remove the selfie camera, it’s a conventional module that can be easily detached.
In fact, the three main cameras can also be removed without major issues.
Understanding the hinge mechanism
The phone’s motherboard is rather small, and it’s impressive to see how the technology is evolving. The processor is covered with thermal paste to ensure low temperatures and no throttle. The folding mechanism can also be disassembled and it reveals how the “magic” happens in this phone. It’s really well made and results in a phone with almost no crease. The most annoying detail of some foldable is that big crease when you fold the device. If it hurts your eyes, be glad to know that the Honor Magic Vs pass in this aspect with bells and whistles.
The mechanism is durable and easy to disassemble or assemble without major issues. It’s nice to see that it’s possible to repair this phone, if needed, without making it unusable. Like Zack states, the system looks like a high-tech suspension system, similar to what we see in some cars.
The hinge of the Honor Magic Vs is a development in the right direction. It’s good to see this level of innovation and to see that companies are not resting on the current approaches. As a result, we can expect even better designs in the future, reducing the shortcomings in this tech.
Honor Magic Vs specs recap
The Honor Magic Vs will hit global markets on February 27th during MWC 2023. The phone will launch alongside the new Honor Magic5 series phones. Below, we’ll list some of these specs to refresh your memory and see what the next big competitor for the Z Fold series has in tow.
The Honor Magic Vs boasts a 7.9-inch Foldable OLED screen with a 90 Hz refresh rate and 2,272 x 1,984 pixels of resolution. The Outer display has 6.45 inches and comes with up to 120 Hz refresh rate and a regular FHD+ resolution.
Under the hood, the phone boasts the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC with up to 12 GB of RAM and 512 GB of Internal Storage. In terms of optics, the device has a 54 MP main camera, an 8 MP telephoto shooter with OIS, and a 50 MP ultrawide snapper with Auto-Focus. There is a 16 MP selfie snapper.
The Honor Magic Vs has Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, Stereo Speakers, NFC, IR Blaster, and full GNSS coverage. There is a USB Type-C 3.1 with OTG and DisplayPort support.
