The Honor Magic V Flip Might Be The Best-Looking Clamshell Foldable On The Market Right Now
In the current smartphone world, the most fashion-conscious devices are the clamshell foldables. I don’t know how we ended up here, but you’ll find that most of the best-looking devices come out of this segment. I’m not complaining though. I personally feel like the Magic V Flip is gorgeous. Plus, the best part is that it doesn’t neglect the performance aspect of things.
The Design
The Magic V Flip pays as much attention to its design as the Honor Magic V2 does, and that’s a good thing. It’s cover is essentially all screen, with two cutouts for the cameras. The back panel is flat with Honor branding and an LED flash being the only features on it; though, the different colorways do a lot ot make the back very appealing to look at.
The devices have an aluminum frame that is mostly flat but does have some curvature towards its edges. Three of the colorways have gold frames, while only the black model of the smartphone has a black frame. The device is available in the Iris Black, Camellia White, and Champagne Pink colorways. There’s also a limited edition Jimmy Choo colorway for the fashionistas in the crowd.
However, by all indications, the device doesn’t come with any IP certification, so I’d be careful before taking it for a dip in the pool. It measures 14.9mm when folded and 7.15mm unfolded. It’s a tad thicker than I anticipated, but to be fair, there’s less space to distribute components and it makes better use of its 7.15mm thickness than other manufacturers do with 6.9mm.
The Screens
The screens are a big point to talk about, because the massive cover display is one of the first things that you’ll notice when you see the Magic V Flip.
The 4-inch LTPO OLED cover display is literally the biggest on any clamshell foldable so far and essentially extends edge to edge. It has a 1200 x 1092 resolution, a max refresh rate of 120Hz, 1600-nit peak brightness, and Dolby Vision certification. The screen is big enough to comfortable operate some apps, which other clamshells might not be able to boast.
Naturally, the foldable screen is even more impressive than that. It’s a 6.8-inch LTPO OLED unit with 3000-nit peak brightness, 120Hz refresh, Dolby Vision and a 1080 x 2520 resolution. These are both excellent displays.
The Hardware
Just because it looks great doesn’t mean that Honor’s new device skimps on the performance. In fact, it is surprisingly powerful for such a small body.
The chip at the core of everything is the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. You can spec it out starting at a 12GB/256GB configuration, and that can be pushed up all the way to a proper flagship-grade 16GB/1TB option. Not bad at all. Plus, there’s Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, and NFC.
The battery is a 4,800 mAh cell, which is the biggest in any clamshell foldable. In fact, it’s on par with some much bigger book-style foldables, like the OnePlus Open, Google Pixel Fold, and Xiaomi Mix Fold 3. You don’t get wireless charging, but there’s 66W wired charging, so that’s more than enough consolation.
The Cameras
The main camera on this is a 50MP lens with OIS that takes some real estate out of the cover display, and that’s joined by a 12MP ultrawide that can act like a macro camera too. The cutout in the foldable display is for a 50MP camera. You’ll be able to record at 4K on either set of cameras.
Pricing And Availability
The Honor Magic V Flip starts at about $690 for the base configuration and steps up to $827 for the 16GB/1TB option. That’s based on converting the Chinese pricing, but the direct equivalent is very easy to swallow. The only thing is that the device is only available in China for now, and there’s no sign whether it will eventually accomodate an international release.
