Today, Honor officially launched the Magic V6 in South Africa at an intimate event in Johannesburg. The device launched in China earlier this year, so there aren’t many things we don’t already know, except for local pricing and availability.
Well, those are now official. The Magic V6 will be available from 1 September, but you’ll need R40,000 if you plan to walk out of the store with one and not have security chase you. Alternatively, if you enjoy paying more for your tech, you can get it from Vodacom or Cell C for R1,600/m over a 36-month period.
Honor brings the Magic
Keen-eyed readers should be able to spot that not much has changed with the Magic V6. It is technically thinner than the Magic V5, but only if comparing the white V6 with the non-white V5. It is also the same thickness when unfolded as Samsung’s recently announced Fold 8 Ultra at 4.1mm.
Only a couple of things have changed inside the V6. Most of the camera specs are identical (at least on paper), but the displays have had some work done. For the inner display, it’s mostly an incremental upgrade to the LPTO tech, which allows for the variable refresh rate. It also gets 4,320Hz PWM dimming, which is meant to help reduce eye strain. The same is true for the cover display, which is also slightly bigger and crispier, going from a resolution of 1,060 x 2,376px to 1,080 x 2,420px.
Qualcomm’s latest chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, is also present and provides substantial increases, up to 50% in some cases, over last year’s flagship. Whether you’ll notice the uplift depends on what you’re doing and how closely you’re paying attention. The SoC is paired with 16 GB of RAM and 512GB or 1TB of non-expandable storage.
The battery has also received an upgrade. The Magic V5 packs a decently sized 5,820mAh battery. Honor’s upped that to 6,660mAh in the Magic V6. Charging speeds have also improved. It now supports 80W wired and 66W wireless charging.
Big battery aside, the big deal with the Magic V6 is the focus on durability. Honor has somehow managed to secure IP68 and IP69 certificates for it, making it the first foldable to achieve that. While that might not mean much to you now, you’ll change your tune quickly when you’re firing heated high-pressure water at your device. Oh, you guys don’t do that? Well, when it happens by accident, your phone should survive.
