Last year’s Honor Magic V5 was an incredible upgrade over the V3 in every way, but it was ultimately upstaged by Samsung’s excellent Galaxy Z Fold 7. That’s why this year, Honor is getting ahead of the game and announcing the Magic V6 at MWC 2026, and while the phone doesn’t officially launch until some time in Q2, I’ve had the privilege of using an early version of the hardware for the past few weeks.
In addition to my own impressions of Honor’s latest foldable masterpiece, I also got to interview Hope Cao, the Senior Product Expert for the Magic V6 at Honor. A small group of just me and two other journalists talked Cao’s ear off for a solid hour, asking everything we could think of about what makes the Magic V6 special and how the company plans to beat Samsung at its own game this year.
Heartier hardware
Once again, Honor is pushing the limits of what can fit into an ultra-slim foldable phone. The company says the Magic V6’s white colorway is the world’s thinnest foldable ever, measuring just 4mm unfolded and 8.75mm when folded. For reference, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is 8.75mm thin, while the recently announced Galaxy S26 Ultra is 7.9mm, making this feel exactly like a normal smartphone in your pocket.
The other colorways (including the gold one I’ve got) are a hair thicker, but I have a hard time telling the difference on my calipers. For me, the real win here is that the camera island on the back is about half the thickness of the Magic V5’s. This was all done while simultaneously hardening the structure, achieving an IP69 water and dust resistance rating, and an even stronger hinge than before. To date, only a few flagship phones from OnePlus and Honor have achieved this rating.
“Targeting the issue of hinges being prone to failure,” Cao said, “the V6 utilizes 2800MPa Honor Super Steel to fortify the mechanical core, which is almost twice the strength of Samsung’s material.” It sports the same 500,000 lifetime folds rating as the Galaxy Z Fold 7, but the stronger hinge, better water resistance, and other factors mean this one should hold up even longer over time.
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Displays are incredibly important to me, but not for the same reason as some other people. While the Magic V6’s display upgrades all the usual parameters (peak brightness, refresh rate, etc), it also innovates by driving a higher PWM rate than ever and a new anti-reflective layer. These are also a pair of true 10-bit displays, so there’s no nasty temporal dithering going on, either.
“Honor continues to lead in eye comfort technology, constantly pushing the boundaries of technical capability,” Cao told me, and it’s true, especially with these two new technologies stacked on top of everything that already makes Honor displays so great. If I’m going to pick any phone that’s good for my eyes, it’s going to be this one, not Samsung’s. It’s also got full stylus support on both screens (something never seen on a foldable), although I don’t have a compatible stylus to test on.
Having an anti-reflective layer means the phone is easier to see in bright conditions, something I’ve lauded Samsung for on the Galaxy S24 and S25, and that technology can finally be found on a folding phone. The new anti-reflective layer is also said to be 33% stronger against drops and even features a 44% reduced curve depth for the inner screen’s crease. It’s also got properly even bezels on the outer screen this time around, which should help those of us with OCD.
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Honor says it used a combination of engineering expertise and AI simulation to help it achieve these new benchmarks, including rigorous testing and development of even better battery technology. Honor started using electric car battery tech in its phones a few years ago, and now the company has bumped the amount of silicon in its batteries up to 25%, up from 15% in the Magic V5, giving the global model a 6,660mAh battery.
Cao told me that Honor wanted “to further break through the ceiling of battery capacity,” so they “partnered with ATL to debut a new generation of silicon-carbon battery technology.” This not only resulted in a higher-capacity battery but also one that’s even thinner.
While that’s the largest battery in any foldable to date, the Chinese model will sport an even larger battery over 7,000mAh that’s comprised of an unbelievable 32% silicon content. Silicon tends to improve battery capacity and charging speed, but can degrade faster over time if not formulated correctly. We pressed Honor on this important aspect during the interview, and the company said it has been working closely with leading battery experts to ensure this doesn’t happen.
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To make things even better, Honor upgraded the camera from the Magic V5 with a new CIPA 6.5 stabilization engine. It still includes the excellent 50MP sensors for the main and ultrawide camera and 64MP telephoto camera, plus new processing enhancements made possible by a faster Snapdragon chipset and a new ISP. CIPA 6.5 means the phone can take longer exposures than ever, even while holding the phone freehand, resulting in better-balanced, more detailed images.
Some might be saddened about a lack of true upgrades on the camera system this time around, but Cao said Honor needed “to strike a balance between an ultimate imaging experience and ultimate hand feel, catering to both super- flagship imaging capabilities and a thin, light foldable experience.”
“From a design perspective, slab flagship phones have more space to accommodate larger image sensors,” which is why the Magic 8 Pro’s camera can fit a larger 200MP 1/1.4-inch telephoto sensor inside. “Users require devices that are not only thin and light but also reliable,” Cao continued, “with long battery life, high performance, and excellent imaging capabilities.”
Magic OS 10 has also been upgraded for this release, with new features like a pinnable taskbar, the ability to run 3 apps side-by-side (identical to OnePlus’s Open Canvas, which is now part of Android 16), and a bevy of new Apple interoperability features. I’m not as interested in this part since I don’t own a MacBook or Apple Watch, but there are, apparently, quite a few people who would appreciate this.
“We are well aware that many high-end users are ‘dual-device owners’ (dual-phone users) operating across ecosystems,” Cao said. “We are committed to establishing Magic V6 as the perfect companion for Apple, achieving a top-tier status in the industry regarding the interconnectivity experience with the Apple ecosystem.” At least watching Honor show the tech off made me aware how genuinely cool it was that the Honor Connect app can allow cross-device notifications and screen sharing, plus a one-tap share option between Honor and Apple devices.
Frankly, it’s hard to believe folding phones could get much better than this, but I’m sure engineers will continue to defy expectations, as they have done here. We’re expecting the Honor Magic V6 to launch in China sometime in March, while the global rollout will happen a few months later in Q2.
