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At a packed venue in a cold, grey Barcelona, I saw Honor reveal its latest high-end folding phone – the Honor Magic V6. Successor to last year’s equally premium Magic V5, the V6 bucks current smartphone industry trends a bit by making some much-needed steps forwards; as well as being indisputably the world’s thinnest folding phone, the Magic V6 also raises the bar with impressive new durability claims and early adoption of some crucial new technologies.
With a creaseless internal display, a chart-topping new battery and Snapdragon’s latest and greatest under the hood, the Magic V6 is shaping up to steal the folding phone crown. But last year’s V5 was held back by thermal throttling – which resulted in some surprisingly underwhelming results in our in-house performance tests – and with the new Snapdragon chipset battling similar heating issues, I’m a little concerned Honor’s latest foldable might fall into the exact same trap as its predecessor.
Only time will tell. So while we wait to put the Magic V6 through its paces in earnest, here’s my early verdict based on the time I spent with the phone at MWC 2026 this weekend.
Honor Magic V6 hands-on: Specifications, price and release date
- Internal display: 7.95in LTPO OLED, 2,172 x 2,352, 0.92:1
- External display: 6.52in LTPO OLED, 1,060 x 2,376, 20.2:9
- Processor: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
- RAM: 12GB/16GB
- Storage: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB
- Operating system: Android 16
- Rear cameras: 50MP (f/6.5) main, 64MP 1/2in telephoto, 50MP ultrawide
- Selfie camera: 2x 20-megapixel (f/2.2)
- Battery: Two 3,330mAh cells (6,660mAh total)
- Charging: TBC
- Waterproofing: IP68 and IP69
- Dimensions: TBC x 8.75 x TBCmm (folded)
- Weight: 219g
- Colours: Red, White, Black, Gold
- UK price: TBC
- UK release date: TBC (H1 2026)
Honor Magic V6 hands-on: Key new features and first impressions
Design and core specs
On a scale of boringly iterative to gobsmackingly groundbreaking, the Honor Magic V6 represents something of a comfortable middle ground. The phone’s design remains largely unchanged – save for a new leathery Red finish with a gold trim lining the rear camera – with nips and tucks here and there keeping things vaguely interesting.
The external display is a little bigger than the one found on the Honor Magic V5 (6.52in vs 6.43in) and a little brighter (6,000 nits vs 5,000), and the internal display swaps LTPO AMOLED panel technology for straight LTPO OLED. Otherwise, the specs here are very similar to last year – the same resolutions, the same 120Hz refresh rates, and the same 5,000 nits peak brightness from the internal display.
The cameras remain largely unchanged, too – and that includes the physical size of them. The triple rear camera cluster consists of a 50MP main shooter plus a 64MP telephoto lens and a 50MP ultrawide lens, all packed into a housing that nearly doubles the depth of the phone. It was one of our biggest issues with the V5, but I have to admit, I’m not sure how Honor could remedy the matter.
Small but mighty
This is still the slimmest folding phone I’ve ever seen, however. Honor was at pains to note that at 8.75mm folded, the Magic V6 is slimmer than the iPhone 17 Pro Max – which it is, by an earth-shattering 0.05mm. It’s dainty to the touch, which dramatically belies the astonishing durability claims Honor is making here: the hinge, says Honor, is 87% stronger than a car’s A-pillar. I’ll be asking our Phones Editor Ben Johnston to put that particular claim to the test with extreme prejudice.
Durability is high on Honor’s priority list elsewhere, too. The Magic V6 is IP68 and IP69 rated (the first foldable to earn the latter certification), meaning it’s completely dustproof and can withstand both extended time underwater (up to 1.5m for 30 minutes) and more short-lived but intense jets or sprays. Honor demonstrated this by repeatedly dunking the phone underwater at the press briefing, as if torturing it for information.
This is also the first folding phone I can recall that shows no visible crease in the internal display – technology that Apple was reportedly due to pioneer with the foldable iPhone in collaboration with Samsung. Honor says the V6 has been subjected to a 500,000-fold cycle test to prove its longevity.
Bumper batteries
The batteries are another mark of distinction. The V6 packs in a pair of 3,300mAh, 25% silicon cells, for a total capacity of 6,660mAh – that’s substantially more than the 5,820mAh of last year’s V5 and a massive step up from the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7’s paltry 4,400mAh.
Honor claims the battery will run the internal display for 24 hours before it needs a charge. I’ll be fascinated to see how the Magic V performs in our in-house battery tests – after all, a bigger battery can be quickly eclipsed by a power-hungry processor.
Snapdragon’s latest and greatest chipset
Speaking of which: inside the Magic V6 hides the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. This is Qualcomm’s premium chipset, set to power this year’s most powerful flagships – it’s built on a 3nm fabrication process and promises clock speeds of 4.6GHz. The Elite Gen 5 generates a fair bit of heat, and I’ve seen no evidence thus far of Honor’s efforts to mitigate that, but I’ll be getting answers as soon as I can.
We saw some impressive results when we ran our benchmarks on the Elite Gen 5 towards the tail-end of last year: 25% better performance in single-core tests and 31% in multi-core compared to the Snapdragon 8 Elite.
It’ll be fascinating to see whether the Magic V6 can adequately keep the heat of the Elite Gen 5 chipset in check, and right the wrongs of its predecessor in the process.
Agentic AI
And now for my least favourite part: the AI enhancements. As with all other manufacturers, Honor is placing a lot of emphasis on AI this year, and I’ll begrudgingly admit that what’s on offer here sounds halfway useful.
I’m specifically talking about the new Gemini co-pilot mode, which allows you to chat with Google’s AI assistant about what’s on the opposite screen. There’s also an AI Meeting Agent, which will take notes, identify speakers and pluck out crucial information based on specific keywords you hand it.
Less useful in my eyes is AI Suggestion, which recommends apps based on geographic location. I assume this means it’ll dump several weather apps on you the moment you touch down in the ever-mercurial UK.
Honor Magic V6 hands-on: Early verdict
There’s no doubt about it: Honor is consistently beating its rivals to the punch. With Samsung currently lagging behind by almost every metric, it’ll be interesting to see how the Z Fold 8 stacks up when that eventually emerges later this year, but for now at least, it’s clear that Honor is intent on – and on the cusp of – dominating the foldable space.
The question is simply: Can the Honor Magic V6 handle the heat?
Look out for our full Honor Magic V6 review soon.
