Foldables remain among the most exciting devices in the flagship segment, but it’s hard to blame anyone who feels the category has plateaued. Recent releases have leaned heavily into iterative refinements rather than groundbreaking leaps.

While the broader market waits for its next major turning point, HONOR is looking to shake things up with what might just be the toughest foldable in the Philippines: the HONOR Magic V6.

Locally, the 16GB/512GB Magic V6 we reviewed comes in at ₱119,999 (roughly $1,946 converted). That price falls right in line with other premium folding phones on the market, though it’s admittedly a steep jump from the previous iteration despite offering the exact same memory configuration. We aren’t blaming HONOR for this, though; the current global memory crisis is largely responsible for the sky-high prices we’re seeing across the consumer electronics industry.

That aside, is the HONOR Magic V6 actually great value for money? Read on for our full verdict.

The ‘toughest’ foldable on the market?

HONOR is leaning heavily into the toughness narrative this year. The Magic V6 sports an aerospace-grade frame with a Super Steel hinge, tempered glass protecting the cover screen, and ultra-thin glass shielding the foldable panel. The hinge specifically uses what the brand claims is the strongest special steel ever put into a consumer device, boasting a tensile strength rating of 2,800 megapascals. It’s rated to withstand 500,000 folds — which, if you do the math, translates to about 13 years of use if you open it 100 times a day. We even witnessed its durability firsthand during a preview event in Pampanga, where the device helped tow a 1-ton aircraft across a 100-meter track multiple times without deforming.

Internally, the hinge features a cushioning system designed to absorb impact and distribute shock evenly during a drop. While we intentionally avoided dropping our own review unit, we watched the local HONOR team successfully drop-test the phone without shattering the frame or either display. The company has also upgraded its flagship by securing both IP68 and IP69 ratings, making it the only foldable fully dust-tight, water-resistant, and capable of enduring high-pressure water jets. At that same Pampanga event, demo units were repeatedly submerged in pool water with zero issues.

Design-wise, the HONOR Magic V6 is a sharpened refinement of the familiar book-style formula seen on the Magic V5. It’s remarkably slim, measuring a mere 4mm when unfolded and 8.75mm shut. Importantly, the rear material changes depending on your color choice. The gold and black variants feature a fiberglass back, while the red option sports an eco-leather finish with a suede-like texture. We’ve been testing the white version this time around, which uses an aerospace material that feels like frosted aluminum. It’s incredibly light at just 219 grams, too — weighing less than an iPhone 17 Pro Max. When folded, it matches the slimness of Apple’s current top-end flagship. Impressive.

Because of that thin profile, manageable weight, and rock-solid build, the handling experience is stellar. It legitimately feels like a regular slab smartphone in the hand, granting a peace of mind you rarely experience with modern folding devices. We also noticed the ultra-thin flexible glass on the inner display has been refined to minimize the crease; it’s barely visible and almost undetectable to the touch. When a device is this durable and handles this much like a normal handset, it’s hard not to feel like HONOR has finally perfected the foldable formula.

Two screens are indeed better than one

The two screens on the HONOR Magic V6 use LTPO 2.0 panels with dynamic refresh rates that scale seamlessly from 1Hz up to 120Hz. The 7.95-inch folding AMOLED and the 6.52-inch cover OLED both look phenomenal, easily ranking among the best displays we have seen on a foldable.

The company added an anti-reflective layer to the inner screen for a superior viewing experience — a difference we immediately noticed when placing it next to the Magic V3, our previous go-to for watching YouTube and The Office rewatches on Netflix. The cover screen is protected by HONOR’s anti-scratch NanoCrystal Shield and also includes that same anti-reflective coating, marking the first time the brand has treated both panels to this glare-reducing technology.

You buy a foldable to watch stuff, right? But surprisingly, getting a great viewing experience on these devices isn’t always a sure thing. Wide format support is crucial, too, and thankfully, both displays handle HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision streaming standards. Popular apps recognize these formats instantly, delivering the highest available streaming quality, including Android’s Ultra HDR.

For dedicated streaming, two display enhancements stand out. Super Dynamic Display uses AI to boost brightness and contrast across your gallery, default video player, YouTube, and Netflix. Vivid Display takes it a step further by using AI to enhance video clarity and colors, though it currently only applies to YouTube and Netflix. Just keep in mind that leaving these toggles on will drain your battery faster, so it’s probably best to only enable them if you notice any difference.

Audio is handled by two stereo speakers located at the top and bottom of the frame. Closed, they sit symmetrically; open, they fire diagonally. They sound fantastic, offering ample volume alongside a rich, deep audio profile.

The best cameras on a foldable

As stellar as the hardware feels, the camera system is what left the biggest impression on us. Coming from the Magic V3, which we still use daily, the leap in imaging quality is obvious. The triple rear setup — a 50-megapixel primary with optical image stabilization, a 64-megapixel telephoto with 3x optical zoom, and a 50-megapixel ultra-wide — consistently captures sharper images and cleaner low-light shots. More importantly, zoomed-in images actually look detailed instead of turning into a blurry, digital mess. You get a 20-megapixel selfie camera on both screens, so video calls look and feel normal whether the device is open or closed. It just makes sense.

Honestly, this is as good a camera phone as you will find in the folding space today. It rivals traditional flagships, which is a significant engineering triumph given the tight dimensions. We would go as far as saying the HONOR Magic V6 is the best foldable you can buy right now for photography.

You don’t have to just take our word for it. We shot hundreds of photos with this model during a chaotic travel schedule. Earlier this year, we set out to attend Mobile World Congress 2026 in Barcelona, Spain, but after being rerouted to Karachi, Pakistan, and then Bangkok, Thailand, due to airspace closures, the phone became our primary travel camera before we returned home to the Philippines. Through all those shifting lighting conditions and shooting scenarios, the results were consistently great. The telephoto lens is a standout, delivering detailed 3x and gorgeous 2x portrait shots, while even pushing into 6x digital zoom yields surprisingly crisp results.

Sample shots

The ultra-wide lens performs brilliantly outdoors and in bright interiors. For selfies, we prefer using the rear cameras with the cover screen as a viewfinder. Doing so lets you easily switch to the ultra-wide lens for group shots or to include more of the background in the frame.

On the video side, you can shoot up to 4K at 60fps across all three rear lenses, while the front cameras handle 4K at 30fps. Video capture maxes out at 8K at 30fps or 4K at 120fps, complete with HDR10+ support. The stabilization held up surprisingly well, too, keeping our footage smooth even when we were frantically sprinting through terminals during those unexpected layovers in Karachi and Bangkok.

More impressively, the main camera offers a Log recording option in Pro mode. There are also LUT options available, though they restrict you to 1080p at 30fps and function more like basic color filters than true look-up tables. The only real downside to video recording is that built-in hybrid stabilization remains permanently on, even when shooting in Pro mode.

Great software, cautious performance

Under the hood, the HONOR Magic V6 packs Qualcomm’s 3nm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, easily the most powerful Android chipset available today. It handled every heavy game we threw at it without breaking a sweat, running the demanding mobile port of Hell Clock on the large inner screen for extended sessions while remaining comfortably cool.

However, don’t be shocked if benchmark scores from apps like Geekbench and Antutu seem lower than expected out of the box. By default, the system runs on Balanced mode, which significantly caps performance to manage heat and extend battery life. To unleash the full power of the chipset, you need to toggle Performance mode in the Settings and run your tests on the smaller, lower-resolution cover screen. Doing so yielded scores more than double what we saw in Balanced mode.

Just be warned that Performance mode aggressively throttles under sustained heavy loads. We couldn’t even finish a 3DMark stress test due to overheating. Switching back to Balanced mode allowed the tests to complete, showing the smartphone sustaining about 50% of its peak performance — still plenty capable for real-world usage.

Powering the user experience is Android 16 layered with MagicOS 10, complete with a promise of seven major OS updates from HONOR. The interface is highly customizable, letting you tweak the translucent menus to your liking. Additions like Magic Portal are incredibly useful; long-pressing an image or text brings up an AI-driven sidebar that suggests contextual apps for quick drag-and-drop actions. Multitasking on the expansive inner screen is a breeze thanks to a dedicated bottom dock and a new Multi-Flex mode that lets you run up to four apps simultaneously. You also get a suite of clever AI tools, including real-time video transcription, live call translation, and an AI Deepfake Detection feature for video calls.

Multiple split-screen options allow you to have up to 4 apps on the main display simultaneously

Fueling all this is a substantial 6,660mAh silicon-carbon battery that easily powers through a full day of heavy use, netting around six to seven hours of screen-on time in our mixed testing. Naturally, using the larger main panel draws more power. Over Wi-Fi, streaming Netflix on the large screen drained the battery by 6% in one hour, while 1080p YouTube playback took 7%. Gaming took a bigger toll, obviously. Playing the Android port of Tomb Raider on the Graphics preset drained 8% in an hour, while the heavier GRID: Legends drained 23% in the same timeframe. These are highly respectable numbers for a tablet-sized panel.

When it’s time to recharge, the Magic V6 supports 80-watt wired and 66-watt wireless charging, alongside both wired and wireless reverse-charging options. Using the bundled brick, we topped up from 10% to 50% in just 22 minutes, reaching a full charge in 65 minutes. HONOR recommends charging the device unfolded to maximize heat dissipation and charging speeds, a common best practice for foldables.

Final thoughts

The HONOR Magic V6 is undeniably the most complete folding device the company has produced to date. It’s the closest a foldable has ever felt to a traditional flagship in terms of dimensions and handling, while offering the undeniable versatility of a generous inner screen for gaming and media. Add in the unprecedented durability ratings, and it’s likely tougher than your average slab phone, too. For all these reasons, we can easily recommend the Magic V6 to anyone looking to make the jump to a foldable. Just bear in mind that cutting-edge engineering definitely doesn’t come cheap.

HONOR Magic V6 specs

• Interior display: 7.95-inch LTPO2.0 (3SD+FIA) + 8T1C screen, 2352×2172 resolution, 1-120Hz refresh rate, up to 5000 nits brightness, 4320Hz PWM dimming
• Exterior display: 6.52-inch LTPO2.0 (3SD+FIA) + 2D CG9.0 screen, 2420×1080 resolution, 1-120Hz refresh rate, up to 6000 nits brightness, 4320Hz PWM dimming
• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
• Memory: 16GB RAM + 512GB storage
• Rear cameras: 50MP Ultra Light Sensitive Main (f/1.6, OIS), 64MP Ultra Sensing Periscope Telephoto (f/2.5, OIS), 50MP Ultra-Wide (f/2.2)
• Front cameras: Dual 20MP wide cameras (f/2.2) on interior and exterior screens
• Battery: 6660mAh silicon-carbon battery, 80W wired HONOR SuperCharge, 66W wireless HONOR SuperCharge, wireless reverse charging
• Durability: IP68 and IP69 water and dust resistance, HONOR Anti-scratch NanoCrystal Shield, HONOR Super Armored Inner Screen
• Dimensions (folded): 156.7mm (H) x 74.5mm (W) x 8.75mm/9.0mm (D)
• Dimensions (unfolded): 156.7mm (H) x 145.6mm (W) x 4.0mm/4.1mm (D)
• Weight: 219g (White), 224g (Black, Red)
• Connectivity: WiFi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, Dual SIM with eSIM support, USB 3.2 Gen1, NFC
• AI deatures: Google Gemini, AI Defocus Eyecare 2.0, AI Deepfake Detection, Call Translation, AI Eraser, AI Meeting Agent

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