Thinnest foldable Magic V3 get priced lower than Z Fold 6 despite the specs beat

The world's thinnest foldable phone - the Honor Magic V3 that we just reviewed - has officially gone global, with prices in all main regions where it will be sold. 

In a bit of bad news for Samsung, Honor has priced it lower than the Galaxy Z Fold 6, despite that it is way more elegant and offers better specs in all aspects.

The €1,999 or £1,699 Honor Magic V3 price is for the version with 12GB RAM and the whopping 512GB of storage. For comparison, a 512GB Galaxy Z Fold 6 costs €2,119 and Samsung immediately put that version on a €1,999 promo today.

Honor, however, is running a monthlong promo during which the Magic V3 can be bought for €1,699 or £1,399, plus it throws in a number of freebies of your choosing, from free display insurance, to its fitness smartwatch or ANC earbuds that basically bring the V3 price to the level of flagship phones with rigid displays.

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One has to hold the Honor Magic V3 in their hand to really appreciate how slim the phone is. When closed, it is already on par with most flagships in size and weight, and when opened it is the thinnest thing, as if you are only holding a screen with AI functionality in your hand.

Even when closed, though, the V3 is only 9.2mm and weighs just 226g, or less than 8 ounces. For comparison, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is 30% thicker at 0.22 inches (12.1 mm) when closed, even though Samsung slimmed it down compared to its predecessors.



Honor did it without sacrificing high-end specs, too, as the V3 is powered by the latest and greatest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, and has a periscope zoom camera to boot, not to mention a much larger battery than the Z Fold 6. How did the phone maker do it?

Honor says that is used a second generation of its strong and lightweight Super Steel allow for the backplate and the hinge, while the back cover of the Magic V3 is made of a custom material that is tougher than Kevlar.

The record-breaking hinge that is only 2.84 mm wide has left a lot of extra space to add other structural reinforcements into the backplate to make the thinnest foldable phone more durable. Thanks to the use of another set of swing arms to the hinge, the Magic V3 can withstand up to 500,000 folding cycles, which is very impressive for a phone that is just 4.35mm when opened. It is also IPX8 rated for water immersion and survives a washing machine cycle.

As for the rest of the specs, they match or beat the Galaxy Z Fold 6 - a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset and up to 16GB RAM, a 5,150 mAh battery with 66W wired and 50W wireless charging, and two 120Hz LTPO displays, a 6.43-inch cover screen, and an impressive 7.92-inch 2156x2344 main screen that is protected by an impact-resistant silicone gel material.

Honor already managed to beat Samsung in terms of foldable phone sales in the world's second-largest market for bendy handsets, Europe, and that was with the sales of the Magic V2 in the previous quarter. Now, with the release of the Magic V3, Samsung can only hope that the thicker Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition that it is about to unveil this month or in October, will sway enough buyers to compensate.