Honor Magic V3 vs Honor Magic V2: Evolution done right

The Magic V3 manages to pull ahead with the expected percentage a new chipset brings to the table. What's even more impressive is that the performance doesn't seem to suffer in this cramped environment.

But overall, in day-to-day tasks, both phones perform flawlessly and as smooth as butter, as one might expect. We don't think you will notice any difference in performance, despite these two chips being one year apart.

The software situation is very similar, these two run Honor's proprietary Magic OS UI over Android, but the new model has the advantage of one more year of software updates (being newer), and also some cool AI collaborations with Google, which we're not sure are coming to the older Magic V2.

One would expect a copy-paste camera system on such closely related devices (we're looking at you, Samsung), but surprisingly, the Honor Magic V3 uses different cameras than its predecessor.

The main sensor is a 50MP Sony IMX906 under a lens with f/1.6 aperture, while the previous model uses a different 50MO sensor and the aperture is also slower at f/1.9. The telephoto camera is completely different on the new model. It's a 50MP periscope zoom system with 3.5x zoom capabilities. In comparison, the Magic V2 sports a conventional telephoto lens with 2.5x optical zoom.

And finally, the ultrawide camera is also different. The new model features a 40MP, f/2.2 camera, while the previous generation comes with a 50MP, f/2.0 ultrawide. But these are all numbers. Let's check out some samples.

The main camera samples show the difference between these two. If you've had any doubt these use different sensors, the above comparison should've cleared it. The Magic V3 produces warmer images, and the focal length seems to be different as well. In terms of detail and dynamic range both are pretty closely matched, with the new model probably doing slightly better job with exposure and white balance.

The low-light images paint the same picture, the Magic V3 sample is much warmer and the objects in it look closer. On the other hand, the sample from the Magic V2 doesn't look half bad either. It's brighter and also a bit softer, let us know which one you like better.

When it comes to zoom, there no debate, the Magic V3 outperforms its predecessor. And not only on pure magnification. The new model is able to capture more light and more detail, and images taken at 3.5x zoom look better than the samples from the V2.

The ultrawide situation is a bit strange. The Magic V2 sports a larger megapixel ultrawide camera with a faster aperture, and in the above sample it kind of does a better job at capturing more details and displaying wider dynamic range. Not that the photo from the Magic V3 is bad, or something, but here the sample from the V2 looks better to us. What do you think about it?

Selfies are clearly better on the Magic V3 with better detail and wider dynamic range. The image from the V2 looks brighter, on the verge of being overexposed, and the tonality is different as well. For selfie shots, though, we would suggest using the main camera, as you can flip the phone and use the cover screen as a selfie visor.

The video quality is quite similar between these two, with subtle differences again in color tone, with the Honor Magic V3 producing generally warmer tones across all three cameras. In low light there's quite a bit of noise in both samples, and, of course, the 3.5x zoom looks better thanks to the periscope zoom system inside the Magic V3.

Both of these phones come with Honor's silicon-carbon battery tech onboard, but the new one was able to cram in 150 mAh extra, despite being slimmer. This minuscule difference in battery capacity doesn't lead to any significant battery life deviations, as you can see from the benchmark results below. Charging speeds are also identical, so this should not be a deciding factor if you're choosing between the two.