A review of Honor's Magic V3, a foldable phone that is thinner than the Galaxy Z Fold6 when folded and open, launching for £1,699 in the UK and €1,999 in the EU
Simon Hill / Wired :
Context & Ripple Effects
Honor’s Magic line has steadily pushed thinner foldable hardware, from its first China-focused Magic V to the 9.9mm-thin Magic V2. The V3 carries that form-factor contest into the UK and EU at roughly the same headline price as the earlier V2 launch.
That continuity matters because the prior UK and European Magic V2 review paired praise for thinness and durability with concerns about dated software and processor choices. The V3’s slimmer-than-Galaxy Z Fold6 design gives Honor a clearer hardware comparison, while product experience remains a key differentiator.
First-order effects
- UK and EU buyers gain a £1,699/€1,999 book-style foldable positioned as thinner than Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold6 in both folded and open states.
- Honor can market portability—not merely the larger inner display—as the V3’s immediate point of differentiation in these markets.
Second-order effects
- Samsung and other book-style foldable vendors face a more explicit thickness benchmark in European retail comparisons, increasing pressure to defend their devices’ everyday carryability.
- Honor’s near-flat pricing versus the prior V2 European launch means the company is competing through a revised hardware proposition rather than an obvious lower-price entry point.
Third-order effects
- If successive launches keep reducing thickness, the category’s design contest may shift from proving that foldables work to making them feel less distinct from conventional premium phones when carried.
- The prior V2 software criticism suggests that hardware miniaturization alone will not settle competition; sustained foldable adoption will depend on whether software, performance, and durability improve alongside industrial design.
The trend: Foldable makers are increasingly using thinness and pocketability as the route to make large-screen devices compete directly with conventional premium phones.