Honor is the latest company to jump on the foldable bandwagon. The company has been teasing the Magic V for a couple of weeks on social media platforms and officially launched it at an event in China today. While the form factor is not new, some design cues help set Honor's first foldable apart from other devices in the market.

The Magic V features a 6.45-inch OLED cover display with FHD+ resolution, a 21:9 aspect ratio, and a 120Hz refresh rate. It supports HDR10+ and can reach brightness levels of up to 1,000 nits. The company has gone for a slightly wider cover display than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 as it offers a better user experience and makes typing easier. Unfolding the device reveals a 7.9-inch 90Hz display with a 10:9 aspect ratio, 2272x1984 resolution, and 800 nits brightness.

Durability is usually a concern with foldable phones, but Honor is pretty confident about the Magic V's build quality. The company's CEO Geroge Zhao demonstrated this by dropping the phone twice during the on-stage presentation from which it emerged unscathed. Honor further boasts that the Magic V's waterdrop hinge is the "slimmest compared to other similar products in the market." Another unique design aspect is the faux-leather finish on the orange variant, with the silver and black colorways featuring a glass back.

Qualcomm's latest 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip and Adreno 730 GPU are ticking inside the Magic V. This is paired with 12GB RAM and 256GB or 512GB storage options, with a 4,750mAh battery powering the device. It supports 66W wired fast charging, which is good enough to bring the battery to 50 percent in just 15 minutes. For the complete multimedia experience, the foldable packs stereo speakers and three 24bit HDR microphones.

The rear vertical camera bump houses a 50MP f/1.9 primary shooter, 50MP f/2.2 ultra-wide, and a 50MP f/2.2 "Spectrum Enhanced Camera." This is paired with a depth sensor and dual-LED flash. Interestingly, Honor is using a 42MP f/2.4 camera on the cover and the foldable display for selfie duties and video calls.

On the software side, the Magic V runs on the Android 12-based Magic UI 6, which comes with a number of underlying performance and user experience improvements. When unfolded, you can run two apps alongside each other in windowed form. The latest version of the skin will also make its way to Honor's other devices from Q2 2022.

Honor has priced the Magic V pretty modestly for a foldable device. The base variant with 256GB storage will be available for RMB 9999 ($1500), while the 512GB top-end version is listed for RMB10,999 ($1700). In China, pre-orders are starting today, with retail availability set for January 18. While the device is unlikely to make its way to international markets, it is still always good to see more manufacturers launch foldable devices as eventually, it will help perfect the form factor and drive prices down.