Honor took to Mobile World Congress 2023 to launch its latest foldable smartphone, the Honor Magic Vs. But, how does it compare to Samsung’s famous Galaxy Z Fold 4?
Mobile editor Lewis Painter had the opportunity to try the foldable first-hand at Honor’s event ahead of MWC and shared his initial thoughts on the device in the first impressions review linked above.
However, the real question here is how the Honor Magic Vs compares to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4.
The Honor Magic Vs has a slimmer design
Both the Honor Magic Vs and the Galaxy Z Fold 4 feature large folding screens and more traditional-sized cover displays. Both are also book-style foldables that close with a vertical hinge, though the Honor device is slimmer both folded and unfolded.
The Magic Vs measures 12.9mm folded and 6.1mm unfolded, while the Z Fold 4 measures 15.8mm folded and 6.3mm unfolded. That’s a pretty noticeable difference when the phone is closed shut.
The hinge can also lays flatter than that on the Galaxy Z Fold 4 with no visible gap and can withstand twice as many folds as the Samsung smartphone – although there’s an argument to be made that ten years of folding 100 times per day might be overkill as very few people hold onto their phone for an entire decade.
The Galaxy Z Fold 4 supports the S Pen
The Galaxy Z Fold 4 carries support for the S Pen Fold Edition. This means you can use the pen and its 4096 pressure levels to take notes, write messages, annotate your calendar and doodle. Unlike the Galaxy S23 Ultra, there’s no slot for the stylus and it doesn’t come included with the device.
Honor doesn’t appear to have confirmed whether the Magic Vs will support its own Magic-branded stylus.
Both phones have triple cameras
Both the Honor Magic Vs and the Galaxy Z Fold 4 have triple cameras.
The Magic Vs’ camera consists of a 54-megapixel main sensor, a 50-megapixel ultra-wide sensor with a 122-degree FOV and an 8-megapixel telephoto sensor with 3x optical zoom.
We found images shot with the Honor Magic Vs to be bright and detailed, though we’re saving our final judgement for the full review when we’ve had more time to play around with the camera and its settings.
The Galaxy Z Fold 4, meanwhile, has a 50-megapixel main sensor, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide sensor with a 123-degree FOV and a 10-megapixel telephoto sensor with 3x optical zoom.
We found the Z Fold 4’s camera to be very capable and as good as that on the Galaxy S22 and the S22 Plus. Photos taken with the phone are sharp and the colours pop, while low-light performance has seen noticeable improvements over the phone’s predecessors.
The Honor Magic Vs has a larger battery
The Honor Magic Vs is powered by a large 5000mAh battery, which Honor claims will last you 1.04 hours longer than the Galaxy Z Fold 4’s 4400mAh battery.
We haven’t gotten the chance to test these claims yet, but will definitely be interested in seeing how the two compare after spending more time with the Honor Magic Vs.
The Galaxy Z Fold 4 has Samsung’s One UI
The Honor Magic Vs runs on Honor’s own MagicOS 7.1 skin based on the Android 13 operating system.
When we tested the Galaxy Z Fold 4, it came with Samsung’s One UI software based on Android 12L, a version of the Google operating system designed for foldables and tablets. The interface is packed with useful features like a desktop-style taskbar to jump between apps and the ability to have up to three apps open and visible at once with floating, resizable windows.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
