The first folding phone powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset is here - welcome the Honor Magic V. It comes with a large 7.9-inch main folding screen that can close completely flat for added protection and a 6.45-inch cover screen with120Hz refresh rate and a 2560 x 1080px resolution (21:9 aspect).

The external screen’s dimensions are much closer to what you’d see on a regular smartphone which should make typing and other everyday tasks that much easier. Honor stressed the importance of having a usable cover screen on the Magic V and even compared its solution on stage next to the Galaxy Z Fold3 and its tall and narrow 25:9 outward screen.

Honor Magic V cover screen dimensions and specs

Magic V’s main 7.9-inch flexible OLED screen offers 90Hz refresh rate and 2272 x 1984px resolution. The aspect ratio here is 10.3:9 which divides into two areas of close to 21:9 aspect using two apps side by side. You also get HDR10+ support and 10bit colors as well as 800nits peak brightness. Magic V is also the first foldable to boast IMAX Enhanced certification.

Honor is not compromising on the camera experience as you get three 50MP modules around the back. A 50MP main cam with a 23mm equivalent lens, a 13mm equivalent 50MP ultrawide snapper and a 50MP color spectrum shooter. There are two 42MP selfie cameras housed in punch hole cutouts on the cover screen and on the main screen.

Honor is bringing 12GB RAM as standard on all versions of the Magic V while storage varies between 256GB and 512GB. A 4,750 mAh battery with 66W wired charging is tasked with keeping the device up and running. The software side is covered by Magic UI 6.0 based on Android 12.

Honor Magic V comes in Titanium Silver, Black, Burnt Orange colors. Pricing starts at CNY 9,999 ($1,570) and goes up to CNY 10,999 ($1,725) for the 512GB storage trim. First sales in China are scheduled for January 18. An Honor spokesperson told us the company has not yet decided if it will offer the Magic V outside of China.