Honor announces its third foldable of the year
The Magic VS2 shown folded and unfolded. | Image: HonorHonor’s Magic VS2 is the former Huawei sub-brand’s third new foldable launch in four months, following the launch of the Magic V2 in July and the Magic V Purse last...
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Honor’s Magic VS2 is the former Huawei sub-brand’s third new foldable launch in four months, following the launch of the Magic V2 in July and the Magic V Purse last month. And that’s without counting the international launch of the Magic VS earlier this year following its China release in 2022.
Unsurprisingly, given the space between launches, the Magic VS2 is not a total overhaul versus Honor’s previous devices. It’s ever so slightly lighter at 229 grams, versus 231 grams for the lightest variant of the Magic V2, but it’s also slightly thicker when folded at 10.7mm. (The Magic V2 was between 9.9 and 10.1mm thick.) Interestingly, it’s also running a previous-generation Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 processor, while the V2 was powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
Image: Honor
Many of the phone’s other specs are similar to its predecessor. It still pairs a 6.43-inch external display with a 7.92-inch inner folding screen, it still has a 50-megapixel main camera and a 20-megapixel telephoto lens (though its ultrawide is slightly lower in resolution at 12 megapixels), and it still has a 5,000mAh battery that can be fast-charged at up to 66W.
In reflection of its slightly lower specs, the Magic VS2 has a lower starting price than the Magic V2. Its entry-level version with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage starts at ¥6,999 (around $958), versus ¥8,999 (around $1,232) for the entry-level Magic V2 with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. According to Honor’s website, the device is expected to ship on October 17th.
There’s been so little time between launches that the Magic VS2 is being announced in China before either the V2 or V Purse has released internationally — the V2 isn’t due to launch in Europe until early next year, and an international release for the V Purse is yet to be confirmed.
Even though the Chinese market for foldables is known for being a lot more mature than in the West, it still feels notable to see a company launch this many foldables in such quick succession. Hopefully, after this year’s release of the Pixel Fold and, soon, the OnePlus Open, customers outside of China might eventually be able to look forward to a similarly packed release schedule.
