vox populi : Honor has in conclusion revealed UK pricing and availability for the deliciously thin and light foldaway Magic V2 . In fact , the phone is already up for sale at Honor , and it ’ll be uncommitted from other retailers from 2 February . The problem ? It ’s just a little bittooexpensive , starting at £ 1699 .
Foldablesare , and always have been , expensive high - terminal tech , but as with most forms of technology , there should be some kindle of trickle - down effect that helps bring the price down over time . We ’ve started to see that with flip - style foldables like theSamsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 ; while the original Z Flip came in at £ 1300 , the late model costs £ 1,049 , and others can be set up at the sub-£1000 mark .
The same ca n’t be said for book - style foldables though , with price rest at around the same £ 1600-£1900 stage as the original Galaxy Z Fold cost back in 2019 .
That ’s why I was so hopeful for theHonor Magic V2 . Honor has a bit of a reputation for offering high - end technical school with all the Melville Bell and whistle at a sleazy Leontyne Price point than the competition . We ’ve ascertain it multiple fourth dimension , from theHonor Magic 5 Proand its £ 949 price tag to the 2023 foldable , the £ 1399Honor Magic Vs .
In fact , it ’s specifically the latter that made me so excited about the Magic V2 ’s EU pricing reveal in Leipzig this hebdomad ; with Honor making a significant effort to undercut the contender on its late generation foldable , it made sense for that trend to continue with the Honor Magic V2 – especially when combined with the incredible invention of the foldable , the thinnest and lightest of its variety to date .
That , however , was n’t the lawsuit . Instead , Honor has increased the price of its foldaway tech , go from £ 1399 with the Magic Vs to £ 1699 with the Magic V2 . accord , that ’s still £ 50 loud than the competingGalaxy Z Fold 5andPixel Fold , but it ’s a £ 300 parachuting notwithstanding .
It ’s also £ 100 more than theOnePlus Open , a telephone that I praise super highly when I had it in for review , not just for its design but tv camera prowess and alone foldaway software . That , in my idea , is stilltheultimate all - daily round foldable in the market as it stands – but you ’ll have to read my full review to see why .
When it add up to Honor ’s late foldable , the takings is essentially two - fold : brand recognition and timing .
lease ’s undertake the latter first ; timing . The Honor Magic V2 was initially announced in China way back in July 2023 , before making its initial European debut at IFA 2023 . At that point , I first mother to use the phone and was told that it ’d be useable soon . Then October , November and December rolled by with nothing from Team Honor .
eventually , we ’re here in belated January , almost five month after its IFA 2023 debut , and the Honor Magic V2 is quick to be released . The problem is that it ’s a smartphone with a 2023 spec . concede , it ’s a eminent - conclusion 2023 spec with the sameSnapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipsetas the OnePlus Open and Galaxy Z Fold 5 , but the problem is that we ’re now envision smartphones with the newerSnapdragon 8 Gen 3chipset appear .
That means that Honor ’s smartphone no longer has the belated and cracking technical school , and sure , neither do options from OnePlus and Samsung , but those will likely see update this year to bring them in short letter .
Whether Honor will do the same is unclear , but given the delayed release we ’ve envision with the Honor Magic Vs and Honor Magic V2 compared to their China - concentre reveals , I ’m certainly not holding my breath . That basically means that Honor ’s 2024 folding has 2023 tech . That ’s not great when you ’re ask for a lot of money for your folding .
The big problem is brand credit – in the Western market , anyway . Honor is a big name in China and while there are plenty of Honor rooter in the UK and Europe , it does n’t have the same acknowledgement as other folding Creator like Google and Samsung .
That means tempting fan from phone manufacturing business they bang and have in all likelihood used in the yesteryear is unmanageable , peculiarly when you ’re pay almost double the asking price of a regular insurance premium smartphone .
It ’s the same government issue faced by OnePlus ’ choice , which is why I mean that telephone set is priced so competitively despite the designing and spec on offer . It makes sense ; for certain , it ’s not a steel you recognise , but it ’s offering the same ( if not a better ) experience than the established brand name like Samsung and Google , but at a significantly lower price .
With no tempting price slash compared to the competition , I ’m not sure Honor ’s Magic V2 will stand out as much as it deserve to , and that ’s a bit of a disgrace .
