MANILA, Philippines – The HONOR Magic V3 foldable will be coming to the Philippines, the brand confirmed last Wednesday, September 25.
The V3 is the follow-up to the Magic V2, launched in China in 2023, arriving in the Philippines in early 2024. The V2 was known for being the world’s thinnest foldable at one point, measuring 9.9 millimeters in width when folded. The V3 continues that push for sleekness, beating its predecessor at a thinner 9.2 mm.
The fact is something that the brand has not been shy flaunting, directly taking aim at global market share leader for foldable phones, Samsung, with its Fold series.
Earlier when the V3 was about to be announced in September, the brand published a photo directly comparing the thinness of the V3 to the latest Fold phone.
The Fold6 has a width of 12.1mm when folded.
At a local press event, the brand continued to push the width comparison, laying a V3 side by side on a table with a Samsung Fold6.
While the price hasn’t been announced for the V3, the V2’s 512GB variant, the only model released in the Philippines, was significantly cheaper at P79,999 than the Fold5’s 512GB variant at PP105,990.
The Fold6 saw a price hike for the series, increasing from the Fold5’s P98,990 to P105,990 for the 256GB model.
The V3 also now has IPX8 water protection, while the V2 had no water protection whatsoever — a necessary feature for those who are anxious about getting their P80,000-phone wet.
AI features
The V3 will include a set of AI features that can be found in the Galaxy Fold phones, including live language translation, AI object erasure in images, and transcription. HONOR has a partnership with Google Cloud AI for these features.
One big difference is that the Fold’s live language translation, and transcription can be done without a data connection. The V3 can only perform these tasks via the cloud.
HONOR’s version of the transcription feature, however, allows for real-time transcription as a speaker is talking. Samsung’s Fold transcribes from recorded audio.
Details of when and what storage variants will be available for the V3 have not yet been announced. – Rappler.com
