Forget the Galaxy Z Fold, new folding phone suddenly looks more appealing

(Image credit: Future / Mike Lowe)

published 28 February 2023

With the best folding phones getting better and better with each iteration, it's no longer just Samsung that sits top of the stack with the Galaxy Z Fold 4 - as this new Android competitor shows.

At Mobile World Congress 2023, the giant European mobile technology show, Honor revealed its Magic VS for international markets. What makes it suddenly look more appealing following my preview of the device in late 2022? Lots of storage and a slightly lower price point than its key competitor.

If you've been eyeing-up a new Galaxy Z Fold 4, or following rumours of the Z Fold 5, then you'll know just how pricey such handsets are. The Honor Magic VS's asking price isn't cheap, mind, at €1599 with 512GB storage, but that's positioned with more storage and at a lower on-sale starting price by comparison.

That's a key thing for large-scale foldable phones, which are typically so much pricier than the best phones on the market today. Scale being important, because the Magic VS is a massive 7.9-inches on the diagonal when it's unfolded. That's bigger than the Samsung Galaxy Z 4, so if you want more screen real-estate then Honor's got the goods right here.

The Magic VS's exterior screen is really close to the typical best phones you can buy today, too, at 6.45-inches across. So even if you're using the Honor in its folded position, it still delivers on scale.

Inside you get the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+ processor, which while it's a half-step behind the Gen 2 upgrade, I don't think there's such a generational jump that you'll be disappointed.

And with Honor running full Google Play Services, there's no compromise with software like you'll find with some of the China-only foldables. Win-win.

I've been using the Honor Magic VS at MWC23 and will be bringing my more thorough assessment of this more affordable foldable in the near future. Sure, it's not cheap, but it's a step towards making foldable tech at least a little more accessible for all. I'm assuming others will follow suit.

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Mike is T3's Tech Editor. He's been writing about consumer technology for 15 years and his beat covers phones – of which he's seen hundreds of handsets over the years – laptops, gaming, TV & audio, and more. There's little consumer tech he's not had a hand at trying, and with extensive commissioning and editing experience, he knows the industry inside out. As the former Reviews Editor at Pocket-lint for 10 years where he furthered his knowledge and expertise, whilst writing about literally thousands of products, he's also provided work for publications such as Wired, The Guardian, Metro, and more.