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The world's thinnest foldable phone gets a Porsche Design makeover

 


When Honor's Magic V2 first showed up some seven months ago, we were left impressed with its sub-1cm folded thickness. The company has since picked up where Huawei left off and joined forces with Porsche Design, with the first result being a special edition foldable phone, the "Magic V2 RSR" ("RSR" stands for "RennSport Rennwagen," which translates to "racing sport racing car"). Porsche fans may recognize several attributes here that pay homage to the automotive brand, including the iconic agate gray along with a flyline running down the middle of the body — supposedly resembling the Porsche 911's hood. The rear camera island has also been upgraded with a dark titanium frame to go with its bolder trapezoidal redesign.


The Magic V2 RSR retains the same dimensions, measuring 9.9mm thick when folded and 4.7mm when opened, ensuring it remains the world's thinnest foldable phone. The extra decoration adds 3 grams over the base model, reaching 234 grams (about 8.25 oz) which still beats the likes of the OnePlus Open, Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Google's Pixel Fold, largely thanks to Honor's mix of titanium alloy and proprietary steel in its hinge design — this is apparently certified to last for at least 400,000 folds. As a bonus, the Magic V2 line's 5,000mAh battery capacity is larger than the competition, thanks to its more energy-dense silicon-carbon cells. The trade-off here is the missing wireless charging, but you do get 66W of wired fast charging, which takes around 50 minutes to go from zero to 100 percent.


Honor Magic V2 RSR

A Magic V2 RSR on top of a Magic V2.

The Magic V2 RSR is still powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, but with storage option limited to just 1TB to go with the 16GB of RAM. The rest of the spec sheet is identical for both Magic V2 variants. For displays, you get a 7.92-inch 2,344 x 2,156 foldable OLED screen (with a barely-noticeable crease) and a 6.43-inch 2,376 x 1,060 exterior OLED display, with their brightness going up to 1,600 nits and 2,500 nits, respectively. For audio, this Android phone comes equipped with "IMAX Enhanced" stereo speakers, whereas phone calls leverage the device's three-mic system for better voice reception. As is the case with most foldables, the fingerprint reader is integrated into the side-mounted power button.


The rear "Falcon Camera System" consists of a 50-megapixel main sensor, a 50-megapixel ultra-wide shooter and a 20-megapixel telephoto camera (2.5x zoom), whereas a 16-megapixel punch-hole selfie camera sits at the top of both screens. Both the rear and front cameras support up to 4K resolution for video recording.


It should come as no surprise that the Magic V2 RSR boxset packs some extra goodies, namely an active stylus, its own carrying case and a spare 66W charger. The special protection case is wrapped in a stitched dark gray vegan leather, though compared to the normal version, it's missing out on a kickstand — a feature I struggle to live without when it comes to foldable phones.


The cases for the Magic V2 RSR and its stylus.

Photo by Richard Lai / Engadget

Like the base model, the Magic V2 RSR will also be headed to global markets, though the prices are under wraps until MWC later this month. For reference, the Magic V2 RSR retails for 15,999 yuan or about $2,220 in China, but expect a huge bump for international pricing. The regular Magic V2 — only available in 512GB flavor for international markets — is priced at £1,700 ($2,140) in the UK and €1,999 ($2,150) in Europe, but the China version and Hong Kong version (also international firmware) cost around $1,400 only. It's no wonder that some savvy consumers would rather import smartphones from overseas, despite the lack of local warranty services.

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