Honor Magic V2 RSR Porsche Design: Thin Foldable with Sublime Display

The Honor Magic V2 RSR Porsche Design is perhaps the most sublimely designed foldable to date. It comes with a bigger battery compared to its competitors and is thinner, making it one of the first options that compares favorably in size and capacity to more standard form factor phones. The standard variant, priced at £1700, is more expensive than those from Samsung, Google, and OnePlus, and it’s expected to be even pricier when the pricing is revealed at MWC in a couple of weeks. Despite the high price, for the outlay, it offers a truly remarkable phone with a lot to like.

For the Magic V2 RSR, the feature set is quite capable. It is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor along with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of internal storage. It has a sublime triple camera setup featuring a 50MP main shooter, a 50MP ultrawide, and a 20MP telephoto. Additionally, it comes with two LTPO OLED displays – a 7.92-inch foldable screen and a 6.43-inch cover display.

Design

The Honor Magic V2 RSR Porsche Design is a true looker, with a sleek profile reminiscent of the vehicular namesake. The standard Magic V2 is already an excellent phone, but this RSR Porsche Design variant takes it to the next level.

Compared to the more “standard” offering, the back panel of the Magic V2 RSR Porsche Design is more angular, with a thin crest down the middle and Honor and Porsche Design logos on one edge. There is a slight camera bump, but it is thin and doesn’t protrude too much, keeping in line with the rest of the phone’s slim design. The Magic V2 RSR Porsche Design is incredibly thin, measuring just 9.9mm, which makes it the thinnest foldable to date. It feels much slimmer in the pocket than a typical foldable, and in fact, it fits better in my pocket than my Galaxy S21 Ultra. It is as thin as a more standard “candybar” phone, a remarkable feat of engineering.

The back of the Magic V2 RSR Porsche Design with its angular finish and camera bump.

The Magic V2 RSR Porsche Design ticks all the boxes of modern phone design with curved edges and thin bezels around the cover screen and fold-out screen. The only minor criticism is that there is a potential for small dust and debris to accumulate around the edges of the screens. However, to prevent dust and debris on the fold-out screen, Honor has implemented a new hinge mechanism, which is more rigid than its predecessor and has a tighter gap on the inside edge.

At 231g, the Magic V2 RSR Porsche Design is lighter than modern flagship phones from Samsung, making it comfortable to hold whether folded or unfolded. When unfolded, it doesn’t require two hands to hold and is easy to use with one hand, especially with the smaller cover display, which is still large enough for daily usage. However, it is not as water-resistant as some other flagship phones, offering no official IP rating and only being able to handle light rain splashes.

Display

The benefit of a foldable like the Magic V2 RSR Porsche Design is the presence of two displays. Fortunately, the pair of panels on offer here are a particular highlight for Honor’s latest foldable. The smaller 6.43-inch cover display feels more proportionate to a typical phone, unlike the taller feel of other foldable’s cover displays or more standard form factor handsets. It is easy to use and is one of the more vibrant and smooth displays I’ve experienced on a phone.

This is due to the inclusion of a significant amount of top-level tech, including an incredible peak brightness of 2500 nits, which is brighter than the larger 7.92-inch fold out display. The high peak brightness allows the Magic V2 RSR Porsche Design to take full advantage of its support for both Dolby Vision and HDR10+, making it a joy to use for gaming and movie watching, even when using the fold-out display. If you want to use the Magic V2 RSR Porsche Design as a more conventional phone at times, the cover display’s quality is notable.

The cover display is useful for keeping up with important articles.

In terms of size, the Magic V2 RSR Porsche Design’s 7.92-inch fold-out display is the largest of any foldable of its kind, providing a seriously big screen for a phone of any size. The bezels around the edges are small, and the crease across the middle is barely visible, except when viewed from extreme angles. This is a significant improvement over earlier foldables, and the execution may change my opinion on book-style foldables.

The Magic V2 RSR Porsche Design’s crease is barely noticeable, except when viewed from extreme angles.

This larger screen is also an OLED panel with a solid 2344×2156 resolution, 1600 nits of peak brightness, support for HDR10+ and an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, making everything from daily multitasking to gaming a smooth experience. If you plan to watch a lot of films on the Magic V2 RSR Porsche Design, you’ll be pleased to know that it also offers IMAX Enhanced support for the best possible viewing experience.

You can do a lot with the Magic V2 RSR’s fold-out display.

While certain apps may have a letterbox effect due to not filling the screen entirely, you can force apps and games to fill the screen to take advantage of the full 7.92 inches of real estate. Playing Asphalt 9 Legends was a particular highlight, showcasing the benefits of the smooth 120Hz refresh rate and excellent contrast of the OLED panel.

Camera

The Magic V2 RSR Porsche Design not only offers a sublime display but also excellent photography performance. Its combination of a 50MP main snapper, a 50MP ultrawide, and a 20MP telephoto with up to 2.5x optical and 10x digital zoom works well in various environments.

In well-lit conditions, the images are crisp and sharp with good colors. The three snappers provide detailed images, and the 50MP ultrawide offers consistent colors with the main sensor, while the 20MP telephoto also meets high standards. The 2.5x optical zoom captures good detail on the telephoto lens, and the 10x digital zoom captures reasonable detail, although there is some blurring at the extreme ends. For example, the branches on the sample image of a tree or the clock tower in central London lack finesse and detail compared to other sensors.