Honor Magic V6 vs. Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra: a clear case ... or is it?

With the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, Samsung has released its best foldable so far and with it a new king of folding phones for all of Gaul. All of Gaul? No, because one little village stands up to Samsung: Honor launched the Magic V6 over here a few weeks ago, and the Fold8 Ultra is breaking its teeth on it. I’ll look at what makes the Magic V6 so unyielding and whether the Fold8 Ultra can still conquer the Gaulish village in the end.

Format, weight and design

There are hardly any differences in format.

	Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra	Honor Magic V6
Outer display	6.5 inches	6.52 inches
Inner display	8 inches	7.95 inches
Weight	215 g	219 or 224 g, depending on configuration

Both closed and open, they are insanely slim, just thick enough for a USB-C port to fit into the body. Both weigh significantly less than an iPhone 17 Pro Max, and I’m amazed every time at how light a smartphone with two displays can be.

In design, the manufacturers go different ways: the Honor is more rounded and looks more elegant, the Fold8 Ultra is angular and clean. The V6 has one design advantage: the round camera bump means it doesn’t wobble like crazy on the table the way the Fold8 Ultra does, whose camera bump sits on one side. If you type a lot on your smartphone while it lies on the table, you’ll get seasick with the Fold8 Ultra.

Display and protection

The Magic V6 uses an LTPO2 AMOLED display with 5,000 nits peak brightness and 4,320 Hz PWM dimming. That is extremely easy on the eyes, especially if you spend a lot of time on your phone in the evening. The Fold8 Ultra reaches 3,000 nits. In everyday use, both displays get insanely bright enough to see something in sunlight, but on paper the Honor panel remains the more advanced one.

With the new Titanium Flex Display technology, Samsung has made the crease 99.9% invisible. On the Honor V6 it is also barely recognizable, but in a direct comparison the Fold8 Ultra is still a step ahead. It also reflects a tiny bit less, thanks to an anti-reflective coating on the inner display, though the difference isn’t dramatic.

The difference in certification is clear. The Magic V6 is certified to IP68/IP69 and withstands dust, dirt, pressure washers and full submersion. The Fold8 Ultra has only IP48, meaning protection against submersion up to 1.5 m, but much weaker dust protection. For a foldable flagship in this price class, that is a difference, depending on the environment you move in every day.

Battery and charging

This is where the V6 scores most clearly, one of the key ingredients in the Gaulish village’s magic potion.

	Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra	Honor Magic V6
Battery	5,000 mAh	6,660 mAh
Wired charging	45 watts	80 watts
Wireless charging	20 watts	66 watts
Runtime in test	a little over 13 hours	a good 15 hours

That is over 30% more capacity on the Honor, and it charges wirelessly almost three times as fast. The runtime relativizes this a bit: 30% more capacity doesn’t mean 30% more runtime, because the energy efficiency of processor and software plays a big role, and Samsung’s is at a very high level. But a good two hours more can make a big difference, for example on a flight to Mallorca.

Camera

Honor’s second secret ingredient is the camera. Here the Fold8 Ultra, in my opinion, looks a bit stingy.

	Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra	Honor Magic V6
Main sensor	200 megapixels	50 megapixels
Video	up to 8K	up to 4K
Telephoto camera	10 megapixels	65-megapixel periscope

The V6’s periscope telephoto puts the Fold8 Ultra’s 10-megapixel telephoto in the shade. For me, this isn’t only about distant subjects at concerts or on vacation, but above all about things nearby that are captured sharply and with nice background bokeh. Here the V6 has the edge as a foldable. You can judge the quality of both cameras yourself, though; there are shots in the video.

What speaks for the Fold8 Ultra

The Magic V6 seems miles ahead in many areas: battery capacity, charging speed, display brightness, high-frequency PWM dimming, water and dust protection and telephoto. Still, there are niche features on the Fold8 Ultra that can be decisive.

• Samsung DeX: The Fold8 Ultra is so powerful that you can easily use it as a laptop for everyday tasks. Connected to a monitor by cable or wirelessly, it turns into a full desktop interface. At home that is ideal if you don’t need a full laptop anyway.
• Galaxy AI in split screen: The further developed Galaxy AI offers, depending on context, to switch to split screen automatically. If you receive a place name or an address, it offers to open it in Google Maps in split screen, and with an appointment, the calendar. That way the large inner display is used more comfortably without you having to do anything.
• Samsung ecosystem: If you already own a Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Buds or a Galaxy tablet, you get excellent integration. Via the Google account, most things can also be synced regardless of manufacturer. For me that isn’t enough when I use, for example, the Running Coach in the Samsung Health app: the Galaxy Watch gives the workouts and tracks them, and through the Galaxy Buds I get the instructions straight into my ears. That is a very specific example, but it would keep me from leaving Samsung devices out of my setup.

Honor puts a lot of effort into expanding its own ecosystem, but the smartwatches and earbuds haven’t really convinced me personally yet.

Verdict

Objectively, the Magic V6 is the better foldable. But if you use DeX, the Galaxy AI suggestions in split screen and the Samsung ecosystem, you have good reasons to go for the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra anyway.