Honor Magic V2 set for July 12 reveal — The Galaxy Z Fold 5 has another competitor

The Honor Magic Vs, stood up and partially unfolded on a bench, from the front
(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 has a lot of stiff competition this year, thanks to a slew of foldable phone launches. Now it seems the once-king of foldable phones will have another rival to contend with — the Honor Magic V2.

A follow-up to the Honor Magic V and Honor Magic Vs that were released last year, The Honor Magic V2 is set to launch in China on July 12. Samsung’s not expected to launch its next wave of foldables, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5, until the end of that month. So not only does Samsung have another book-style foldable to compete against, and it’s also being unveiled first.

Of course the July 12 launch event is the Chinese launch of the Honor Magic V2, rather than an international release. But, since the Honor Magic Vs was released internationally, there’s a solid chance the V2 will be as well. 

Unfortunately it took a couple of months for that to actually happen. The phone arrived in Europe in February, following a launch in China last November, and never made it to the U.S. That means Honor isn’t likely to beat the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 to market, though its mere existence could still try and tempt buyers away from Samsung — especially if the phone is as similar to the Galaxy Z Fold 4 as some rumors suggest.

Plus, even if the phone doesn’t make it to the U.S. market officially, that doesn’t mean it’ll be impossible to get hold of. And, considering Honor split from Huawei a number of years ago, it means you would still be able to enjoy Google apps and services — including the Google Play store.

Honor didn’t divulge any details about the Magic V2 and will no doubt keep those in reserve for the July 12 launch event. But rumors point towards the phone utilizing the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, a 5,000 mAh battery, 66W fast charging, 50W wireless charging, alongside the 2K foldable LTPO display. 

All of which sound like the kind of specs a phone would need to go head to head with the Galaxy Z Fold 5. Let’s just hope the cameras are up to the challenge 

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Tom Pritchard
UK Phones Editor

Tom is the Tom's Guide's UK Phones Editor, tackling the latest smartphone news and vocally expressing his opinions about upcoming features or changes. It's long way from his days as editor of Gizmodo UK, when pretty much everything was on the table. He’s usually found trying to squeeze another giant Lego set onto the shelf, draining very large cups of coffee, or complaining about how terrible his Smart TV is.