Honor CEO George Zhao believes the smartphone market is at an inflection point: the Honor Magic V2 is quite close in size to regular bar phones (when closed) and offers a large 7.92-inch display when folded. It’s open.
The V2 is less than 10mm thick when closed (a fraction more for the glass-backed variant) and is just 156.7 x 74.1mm tall and wide, making it slightly shorter and narrower than a Galaxy S23+, for example. It’s also quite light at 231g (lighter than an iPhone 14 Pro Max, the company is keen to point out).
Getting to this point hasn’t been easy, however, as all of the add-on parts require more time and effort to develop, and the first two generations of foldable Honors lost money to high R&D costs. The company was happy to eat the loss to keep prices reasonable and attract a fan base by allowing foldable phones to one day replace barre phones.
By the way, the reason why the prices in Europe are higher than in China is what you would expect: it is the combination of import taxes, local VAT and overheads in the distribution channel. Honor still thinks its prices are competitive.
Speaking of Europe, Magic Vs started sales in China at the end of December last year, but its Western launch took place at the end of February this year. After seeing the positive reception from its global partners, Honor is working to expand the new Magic V2 into more markets faster than it did with the Vs.
The company considers Europe its second home market and wants to compete with Apple and Samsung in the premium segment. However, an online-only presence is not enough as the other two have access to vast retail networks. Hence, Honor is expanding into new markets, however, it does so slowly and steadily to make sure things go well.
This approach is paying off, and Honor’s global sales have already surpassed those of 2022, so the company expects to see more than 100% growth this year.
For more information on the Honor Magic V2, check out our hands-on review.
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