One of the most remarkable things about the Honor Magic V2 Porsche Design edition (referred to from now on as the V2, because that's a mouthful) is that when you hold it, it feels like you're holding any normal candy bar-style phone. At 10.62mm, it's less than one millimeter thicker than the OnePlus 12 when laid on their faces side-by-side. Of course, the back is home to a very thick camera island which is itself just shy of another three millimeters thick at 2.74mm to be precise. What's interesting is that the OnePlus 12's camera bump is thicker at 2.83mm, so for all intents and purposes, when you're holding the V2 closed, it's just like holding a regular phone.
Open it, and that's when the magic kicks in if you'll forgive the pun. The opened screen is only 5.25 mm thick which is thinner than just about anything with a screen these days. That in and of itself isn't remarkable. What's remarkable is that this phone holds a 5,000 mAh battery (with 66W of wired charging, 16GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 all within its super-thin chassis.
This is a flagship phone, and recent months have taught us to ask, "Where's the titanium?" In this case, it's in the hinge, with an all-new hinge design made of the metal that seems to be making the rounds of our favorite flagships. But Porsche brought more to the table in this phone.
Making it Porsche
You can't make a phone with a name like Porsche and not have some embellishments that live up to the spirit of the brand. In this case, the back of the phone and the camera housing all have touches of Porsche to them. The phone's design features were built to be reminiscent of a Porsche 911, itself an iconic car from the brand.
Specifically, the camera housing sports a "flyline" camera design that is supposed to evoke the rounded hood of the Porsche 911. The back of the phone is also tapered toward the middle to get the back of the phone a sort of "V" shape and, in profile looks very aerodynamic, which is important if you're a car, but less important if you're a phone. All the same, the phone has a great look to it, but it may be polarizing. In short, you'll either love it or not.
The default wallpaper also evokes a racecar/racetrack teme with a black and light grey background separated by a diagonal slash of red which looks like a cool-looking tail light, or the front hood of KITT if you're a child of the 80s. Either way, it evokes a feeling of speed and precision which are also attributes of the Porsche brand. This phone feels like a sports car about as much as a phone can, and that's ok.
The phone also ships with a faux-leather case for the back of the phone, with stitching and the Honor and Porsche Design branding on it. If you came looking for a phone designed like a car, you'll be happy with the results.
A phone with style (and a stylus)
The V2 Porsche edition also ships with a stylus in the box which is a nice addition, except the wrapper around the phone in the box has a message that says explicitly "Do not press the interior screen with sharp objects" so it's a bit of a mixed message. The stylus comes with a nifty case that you can store it in, but alas, it is not garaged inside the phone, nor does the phone come with a case that can hold it, like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5.
If you carry around the extra accessory, it's handy. It pairs with your phone much like Google's Fast Pair. You hold the pen up to the phone and it detects it and asks you if you want to connect. Once you do, you're off to the races. The main reason why you might want to carry the pen is for its Instant Write feature which, much like Samsung phones, allows you to start writing on the phone without first unlocking it and launching an app. Rather if you simply double-tap on the inner or outer screen with the pen, you get a note-taking app where you can jot down a quick note.
If the phone locks after you're done writing, for the next 30 minutes, you can double-tap again to pick up where you left off. Otherwise, the note is saved in your notes app. The whole thing is nice, but it's not really nice enough to justify carrying around an extra stylus and/or the case. Your mileage may vary of course.
Professional business things
If you want to charge the pen, the opposite end magnetically pops off (it's tethered, so you won't lose it) to expose a USB-C port. Like the phone, the pen charges quickly. The pen also has a button that you can long press to turn on Laser Spot which works like a laser pointer and allows you to flip through pages with a press of a button. This is handy for those times that you want to run a PowerPoint of your phone's screen for a boardroom full of executives and turn the pages without touching the phone, as one does.
There are probably use cases where this totally makes sense, but if you're having trouble thinking of one, don't feel bad. It's not for everyone. But for the people who happen to want a stylus, this phone comes with one, and that pen comes in a nice case.