The Honor Magic V2 foldable smartphone is as popular as the iPhone in China

BEIJING – In the Chinese e-commerce website JD.com’s “hot sales” smartphone rankings this week, the foldable Honor Magic V2 competes with Apple iPhone models for the top three spots.

Honor, a spin-off from Huawei, launched the Magic V2 on July 12 with a starting price of 8,999 yuan ($1,245).

Sales officially started on Thursday. But a week of pre-sale ordering has pushed delivery times for new orders to mid-September, according to JD.com, a popular platform for buying electronics in China.

The 9,999 yuan Magic V2 ranked second in popularity among JD.com smartphone sales as of Thursday morning, while the 7,799 yuan Apple iPhone 14 Pro ranked first. iPhone 13 ranked third.

The new Honor folds to be as thin as an iPhone – 9.9mm vs 14’s 7.85 mm, without issue. This means that the Magic V2 is about three-eighths of an inch thick when folded.

Most importantly, the foldable phone was able to strike a balance between thinness and “reasonable battery life.” Ethan Key, associate director at Counterpoint Research. “From my point of view, the highlights [for the phone] It is the industry’s thinnest body (9.9mm) and lightest weight (231g).

Honor claims that the Magic V2’s battery is only 2.72mm thick and can support around 14 hours of video watching on the phone’s large exposed screen. The iPhone 14 claims around 20-30 hours of video watching on a single battery charge, depending on the bar phone model.

“The Magic V2’s pre-sale sales figures in China are a positive indicator and show the resilience of the premium segment, which bodes well for the growth of foldable devices in the country,” said Qi.

“The privileged part is not very big, but it is the part that everyone wants to win.”

Competition is increasing.

Samsung is preparing to launch a “thinner and lighter” Foldable at its July 26th event, According to a blog Harasses. The company is also promoting its “Join the Flip Side” launch event in China.

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold4 sells for 10,999 yuan on JD.com, while the Galaxy Z Flip3, which opens like a foldable phone, lists a price of 4,699 yuan.

Huawei, Xiaomi, and Vivo also sell foldable devices in China at an excellent price range.

Foldable devices are a bright spot in the shrinking global smartphone market.

In the first quarter, China’s foldable market more than doubled from a year ago to 1.08 million units, according to Counterpoint Research.

Counterpoint said that helped boost the global foldable smartphone market, with growth of 64% year-on-year in the first quarter.

In contrast, the global smartphone market fell 14.2% in the first three months of the year, and China fell 8%, the data showed.

Honor also sells internationally, but it’s not yet clear what specific plans the brand has for the Magic V2.

In China, Honor sells across major e-commerce platforms, including Douyin, the local version of TikTok that has become a growing portal for live-selling.

As of Thursday morning, Honor has sold more than 10,000 Magic V2 units in Douyin.

Live broadcasting has become a growing sales gateway in China. Streaming sales in the country amounted to about 17.7% of all online retail sales in the first half of the year, or about $180 billion, according to Commerce Department data released Thursday.

Honor also sells its phones on Alibaba’s Tmall e-commerce platform and short video app Kuaishou. Both platforms, as well as JD, support live streaming sales.

The smartphone company was previously a brand of Huawei. But after US sanctions on the telecommunications giant, Honor was sold to a group of buyers that included the government of Shenzhen, where the company is headquartered.

— CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report.