New foldable phone images suggest my favourite could get a massive camera upgrade this year

You'd have to have been living under a rock for the last few years to miss the emergence of foldable phones. Once the brainchild of sci-fi writers, these devices have soared in popularity, making them a must have for tech lovers.

While there are a wealth of different options on the market, I've personally been taken by the Honor Magic V2. That device remains the thinnest on the market at just 9.9mm when folded and 4.7mm when unfolded.

I've been using one as my personal handset for a few months, and I've been really impressed with it. You can hear more on that below:

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Now, though, details are beginning to emerge about the successor to that device – the Honor Magic V3. It comes via a slightly convoluted route, though, as the Honor Magic Vs3 has just been launched in China.

That's the more cost effective version of the handset, which has traditionally been reserved for the Asian market. However, it tends to run a fairly similar spec to the full-fat version – albeit with a couple of tweaks.

Most notably here, we can see what appears to be a periscope telephoto sensor on the rear of the handset. That comes as part of a large camera module, with a metallic central section.

There is no spec sheet on the site to corroborate that, but if it proves true, it would be a big deal. The effect of a periscope telephoto lens on a handset is significant, offering a greater range of optical zoom and, by extension, greater images from far away.

The device is also listed with three different storage options – 256GB, 512GB and 1TB. There are three different colour options to boot – black, white and a rather fetching green hue which tows a line somewhere between forest and sage.

There's no guarantee that those options would make it onto the V3, of course – much less in the global market, where options are generally lessened compared to the Chinese market. Regardless, it's a promising start for the range – we'll be keeping a close eye on further developments.