In summary
- Honor Magic V5 foldable announced
- Specs competitive with Galaxy Z Fold 7
- Price undercuts Samsung’s foldable champ
Honor has announced its Magic V5 foldable for the global market, and the Galaxy Z Fold 7 could be in for some hot competition.
The Honor Magic V5 offers a premium full-sized foldable spec and a super slim design, all at an eyebrow-raising price that we suspect will have Samsung and Google sweating.
Here’s how it’s shaping up.
Honor Magic V5 design and battery
We remarked upon the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 ’s slim and light design in our review, but the Honor Magic V5 looks ready to go toe-to-toe with it.
It has very similar dimensions of 156.8 x 145.9 x 4.1mm when unfolded and 156.8 x 74.3 x 8.8mm folded, although there’s the small matter of that huge circular camera module to contend with. This is only for the Ivory White model – other colours (Black, Dawn Gold, and Reddish Brown) add a millimetre of thickness and 5g of weight.
At 217g, it comes within a couple of grams of its big rival too – not to mention a whole bunch of non-foldable flagship phones. Impressive stuff.
The provision of both IP58 and IP59 ranks higher than Samsung’s latest on dust resistance, and higher than the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold on water resistance – though the latter’s IP68 rating is more impressive overall. An anti-scratch NanoCrystal Shield and a carbon fibre reinforced inner display panel should provide further reassurance.
Where the Honor Magic V5 really stands out is that it still packs in a huge battery. Unlike the Galaxy Z Fold 7 with its weedy 4400mAh battery, it manages a mighty 5820mAh cell, all thanks to silicon-carbon technology.
Honor
Honor Magic V5 display and specs
Foldables are dominated by their displays, both in their size and the fact that there are two of the things.
The Honor Magic V5 comes with a fold-out 7.95-inch LTPO AMOLED with a 120Hz refresh rate and 2172 x 2352 resolution. Its cover display is a 6.43-inch LTPO AMOLED with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 1060 x 2376.
What really stands out with both is a massive 5000 nits peak brightness, which appears to go well beyond the competition.
In terms of performance, the V5 supplies another Snapdragon 8 Elite – another outing for the go-to Android chip of 2025. This thing should be fast, especially with the sole UK model offering 16GB of RAM.
There’s only the one storage option, but at least it’s 512GB.
Honor
Honor Magic V5 camera and software
Samsung really took things to the next level with the Galaxy Z Fold 7’s 200MP main camera, but the Honor Magic V5 looks ready for the fight.
It packs a triple camera set-up, with a 50MP main sensor, a 50MP ultra-wide, and a 64MP 3x telephoto. AI Super Zoom promises sharpened zoomed shots of up to 100x.
Of course, the real tester here will be Honor’s software, which hasn’t always been to our taste. The Magic V5 gets MagicOS 9.0 on top of Android 16, and as you’d expect, the buzzword is ‘AI’.
Besides Google Gemini support there’s AI-powered Honor Notes, real-time transcription and translation, and creative tools such as AI Image to Video and AI Cutout.
Honor
Honor Magic V5 pricing and availability
All in all, it’s a very competitive spec. But what’s most compelling is the price: at £1,699.99 (€1,999), the Honor Magic V5 is £100 cheaper than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7.
The Honor Magic V5 is available to buy through the official Honor website from today.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7
Author: Jon Mundy, Contributor, Tech Advisor
Jon is a freelance journalist who got his start covering mobile games at the dawn of the App Store. He has since covered everything from smart home tech and laptops to food and culture, but always seems to return to his fascination with smartphones.
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