Honor Magic v5 is the thinnest foldable, but that doesn’t matter

Honor’s Magic V5 is the thinnest book-style foldable in the world, but you probably can’t say it.

It is closest to Oppo’s discovery of N5 or Samsung, and is only 0.1mm thinner (i.e., 4/1000) Galaxy Z Fold 7. If you claim this is a difference, then I’m afraid I don’t believe you at all. I’ve placed the V5 with the Find N5 and I can hardly feel the difference, let alone see it.

Fortunately, the Magic V5 has an extra trick on the sleeve: better than any of these phones, and that’s quite big compared to Samsung, which solves one of the last concerns people have about switching to a folding phone.

Magic v5 is Announced in China earlier last monthbut today is Also released in Europepriced at £1,699.99/€1,999 (approximately $2,300). This has already made it raise its pace on the Appo Find N5, which is not available outside of Asia. Don’t expect it to be officially released in the United States, though.

When I said Reviewed that Oppo phone in February This will mark the beginning of a thinner folding gain reduction, which simply cannot be thinned, and we are here. Rewards, they are reduced.

This may be the thinnest foldable in the world, but the amount of its fraction is irrelevant. The dimensions are 4.1mm when opened and 8.8mm when closed, while the 4.2mm and 8.9mm for Samsung and Oppo phones are. This doesn’t even work for every version of the Honor phone – while my white model is the thinnest, the different materials used on the black, gold and brown models make them the same size as those two competitors.

There is another big warning to record thin: you have to ignore the bumps in the camera. Now, this is similar when talking about phone size, but it’s especially noteworthy here: Compared to the thick round camera bumps of Samsung or Oppo’s or Oppo’s Magic V5, if you take the closed phone around 16mm in the thickest position, while the 14mm and 13mm in Samsung and Oppo’s are the thickest points. Again: Rewards are reduced.

Otherwise, the phone looks and feels good. It’s about the same size and shape as the z-fold 7, and when closed, it really does look like a regular phone. Just like that phone, you forget that it’s a foldable one until it’s time to turn it on. My white model has a simple, smooth texture and a wide rounded corners that keep it comfortable in both modes.

However, what makes it most impressive is the battery inside. In the international model, the total capacity is 5,820mh, almost one-third more than the latest Samsung foldable – 6,100mAh in the Chinese version. This is thanks to Honor’s adoption of silicon carbon batteries, a fast-improving technology that replaces traditional lithium-ion batteries with denser silicon (about 15% of graphite) with some graphite in traditional lithium-ion batteries.

The result is a larger battery capacity in smaller spaces, and the battery life here is really impressive. I don’t real Trying to transport the V5 to the ground, but through typical use, a mixture of internal and external screens and a lot of photos, I see my battery at a minimum point in front of the bed at about 47%. Now, my phone has been running for about 32 hours and I still have 39% of people to go. It also charges fast and can be wired up to 50W wireless, although only on proprietary chargers. There is no support for QI2, but the standard QI wireless charger will be (much slower).

The disadvantage of silicon carbon is that the battery may degrade faster. In folding boards, this may be unlikely to be a problem, with folding rate seven generations still feeling like an area for early adopters and frequent upgraders. But that does mean that my battery life in a week may not reflect what it looks like for three to four years. Honor promises 7 years of software support for phones (OS updates and security patches), but whether the battery lasts that long.

Again, it’s foldable, so the whole Telephone It will last for so long is a debate. Honor touts the V5’s carbon fiber reinforced display and “super steel hinges” but the foldability is inherently fragile. As for dust and water, here’s IP58/59 ratings are technically comparable Pixel 10 Pro Fold’s IP68 In terms of water resistance, the slightly less secure waterproof and dust make Google’s phones generally have an advantage. However, the V5 beat the Z Fold 7’s IP48 rating in both respects.

The rest of the phones are simply good, in the boring way of most flagship stores these days. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Chipset is as powerful as they do, and can use up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, and you won’t struggle with performance. Both the interior and exterior displays are bright, attractive LTPO OLED with a refresh rate of up to 120Hz and it looks as good as anyone else around.

These cameras are perfect for foldable, so they don’t even disappoint much on regular phones, and I was impressed by the consistency of color and range in all three rear lenses. The 50 megapixel main camera is excellent in good daylight and stays nice when it gets dark. Speeding Beautifulwhile 3x telephoto is variable: make things right and the results are beautiful, it struggles more than other lenses with themes or tricky lighting. You can reach 100x zoom, but it shouldn’t – the result is good, up to 6x, and it’s spoiled from there.

Honor does a great job of folding in the software, too. Magicos 9, based on Android 15, includes two types of multitasking: You can run up to three apps in a split screen at a time, or open one app on the full screen, one or two more in a floating window. Otherwise, it’s a fairly clean, easy to use operating system. It does include proprietary apps, which are typical of Honor phones, although most people can uninstall. There are some custom AI features, including device live translation in six languages ​​powered by the Openai Whisper model, and Gemini integration to handle the rest.

If you live in Europe, or anywhere else in the Magic V5, it’s obviously striking. It’s as thin as Samsung’s latest creations, with similar software performance and software support, but with a larger battery. The only area where Samsung has serious advantages is customer support, and its honor is unmatched with an extensive repair network. The Pixel 10 Pro fold offers IP68 and QI2 charging, but it’s outdated in a larger, heavier form factor and hasn’t appeared yet.

So no, it doesn’t matter if this is actually the thinnest fold in the world (if you don’t count the camera bump). Importantly, this is indeed a pretty good and a compelling reason to go beyond two big players.

Dominic Preston / The Verge Photography