This is probably the last foldable to be released in 2025, and it’s more likely to be the best one. Ok, this is the first look at the HONOR Magic V5. We are working on the full review right now, and it’s going to be the best foldable review you will ever see this year.
Design
Now Honor is really committed to making the thinnest foldable phone in the world, they are willing to do everything to achieve that. Therefore, the Magic V5 is again thinner than its last gen. And it’s just 4.2 mm unfolded, 8.8 mm folded, it beats its last gen by just about 0.2 to 0.3mm. The most important thing is that, even though it’s thinner, the battery is bigger, and much bigger than the Samsung Z fold 7. You will see more detail in the full review. And put it side by side with some flagship bar phones we have in the studio, when it’s folded, the body is even thinner than some.
From the promotion clips, you probably know that, the way this phone can be this thin is mainly because the battery is very thin. They even compare it to a piece of paper to show how thin it is.
With the thinness out of the way, let’s also look at the design of it. The color we received is called Dawn Gold, I’d like to call it Damn Good. And the nebula pattern at the back, I quite like it. The camera module, it looks even bulkier with such a thin body honestly. It is not a bad thing, we will talk about why in the full review btw. Then the edges of the frame have been sort of flattened out, but still there is a bit of curve. There is a bit of Clous de Paris design around the camera module, very elegant. What do you think about the design? Leave your comment below.
Performance
As expected, it comes with the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, and the performance is better than 99% of the foldables out there. We know foldables tend to not use the best chip, or a downgraded flagship chip. But not for the chip in this phone. We did some tests, compared to the one on the Z fold 7. And there is a surprise in the gaming performance, you should look forward to the result.
Battery
The battery capacity is 5820mAh, here is a comparison between the newest ones from each brand. Now to put it into perspective, it is just about 200mAh shy compared to the Vivo X Fold 5, but you can’t deny that it is thinner, whether folded or unfolded. Not to mention, the battery is 1420mAh larger than the Z Fold 7, I think Samsung should really take a note here.
It supports 66W wired charging, and 55W wireless charging. The charger is included in the package for most areas, but not for the EU.
Camera
The cameras, again it is the only phone that does not pedal backwards. Here are the camera specs, still flagship level, right? And we found that the camera capability is the only one that isn’t pedaling backwards. The telephoto lens is very good, despite its higher pixel count, the AI zoom is doing a good job. The Ultra Wide is also wide enough to be a true ultra wide camera. Then the video recording capability is also impressive. These are the things I can say, let’s leave some surprises for the full review.
Short Verdict
We are genuinely impressed by the Magic V5 here, because the foldable market is still not that big, yet HONOR is pushing the limits forward. That’s why you can see it is thinner, the battery is bigger, the cameras are better, and it still uses the best chip. We spent a lot of time doing the full review, it should be a good one. So stay tuned for the full review!
