Honor Magic V5 Review (2025): Better Than Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7?

(Image credit: Honor)

I’ll be honest, when foldable phones first came out, I thought they was silly toys. Expensive gadgets just for showing off. But things changed real quick. These things aren’t jokes no more. They big, powerful, and serious. Samsung been the king for years with the Fold series, but the crown ain’t safe now. I got my hands on the Honor Magic V5, and man, this phone made me think twice.

It’s thin, it’s shiny, it’s got cameras that actually make sense on a foldable, and the price tag is not crazy compared to Samsung. They calling it the “thinnest foldable”. Eh, not exactly true anymore, but whatever. Marketing words don’t matter much. What matter is this phone feels like the first real rival that can punch back at Samsung.

So, lemme walk you through my full ride with this device. The good, the weird, and the stuff that kinda annoyed me. I’ll also tell you how it stacks against Samsung’s Fold 7 and Vivo’s X Fold 5.

Design & Build: Thin But Fancy

When I first grabbed the Magic V5, I almost forgot it folds. Folded up, it looks just like a normal premium slab phone. Smooth edges, shiny frame, all that.

📏 The size numbers are like this:

• Folded: 156.8 x 74.3 x 9.0 mm
• Unfolded: 156.8 x 145.9 x 4.2 mm
• Weight: 226g

That’s not crazy heavy. Just a bit more than the Fold 7, but you barely feel it. I could hold it with one hand without dropping it.

Colors? You got Ivory White, Gold, Brown, and Black. All nice, but I loved the white one. Looks clean.

The hinge is smooth like butter. It holds the phone at almost any angle, which is cool when you doing video calls or clicking pics hands-free. And here’s the thing — the crease almost gone. I ain’t kidding. It’s still there if you look hard, but compared to older foldables, this crease is like invisible. Big W for Honor here.

Now, bad side. The rear camera module is thicc. Like, really sticks out. Two problems:

1. The phone wobbles on flat tables when unfolded. Annoying if you typing on it.
2. That bump makes the phone thicker overall. With the cameras, the total bulk is like 16.5mm.

Still, I forgive it because the cameras are best in any foldable right now (we’ll get to that later).

(Image credit: Honor)

Displays: Crazy Bright OLEDs

I wasn’t ready for how bright these screens are. Honor didn’t lie.

• Cover Display: 6.43-inch LTPO OLED, 120Hz, 2376 x 1060, 5000 nits peak
• Inside Display: 7.95-inch LTPO OLED, 120Hz, 2352 x 2172, also 5000 nits peak

Yes, 5000. That’s nuts. I walked outside under Indian afternoon sun, full blast, and I could still see everything crystal clear. Samsung Fold 7 looks dim compared to this.

It also got features to keep your eyes from crying:

• 4,320Hz PWM dimming.
• Adjustable brightness flicker stuff down to 3,840Hz.
• Built-in blue light protection.
• “E-book Mode” that makes the screen look like a Kindle.

Honestly, that last one is low-key genius. I was reading articles and even a PDF book on it. Felt kinda nice. Imagine buying a £1700 e-reader tho 😂

Performance: Snapdragon Muscle With Some Heat

Inside, the phone rocking Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, 16GB RAM, and 512GB storage. Same chip as Samsung Fold 7.

On paper, it’s a beast. In real life, also smooth as butter. Apps load instant, multitasking is fluid, animations never lag.

Benchmarks I ran:

• Geekbench 6 Multi-Core: 4,921 (Samsung scores a bit higher)
• 3DMark Solar Bay: 42.07 fps (higher than both Samsung and Vivo)

So, CPU a little lower, GPU better. In short: this thing kills at gaming. I played Genshin Impact max settings and it stayed smooth. But yeah, it gets hot. Around 47°C after long play. You feel the warmth. It throttles a bit after 20 minutes, but not enough to ruin gameplay.

For daily stuff? Perfect. For heavy gaming marathons? Eh, bring a fan.

(Image credit: Honor)

Cameras: No Foldable Beats This

Most foldables cut corners on cameras. Not here. Honor went wild.

Rear setup is:

• 50MP main (f/1.6, OIS, 4K60 video)
• 64MP telephoto (3x optical zoom, OIS)
• 50MP ultra-wide

Front camera: 20MP.

The shots blew me away.

• Daylight: Sharp, colorful but natural, no over-saturation.
• Low light: Way better than Samsung Fold 7. Details sharper, less noise.
• Zoom: Up to 3x optical is super clean. Even digital zoom holds up decently.
• Video: Smooth, stable, colors rich.

For once, a foldable doesn’t feel like a downgrade in the camera department. If you care about photography, Magic V5 is the king right now.

Battery Life & Charging: No More Battery Panic

Foldables used to suck at battery life. Not this one. Honor put a 5,820mAh battery in the global version (China even gets 6,100mAh!). That’s bigger than Fold 7.

My real use: full day heavy screen-on, still ended with 20–25% juice left.

Charging:

• 66W wired: 50% in like 18 mins. Full charge under 50 mins.
• 50W wireless: faster than Samsung’s wired speed lol.

So yeah, battery champ of foldables right now. No contest.

Software & AI: Good Ideas, Messy Execution

Runs on MagicOS 9.0.1, built over Android 15. Promise of 7 years updates, so till 2030, same as Samsung. That’s big.

AI features are co-built with Google. Some are handy:

• Real-time translation on calls.
• Speech to text.
• Smart editing for photos & videos.

Multitasking stuff is there: split screen, floating windows, taskbar.

Buttt… problems:

• It didn’t launch with Android 16, so you already losing one update.
• Taskbar can’t be pinned, so disappears when you don’t want it to.
• Visuals feel old compared to Samsung’s One UI or Google’s Pixel design.

So the bones are good, but polish missing. Honor needs to fix this to really fight Samsung on experience.

(Image credit: Honor)

Magic V5 vs Fold 7 vs X Fold 5

Here’s a quick chart I made from my notes:

Price & Availability

Available worldwide (except North America, sorry US folks). Only one config: 16GB RAM + 512GB storage.

• UK: £1,699
• Europe: €1,999 (~$2,324)
• Colors: White, Black, Gold, Brown

That’s about £200 cheaper than Samsung Fold 7 with same storage. So if money matters, Honor wins value game.

Should You Buy It?

Here’s my blunt take:

Buy it if:
✔️ You want the best foldable cameras, period.
✔️ You like crazy bright screens.
✔️ You need battery that doesn’t die mid-day.
✔️ You want some cool AI tricks.

Skip it if:
❌ You want the most polished software.
❌ You expect Android 16 out of box.
❌ You hate thick camera bumps.

(Image credit: Honor)

Final Thoughts

After using it, I gotta say — the Honor Magic V5 feels like the first real foldable to push Samsung hard. It beats the Fold 7 in camera quality, battery life, display brightness, and even price.

Yes, MagicOS still clunky. Yes, that camera bump annoying. But the good outweighs the bad. If you live in UK or Europe and want something fresh, this phone is a killer pick.

For me, it’s simple: Samsung still wins on polish, but Honor Magic V5 is the foldable for people who want raw hardware greatness.

This phone made me excited about foldables again. That’s saying something.

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