Honor Magic V5: Two-minute review

The Honor Magic V5 is a truly impressive folding phone. It’s the thinnest booklet-style folding phone ever, with two excellent displays, a design that expertly balances ergonomics and aesthetics, and fantastic battery life. Its rear camera system stands up to some of the best folding phones, while its internal hardware is as powerful as you’d expect from a device marketed on its multitasking capabilities.

The first thing you notice about the Honor Magic V5 is just how thin it is. At just 4.1mm thick (not including the sizeable camera bump), the Magic V5 is thinner than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, Google Pixel 10 Pro, and even the region-locked Oppo Find N5, only beaten by the tri-folding Huawei Mate XT (another China exclusive). It’s so thin that it’s made me ask whether folding phones should keep getting thinner – its 7.95-inch inner screen really does disappear into your hand thanks to that ultra-thin frame.

Speaking of displays, the Magic V5 sports two excellent panels. Its 6.43-inch cover screen strikes a nice balance between compact and useable, and its 20:9 aspect ratio isn’t far off that of the iPhone 17 or Samsung Galaxy S25. The inner display measures 7.95-inches, with an approximate aspect ratio of 18:19.5.

That almost-square display is one of the best I’ve used on a folding phone, and makes reading articles, watching videos, taking photos a real joy. I also can’t get over just how similar the viewing experience is between the two displays – that’s a hard thing to nail given the change in material between the glass cover screen and plastic inner display, but Honor has done an excellent job.

The winning streak continues when it comes to the Magic V5’s battery, which is huge not only for a folding phone, but for a smartphone in general. With incredible engineering and straight-up alchemy, Honor has fit a 5920mAh battery into this phone – that’s larger than the battery in any comparable folding phone, and it's even bigger than the battery in the current-gen iPad mini. Charging is fast, battery life is long.

The Honor Magic V5 is the strongest contender to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7. The Magic V5 outclasses Samsung’s latest booklet foldable in so many ways, and where Samsung does take the lead it isn’t by much. At £1,699 the Magic V5 decisively undercuts the Z Fold 7, which starts at £1,899 – though like all other Honor phones, the Magic V5 is unfortunately unavailable in the US. That limited availability will keep it off of our lists of the best phones and best folding phones, but if you’re looking for a folding phone in the UK or Europe, the Honor Magic V5 should be a serious contender.

Honor Magic V5: Price and Specs

• Not available in the US
• Costs £1,699 in the UK (512GB of storage)
• Comes in three colors, including a unique gold option

Like all Honor phones, whether you can get the Honor Magic V5 depends on where you live. It’s not available in the US, but can be bought online or through carriers in the UK, Europe, and other regions.

In the UK, the Honor Magic V5 costs £1699.99 for the model with 512GB of storage – there are no other configurations to choose from. Honor is bundling a 66W power adapter and Magic Pen stylus in the UK – though as there is no stylus in the box, I'm not going to cover the accessory in this review.

Let’s address the elephant in the room – £1,699.99 is a lot of money for a phone. However, the Honor Magic V5 does manage to undercut its rivals quite significantly. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 starts at £1,899.99, while the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold starts at £1,799.99 – and both come with 256GB of storage, half of what the Honor Magic V5 offers.

And when you consider the Honor Magic V5’s impressive hardware specs, class-leading thinness and design, and impressive camera system, the value for money becomes even more apparent.

As for colors, the Magic V5 comes in Black, Ivory White (an online-exclusive option) and Dawn Gold, which has an eye-catching ripple effect on the rear panel. The specs below are for the Ivory White model I tested; the other two colors are actually a little thicker, at 4.2mm unfolded and 9mm folded, and are slightly heavier at 222g.

• Value score: 4 / 5

Honor Magic V5: Design

• Looks simply phenomenal, and feels built to last
• Very comfortable to use
• Large camera bump and slightly noisy hinge

The Honor Magic V5 is the best-looking phone I’ve ever reviewed. This is a truly gorgeous piece of technology, and it’s clear that maximal attention has been given to achieving as much symmetry and ergonomic balance as the folding phone form factor will allow. The Ivory White color model is also the world’s thinnest folding phone at just 4.1mm thick when opened (not counting the substantial camera module). It’s a technical wonder that has me asking whether folding phones actually need to get any thinner.

Besides thinness, I noticed that the Magic V5 goes further than its contemporaries in providing a more comfortable experience. In the past, I’ve used folding phones with sharp edges and awkward bumps that make them uncomfortable to use for long sessions. On the Magic V5, Honor has flattened and rounded all the corners around the hinge, as well as the edges of the hinge itself – the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is almost as svelte, but has much sharper edges. The outer corners of the phone are also rounded off, which makes the unit very comfortable for one-handed or unfolded use.

Functionally, that hinge works well. It feels light to open, but not loose – it takes no real effort to open but won’t wobble much when partially unfolded.

As for construction, the Honor Magic V5 is composed of an aluminum chassis and a woven fiber rear panel that feels as solid as glass or ceramic materials used in other phones. The cover display is glass and the inner display is plastic, with raised plastic bezels housing the magnets that keep the phone snapped shut. Moreso than any other folding phone I’ve used the Honor Magic V5 lays totally flat when opened – and the crease on the inner display is so minimal that I had to remind myself to look for it when I set the phone up for the first time.

The camera housing is also superbly designed, and perfectly walks the line between subtlety and flair with its all-black coloring, textured metal ring, and octagonal bracketing. The phone also sports dual IP58 and IP59 dust and water resistance ratings – better than the Galaxy Z Fold 7 but not quite dust-sealed as the IP68-rated Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold. Fresh water shouldn’t be an issue, but keep it well away from fine dust, gravel, and sand.

The Honor Magic V5 is a wonder of engineering and the most comfortable folding phone I’ve ever used. I’m a large guy with a pretty big handspan, so I sometimes found it a bit difficult to get enough purchase on the phone to get it open, but I’m sure this experience varies.

However... after my test period for this review had concluded and about two months of use in total, I noticed that the inner screen protector had begun to separate from the folding display. That's not the type of thing we want to see from any folding phone, especially after such a short period of use. For now, we can't say whether this is a design flaw or just a one-off issue: we've contacted Honor directly to ask for comment and another test unit.

• Design score: 5 / 5

Honor Magic V5: Displays

• 6.43-inch cover display
• 7.95-inch folding display
• Both display have near-identical pixel density and top out at 3000 nits

The displays on the Honor Magic V5 are wonderful. The 6.43-inch cover display is amongst the sharpest and most vibrant screens I’ve used, and the 7.95-inch inner display is bright and immersive – what’s more, the viewing experience feels very consistent when switching between the two displays, something other folding phones have struggled to achieve.

In fact, when I unfolded the phone for the first time, I had to remind myself to look for a crease in the inner screen. It’s a far cry from the view-warping creases of folding phones from even a few years ago – I also noticed that, unlike some folding phones, the Magic V5 unfolds nearly perfectly flat, which makes it even easier to get lost in the expansive inner display.

In terms of technical specs, the Honor Magic V5’s cover display sports a resolution of 1060 x 2376 pixels, with 404 pixels per inch, while the inner display has a resolution of 2172 x 2352 pixels at 403 pixels per inch. What’s more, both panels top out at an absolutely ludicrous 5000 nits of brightness. Of course, those are theoretical limits, and your actual experience won't reflect those potentially harmful levels.

Compared to the Galaxy Z Fold 7, the Magic V5 offers a sharper, higher resolution inner display, but can’t quite match the resolution and pixel density of the Galaxy’s cover screen.

Of all the folding devices I’ve used, the Magic V5 feels the most frictionless when switching between the two displays. Naturally, the glass cover display is a tiny bit sharper and looks a touch clearer, but Honor has calibrated these panels such that there’s little noticeable difference in color, brightness, or detail.

If there is an issue with the Honor Magic V5’s 7.95-inch folding display, it’s the issue common to all folding phones – that being that its larger screen space isn’t always efficiently used. Videos with a typical 16:9 aspect ratio can’t fill out the almost-square panel, and games often struggle to find a suitable safe zone (particularly first person games like Call of Duty). The inner screen is wonderful to look at, and perfect for reading, scrolling, and video calls, but a proper tablet might be better for streaming the best new shows.

• Display score: 5 / 5

Honor Magic V5: Cameras

• 50MP main camera
• 64MP telephoto camera with 3x zoom
• 50MP ultra-wide camera
• Twin 10MP selfie cameras

Folding phones have, until this year, had slightly weaker camera systems than their slab-phone counterparts – but times are changing. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 launched with a 200MP main lens, resetting expectations for the types of pictures that folding phones can produce.

The Honor Magic V5 sports three great rear cameras that come very close to producing flagship-standard images. Across a variety of shooting conditions I was able to take great photos with the Magic V5 – I was particularly impressed by how much detail the sensors captured; even noisy scenes with lots of foliage were reproduced with good definition, even if the contrast sometimes left me wanting. The image stabilization is also great all the way out to the maximum 100x digital zoom.

However, I found the post-processing could be fairly aggressive, and was often unsure of how much AI had impacted the final image, especially at long zoom ranges. That’s something to keep in mind if you prefer your photos to be a true reflection of the camera’s abilities, as there’s no way to fully disable the image processing pipeline.

The Magic V5 sports a triple-camera array housed on its rear panel, composed of a 50MP main camera, 50MP ultra-wide camera, and 64MP 3x telephoto camera. This gives the phone a lot of range and flexibility for still photography – the telephoto camera in particular strikes a nice balance between reach and usability for portraits and tighter landscape shots. Photos from all three cameras are bright and vibrant without looking unrealistically colorful, though there are some more vibrant profiles to choose from.

Taking photos with the inner display is really intuitive – that 8-inch panel makes for a great viewfinder, and the unfolded frame allows the phone to rest steadily in-hand. However, I found the default camera app a little bit clunky, with some quick options (most notably aspect ratio) hidden behind an in-app menu.

The Magic V5 supports video shooting at 720p, 1080p, and 4K resolutions at either 30fps or 60fps. That large display is a boost for shooting video too, with plenty of blank space around the 16:9 frame to place your thumbs (though, for some reason, some controls are still placed over the viewfinder).

One of the only true let-downs on the Magic V5 is its pair of selfie cameras. The inner and outer displays house identical punch-hole 10MP selfie cameras that prove lacking in almost every situation. This is allayed by the rear camera selfie feature, which uses the cover display as a viewfinder, but that won’t always be the most convenient option.

Honor Magic V5: Camera samples

• Cameras score: 3 / 5

Honor Magic V5: Software and AI

• Android 15 with MagicOS 9
• Honor AI and Google Gemini
• Comprehensive multitasking tools

Like other Honor phones, the Magic V5 runs MagicOS 9, an Android iteration based on Android 15. As far as Android interfaces go, MagicOS sits somewhere between the speed and looseness of OnePlus’ OxygenOS and the stiffer, more structured feel of Samsung’s OneUI. It does the job.

As you might have guessed, the Honor Magic V5’s software shines brightest when it comes to foldable-specific features – the phone has a large suite of multitasking tools that allow for split screen and multi-windowed usage.

You can use a maximum of three apps at once in split screen mode (with one partially hidden off to one side), with another open in a floating overlay. To activate split screen mode you can either drag another app up from the taskbar or hold the bar that appears at the top of the screen. You can also open a single floating window when the phone is folded.

The situations that call for this level of multitasking are honestly pretty rare, but this is still an impressive amount of flexibility that helps the Honor Magic V5 feel like more than just a really big phone. Similarly to Apple’s Stage Manager tool for iPadOS, groups of windows stay together when you swipe up to see your opened apps, and I found it pretty easy to swap between split screen, multi-window, and full-screen modes with the on-screen buttons and contextual menus. However, some software isn't optimized for the folding display; I can give a pass to Honor on third party apps, but even pre-installed Google-made apps like YouTube sometimes gave me weird UI glitches. Luckily, this isn't too common.

MagicOS has a few more tricks up its sleeve. The phone can drive an external display at up to 1080p with the Magic Desktop feature, which is similar to Samsung’s DeX environment and allows for desktop-style usage with a keyboard and mouse. Back on the touchscreen, certain apps have a pull-down tab on the homescreen icon itself, which allows you to, say, quickly glance the time in another timezone or type down a quick note.

The phone is also loaded with AI tools from both Honor and Google (via Gemini, Circle to Search etc). These are found all over the OS, from generative note writing to AI image editing, and an uncanny feature that generates short videos from still images (first seen on the Honor 400 earlier this year). I personally found that Honor has been pretty heavy handed with implementing AI, to the point that it can be harder to find basic functions. For example, to crop an image in the photo gallery, you have to select “AI Edit”, which is now the catch-all term for photo editing.

• Software and AI score: 4 / 5

Honor Magic V5: Performance

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset
• 16GB of RAM
• Never slow, but does heat up a bit

As is typical for high-end folding phones, the Honor Magic V5 is fully loaded with top-end internal hardware, which translates to consistently great performance across multitasking and gaming. It’s got the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset and a full 16GB of RAM – that’s as good as it gets for Android phones, so you won’t come up against hardware constraints. The Magic V5 also comes with 512GB of storage, so no matter which configuration you choose you’ll have plenty of space for photos, videos, and apps.

I was able to make full use of the Magic V5’s software capabilities thanks to this array of high-end silicon. I never encountered any stuttering in the UI, and loading various apps was snappy and seamless, whether in full-screen or in MagicOS 9’s multitasking modes. There’s no lag when switching between apps or in games like Call of Duty Mobile – everything just runs, which is, in fairness, what you want from a phone that costs this much.

However, all that power in such a thin frame does mean the Magic V5 gets pretty warm. It never got uncomfortably hot, but it did seem to warm up very quickly compared to flagship slab phones. This is an these common to thin phone designs, as we’ve recently seen with the iPhone Air – the Magic V5 never got uncomfortably hot, but heat can have negative effects on battery life and potential performance over time, so it's something to keep an eye on.

With that said, I reviewed the Oppo Find N5 earlier this year – another ultra-thin folding phone with a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset – and didn’t notice much in the way of heat.

• Performance score: 4 / 5

Honor Magic V5: Battery

• 5820mAh battery capacity would be impressive on a slab phone, let alone a foldable
• All-day battery life with plenty to spare
• 66W wired charging with 50W wireless charging

By some miracle of physics, the Honor Magic V5 has a 5,820mAh battery. Let’s put that into perspective – the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 has a 4,400mAh battery, the OnePlus Open has a 4,805mAh battery, and the Honor Magic 7 – a flagship slab phone – has a 5,650mAh battery. Folding phones are typically consigned to smaller batteries due to their split construction, but the Honor Magic V5 sports cells that add up to a fractionally smaller total than a massive Pro-grade cameraphone. It’s really quite something.

This translates to excellent battery life. I’ve used a few folding phones that sport ‘all-day’ battery life, but the Honor Magic V5 gets through a full day of mixed use so effortlessly that I might not think about recharging until midway through the next day. The phone supports 66W fast wired charging with Honor’s proprietary charging kit, but as there’s no brick in the box I could only test it with third party chargers (I got up to 80% in just under an hour with a 40W brick). The handset also supports an impressive 50W power draw in wireless charging. That’s much higher than the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and many slab phones.

I will concede that the Honor Magic V5 seems to chew through battery a bit faster than slab phones, but the phone’s low-power mode is a real lifesaver when you’re caught away from an outlet. I felt fine leaving the house in the morning with around 50% charge, knowing that this would carry me through half a day or more of mixed use very comfortably. Of the folding phones I've used, this has the best battery life for sure.

Folding phones are known to be less efficient with their battery capacities than their slab phone contemporaries, as the cell is typically split between the two halves of the phone. That the Honor Magic V5 offers such impressive battery life is testament to Honor's engineering prowess.

• Battery score: 5 / 5

Should you buy the Honor Magic V5?

Honor Magic V5 score card

Buy it if...

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Honor Magic V5: Also consider

How I tested the Honor Magic V5

I used the Honor Magic V5 for an extended review period, culminating in a week-long stint as my daily driver. I used the Magic V5 to make calls, send messages, scroll through the internet and social media, play games, take pictures, and shoot video. I made sure to balance my use between the cover screen and folding display, and found that both screens could handle most tasks very well.