Honor Magic V5 Review: The Everything Phone

Finest Costs Right this moment: Honor Magic V5

2025 has quick change into the fiercest 12 months for foldables but, with Oppo, Samsung and Google all serving up extremely robust entries of their respective book-style folding telephone lineups. However now it’s Honor’s flip, and the long-anticipated Magic V5 clearly has its sights set on foldable supremacy.

With a lot happening within the foldable house this season, Honor has been eager to carry consideration; actively selling the Magic V5 within the months main as much as its launch, touting key options, revealing specs and even granting press and influencers impressively early entry to {hardware}. The telephone hit pre-order in China on 2 July, however virtually in every single place else, followers have been made to attend till now to get their arms on the most recent within the firm’s Magic V sequence.

On the floor, the Magic V5 appears to be like like probably the most uncompromising foldable of the 12 months, however having lived with the V5 for the previous few weeks, can it truly ship on varied lofty guarantees?

Design & Construct

• Declare to world’s thinnest “book-style” foldable at launch
• IP58 & IP59 licensed
• From 217 grams

Some of the contentious battles amongst this 12 months’s crop of book-style foldables has been with reference to thickness. The Oppo Discover N5 (pictured beneath, in black) touched down again in February, laying declare to the title of “world’s thinnest book-style foldable” with a profile of 4.21mm when open.

Honor wasn’t going to let that slide, nonetheless, with the Magic V5 and its promised record-breaking wafer-thin profile arriving a number of months later.

Honor serves up the Magic V5 in 4 colourways: Daybreak Gold, Reddish Brown, Ivory White (as seen above) and black, and having dealt with all of them, Daybreak Gold will get my vote as probably the most audacious, head-turning foldable end presently available on the market (carefully adopted by the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 in Blue Shadow). That magnificence is greater than pores and skin deep, too, with the end additionally affecting thickness.

Should you’re after the entry Honor’s put ahead because the world record-breaker, you’ll need the Ivory White mannequin; cited as measuring 8.88mm when closed and an insanely skinny 4.1mm when open. Nevertheless, the opposite finishes are nonetheless outlandishly svelte too, at 9mm when closed and 4.2mm when open.

You now not should compromise on thickness to take pleasure in a foldable telephone

I might keep off anybody planning on selecting the Magic V5 explicitly due to its declare to the title of “world’s thinnest”. Honor’s metrics don’t have in mind pre-fitted display screen protectors and digital camera bumps, however even factoring these parts in, taking my very own set of digital callipers to Honor’s, Samsung’s and Oppo’s newest undermined the V5’s declare to the throne, if solely by a hair.

Even so, we’ve reached dimensions with book-style foldables that imply you now not should compromise on thickness to take pleasure in a foldable telephone. Even with a case, they’re nonetheless thinner and fewer obtrusive within the pocket than my Mous case-clad Samsung Galaxy S25 Extremely, and at between 217g and 222g, they weigh about as a lot, too.

Ergonomically, the Magic V5’s rounded edges set it other than the flat surrounds of its most like-minded rivals, and although maybe a bit of trickier to pry open consequently, this distinction makes for a extra ergonomic, comfy match within the hand.

By way of opening and shutting the V5, Honor’s additionally ensured the revised hinge mechanism is rated to resist as much as 500,000 rounds of being opened and closed, which equates to (as much as 10) years of use with out failure. What’s extra, a further carbon fibre layer beneath the telephone’s essential folding show helps cope with shock resistance from drops, too.

In apply, regardless of virtually a month of use, other than selecting lint out of the crease after being in my pocket for a very long time, the Magic V5 is decidedly freed from blemishes, from its display screen protector-laden outer show to its composite again.

I additionally have to commend Honor’s engineers for creating the primary foldable I’ve encountered that may truly detect international objects inside the show space once you try to fold it closed, warning you to offer it a clear earlier than folding it away.

In contrast to the Z Fold 7’s offset vertical digital camera setup, the again of the V5 performs host to a much more outstanding round module, spanning everything of the telephone’s again (when closed).

On the one hand, it’s enormous and tends to catch in my pocket when placing the telephone away, however on the opposite, it makes for a useful ledge to your finger, decreasing slippage (akin to a Popsocket), and renders the V5 extra steady (in comparison with the Fold 7) when positioned on a flat floor.

Only a week earlier than the Magic V5’s worldwide launch, Google pulled the wraps off the Pixel 10 Professional Fold, and it comes with a world-first of its personal; boasting spectacular IP68-certified safety in opposition to mud and water ingress, out the field.

Whereas that is an simple achievement for a foldable, Honor was seemingly ready for such a problem, with the V5 sporting solely marginally lesser IP58 certification (indicating weaker resistance to mud and dust than the Pixel), but additionally IP59 certification.

As such, it’s outfitted in opposition to extra intense water strain than some other foldable presently on the scene (for reference, the Z Fold 7 is simply rated with IP48 safety); getting splashed by a passing automotive or drenched on a log flume shouldn’t spell immediate demise for Honor’s newest consequently.

Whatever the sturdiness guarantees the Honor Magic V5 makes, at this worth level, it’s additionally price checking what Honor’s customer support is like in your area. Regardless of the model’s worldwide prevalence, Honor’s product help community may not be as sturdy as, say, Samsung’s. Simply one thing to contemplate.

Display screen & Audio system

• 6.43-inch 1-120Hz LTPO 2376×1060 AMOLED outer show
• 7.95-inch 1-120Hz LTPO AMOLED 2352×2172 essential show
• Honor Magic-Pen stylus help

For a telephone that touts spec superiority over its rivals in most areas, it’s a bit of shocking that the Magic V5 has one of many smallest essential folding shows in its class. Not by a lot admittedly (roughly 0.05 inches), however the panel’s smaller measurement and thicker bezels in comparison with the likes of the Z Fold 7 give the telephone a fractionally extra dated look when open.

On a technical degree, nonetheless, Honor has granted the Magic V5 a terrific pair of 120Hz OLED panels. Whereas I might have appreciated higher out of doors visibility while testing in the course of the British summer time months (the internal show has a panel-wide excessive brightness mode ceiling of 1300nits, whereas the exterior display screen reaches 1800nits in HBM), a peak 5000-nit restrict (on each shows) is virtually unparalleled.

It’s about double the aforementioned Discover and Fold’s claimed thresholds, and grants the telephone outlandishly wealthy HDR visuals, making it preferrred for having fun with films on the go.

Honor additionally clothes its telephones’ shows with a wealth of applied sciences and customisation choices, and the V5’s screens are not any totally different. I really like the full-colour always-on show, while handy options like double-tap to wake are enabled by default too.

Honor staples similar to AI Defocus and 4320Hz PWM (pulse-width modulation) dimming are each current to scale back eye pressure and the danger of complications, plus the telephone boasts auto white steadiness adjustment and even a devoted monochromatic eBook Mode, (if it isn’t apparent, the V5’s kind issue renders it good for ereading too).

Together with that carbon fibre layer, Honor has additionally utilized an ‘anti-scratch NanoCrystal defend’ to the telephone’s outer show, and ‘Honor Tremendous Armor’ to the principle folding panel, which the corporate claims grants 10x higher drop safety, 15x higher scratch resistance and 3x higher put on resistance than common glass. And as talked about earlier than, I’ve had little trigger for concern so far as normal hardiness and resilience go.

Honor has granted the Magic V5 a terrific pair of 120Hz OLED panels

As for each foldable’s telltale crease, regardless of a diminished really feel under-finger, it’s about as seen because the one on its predecessor and no higher or worse than the competitors’s, however in on a regular basis use, I seldom considered it.

Samsung’s newest book-style foldable sported fairly the glow-up when it debuted in July, boasting a considerably thinner profile (on common, round 25% thinner) than its predecessor, however one of many sacrifices Samsung felt as if it needed to make to attain this new silhouette was to ditch long-standing S Pen stylus help. The Magic V5 makes no such compromise.

Regardless of hovering across the title of “world’s thinnest,” the Magic V5 retains the Honor Magic V3‘s Magic-Pencil stylus compatibility, so if that’s an important a part of the foldable expertise for you, it’s Honor, not Samsung, that you just’ll need to flip to this 12 months.

As for audio efficiency, regardless of the shape issue’s skinny nature not precisely lending itself to acoustic prowess, Honor’s accomplished an honest job with the sound output within the Magic V5. You’ll discover stereo speaker grilles positioned diagonally when the telephone is open, which supply first rate readability in any respect however the highest quantity ranges.

Unsurprisingly, the V5 is unlikely to be anybody’s go-to speaker for music playback, with a usually flat sound that might do with extra bass (if that’s bodily potential with a design just like the V5’s?). Stereo separation is surprisingly muddied, too, but it surely’s nonetheless completely serviceable audio within the flagship house.

Specs & Efficiency

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset (8-core variant)
• 16GB RAM & 512GB storage
• Storage-based RAM growth by a further 16GB

Oppo’s Discover N5 was the primary book-style foldable to embrace Qualcomm’s newest and best Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, which powers the vast majority of 2025’s greatest telephones. Nevertheless, it wasn’t the identical model we’d seen on units up till this level.

Regarded as within the pursuit of higher thermal administration, the N5 sported a 7-core binned variant of the Elite, which means weaker CPU efficiency, which, though solely slight, is more durable to justify throughout these telephones’ ultra-high worth vary.

As soon as once more, Honor refused to compromise with the Magic V5, which means you get that full-fat 8-core model of the Elite (identical to you’d discover within the Honor Magic 7 Professional), backed by 16GB of (LPDDR5X) RAM, which may be doubled by reassigning a further 16GB of the telephone’s 512GB of (UFS 4.0) storage, utilizing the RAM Turbo characteristic.

In China, the Magic V5 may be had in 256GB and 1TB flavours too, however abroad, the corporate has saved issues easy, with a single storage possibility.

Like plenty of Chinese language telephone makers, Honor ships its telephones with a ‘default’ energy profile and a ‘efficiency’ energy profile. Within the case of the Magic 7 Professional, for instance, a distinction in benchmark outcomes between the 2 modes was current, however not main.

Whereas the Magic V5 does certainly run on that 8-core Elite chip, going by its check scores, it appears to be like just like the telephone prunes efficiency again in comparison with similarly-specced sweet bar flagships, when utilizing its default energy profile, however absolutely opens the faucets in ‘efficiency’ mode.

Honor Magic V5 benchmarks

Regardless of CPU scores nearer to a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-powered telephone in day-to-day use, you may change to efficiency mode for the complete would possibly of the 8 Elite, explicitly when gaming (by means of the telephone’s Recreation Supervisor characteristic) or on a regular basis, by dipping into the Battery part of the Settings menu. As you would possibly count on, preserving efficiency mode all the time on does burn by means of battery life sooner.

In reality, I’ve no problem with this method. The Magic V5 felt completely quick and fluid, comfy with multi-window multitasking and serving up quick app load occasions, within the ‘default’ energy profile; but it surely’s good to know that my arms aren’t tied, ought to I really feel the necessity for some further grunt.

As for gaming, with efficiency mode set to auto-enable once I fired up Name of Responsibility: Cell, I by no means observed dropped frames at default graphical settings, even when the telephone did get heat (however by no means sizzling) after about quarter-hour of fixed gameplay.

Cameras

• 50Mp essential, 50Mp ultrawide and 64Mp 3x telephoto sensors
• 20Mp selfie digital camera (on internal and outer screens)
• As much as 100x AI Tremendous Zoom

The Honor Magic V5 makes a press release with its sizeable rear digital camera bump, which packs a trio of sensors, equally to its predecessor. Regardless of seemingly utilizing the identical 50Mp essential sensor because the Magic V3, the V5 features a brand new, increased decision ultrawide and telephoto sensors, as soon as once more paired with the flexibility to seize photographs at as much as 100x, which means spectacular versatility.

One of many huge sticking factors with the Magic V3‘s digital camera system was its lacklustre ultrawide, however the bounce to new {hardware}, paired with no matter algorithms Honor has improved up leads to much better efficiency this time round. There’s nonetheless an obvious bounce in high quality, color accuracy and dynamic vary between the ultrawide and essential, but it surely’s far much less pronounced than earlier than, which means larger picture high quality consistency throughout the V5’s rear cameras.

In side-by-side exams with the Z Fold 7’s rear trio of cameras, other than capturing hotter and, surprisingly processing photographs much more so than Samsung, Honor’s foldable digital camera system usually retains larger element and does a greater job of preserving bloom from gentle sources in test too.

Low gentle seize can be the world the place I’d counsel Honor focuses on subsequent, as whereas the Magic V5 proved competent sufficient, it’s the world the place the largest strides may very well be made.

One problem is Honor’s publicity occasions. Even with Night time Mode enabled, the Magic V5 was one of many quickest to seize in low-light settings. On the one hand, if there may be sufficient ambient gentle, you’re more likely to get a sharper image, however in any other case photographs merely seem too darkish and lack significant ranges of element in comparison with rivals that take extra time.

One enormous benefit that the foldable kind issue does present is the flexibility to extra readily shoot selfies utilizing the telephone’s essential sensor, and the hole in high quality in contrast with selfies shot on the V5’s 20Mp in-display sensors is very large.

You possibly can toggle the bokeh (background blur) when utilizing the selfie cameras, or scale it when capturing selfies with the telephone’s greater sensors, however every little thing from blur high quality to edge detection is so significantly better with the latter. In essence, take Zoom conferences and WhatsApp calls with these in-display snappers, however some other time you need your face in shot, flip to these again snappers.

The V5 additionally boasts two digital camera options you’ll most readily discover on Google’s Pixels. Honor’s cribbed the Pixel 9 Professional Fold‘s ‘Made You Look’ abilty, which places cute animated characters on the outer show when the telephone is open, permitting you to raised maintain a baby’s consideration when snapping a pic, and that impressive-sounding 100x AI Tremendous Zoom.

Even coming from the samples featured within the Honor Magic 7 Professional digital camera evaluation nearer the beginning of the 12 months, Honor seems to be continuously bettering the imaging fashions the generative AI Tremendous Zoom is making use of to photographs. Even so, having simply skilled Google’s new 100x Professional Res Zoom on the Google Pixel 10 Professional for the primary time, Honor must work more durable on publicity and fantastic element accuracy in its partially-generated excessive focal vary zoom photographs.

Battery Life & Charging

• 5820mAh (Si-C) battery
• 66W wired + 50W wi-fi charging
• 100% cost in 43 minutes (based on Honor)

Slicing-edge battery tech has been a key a part of Honor’s flagship telephone expertise for some time now, and that’s simply as true with the Magic V5. In China, if you happen to go for the full-fat 1TB mannequin, you additionally get the biggest capability battery on any foldable to but, at a whopping 6100mAh; trumping the Vivo X Fold 5’s 6000mAh cell.

Internationally, nonetheless, the V5 comes with a fractionally extra modest 5820mAh energy pack as a substitute.

Whereas the 6100mAh variant makes use of Honor’s newest silicon-carbon tech, the smaller cell depends on previous-generation components. Don’t be disparaged, although. Trying on the wider foldable market, wherever the Magic V5 is on this planet, it’s nonetheless outfitted with one of many largest and fastest-charging battery setups round, made all of the extra spectacular by that wafer-thin body.

In testing, contemplating its battery capability, the telephone scored decrease than I anticipated when utilizing PCMark’s Work 3.0 Battery check (9 hours and one minute), however in real-world circumstances (switching between the telephone’s two screens) it delivered a good 8.25 hours of screen-on time on a single cost (for reference, the Oppo Discover N5 scored 13:58, however in real-world use solely managed 5.5 hours of screen-on time).

This equates to round a day and half of use, however even if you happen to had been to completely use the V5’s essential near-8-inch show, it could nonetheless probably see you thru to the tip of a full day, with out problem. Examine that to the Z Fold 7’s considerably smaller 4400mAh battery, which now and again got here near dying after a day’s regular use; to not point out its slower 25W wired and 15W wi-fi charging.

Honor quotes an impressively quick 43 minutes for a full cost, when leveraging the Magic V5’s most 66W wired charging velocity, and 50% cost in simply 16 minutes. I didn’t hit these lofty figures, however I got here shut.

In testing, my Magic V5 hit 34% in quarter-hour and absolutely replenished after 53, however after a number of runs, I believe I discovered why I wasn’t reaching Honor’s report.

Safely managing recharge velocity and warmth build-up is essential

With the tougher thermal envelope a telephone just like the Magic V5 possesses, safely managing recharge velocity and warmth build-up is essential. To mitigate this, the Magic V5 is the primary foldable I’ve encountered that really asks (with an on-screen pop-up) to be charged while unfolded, as doing so expands its floor space, for larger warmth dissipation, like a heatsink.

Whereas I by no means carried out a full cost check with the V5 open like this the complete time, fast refills proved simpler in comparison with once I sometimes charged the telephone closed for a similar time period.

50W wi-fi charging is a pleasant inclusion too (once more, all of the extra spectacular, contemplating the V5’s thickness), though, relying on which market you’re in, you’ll have to purchase an official energy adapter and/or wi-fi charger individually.

Take a look at our rundown of the most effective battery life telephones for extra.

Software program & Apps

• MagicOS 9.0.1 atop Android 15 (at launch)
• New multitasking UI in Multi-Flex mode
• 7 years OS + safety replace help

Whereas Android 16 is now right here – because of the arrival of the Pixel 10 sequence, simply final week (on the time of writing) – Honor hasn’t but had an opportunity to replace the V5 to run on this recent launch. That stated, when requested, the corporate confirmed that it’s working carefully with Google on its updates.

With extra modest units – just like the Honor 400 Professional – confirmed to be operating Android 16 earlier than the 12 months’s finish, it appears secure to imagine that the V5 will obtain an analogous uplift by then, if not sooner. Honor additionally upped it software program dedication again in March, which means the V5 additionally advantages from the promise of seven years of OS and safety updates, which is amongst the most effective within the trade.

Out of the field, the Magic V5 sports activities the corporate’s newest MagicOS 9 consumer expertise (model 9.0.1 on the time of writing), which comes with an more and more acquainted gamut of options, a lot of that are underpinned by – say it with me now – AI.

Whereas I can’t say I really like the feel and appear of MagicOS as a lot as clear Pixel-flavoured Android, it does supply heaps of native customisation, and it’s dressed with an ever-increasing assortment of helpful (and, admittedly, not so helpful) on a regular basis options.

The brand new Movement Illness Aid device provides dots across the fringe of the display screen that maintain their place while your telephone bounces round in your arms while on a prepare or in a automotive. These stabilised reference factors apparently trick the mind, decreasing the sense of movement and assuaging nausea, for many who stay dead-set on preserving eyes on their show while shifting.

The expertise of leaping between apps on the V5 feels completely seamless

Honor states that its tech is 85% efficient in opposition to 360° movement illness. It’s a terrific addition that I first encountered inside iOS, however nonetheless respect Honor’s cribbed model right here.

Magic Capsule is one other iOS-like implementation of a persistent, dynamic notification, solely showing while you’re taking part in media, recording audio or have a timer operating; granting fast entry to the related controls, with out having to swipe down into your notifications or go attempting to find the associated app itself.

One addition new the the V5 that Honor seems to have “borrowed” from Oppo/OnePlus this time, is what it calls Multi-Flex.

When you’ve been capable of split-screen multitask on Honor telephones for some time – operating a 3rd app inside a floating window on extra superior fashions – identical to Oppo’s/OnePlus’ Open Canvas, Multi-Flex permits for 3 full-screen apps to run side-by-side-by-side, shunting whichever app you’re utilizing the least principally off the sting of the display screen.

Then, by tapping on the sting of the lesser-used app nonetheless peeking out, the UI will shift that app and the one subsequent to it again onto the display screen and transfer the app on the opposite finish off to the opposite facet. Multi-Flex, paired with Honor’s already different and versatile multitasking expertise, means the expertise of leaping between apps on the V5 feels completely seamless.

A characteristic that’s changing into more and more prevalent is varied Android telephone makers’ proprietary options for sharing to and from Android. For some purpose, solely Chinese language firms appear to be leaping on this performance up to now, with the likes of Samsung, Sony, and different huge names seemingly ignoring its potential.

As an Android telephone consumer who defaults to an iPad for pill utilization, the Magic V5’s capability to wirelessly share information to and from iOS / iPadOS by way of Honor Join is a vastly appreciated addition. In some markets, Honor additionally gives a macOS shopper for related AirDrop-like comfort, however I apparently don’t reside in a area the place this shopper is supported… but.

Honor has additionally poured time and vitality into unique options like AI DeepFake detection – which is included on the V5 – in addition to its personal tackle Google’s Circle to Search, known as Magic Portal. Encircled textual content and on-screen media can immediately be shared to different Honor-specific apps and experiences, like Favorite Area, on high of being thrown right into a Google Search or shared to the telephone’s Gallery.

The corporate’s Magic Sidebar can be nice at dynamically surfacing AI options like summarisation when searching an internet web page or composition when writing a observe, and it makes for a reasonably friction-free purpose to make use of such options, which I assumed would in any other case go untouched.

Worth & Availability

Regardless of launching in China already (and subsequently different APAC markets, like Malaysia), the Honor Magic V5’s full worldwide roll-out hit on 28 August, with the one 512GB storage SKU coming in at £1699.99; identical to the Magic V3 earlier than it and the V2 earlier than that (European pricing clocks in at €1999).

You should purchase the Magic V5 immediately from Honor within the UK, in addition to carriers like EE, O2, Three, Vodafone and Tesco Cell, and established retailers like Argos, Currys, Amazon UK and Very, beginning August 29.

It’s most fierce competitor – the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 – begins at £100 extra in the identical market, however for that worth you’re getting half as a lot storage and solely 12GB of RAM (plus a gamut of different compromises that I’ll come to), the caveat being that Samsung is ready to promote its next-gen foldable within the US, while Honor isn’t.

See extra choices in our information to the most effective foldable telephones you should buy.

Do you have to purchase the Honor Magic V5?

Every thing that was true of the Magic V3 is simply as true of its successor. Honor has once more confirmed its mastery of cell engineering, and created some of the technically succesful units on the market; from {hardware} design to efficiency, battery tech to photographic capability. However simply as what made the V3 so good has solely been enhanced with the Magic V5, so too are the areas the place Honor’s telephones are inclined to falter.

Offered you’re comfy attending to grips with among the clunkier facets of the telephone’s MagicOS expertise, and also you don’t take umbrage with the assortment of options unashamedly lifted from different telephone makers’ software program experiences, the characteristic density and flexibility served up by the Magic V5 is unprecedented.

After reviewing the Z Fold 7, we dubbed it ‘the most effective foldable telephone’. But when, for no matter purpose, you don’t like every side of Samsung’s tackle a book-style foldable in 2025, you’ll be higher served by the Honor Magic V5.

Specs

• MagicOS 9.0.1 atop Android 15 (at launch)
• 6.43-inch 1-120Hz 2616 x 1140 LTPO AMOLED outer show protected by Nanocrystal Glass
• 7.95-inch 1-120Hz 2480 x 2248 LTPO AMOLED essential show
• Aspect-mounted capacitive fingerprint sensor
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset (8-core variant)
• 16GB RAM (LPDDR5X)
• China: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | RoW: 512GB (UFS 4.0)
• Cameras:
  • 50Mp ƒ/1.6 essential sensor w/ OIS
  • 50Mp ƒ/2.0 ultrawide
  • 64Mp ƒ/2.5 3x telephoto w/ OIS
  • 20Mp ƒ/2.2 selfie digital camera (each internal and essential shows)
• Stereo audio system
• Twin-SIM
• Wi-Fi 5/6/7
• Bluetooth 6.0
• China: 6100mAh | RoW: 5820mAh battery
• 66W wired charging
• 50W wi-fi charging
• 156.8 x 74.3 x 8.8mm | 9.0mm (closed) | 156.8 x 145.9 x 4.1mm | 4.2mm (open)
• IP58 & IP59 licensed
• 217g (Ivory White solely), 222g (all different colourways)
• Colors: Daybreak Gold, Reddish Brown, Ivory White, black