In the Australian market, there’s Apple at the upper end of fancy and popular, then Samsung (which is equally fancy but a bit less popular), followed by Google Pixel and then everyone else. Most of the ‘everyone else’ is made up of budget Android smartphones that compete on price and maybe a small gimmick every now and then. So, I’m excited that there seems to be a new competitor able to challenge the likes of Google and Samsung. It’s nice to have something new.
Honor’s first flagship phone in Australia is the Honor Magic V5, and its whole thing is that it claims to be thinner, faster and stronger than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold. While some of those claims are disputed, and not necessarily important, what does matter is that this is a phone that’s on par with the Galaxy Z Fold 7 in many ways, while offering an alternative for people wanting to try something different. It’s exciting, even if the brand name’s lack of ‘u’ is troubling.
Table of contents
- First impressions
- Specifications and price
- Benchmarking
- Cameras
- Unfolding
- Who is the Honor Magic V5 for?
First impressions
I first saw this phone at an event, where it was tied to a weight, demonstrating the strength of the hinge. Throughout the night, people were throwing the Magic V5 into fish tanks and dropping it on the floor. That’s the phone I then brought home, and all it had to show for the abuse was a few deep scratches on the front screen. That’s a pretty great first impression.
I was also struck by how nice the phone looks. Folded, it almost looks like a normal phone before you see the opening. The absolute unit of a camera bump is going to be polarising, though. Personally, I think that a phone’s thinness claims should be counted from its thickest point, but I guess that doesn’t look as good on a poster.
After that, the phone was easy to set up, just like any Android. The MagicOS Android overlay took a small amount of adjustment, as it seems to be trying to follow in some of the iPhone’s footsteps, while still being solidly Android. It will feel familiar and foreign to users of both operating systems, which will be polarising.
Honor Magic V5 specifications and price
| Product name | Honor Magic V5 |
| Price (RRP) | $2,599 |
| Warranty | 2 years in addition to your Australian consumer law rights |
| Manufacturer’s website | Honor Australia |
| Additional Features | Ambient Light, Barometer, Colour Temperature Sensor, Compass, Fingerprint Sensor, Gravity Sensor, Hall Sensor, Infrared, Proximity Sensor |
| Processor | Snapdragon 8 Elite |
| Storage | 512GB |
| RAM | 16GB |
| Screen size | 6.43 inches (external screen) 7.95 inches (internal screen) |
| Screen Type | OLED |
| Wireless Networking | 5G, Wi-Fi 7 |
| Splash and dust-proof rating | IP58 and IP59 for the Ivory White colour |
| Battery | 5,820mAh |
| Dimensions | Height: 156.8 mm Width: 74.3 mm (folded), 145.9 mm (unfolded) Depth (Ivory White Version): 8.8 mm (folded), 4.1 mm (unfolded) Weight (Ivory White Version): Approx. 217 g |
| Rear cameras | 50MP Ultra Wide Camera (f/2.0) 50MP Wide Camera (f/1.6, OIS) 64MP telephoto Lens Camera (f/2.5, OIS) |
| Front cameras | 20MP Wide Camera (f/2.2) (Interior screen) 20MP Wide Camera (f/2.2) (Exterior screen) |
Given the Honor Magic V5 so badly wants to emulate the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, let’s look at how they stack up on paper.
First up, Samsung’s 512GB model only has 12GB of RAM. To get 16GB, you need the 1TB $2,999 version. 16GB is included as standard with the Honor.
Folded, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is 8.8mm, which is 0.1mm thinner according to Honor’s claims. I don’t have callipers to confirm this, and it also doesn’t matter in the slightest. I am sure there are situations where 0.1mm matters, but this is not one of them. The camera bump on the Honor is also just absolutely massive, which negates a lot of the depth savings.
The Samsung foldable has a 200MP wide camera, which means it can zoom in on photos more than the Honor’s 50MP before quality becomes an issue. Though the Honor’s other cameras beat Samsung’s 12MP Ultra Wide and 10MP telephoto on sheer numbers (however, megapixels aren’t everything).
The Honor’s 5,820mAh battery absolutely kicks Samsung’s 4,400mAh in the face.
Samsung uses the One UI 8 operating system, which I prefer, but that’s completely down to personal preference and is in no way objective.
The Honor is 2-7g heavier, which absolutely no one will notice.
Honor’s peak brightness is 5,000 nits, while the Galaxy Z Fold 7’s is 2,600.
Most importantly, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 has an IP rating of IP48, which was an absolutely incredible technical achievement. The Honor Magic V5 has a rating of up to IP59. It’s important to note that debris will still absolutely mess up an internal screen when folded. Plus, waterproofing and splash-proofing decline over time and don’t last forever. However, reaching either of those ratings in a folding phone is witchcraft, and we have come so far from the times when just breathing too hard in its direction would cause the internal screen to delaminate.
Lastly, while things are pretty even between the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 and the Honor Magic V5, the Honor leaves the latest Pixel 10 Pro Fold in the dust. There’s no competition between the two. That’s impressive given Google is, well, Google.
Benchmarking
On raw benchmarking, the Honor Magic V5 is quite lacklustre, especially compared to Samsung’s foldables. However, that’s just in the regular mode, which is designed to give you enough power to run basic apps, text, binge social media, do emails, etc, without eating up all your battery. Most users won’t notice the trade-off, but will notice the improved battery life.
| Device | Geekbench 6 CPU Single-Core | Geekbench 6 CPU Multi-core | Geekbench 6 GPU |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone 17 Pro Max | 3,768 | 9,443 | 45,451 |
| iPhone 17 | 3,588 | 8,041 | 36,978 |
| Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra | |||
| Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 | 2,663 | 8,586 | 19,567 |
| Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 | 2,375 | 8,038 | 19,121 |
| Honor Magic V5 (performance mode) | 2,334 | 8,313 | 18,025 |
| Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 | 2,328 | 7,231 | 15,646 |
| Honor Magic V5 (regular mode) | 985 | 4,958 | 12,713 |
| Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold | 1,949 | 4,698 | N/A |
Performance mode is when things start to look like a $2,599 smart phone, almost on par with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7. I actually expected the Honor to do a bit better, given the specs on paper. This is more evidence that specs don’t always tell the whole story.
Unfolding
The unfolding experience is one of the most important with a folding phone, and luckily, it’s really good here. The hinge isn’t too stiff, but also isn’t too loose. It feels satisfying to open and close.
Though when the phone is opened, I do find the extremely thin edges to be a little sharp on my hands, making it less comfortable to hold open for long periods of time. After a while, I adjusted to it a bit, but Honor might need to find more of a balance between being razor thin and having some curves to hug.
Cameras
Without any of the AI nonsense turned on, I really, really like the Honor Magic V5 cameras.
Comparing these photos to the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, there is no competition. The Honor is so much closer to the colours and lighting of the actual day. The Pixel just seems noisy and a bit wrong.
I do largely prefer the iPhone photos, though. I feel like I get more details on them. In the very zoomed-in shot of the baby giraffe with its parent, I can see the AI processing on the Honor trying to render details from guesses, and it just looks a bit off. Nothing I can put my finger on as being wrong, it just is.
That over-reliance on AI flows into the portrait mode, which yassified my mother (she won’t let me include the photo), and made my daughter’s olive skin paler than mine. I hate this trend towards over-processing of photos in the camera and automatic application of AI filters. I think a camera should capture what’s true, and leave the embellishments to us later, so we can have copies of both the true and the false. Not everyone agrees with me, and that’s fine.
That said, the colours are vibrant, and I think (as long as they avoid the AI modes), most people will be very happy with the Honor Magic V5 cameras.
Who is the Honor Magic V5 for?
This is a phone for people who want a cutting-edge folding smartphone, that’s a little cheaper than the big players, and are willing to take a risk on a brand they haven’t heard of before. It’s a big ask at this pricier end of the market, but this is just such a solid phone that I think those willing to try something different will be handsomely rewarded for their courage.
Certainly, this is the obvious choice over a Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold. However, it’s a line ball with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, and that will come down to personal preference.
The post Honor Magic V5 review: Samsung just met its match appeared first on GadgetGuy.
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