Honor’s Magic V5 makes a clear statement: you can shrink a foldable without losing punch. It’s one of the thinnest, lightest foldables on the market and—critically—one that feels like a deliberately different choice from the bulkier alternatives. That compactness defines the Magic V5’s personality: it’s elegant, fast, and oddly conservative where others chase gimmicks. But thinness alone doesn’t settle the argument. This review cuts through the polish and tells you what matters for buyers.
Design and ergonomics: luxe and purposeful
Unfolded, the Magic V5 measures just 4.1mm thin at its slimmest point and somehow manages to feel both delicate and substantial. The folded phone behaves like a conventional 6.43-inch external handset with a long 21:9-like aspect for comfortable one-handed use. The color palette—Black, Ivory White, Reddish Brown, Sunrise Gold—leans fashionable without being flashy, though regional availability varies.
This is where it divides opinion: the ultra-slim chassis is a triumph for pocketability, but it also forces compromises in thermal headroom and haptic heft. If you prize a phone that disappears in your hand and bag, the Magic V5 delivers. If you want a tank-like, rock-solid handset, this isn’t it.
Display: brightness and an almost-vanished crease
Honor didn’t paper over the essentials. The 6.43-inch external LTPO OLED and the 7.95-inch main LTPO AMOLED both reach claimed peaks of 5,000 nits and high refresh rates, producing vivid, readable, buttery visuals in every lighting condition. The main screen’s crease is exceptionally shallow—almost imperceptible in normal use and only visible at extreme angles—so the fold feels closer to continuous glass than the old segmented panels.
Size-wise it’s a hair smaller than the Galaxy Z Fold 7, but in everyday viewing the difference is academic. The payoff here is practical: superb outdoor visibility and pen support on both screens, which genuinely expands productivity use cases.
Performance: Snapdragon 8 Elite keeps it speedy
Under the hood, the Snapdragon 8 Elite paired with up to 16GB of RAM makes the Magic V5 one of the fleetest Android devices for real-world tasks. App switching, heavy multitasking, and game loading are all handled without drama. The thin chassis does mean the phone can get warm during extended gaming sessions—nothing catastrophic, but a reminder that the device prioritizes slenderness over thermal cushioning.
Cameras: confident zoom, occasionally processed color
The triple camera array—50MP main, 64MP periscope telephoto, and 50MP ultrawide—covers the bases well. In daylight the main shooter produces vivid, detailed files; the periscope delivers genuinely useful optical zoom at 3x–4x, and even higher digital reaches (10x, 20x) hold up better than many rivals. Low-light performance is strong for a foldable, though zoomed night shots degrade noticeably.
There’s a caveat about consistency: Honor’s processing can be a touch heavy, and color rendering sometimes shifts between lenses. For most users the results will impress; for pixel-picky editors, sporadic color mismatch will be a minor annoyance.
Battery and charging: unusually generous for a foldable
The Magic V5 packs a sizable 5,820mAh cell—far larger than some competitors—which translates into reliable all-day endurance for typical and even heavy users. It supports 66W wired charging, 50W wireless, and 5W reverse wireless charging. Those are modern, fast options, though it still lacks Qi2 support, which is an odd omission given its otherwise complete charging suite.
Software and the trade-offs
Software on the Magic V5 works well but isn’t flawless; Honor’s skin still needs tighter polish in places. That’s the trade-off: you get class-leading hardware design and standout display and camera performance, but the software experience can occasionally feel like the slightly less-refined sibling to the hardware’s ambition. If you value hardware first and software tweaks second, this will be a fair trade.
Verdict: who should buy it — and who should look elsewhere
The Honor Magic V5 is a near-unique proposition: a genuinely ultra-thin foldable that doesn’t sacrifice brightness, performance, or photographic capability. It’s a great pick for buyers who want something different from Samsung’s thicker approach—a stylish, pocket-friendly alternative that still performs like a flagship.
This choice won’t please everyone: thermals under sustained load, minor camera color inconsistencies, and software polish are the concessions you accept for slimmer form. Price remains an obstacle, so this is a device for discerning buyers who prioritize design and daylight display performance over raw size and the last ounce of software refinement.
If you want foldable novelty packaged with sensible hardware and can forgive a few rough edges, the Magic V5 is worth serious consideration.
Tanu is a technology content writer at gemch.in who tracks smartphone launches, features, and pricing trends. She writes user-focused articles that explain what matters most in everyday smartphone use.