Honor Magic V5 is a seriously impressive foldable phone, so it’s gutting it’s not available in the US

The Honor Magic V5 is the world’s thinnest foldable phone, and while the thickness of your phone may not be a driving force behind your purchasing decision my brief time so far with this handset has shown there’s more going on here than a simple spec benchmark.

If I were Samsung, I’d be looking a little nervously over my shoulder as I prepare for the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 launch on July 9.

It’s a shame then, the Magic V5 won’t be available in the US as it’s shaping up to be one of the best foldable phones around. Samsung can breathe a little easier here at least.

I spent around an hour with the Magic V5, at what was predominantly a hardware preview event. The software the phone was running wasn’t final, and wasn’t in a state to be evaluated. The hardware however, has impressed me.

Honor Magic V5 specs

Surprising, in a good way

Foldables have come a long way since the preview event I attended for the first (and ill-fated) Samsung Galaxy Fold back in 2019.

It was big, bulky and flawed, but I loved it. It gave us something which until then, had merely been a pipedream.

Early generation issues and durability concerns have been pretty much addressed since then (foldables are still less durable than traditional smartphones though), and while the prices continue to be eye-watering, they are at least closer to the cost of the best smartphones around.

The current obsession with foldable manufacturers (and especially Honor and Oppo, the latter of which had the world’s thinnest title with the Find N5 before the V5 showed up) is thinness.

Which is why the Honor Magic V5 measures just 8.8mm (at its thinnest point when folded), and a supremely svelte 4.1mm when open.

That’s for the Ivory White model. Pick one of the three other colors ((Black, Dawn Gold, Reddish Brown) and the V5 is slightly thicker at 9mm folded and 4.2mm unfolded. It means these colors aren’t actually thinner than the Find N5, which takes the shine off the “world’s thinnest” title a little.

The white model also tips the scales at 217g – making it lighter than the non-foldable Galaxy S25 Ultra (218g) and iPhone 16 Pro Max (227g) – while the other colors are 222g.

Now, my immediate worry as foldables continue to get unbelievably thinner and lighter is durability. A flexible screen in a design no thicker than five credit cards sounds like a recipe for disaster – yet the Honor Magic V5 feels reassuringly solid.

In fact, I was surprised just how well put together it felt. Unfolding the phone results in a satisfying snap when the screen goes fully flat, giving the impression it’s locked into place with excellent rigidity.

Then upon closing, the hinge is pleasingly damped with a much softer and more premium sound than on the Magic V3. It just feels and sounds right – difficult to explain, but if you get a chance to try the V5 out you’ll get it.

Yeah it’s slim, so what?

Thinness doesn’t sound like a big deal, and in reality it isn’t, but between the ‘Super Steel’ hinge and “armored with aerospace grade fibres” in the body, the Magic V5 feels incredible.

To get this level of durability in the slimline foldable form factor is seriously impressive, but there is one oddity when talking about the thickness of this phone.

At its thinnest point yes, the white Magic V5 is the thinnest phone in the world, but to ensure it delivered on its promise of not compromising thickness while delivering a high-end camera experience, the size of the camera bump has increased over its predecessor.

It means if you measure the thickest part of the Magic V5, it’s actually chunkier than the Magic V3 and Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold (versus their measurements also including camera bumps).

But manufacturers don’t worry about that, all they care about is focusing on the thinnest part of the phone. See the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc back in 2011 which was 8.7mm at its slimmest, and built a marketing campaign around that.

There’s more, too

A small, but useful hardware change for the V5 is the placement of the power and volume keys which are now both on the right of the handset whether it’s folded or unfolded.

With the V3, the volume rocker was on the opposite edge when unfolded, which was a little confusing as when folded it was on the same side as the power key.

And you’ll get a protective case included in the box – as you did with the V3 – which has a handy kickstand built into the ring around the camera cutout, allowing you to prop the phone up for hands-free viewing of the larger 7.95-inch OLED display.

Honor has improved the crease down the middle of the screen, making it almost invisible to the eye unless you tilt the handset at a rakish angle you wouldn’t have it at if you were actually using it.

The result is a fabulous looking display with a less obvious screen fold than the Magic V3 and Pixel 9 Pro Fold.

The only slight distraction around the large, foldable screen is the black bezel which runs round the edge. It’s similar in size to that of the competition, so it’s not the fault of Honor, but it’s something I noticed right away.

As I mentioned at the start, the V5 devices I got hands on with weren’t running final software, so I can’t comment on the performance of the cameras or the operating system at the moment.

But I can say the Magic V5 has a triple camera setup on its rear with a 50MP main camera, 64MP periscope telephoto lens and a 50MP ultra-wide camera, and support for up to 100x zoom. That goes some way to explaining the sizable bump.

Honor says customers focus on thinness, durability and battery life when it comes to choosing foldable phones. It feels like Honor might have the first two addressed, and it’s also promising reliable battery life.

The Magic V5 comes with a sizable 5,820mAh – another impressive feat considering the thinness of the phone. That’s bigger than the power packs found in the Magic V3, Oppo Find N5, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Pixel 9 Pro Fold. It bodes well for longevity between charges.

Running the show is the flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset along with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, ensuring there’s plenty of power under the hood.

We don’t know how much the Honor Magic V5 will cost in the UK and Europe – we expect these details nearer to its global launch on August 28 – but we do know it won’t officially be available in the US.

Which is possibly good news for Samsung, as it has fewer competitors to go up against with the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold the only book-style foldable to go up against the Galaxy Z Fold 7. At least for a few months until Google likely introduces the Google Pixel 10 series.