Australia's thinnest foldable phone is (almost) perfect

Honor officially landed in Australia last December, and while you may not have heard of them, the phone speaks for itself.

Simply put, the Honor Magic V5 is a hardware spectacle that outshines Samsung's Z Fold 7 on paper and can be found for almost $800 less.

It seems perfect for those who want a phone that'll last for years and feel modern in design and performance-wise. But how does it actually hold up?

Here are our honest thoughts.

NOTE: Prices are accurate at the time of publishing.

Honor Magic V5 specs at a glance...

Now $2125

What is it? Honor's flagship foldable phone

Pros: Thin and lightweight, has a good triple camera system, a massive 5,820mAh battery, good performance and includes a free kickstand case in the box

Considerations: MagicOS mimics iOS, which might not be for you, and the phone features plenty of built-in AI tools to use or turn off

Verdict: Great phone on paper

First impressions: thinner than your average phone

The first thing you'll notice about this phone is how comfortable and light it feels to hold. I was playing around with the Reddish Brown model, which comes at a 9mm thickness and 4.2mm unfolded, although the Ivory White model takes the cake for the thinnest foldable in Australia at 4.1mm unfolded.

What exactly did this mean for the experience? It feels like holding a standard phone. The front display helps with this experience, as it's wide enough to feel familiar. It's also super-lightweight at 217g, which is a massive win for your pockets and your wrists during long sessions of use.

To make your buying experience even smoother, the phone offers out-of-the-box value with a case that even has a built-in kickstand. This is something I wish more brands did, so this simple gesture is always a tick from me.

The software itself – MagicOS10 – is very similar to iOS. Whether or not that's a pro or con is for you to decide, but it did help me adjust to the feel of the phone faster.

And design-wise (which... actually probably is what you'll notice first), the phone features a big circular camera bump that mostly eliminates the wobble-factor found on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7.

Performance: a hidden gem

On paper, the Honor Magic V5 is a beast of a phone. It's packing the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor and 16GB of RAM. While you could argue it's not the latest chip, being one generation behind, I had no performance issues across my daily usage.

The battery in this phone is equally impressive. Despite being so thin, it houses a massive 5820mAh silicon-carbon battery that easily outlasts the GalaxyZ Fold 7. I was getting at least two days of charge very comfortably. The phone doesn't even drain that much just idling, so it's even more perfect for the light-weight users.

Finally, the inner and outer display is gorgeous at 5000 nits of brightness, which helps the screen stay visible under the sun. The best part is, you still get full stylus support on the screen using the Honor magic pen.

Why is this a big feat? Well, Samsung removed stylus support on their Z Fold 7 in favour of thinness. Honor here has managed to still retain that support whilst achieving the same, if not smaller, thinness.

Capturing the magic with the camera

Usually, foldables compromise on the cameras, but not here. I found the triple camera system built into this phone to be rather stable, and the photos came out in good colours and quality.

As for the rear camera, you get a 50MP main sensor for steady shots, a 50MP ultra-wide for those landscape views, and the star of the show: a 64MP periscope telephoto lens, which gives you 3x optical zoom and an insane 100x digital zoom.

As for the selfie cameras, whether the phone is open or closed, you aren't sacrificing quality. Honor has tucked a 20MP wide-angle camera into both the interior and exterior screens, so your video calls and selfies look crisp regardless of how you're holding the device.

Why MagicOS feels polarising...

Let's talk software, as this is where the perfect phone on paper may not be perfect for you. MagicOS is powered by Android, but it feels a lot like iOS in many ways. From the control centre, when you swipe down for notifications, to the app icons, it's clearly built for users switching from an iPhone who want a familiar experience.

As for how Honor handles productivity, you can still have three apps open when the phone is unfolded, although it's more lines of verticality as opposed to Samsung's three active tabs open approach. If that's not your style, you have the option to open a few floating tabs as like you would with a computer.

Another huge part of MagicOS is Honor AI, and it is everywhere. We have AI subtitles, AI translation, AI deepfake detection, an AI magic portal and a few more AI services. They're designed to provide smarter services to help you use your phone more efficiently, and while I can see the benefit, in all honesty, I didn't use them much. If you're really not a fan, you can thankfully turn them off as well.

At the end of the day, the good news with the Honor Magic V5 is that it's backed by seven years of operating system and security updates, so the phone will last you for years to come.

Should you buy the Honor Magic V5?

Now $2125

Here's my final verdict. If you want impressive hardware, a thin phone, and a foldable that can be found way cheaper than the Galaxy Z Fold 7, this is it.

However, if you're an advocate for a more true-to-default Android experience, I'd say the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold or Galaxy Z Fold 7 is the way to go.

At the end of the day, the phone is incredible on paper, but it's up to the buyer if that sounds like it'll be just as perfect in practice.

Specs

Colourways: Dawn Gold, Reddish Brown, Ivory White, Black

Display: The phone has a 7.95-inch LTPO AMOLED 120Hz display unfolded, and 6.43-inches fold. Both inner and outter display are peak 5000 nits brightness.

Slimness and weight: 8.8mm folded, 4.1 mm unfolded, 217g (Ivory White) or 9mm folded, 4.2 mm unfolded, 222g.

Built tough: Honor Super Armoured Inner Screen, Mohs level 4 inner display, Honor Anti-scratch NanoCrystal Shield outer display.

Performance: The phone is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor

Battery: 5820 mAh battery with 66W wired, 50W wireless, 5W reverse wired

Cameras: 50MP ultra wide Camera, 50MP wide camera, 64MP telephoto lens camera

Storage: 12GB memory with 256GB internal, 16GB memory with 512GB internal, 16GB memory with 1TB internal

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NOTE: The reviewer was loaned an Honor Magic V5 for the purpose of a review.

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