HONOR Magic V5 vs. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 Comparison Review

The HONOR Magic V5 is out and it’s one of the newest foldable phones released this year. It’s got all the flagship specs and features that you’d expect: it runs on the Snapdragon 8 Elite, it comes with a flagship triple camera system, and it goes for an insanely thin frame at 4.2 mm when unfolded.

You know what’s another device that has the same thinness? That is the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7. With this new iteration, we can finally experience a Samsung foldable that goes on par with today’s standards for foldables: sleek, thin, and well-protected.

But that’s not all that makes a foldable phone… good. So, in this comparison, we have the HONOR Magic V5 up against the Galaxy Z Fold7.

Design and Construction

Starting with design, each device carries a similar look from their predecessors, but comes with slight refinements.

The HONOR Magic V5 still uses a circular camera module, and taking a closer look, the enclosure now has diamond-patterned edges adding a higher sense of premium. Notably, this design element also extends to its hinge.

The unit that we have is in the Dawn Gold colorway and it’s splashed with this brushed-like pattern all over the back panel that’s made of glass. It’s flat on the sides and uses a gold-accented metal frame.

Speaking of the frame, this particular Magic V5 measures 9 mm thin when folded and 4.2 mm when unfolded.

Moving over to the Galaxy Z Fold7, this is where we see Samsung really stepped up their game. It also measures 4.2 mm in its unfolded state, but it goes a tad bit thinner when folded at 8.9 mm. That’s a 0.1 mm difference to be exact as compared to the Magic V5, but when you compare it to previous Galaxy Z Fold models, this is a big improvement.

To recall, the Galaxy Z Fold6 measured 5.6 mm unfolded and it was thick at 12.1 mm when folded.

Aside from that, not much has changed in terms of looks. You still get the signature Samsung camera island design which is a bit larger now. Our unit is in the Blue Shadow rocking a minimalist back finish that is quite fingerprint magnet. The housing is also made of glass, and the frame is made of aluminum.

For extra protection, both phones get different levels of ingress protection. The Galaxy Z Fold7 is IP48 rated for dust and water resistance, but the Magic V5 offers stronger protection, having both IP58 and IP59 ratings.

As for biometrics security, both phones support side-mounted fingerprint sensors along with face recognition.

In terms of design and build, I would commend the HONOR Magic V5 having a stronger level of ingress protection. But I can’t deny the fact that the Galaxy Z Fold7 has finally caught up to the competition offering an equally thin and durable chassis.

At the end of the day, design is subjective, so I’m giving them both a point this round.

Display, Multimedia, and Biometrics

Unfolding both phones, you’re greeted by similar inner display sizes. The HONOR Magic V5 sports a 7.95-inch LTPO AMOLED folding display running at 120Hz and has a peak brightness of 5000 nits. Its 6.43-inch cover display also uses an LTPO AMOLED panel and peaks at 5000 nits as well.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 has slightly larger screens. There’s an 8-inch LTPO Dynamic AMOLED 2X folding screen with 120Hz refresh rate, and 2600 nits of peak brightness. From the exterior, it sports a 6.5-inch cover display with the same LTPO panel as the folding screen.

As you would expect, the visuals from both devices are stunning. The details are crisp, the colors pop, and the contrast is great with deep, true blacks.

And in case you didn’t know, both phones use LTPO panels, which allow the refresh rate to adjust automatically from as low as 10Hz (or 1Hz in some cases) up to 120Hz, depending on what you’re doing. For example, if you’re viewing a static image, the screen drops to a lower refresh rate to save power. But when you start scrolling through social media, it ramps up to 120Hz to deliver a smooth navigation.

Although both phones still have fairly thick bezels, the larger screen helps make them less noticeable. And the crease? Well, for some reason, it’s less noticeable on the Galaxy Z Fold7 both visually and when you glide your finger across.

As for audio, the listening experience is generally good for both models. The highs and mids are clear enough, but the bass coming out from both phones is decent to my liking. Still, you get some level of immersion since both are equipped with dual stereo speakers.

I feel like this is yet another round that should end with a tie. Both phones indeed provide stunning visuals with decent sound stage, and the LTPO technology is the cherry on top.

Performance and Benchmarks

Now, moving on to processing power, we’re also seeing similar performance here, and that’s because both phones essentially use the same chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite.

However, the Galaxy Z Fold7 has an overclocked chip. So, instead of the usual 4.32GHz max clock speed, the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy inside the Z Fold7 is clocked at up to 4.47GHz.

That bump in speed shows in our synthetic benchmark results whereas the Galaxy Z Fold7 surpassed 1.8 million score in ANTUTU. That’s significantly higher than the Magic V5’s 1.6 million score.

See the rest of our benchmark results beow.

Not that it matters though, you’d barely notice the difference in actuality. The navigation is smooth, even with multi-window experience, and both have fast app loading times.

As for gaming, both phones handled every game we threw at them. Casual games are a breeze to play, and the more demanding ones are definitely playable at high graphics settings.

However, expect some substantial heating when playing games and that applies to both phones. Perhaps, it’s because of the fact that these phones are too thin and there’s not enough room for optimal cooling. But, I could be wrong, it might also come down to the chipset’s efficiency, software optimization, or other factors at play.

With that, I’m giving this round another tie.

Cameras

Let’s move on to a crucial part of this comparison: the cameras.

On paper, the HONOR Magic V5 features an overall better setup, mainly thanks to higher megapixel counts. It has a 50-megapixel main shooter with OIS, another 50-megapixel for ultrawide, and a 64-megapixel periscope telephoto sensor with OIS and 3x optical zoom.

For selfies, it has two sets of 20-megapixel sensors both in cover and inner displays.

On the other hand, the Galaxy Z Fold7 has a 200-megapixel main shooter with OIS, a 12-megapixel ultrawide lens, and a 10-megapixel telephoto also with OIS and 3x optical zoom.

It has two sets of selfie cameras, too, both having 10-megapixel sensors.

Shots taken from both phones are usually impressive with crisp detail, near-accurate colors, and nice dynamic range. However, if you’ll notice, the Magic V5 tends to oversharpen and brighten up the image a bit too much. Meanwhile the Galaxy Z Fold7 incorporates some unnecessary noise or grain but it does the exposure way better than the Magic V5.

Telephoto and ultrawide shots are also nice given you have plenty of lighting in the shot, notably with the Magic V5 providing more detail. This is because the Magic V5 uses a periscopic telephoto lens instead of the traditional one found on the Galaxy Z Fold7. The larger sensor also helps in this regard.

However, it appears that the Galaxy Z Fold 7 does a better job for portraits and selfies with more natural-looking bokeh and skin texture.

In low light, the Magic V5 surprisingly does a better job than the competition. The highlights aren’t that blown out in most cases, especially when using the main sensor.

As for videos, you’ll see a good amount of stabilization for both models. Colors are accurate as well, though it’s a hit or miss for clarity. Videos look generally good in well-lit environments, but the clarity drops down in more challenging lighting conditions.

One thing’s for sure though, both phones are great for your casual snaps, and not to mention, you can take selfies from the rear much easier thanks to the secondary screen.

In the camera department, I have to give the point to the Magic V5 offering a better periscope telephoto and ultrawide lenses. Despite that, I have to commend the Galaxy Z Fold7 for better processing on portraits and selfies in both image and video.

Battery Life

Battery-wise, the HONOR Magic V5 has the edge yet again. The phone packs a larger 5820mAh unit that uses silicon-carbon battery as compared to the Fold7’s 4400mAh capacity.

In our real-world testing, the bump in capacity makes a difference as the Magic V5 certainly delivered longer battery life than the Fold7.

Additionally, the Magic V5 has faster charging speeds at 66W for wired connection and 50W wirelessly. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is left with a slower 25W charging and 15W wireless charging. This reminds me a lot of last year’s Galaxy Z Fold6 which came with the exact battery and charging specs.

Sadly, it appears that both phones don’t support bypass charging. That said, the Magic V5 earns the point this round.

Connectivity and Other Features

On the software side, Samsung has the advantage this time around.

The Galaxy Z Fold7 ships with Android 16 with One UI 8 on top. The Magic V5 came with Android 15 out of the box with MagicOS 9 overlay.

In terms of UI design, both systems look great with sleek icons and unique feel. You can appreciate the inspired design language from MagicOS, while I really like the originality that One UI offers.

But what sets the Fold7 apart is it’s promised to get up to seven years of major OS upgrades and security patches. The Magic V5 is left with four major OS upgrades and five years of security patches. Interestingly, HONOR is promising up to seven years for the Magic V5, but only for the UK and EU regions, so that’s quite a bummer.

Additionally, Galaxy AI is still superior to this day offering better generative AI capabilities than HONOR AI or any other phone AI systems for that matter.

For connectivity, we see a more advanced package here: both phones include Wi-Fi 7, NFC, dual eSIM support, and their own desktop experiences. However, only the Fold7 supports Ultra Wideband for a more precise location tracking and feature integration with other Samsung devices.

The Magic V5 does counter with an IR blaster support for easy, universal controls for your home appliances.

In the software department though, it’s just fair to give the point to the Galaxy Z Fold7 thanks to its longer software pledge.

Which one should you get?

Now, we’ve finally come to the last part of this comparison: which one is the better pick?

Based on our comparison, it shows that the HONOR Magic V5 performed better in the camera and battery life aspects. And considering all the pros and cons along with a significantly lower price, then the HONOR Magic V5 might just be the better pick overall.

It’s priced at just PHP 89,999 and that already comes with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

With the HONOR Magic V5, you’ll get more value for money while offering an equally good flagship foldable experience.

On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 starts at PHP 112,990 which only comes with 12GB+256GB configuration.

It’s undeniable that Samsung made lots of big improvements with the Galaxy Z Fold7. These include a sleeker frame, a more powerful chip, and larger screens. Thus, it’s a great investment especially if you’re someone who is used to the Samsung ecosystem or Samsung smartphones in general.

Ultimately, the choice is always yours.