Honor Unveils 8.8 mm Magic V5 Foldable to Pre-Empt Samsung

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Published Jul 2, 2025, 12:58 PM

Honor on Wednesday introduced the Magic V5, a book-style foldable phone that the company says is the thinnest on the market at 8.8 millimetres when closed in its Ivory White version and 9 millimetres in other finishes. The device weighs 217 to 222 grams and is 4.1 millimetres thick when open.

The handset runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite processor and offers up to 16 gigabytes of RAM and as much as 1 terabyte of storage. It features dual 120-hertz OLED screens rated at 5,000 nits, a triple-lens rear camera array and a battery of about 5,820 milliampere-hours, with the top-end model topping 6,000 mAh—among the largest power packs in a foldable.

Sales begin immediately in China, with overseas launches planned later this year. The unveiling positions Honor, spun off from Huawei in 2020, to pre-empt Samsung, which is due to reveal its seventh-generation Galaxy Z Fold on 9 July. Foldables accounted for less than 2 percent of global smartphone shipments last year, according to IDC, with Samsung controlling 34 percent of the segment and Honor about 11 percent. Analysts say the Magic V5’s combination of slim profile and large battery could help the Chinese brand gain ground, though Samsung’s broader distribution remains a hurdle.

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