Honor Launches Ultra-Slim Magic V5 Foldable Phone with AI Features and Massive Battery

China's Honor launches new challenge to Samsung with thin foldable smartphone and a big battery

Honor launched the Honor Magic V5 on Wednesday July 2, as it looks to challenge Samsung in the foldable space. Honor on Wednesday touted the slimness and battery capacity of its newly launched thin foldable phone, as it lays down a fresh challenge to market leader Samsung. The Honor Magic V5 goes will initially go on sale in China, but the Chinese tech firm will likely bring the device to international markets later this year. The company, which spun off from Chinese tech giant Huawei in 2020, is looking to stand out from rivals with key features of the Magic V5, like artificial intelligence, battery and size. Honor said the Magic V5 is 8.8 mm to 9mm when folded, depending on the color choice. The phone's predecessor, the Magic V3 -- Honor skipped the Magic V4 name -- was 9.2 mm when folded. Honor said the Magic V5 weighs 217 grams to 222 grams, again, depending on the color model. The previous version was 226 grams. In China, Honor will launch a special 1 terabyte storage size version of the Magic V5, which it says will have a battery capacity of more than 6000 milliampere-hour -- among the highest for foldable phones. Honor has tried hard to tout these features, as competition in foldables ramps up, even as these types of devices have a very small share of the overall smartphone market.

'Massive' investment in R&D leads China's Honor to launch world's thinnest foldable phone

Chinese smartphone brand Honor launched what promises to be the world's thinnest foldable phone -- just 4.1 millimeters thick when unfolded -- on Wednesday as it seeks to regain lost ground in China's competitive phone market. The Magic V5's thinness is made possible by innovations in its silicon-carbon battery, which stacks cells just 0.2 millimeters thick to create a battery that's as thin as a bank card. The new phone is also light: At just 217 grams, the Magic V5 weighs less than the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Behind these innovations is a "massive" amount of research and development, Hope Cao, Honor's product expert on foldables, told Fortune ahead of the Magic V5 launch. Honor invested 1 billion Chinese yuan ($139 million) towards researching its silicon-carbon battery technology. The company invests over 10% of its total revenue towards R&D each year. "In terms of materials, structure, craftsmanship...everything is extremely costly from an R&D perspective," Cao said. Foldables represent a small but rapidly expanding segment of the Chinese smartphone market. Sales in this category grew by 27% last year, according to Counterpoint Research. Book-type foldables, which open along the longer edge to create a larger screen, are particularly popular. Cao suggests this aligns with Chinese consumer preference for versatile devices for both work and entertainment. A larger screen means more space for productivity apps, meaning users can do their work on a foldable smartphone rather than a laptop. The rise of "short dramas" -- soap operas designed to be watched on a phone and easily shared on social media -- are also pushing shoppers to invest in larger displays. Honor was once Huawei's budget smartphone division. U.S. sanctions forced the Chinese tech giant to offload the company in late 2020. The company had a 13% share of China's smartphone market in the first quarter of 2025, according to Counterpoint, close behind Vivo, Oppo and Apple. China's budget brands are now venturing into the premium market, seeking growth from selling higher-value phones, rather than a larger volume of cheaper models. Still, the return of Huawei to the smartphone market in 2023 is weighing on Honor's business. Counterpoint Research puts Huawei in first place in China's smartphone market, alongside Xiaomi. Huawei's success is also weighing on Apple, whose iPhone once dominated the Chinese market. Local smartphones now offer designs and features that Apple's tried-and-true iPhone is struggling to match. Apple plans to release a book-style foldable phone in 2026, The Information reported last year. The iPhone maker is also struggling to launch its AI services in China. Earlier this year, Alibaba announced that it was going to be Apple's local partner to offer Apple Intelligence to users. Yet the deal has reportedly drawn scrutiny in both Washington and Beijing. AI is quickly becoming a key differentiator for Chinese smartphones, including those designed by Honor. The Chinese company is experimenting with on-device AI, or services that run on the phone as opposed to the cloud. Honor plans to invest $10 billion over the next five years to develop AI for its product lineup, which it hopes to expand to include PCs, tablets and wearables.

Honor Magic V5 Launched: Just 4.1mm Thin, Packs a 6,100mAh Battery

Honor Magic V5 was launched in China on Wednesday. The book-style foldable comes with a 7.95-inch 2K resolution foldable inner display and a 6.45-inch LTPO OLED cover screen. It is powered by Qualcomm's flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, paired with up to 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of inbuilt storage. It offers up to a 6,100mAh battery with wired and wireless fast charging support. The phone is claimed to meet IP58 and IP59 dust and water resistance ratings. The Magic V5 has a 64-megapixel periscope telephoto camera at the back. Honor Magic V5 price in China starts at CNY 8,999 (roughly Rs. 1,07,500) for the 12GB + 256GB option. Meanwhile, the 16GB + 512GB and 16GB + 1TB variants cost CNY 9,999 (roughly Rs. 1,19,500) and CNY 10,999 (roughly Rs. 1,31,400), respectively. It is sold in Dawn Gold, Silk Road Dunhuang, Velvet Black, and Warm White (translated) colour options. The handset is currently available for pre-order via the official Honor China site and will go on sale from July 4. The Honor Magic V5 sports a 7.95-inch inner flexible OLED display with a 2K resolution, up to 5,000 nits brightness level, and a 4,320Hz PWM dimming rate. It gets a 6.45-inch LTPO OLED outer screen. The phone is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC paired with up to 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of onboard storage. It ships with Android 15-based MagicOS 9.1 and offers Deepseek-backed AI productivity features. In the camera department, the Honor Magic V5 features a triple rear camera setup comprising a 50-megapixel primary sensor, a 50-megapixel ultrawide shooter, and a 64-megapixel periscope telephoto lens with optical image stabilisation (OIS) and up to 3x optical zoom. For selfies and video calls, it offers two 20-megapixel sensors, one on the inner screen and the other on the outer display. The 16GB + 1TB variant of the Honor Magic V5 packs a 6,100mAh battery, while the other versions carry a 5,820mAh cell. All models support 66W wired fast charging and 50W wireless charging. The handset is claimed to meet IP58 and IP59 ratings for dust and water resistance. Connectivity options include dual nano SIM, 5G, 4G, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, GPS, NFC and a USB Type-C port. It measures 8.8mm in thickness when folded and 4.1mm when unfolded while weighing about 217g.

Holding the ultra-slim Honor Magic V5 made me wonder whether I'd ever go back to a non-folding phone | Stuff

Some software unknowns right nowWider availability and pricing still TBC Honor just fired the latest salvo in the ongoing foldable phone slimness battle. The new Honor Magic 5, launching today in China ahead of an expected wider rollout in the coming months, sets the new standard for book-style folders at an incredible 4.1mm when open. Yet it hasn't skimped anywhere on the spec sheet to achieve it. The successor to the Honor Magic V3 arrives with the full-fat version of Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, a trio of flagship-grade rear cameras, and one of the biggest batteries you'll find in any phone, let alone a folding one. It's skinnier than many traditional handsets when shut, and should (eventually) skirt a lot of the software and availability issues affecting rival foldables aimed purely at the Chinese domestic market. I got to try out an early handset ahead of the Chinese reveal, to see how it's taking the fight to the likes of Oppo's Find N5 and Samsung's imminent Z Fold 7. Seen from the side, the Magic V5 is wonderfully slim even before you unfold it. At just 8.8mm (not counting camera bump) it's slimmer than some non-folding flagships; when opened up, each half is a minuscule 4.1mm. Honor has managed to shave off 0.3mm compared to the Magic V3, and in the process has taken the 'world's thinnest' crown from the 4.21mm Oppo Find N5. These might sound like marginal gains at this point, but on first inspection the differences really do help this feel like a regular phone when folded. At 217g it weighs less than an iPhone 16 Pro Max, but is that bit more comfortable to hold in one hand thanks to the shorter, slimmer outer screen. Styling-wise we're talking iterative changes from the Magic V3, with the more prominent camera bump gaining a knurled texture for a bit of bling - without being too attention-grabbing. Same deal with the hinge: the dawn black version I demoed was covered in reflective geometric shapes to resemble fine jewellery. The gradient effect on the rear glass could look fully gold from one angle and almost black from another. I get why Honor will be using this one for all its marketing. The black and ivory models are a bit subtler. The polished metal frame feels suitably high-end, and the way it tapers in slightly really accentuates how skinny the phone is. There's still space on the side for a fingerprint sensing power button, and apparently the punch-hole front camera is secure enough for facial recognition that plays nicely with your banking apps. The whole thing has IP58/IP59 resistance - an impressive level of protection for a foldable. The 6.43in outer screen is the same size as the Magic V3, which on paper may sound a little small compared to a traditional flagship, but it doesn't feel like it in your hand. The aspect ratio is wider than Samsung's recent Z Fold phones, so apps didn't feel squashed in. Slimming down the bezels has helped make room for a 7.95in inner display, up from 7.92in on the Magic V3. It looks ideal for side-by-side multitasking, and the crease depth is noticeably less than the old phone. It's not as obvious when you run your finger over it and I struggled to spot it unless the light hit it at the perfect angle. Both displays are AMOLEDs with LTPO tech, for an adaptive 1-120Hz refresh rate that should help keep battery drain in check. They felt responsive to swipes and scrolls, with punchy colours and fantastic viewing angles. Officially they can also nudge a whopping 5000 nits peak brightness (when you're watching HDR or Dolby Vision content), so outdoor visibility shouldn't be a problem. I didn't get a chance to test that at my indoor briefing, though - or the potency of the built-in speakers. They use the same stereo arrangement as before. I was very happy to see Honor has taken a zero-compromise approach to the Magic V5's camera setup. Whereas Oppo cut back on the Find N5's ultrawide sensor pixel count, here you're getting a beefy 50MP snapper complete with OIS. It's paired with a 50MP lead lens and a 64MP periscope telephoto good for 3x optical zoom. These aren't an exact match for the Magic 7 Pro non-folding flagship, but they get pretty close. All of that phone's software smarts are on board, including the divisive superzoom that uses generative AI beyond 30x magnification. The Studio Harcourt portrait mode introduced on the Honor 200 Pro also makes the cut. Image quality is an unknown right now, as region-specific tuning and final software are still on the way. The few snaps I managed to take looked clean and detailed on the phone's screens, but how it fares in low light will have to wait for a full review. I'm expecting the Magic V5 to be something of a performance beast, with a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset running the show - and not the cut down, seven-core version seen on the Oppo Find N5. Flagship-grade amounts of RAM and storage are a given, too. Thermals could be tricky to manage in a device so slim when tasked with demanding apps and games, though. I'll have to wait for a full review to confirm. It's battery life where this phone could potentially set the pace. Honor has used silicon carbide tech to squeeze a colossal 5820mAh capacity cell into the Magic V5's slender chassis. The firm says it's enough to keep the inner screen juiced for an entire day of video playback. That bodes well for more realistic use, which tends to favour the outer screen more heavily. 60W charging puts it slightly behind the Oppo Find N5 when refuelling over USB-C, but that's still pretty rapid - and 50W wireless top-ups are very nice to see. The biggest unknowns right now are on the software side, given my demo unit was running a non-final version of an OS intended for Honor's home market. We thought the Magic V3 made a good start with its context-sensitive Magic Portal features, but anything it can do to streamline multitasking on that large inner screen will be very welcome. While nothing has been confirmed, I'm expecting decent long-term update support. Honor previously committed to seven new Android generations for its flagship phones, so you can take a good guess as to how many the Magic V5 will receive. Early impressions are very positive. It's China-only for now, but I'm expecting that to change fairly quickly - though whether it'll be before Samsung and Google release their next-gen foldables remains to be seen. As does whether Honor can challenge either on price. Still, if the Magic V5 can deliver on performance, battery life and camera image quality, it could be on track to be 2025's book-style foldable to beat.

HONOR Magic V5 with 7.95'' 120Hz foldable OLED display, Snapdragon 8 Elite, IP58/59 ratings, 6100mAh battery announced

HONOR has officially launched the Magic V5, its latest flagship foldable phone, in China, as promised. Touted as the world's thinnest foldable, the Magic V5 builds on the legacy of the Magic V3 with improvements in design, durability, AI integration, battery, and imaging. The HONOR Magic V5 showcases a balanced design with an eight-curve frame and a 3D diamond-cut finish that reflects light. It draws from both Eastern art and Western architectural styles and is available in Ivory White, Black, Dawn Gold, and Reddish Brown. The Ivory White model is the slimmest, measuring 8.8mm folded and 4.1mm unfolded, weighing 217g. Other colors are slightly thicker and heavier, at 9.0mm folded, 4.2mm unfolded, and 222g. It features a Luban Suspension Hinge made of durable steel tested for 500,000 folds. The frame is reinforced with a carbon fiber backplate and dual aerospace-grade fiber layers, making it flexible and 40 times more impact-resistant. An AI-based detection system alerts users to debris over 0.8mm, helping avoid screen damage. The device is rated IP58 for dust and IP59 for water resistance, placing it among the toughest foldables. A free 12-month inner screen protection plan (worth ¥1399) is also included. The HONOR Magic V5 features a 7.95-inch foldable OLED inner display (2352×2172) and a 6.43-inch outer OLED screen (2376×1060), both with 120Hz refresh rates and support for 1.07 billion DCI-P3 colors. The inner screen uses Glory King Kong flexible armor, while the outer is shielded by Giant Rhino Glass. Both displays support HDR Vivid, Dolby Vision, and ZREAL, with peak brightness up to 5000 nits. For comfort, they offer 4320Hz PWM dimming, motion relief, natural light adjustment, and low-power LTPO eye protection. The Eagle Eye Imaging System enables AI super zoom up to 100× with OIS and laser autofocus. The phone sports 20MP front cameras (f/2.2) on both inner and outer displays. It has stereo speakers with noise reduction and supports dual 5G, HONOR's RF C1+ chip, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, NFC, and dual-band GPS (L1+L5). Powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, the Magic V5 offers up to 16GB RAM and 1TB storage. The 16GB+1TB version comes with a 6100mAh silicon-carbon battery, while other models have 5820mAh batteries. HONOR's AI Dujiangyan Power Management, including a dedicated SoC voltage regulator and E2 efficiency chip, optimizes battery life. Charging supports 66W wired, 50W wireless, and fast car charging. The HONOR Magic V5 runs on MagicOS 9.0.1 (based on Android 15) and features the YOYO intelligent assistant, which supports screen recognition and AI-powered tasks like ride-hailing, image editing, file search, and memory management. It enables split-screen multitasking via HONOR Free Screen and offers seamless cross-platform sharing with iOS, Android, HarmonyOS, Windows, and macOS. Additional smart features include voiceprint noise reduction, smart privacy calls, and VIP services. The device is now available for pre-sale, with official sales starting July 4, 2025. It can be purchased through Honor Mall, Honor Experience Stores, and authorized retail outlets in China. While there is no official word on global availability yet, the Magic V5 is expected to launch overseas later this year.