Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 vs Honor Magic V5: A Close Fight!

There’s no doubt about it: the Honor Magic V5 is designed to compete directly with the Galaxy Z Fold 7. Acquiring the world’s thinnest phone mantle was important for Honor, and it’s only the white version that’s thinner than the Galaxy Z Fold 7. In comparison, every Galaxy Z Fold 7 measures the same, and the camera bump is also thinner than the Honor Magic V5.

Both phones provide an incredible in-hand feel, but I prefer the boxier design of the Galaxy Z Fold 7. The lighter weight and smaller camera bump also yield a more premium in-hand feel that is less top-heavy than the Magic V5. However, the more rounded corners on the Magic V5 mean it’s less likely to cause discomfort by digging into the palms of your hands.

The Magic V5 features a reduced crease compared to the Magic V3 from last year. However, the new carbon fiber and titanium sheets under the screen on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 ensure that the crease is virtually imperceptible. It’s the best crease on a folding phone yet, and Samsung has captured a crown that the Oppo Find N5 previously held.

Overall, both phones are feats of engineering, thanks to their incredible designs; however, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 has a slight edge here, despite the Honor Magic V5 being thinner.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 display is amongst the best that Samsung has ever put on a smartphone, but there’s one area that the Honor Magic V5 has it resoundingly beat: brightness.

The 6.5-inch Cover Screen and 8-inch main screen on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 both feature a maximum peak brightness of 2,600 nits, which provides vibrant colors. However, the Honor Magic V5 features a 6.43-inch Cover Display and a 7.95-inch main display, both of which are significantly brighter, with a peak brightness of 5,000 nits.

This peak brightness makes the Honor Magic V5 display stand out, and it’s incredible to use in every lighting condition. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is equally impressive in many situations, but under direct sunlight, the Magic V5 display is significantly more legible.

However, the rounded corners on the Honor Magic V5 and less optimized software experience also mean that the corners’ radius can occasionally obstruct text and menu options. It’s not a dealbreaker, but the boxier, more squared corners of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 are more suited to the Android experience.

Whichever phone you buy, you are getting a phenomenal phone screen. While the Galaxy Z Fold 7 has a better crease and better aspect ratios for the Android experience, the peak brightness of the Honor Magic V5 makes that screen simply incredible.

There’s one area where Honor and Samsung took different approaches: the cameras. While Samsung chose to focus on the 200MP main camera, also used in the Galaxy S25 Ultra, the Honor Magic V5 comes equipped with a triple camera that rivals the best smartphone cameras.

The 200MP main camera on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 produces fantastic photos. As I found in our testing, it’s capable of capturing images that are as good, if not better, than those from Samsung’s camera powerhouse.

However, beyond this, the other two lenses felt like considerable afterthoughts. The ultrawide has not evolved as much as many of the best Samsung phones. The 10MP telephoto is capable of up to 3x zoom, but not much farther beyond that.

In comparison, the Honor Magic V5 proves that an ultra-thin folding phone can deliver a true flagship smartphone camera experience. The 50MP main camera takes just as good photos as the 200MP sensor on Samsung’s best, but the Magic V5’s ultrawide and telephoto cameras both considerably outperform those on the Galaxy Z Fold 7.

When it comes to the camera, there’s no contest: the Honor Magic V5 is better than the Galaxy Z Fold 7.

This is also evident in the battery, as the differences between the tried-and-tested Lithium-Ion standard and the next-generation Silicon-Carbon standard become apparent.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 utilizes the former and features a 4,400 mAh capacity, whereas the thinner Honor Magic V5 employs Silicon Carbon and boasts a 32% larger battery at 5,820 mAh. It’s worth noting that the Chinese version of the Honor Magic V5 features an even larger battery, measuring 6,100 mAh.

Honor is renowned for delivering excellent battery life, and the larger capacity means it outshines Samsung’s best offerings. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 battery lasts between 24 and 28 hours on a full charge, while the Honor Magic V5 lasted up to 40 hours in our longest test, and averages around 36 hours.

This delta is also apparent in the charging speeds, with the Galaxy Z Fold 7 featuring 25W wired charging and 15W wireless charging. Meanwhile, the Honor Magic V5 supports 50W wireless charging and 66W wired charging; when a phone’s wireless charging is twice as fast as another phone’s maximum wired charging speed, it’s really no contest.

Where the Galaxy Z Fold 7 starts to claw back in this contest is in raw performance. 

The customized Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy processor delivers incredible power – often at the expense of battery life – and the Galaxy Z Fold 7 excels in every task. The combination of a customized processor and optimized software consistently yields smoother real-world performance for CPU, GPU, and on-device AI. 

This is also despite lower RAM and storage configurations compared to the Magic V5. Only the 1TB version of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 features just 16GB of RAM, while the Magic V5 has 16GB in both the 512GB and 1TB versions. 

That said, the Honor Magic V5 is no slouch, and the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor delivers true flagship performance. Both phones throttle the processor earlier than other phones with the same chipset, as their ultra-thin designs result in less opportunity for extensive thermal management.

Samsung also has the upper hand when it comes to software, as the Galaxy Z Fold 7 runs Android 16 out of the box with the latest One UI 8 on top. Like many of the best Samsung phones, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is guaranteed at least seven years of security updates, and seven major software version updates, meaning it’ll be supported to at least Android 23 in 2032.

Meanwhile, the Honor Magic V5 launches with MagicOS 9, which is based on Android 15. The update to Android 16 is in progress, but it will consume one of the seven guaranteed version updates, meaning the Honor Magic V5 is only guaranteed to be updated to Android 22. That said, it’ll still get security updates for seven years from launch. 

Honor has strong multitasking capabilities in MagicOS 9, which it has built in-house, including a feature that mimics the native split-screen multitasking in Android 16. Still, it’s not as smooth an experience as Samsung’s multitasking. 

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 retains Samsung’s traditional split-screen multitasking, rather than the more usable triple-window approach that Honor has adopted. That said, Samsung’s decade-long experience in multitasking means there are also more convenient features to work across apps. 

Honor deserves special mention for supporting the Honor Pen stylus on both displays, especially since Samsung previously offered it only on the main display and completely removed support for the S-Pen in the Galaxy Z Fold 7. Despite this, Samsung and One UI are so refined that the Galaxy Z Fold 7 has a slight edge over the Honor Magic V5.

The primary reason the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is ultimately the better folding phone for most people is its availability: Samsung’s global presence and scale ensure that the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is available in many international markets.

In the US, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 starts at $1,999 with many Galaxy Z Fold 7 deals from Samsung and partners to help offset this cost. There’s also local warranty and support, as well as compatibility with all the US bands required for carrier networks, including mmWave.

Against this backdrop, the Honor Magic V5 has far more limited availability. It won’t be officially sold in the US, and even buying one means sacrificing some cellular band support, including mmWave. It may be available through third-party sellers, but it will likely also lack warranty or support if anything were to happen.

If you live outside the US, the Honor Magic V5 may be a compelling choice. It’s priced at £1,699 in the UK, which is £100 lower than the Galaxy Z Fold 7. The European price of £1,999 is also priced €100 cheaper, and Honor offers full warranty and support, as well as many carrier partnerships and deals in those countries.