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Honor Magic V5: Thinner housing, larger battery
28.8.2025
Translation: machine translated
Pictures: Jan Johannsen
Small innovations and software updates result in more changes to the Honor Magic V5 than expected.
The Honor Magic V5 is slightly thinner than its predecessor, has a larger battery and will receive long-term software updates. The manufacturer has also had the dust protection certified for a smartphone for the first time.
Smaller and yet larger
The dimensions of the Honor Magic V5 have only changed slightly compared to its predecessor Magic V3. Overall, the smartphone is slightly thinner, but the changes are in the tenths of a millimetre range. With a weight of 217 grams, the foldable smartphone is in the range of large, non-foldable smartphones.
The inner folding display has a slightly larger diameter of 7.95 inches and shines much brighter with up to 5000 nits. The outer display remains unchanged at 6.43 inches.
It is worth mentioning that the foldable smartphone is protected against dust and water in accordance with the IP58 standard. Other foldable smartphones have already been waterproof, but this is the first time Honor has had its dust protection certified. Unlike conventional smartphones with a 6 as the first number of the IP protection class, however, it is not completely dustproof, but only «protected against dust in harmful quantities».
Seven years of updates
Honor delivers the Magic V5 with Android 15 and MagicOS 9 as the user interface. The manufacturer promises seven years of updates. Gemini is on board as an AI assistant and can be activated by double-tapping on the back - the so-called TapTap function.
The Magic V5 is also designed to translate phone calls live. The data required for this is stored directly on the device for the first time. For the six supported languages - German, English, French, Italian, Spanish and Chinese - this amounts to a total of around 800 megabytes.
Small changes to some cameras
There have been changes to the ultra-wide-angle and telephoto cameras on the Magic V5. The periscope telephoto camera has a shorter focal length of 70 millimetres (KB equivalent), which means three times the magnification. The Magic V3 still had a magnification of 3.5x. Honor has increased the resolution of the ultra-wide-angle camera by ten megapixels to 50 megapixels and increased the aperture slightly to f/2.0. The focal length has become slightly shorter at 13 millimetres. Honor has left the 50-megapixel main camera and the two 20-megapixel front cameras unchanged compared to the predecessor.
Top chipset and larger battery
The Snapdragon 8 Elite is the most powerful chipset currently available from Qualcomm in the Magic V5. In Europe, the manufacturer only offers the foldable smartphone in a memory version with 16 gigabytes of RAM - four more than its predecessor - and 512 gigabytes of storage space.
The battery of the European version of the Magic V5 is slightly smaller than the Chinese version. It has a capacity of 5820 mAh. In China it is 6100 mAh. Honor has not yet been able to explain the reason for the difference. Compared to the predecessor V3 with 5150 mAh, Honor has nevertheless increased the battery capacity by over ten per cent.
Nothing changes in terms of charging speed. It remains at up to 66 watts via cable and up to 50 watts with a charger that supports the correct wireless charging technology.
Header image: Jan Johannsen
Jan Johannsen
Senior Editor
Jan.Johannsen@galaxus.deAs a primary school pupil, I used to sit in a friend's living room with many of my classmates to play the Super NES. Now I get my hands on the latest technology and test it for you. In recent years at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, now at Digitec and Galaxus.
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