Honor Magic V2 vs Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5: Which foldable is best?

Honor’s next-gen foldable, the Honor Magic V2, is now available after a five-month wait from its IFA 2023 reveal. The question is, how does it compare to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5?

When it comes to design, it’s clear that the Honor Magic V2 has the upper hand, boasting a thinner and lighter design than any other foldable around right now. It also has a strong camera setup, fast charging and more to make it a tempting alternative to Samsung’s big-screen foldable.

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 5, on the other hand, is more of an iterative update compared to the Z Fold 4 with only incremental tweaks. Could Samsung be in trouble here?

We’ve spent an extensive amount of time with both the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Honor Magic V2, and here are some of the key differences between the two. 

The Honor Magic V2 is thinner and lighter

If there’s one area where the Honor Magic V2 stands head and shoulders over the foldable competition, it’s design. The Magic V2 is not only the thinnest foldable around right now, measuring in at just 4.4mm thick unfolded and 9.9mm when folded, but it’s also in regular smartphone territory at 231g, making it lighter than even the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

This makes an instant impression upon picking up the foldable, not only because its thin chassis is easier to hold but because it’s nowhere near as weighty, a boon for one-handed use. 

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 is a step in the right direction – it’s both thinner and lighter than the Z Fold 4, and gets rid of the annoying triangular gap when folded, an issue that has plagued all Z Fold phones until this point. 

However, measuring in at 6.1mm unfolded, 13.4mm when folded and a weight of 253g, it’s not in the same category as Honor’s truly thin-and-light foldable. 

The only area where Samsung scores a win is in the water resistance department, with an IPX8 rating providing solid water resistance. The Honor Magic V2, on the other hand, doesn’t have any official IP rating, though Honor has reassured us that it will survive a stint in the rain – just don’t go dunking the thing, okay?

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 is more powerful

Though both the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Honor Magic V2 sport a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 has a trick up its sleeve. 

It actually uses a custom version of the flagship chipset exclusively available for Samsung devices, dubbed the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy. Compared to the regular chipset, the Galaxy-exclusive variant boasts a higher CPU clock speed and an additional GPU core to eek the most out of the chipset.

The Honor Magic V2 has more RAM at 16GB, compared to 12GB from Samsung, with the additional RAM potentially benefitting split-screen multitasking. Both are also available with either 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of non-expandable storage. 

That all said, you’re highly unlikely to see much of a difference in day-to-day performance – while the Z Fold 5 benchmarks a little better, both smartphones will deliver a rapid experience regardless of what you’re up to. 

The Honor Magic V2 has larger displays

Both the Honor Magic V2 and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 are book-style foldables, meaning there’s a smaller smartphone-esque display on the outside and a larger, boxier one within. However, despite the similarities in form factor, the Magic V2 boasts not only a larger cover display but a bigger internal display too.

The Honor Magic V2 sports a 6.43-inch 120Hz OLED cover display that’s notably shorter and squatter than Samsung’s extremely tall-and-narrow 6.2-inch 120Hz 21.1:9 cover display. Honor’s approach delivers an experience similar to that of a standard smartphone, while we found Samsung’s narrow panel to be a little bit awkward for replying to texts. 

Unfold the smartphones and you’ll find a 7.92-inch 2K panel on the Magic V2 and a slightly smaller 7.6-inch 2K screen on the Galaxy Z Fold 5. Both are fairly evenly specced otherwise, with both sporting a smooth dynamic 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ support and more.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 has better long-term support

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5, along with most other high-end Samsung smartphones, will get four OS upgrades and five years of bi-monthly security patches, allowing the company to continually improve its software and security. It misses out on the upgraded 7 years of OS upgrades of the newer S24 range, but that’ll likely be a feature of this year’s Galaxy Z Fold 6.

Honor has yet to confirm its OS promise for the Magic V2, but given that the Honor Magic Vs offers three OS upgrades and five years of security patches, it’s likely a similar case here. 

Granted, it’s not too far behind Samsung, but it means the Z Fold 5 will eventually get Android 17 while the Magic V2 will be stuck on Android 16. 

The Honor Magic V2 has higher-res cameras

Another area where the Honor Magic V2 gives the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 a run for its money is photography, boasting higher resolution rear cameras and some pretty cool Honor-exclusive photography tech.

More specifically, the Honor Magic V2 boasts a trio of rear lenses including a 50MP main with laser AF and OIS, a 50MP ultrawide and a 20MP 2.5x telephoto lens, along with a 16MP selfie camera. What’s more, the Magic V2 boasts Honor’s Falcon Capture technology that should allow it to capture detailed shots of incredibly fast-moving images – a feature we were impressed with on the Honor Magic 5 Pro.

On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 boasts the same camera setup as its predecessor. That includes a 50MP main with Dual Pixel PDAF and OIS, a 12MP ultrawide and a 10MP 3x telephoto lens. There’s also a 10MP cover selfie camera, and a 4MP under-display camera on the larger inner display.

Though the Galaxy Z Fold 5 is capable of taking a perfectly good shot in well-lit environments, complete with plenty of detail and vibrant (sometimes to an OTT level) colours, it’s not quite as capable once light levels drop, with clear signs of artificial processing at play.

The Honor Magic V2 is cheaper – just about

While the Honor Magic Vs was a budget-focused foldable with its £1,399 price tag, Honor has upped the ante with the Magic V2, pricing it in line with other premium foldables at £1,699.

That does make it £50 cheaper than the competing Galaxy Z Fold 5, but there really isn’t much in it between the two. As such, other factors – like displays, software, battery life – will likely be the main drivers behind your decision of which is best.