The Honor Magic V is the first foldable smartphone of 2022, and while it is late to the foldable smartphone party, it is the most powerful one yet. Samsung is the current leader in the foldable smartphone category but the competition has gotten stiff with the announcement of new models from rival brands. The launch of the Magic V positions itself as the newest challenger to the Galaxy Z Fold 3.
The foldable smartphone space has recorded significant growth in the past year. While Samsung has held on to the crown and leads by no small margin, Huawei tried to close the gap with two foldables - the Mate X2 and P50 Pocket. Xiaomi also launched its first foldable dubbed the Mi MIX Fold in 2021 while OPPO made a splash with its Find N foldable smartphone.
Honor's Magic V and Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 3 largely share a similar design - a small cover display and a larger foldable inner screen that opens up like a book. The similarities extend to the number of cameras too. There is a centered hole punch on the cover screen of both phones to house the front-facing camera, while the back is home to a triple camera setup. The inner displays also have a single camera albeit with different implementations - it's under the display on the Galaxy Z Fold 3 but in a hole punch cutout on the Magic V. The two phones also feature a fingerprint scanner on the side that doubles as a power button. Even with all of these similarities, the two phones are still vastly different.
How The Magic V And Galaxy Z Fold 3 Are Different
Honor's Magic V packs a 6.45-inch cover OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 2560 x 1080 resolution. The Galaxy Z Fold 3's display is smaller at 6.2 inches, supports a 2268 x 832 resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. The inner screen is also larger on the Magic V at 7.9 inches (2272 x 1984) with a 90Hz refresh rate. This compares to the 7.6-inch (2208 x 1768) 120Hz screen of Samsung's foldable. The Honor Magic V is technically the more powerful foldable smartphone as it is powered by the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, unlike the Galaxy Z Fold 3 that relies on last year's Snapdragon 888. Both phones are available with up to 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.
Asides from the displays and processors, the cameras are an area where both phones are starkly different. Honor has gone all out in this area - equipping the cover display with a 42MP camera while the rear camera configuration consists of a 50MP f/1.9 main sensor, a 50MP ultrawide angle camera that can shoot macro photos, and a 50MP spectral enhancement camera. The Galaxy Z Fold 3, on the other hand, has a 10MP camera on the cover display, a 4MP camera buried beneath the inner display, and a 12MP triple rear camera array - one of which is a telephoto lens with 2x optical zoom.
The Honor Magic V also has a greater battery capacity at 4,750 mAh, understandably so since the displays are larger. The battery also charges faster at 66W compared to the 4,400 mAh capacity battery of the Galaxy Z Fold 3 that charges at 25W. Samsung's foldable is also capable of wireless charging at 11W and reverse wireless charging at 4.5W, two features missing on the Magic V. The Galaxy Z Fold 3 also gets bonus points for having a water resistance IPX8 rating and stylus support, even though the S Pen has to be purchased separately. Both phones run Android 12 but with different skins on top that provide a varying user experience.
Overall, the Magic V is not only more powerful and packs better cameras (on paper), it is also cheaper as well, considering it's priced at ¥9999 (~$1,568) for the 12+256GB version and ¥10,999 (~$1725) for the 12+512GB version. Unfortunately, the Honor Magic V is exclusive to China for now, while Samsung's foldable is more widely available