Galaxy Z Fold 5: The new best folding phone on the market - if Honor Magic V2 didn’t exist

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Galaxy Z Fold 5: The new best folding phone on the market - if Honor Magic V2 didn’t exist

Although this might not be “common knowledge” for those living outside of Asia (more specifically, China), for a while now, the competition amongst Chinese folding phones has been basically as heated as the competition between Samsung, Apple, and Google when it comes to “normal” phones released globally.

Of course, competition always means two things - a win for the consumer, and better products. So, it’s not a surprise that Chinese folding phones like the Oppo Find N2, Xiaomi Mix Fold 2, and Huawei Mate X3 have set a new standard for hardware that the likes of Samsung and Google either can’t, or simply have no motivation to reach. And that makes sense - why compete with folding phones that are pretty much exclusive to China (and a few other regions of the world)? But... Sadly for Samsung, things are about to change very soon...

And that’s thanks to two Chinese folding phones that promise to launch globally and (finally) push the foldable phone market forward quicker than ever before. The first one, of course, is the heavily leaked OnePlus Open, expected to debut in the US, UK, and Europe at the end of August. But the second, and possibly most impressive folding phone ever, is called the Honor Magic V2, which was recently unveiled in China.

The good news for folding phone enthusiasts around the world is that the Honor Magic V2’s global variant is now expected to arrive in September (at IFA Berlin). The bad news for North American folding phone enthusiasts is that the Honor Magic V2 isn’t likely to make it to the US and Canada. But the shocking news for Samsung is, well… that the new Galaxy Z Fold 5 (coming July 26) will see its toughest competition ever - whether that’s because of the Honor Magic V2 in the UK and Europe, or the OnePlus Open in the US, UK, and Europe.

So, here’s why it’s now virtually impossible for the new Galaxy Z Fold 5 to be the best new folding phone on the market… I challenge you to prove me wrong, Samsung!

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Truly magical Honor Magic V2 foldable sets new Galaxy Z Fold 5 up for fail - unless Samsung is hiding huge big surprises

The Honor Magic V2 sets a new standard when it comes to foldable hardware. It doesn't feel much different than an iPhone 14 Pro Max.

First of all, I don’t know how you feel about spoilers but here come a bunch of them…

I want to start by saying that this story focuses on the new Honor Magic V2in the context of the Galaxy Z Fold 5, and the reason is because one is the most mind-blowing folding phone I’ve ever seen, and the other is expected to be the most popular folding phone of 2023. It makes sense to talk about both at the same time.

Anyway… Whatever I say about Honor’s brand new Magic V2 will be an understatement, because this thing looks like a true engineering marvel, and as a "tech guy", this isn't a term I'm throwing around just like this. I really don’t think a phone’s name has ever been more accurate at describing what it represents. It really looks like Magic. Just take a look at the specs of the Honor Magic V2...

Only 9.9 mm when folded; 4.7 mm when unfolded; 231 grams light (current record)
One-of-a-kind, 3D-printed, gearless titanium unibody hinge mechanism, the lightest on the market (current record)
8-inch inner display with variable 120Hz refresh rate and up to 1,600 nits of peak brightness
6.4-inch cover display with variable 120Hz refresh rate, with up to 2,500 nits of peak brightness (current record)
Overclocked Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage
Unique silicon-carbon 5,000 mAh battery (current record); the thinnest smartphone battery ever; 66W fast wired charging
50MP primary camera + 50MP ultra-wide + 20MP telephoto with 2.5x optical zoom + 16MP selfie cameras with up to to 4K 30fps video recording

Honor Magic V2 (right) makes the Galaxy Z Fold 4 (left) look like it's coming from a different era. Image courtesy of Ben Sin.

I’ve compiled the Honor Magic V2’s most important specs above but the truth is that they don’t do it favor, because it’s only when you see the Honor Magic V2 pictured next to phones like the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and iPhone 14 Pro Max when you truly start to recognize what Honor has managed to achieve.

Respectively, that’s also when the new Galaxy Z Fold 5’s leading position in the 2023 folding phone scene starts to look extremely shaky. I mean… Just take a look at how the Honor Magic V2 compares to the Galaxy Z Fold 5 according to the leaked body measurements of Samsung’s new tablet-style foldable...

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5: 13.4 mm thick, 253g
Honor Magic V2: 10mm thick, 231g (35% thinner, 9.5% lighter than Galaxy Fold 5)

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4: 15.8 mm thick, 263g
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5:13.4 mm thick, 253g (15% thinner, 4% lighter than Fold 4)

Honor Magic Vs: 13mm thick, 261g
Honor Magic V2: 10mm thick, 231g (30% thinner, 13% lighter than Magic Vs)

Sure, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 is getting thinner and lighter than the Galaxy Z Fold 4 but this upgrade starts to look minuscule once the Honor Magic V2 enters the chat. The Chinese competitor is a whopping 30% thinner and 13% lighter than its predecessor, and 35% thinner and nearly 10% lighter than the new Galaxy Z Fold 5 itself - let alone the Galaxy Z Fold 4.

Honor Magic V2 proves tablet-style folding phone no longer feel different than “normal” phones; we are living in the future of mobile computing but not thanks to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 5

Honor Magic V2 is lighter than a Galaxy S23 Ultra!

Of course, hardware isn’t everything, but in the case of folding phones that desperately need to become as thin and light as “normal” phones, it sort of… is. Speaking of comparing foldables to “normal” phones, the Honor Magic V2 has already achieved the “impossible” - it’s barely thicker than a Galaxy S23 Ultra and iPhone 14 Pro Max (in fact, it’s already thinner than some gaming phones), and at only 231g, it’s now lighter than both Samsung and Apple’s “normal” premium flagships, which weigh 234 and 240g respectively.

But enough hardware and specs talk…

The point is that the main goal of any tablet-style folding phones released today is (or at least should be) to feel like any other “normal” phone when you’re actually using it in its closed form - so more people would actually want to buy it. In other words, the extra productivity and more immersive entertainment experience that come with the larger display of a folding phone shouldn’t compromise the rest of your smartphone features and experience.

The Honor Magic V2 finally manages to do something about that by being lighter than a normal flagship phone. It also has a much larger battery than a phone like the iPhone 14 Pro Max, while booting the fastest Qualcomm chip on the market. The Magic V2 also has a camera system that’s pretty much on par with the one in Apple’s latest flagship. All in all, the latest Honor foldable seems to fix the biggest problem with folding phones, which is that they used to come with a bag full of compromises in order to give you a larger inner screen.

Granted, we haven’t seen/reviewed the actual Galaxy Z Fold 5 (or Honor Magic V2) yet, but if the leaked specs and photos are to be believed, Samsung’s new foldable is shaping up as a relatively small upgrade over the Galaxy Z Fold 4, which means the South Korean giant will no longer have the most impressive foldable hardware on the global market. In fact, the scary part for Samsung is that it might have to settle for 3rd or 4th place in the folding hardware race against the Pixel Fold, OnePlus Open, and Honor Magic V2 this year, as all three manage to look more impressive than the Fold 5 renders we’ve seen.

Galaxy Z Fold 5: The new best folding phone on the market - if the game-changing Honor Magic V2 didn’t exist

Galaxy Z Fold 5 needs a miracle to surpass the Honor Magic V2. Image courtesy of XDA's Ben Sin.

In the end, I’ll reiterate something I said in a recent story about the upcoming OnePlus Open foldable, which is that hardware and software reliability is also crucial when it comes to this relatively new form-factor of the smartphone. In other words, as impressive as a folding phone might look, it’s nothing without reliable software and hardware able to withstand the test of time. It’s not like we haven’t seen broken foldables before, or even recently.

Lucky for Samsung, historically, that’s where the South Korean phone-maker usually takes the cake over the competition, which is why we shouldn’t write off the new Galaxy Z Fold 5 as an alternative to the likes of the technically more impressive Honor Magic V2, OnePlus Open, or Pixel Fold. Not to mention if you live in the US, and you can’t even buy the Honor.

Still, right now, the facts are facts, and they speak for themselves…

For the first time ever, Samsung has (or it’s about to have) real competition in the global folding phone market that’s (finally) making big moves not just in China but on the global scene (Honor Magic V2), including the US (Pixel Fold, OnePlus Open)

Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Fold 5 will have what looks to be the impossible task to outshine the unbelievable Honor Magic V2 (and perhaps the OnePlus Open), which means it should impress buyers in other areas, with something else (I’d guess that’d be Samsung’s strong brand recognition)

Galaxy Z Fold 5 prices are rumored to go up, while the Honor Magic V2 (with all of its groundbreaking hardware) starts at just $1,250 in China, meaning even after the expected markup in Europe and the UK, it has a good shot at being cheaper than the new Fold 5; meanwhile, in true flagship-killer fashion, it won’t be surprising if the OnePlus Open is also cheaper than the Fold 5 in the US, UK, and Europe

Honor Magic V2 makes smartphones exciting again (like Huawei did back in 2018-2020), while Samsung is playing catch-up

I’ll wrap this tentative comparison of my own by saying how (truly) excited, impressed, and optimistic I am to see Honor follow in Huawei’s footsteps, and deliver a folding phone that will (undoubtedly) force the competition (read: Samsung) to wake up, and innovate.

Frankly, I don’t usually feel so hot about folding phones as I find them too bulky and cumbersome compared to my iPhone 13 mini - that’s why I returned my Galaxy Z Fold 3 after about a month of use. However, now that I see what the Honor Magic V2 looks like, I’m suddenly interested in foldables... again. So, perhaps it wasn’t me. It was you, Samsung.

As someone who had the pleasure of using the Huawei P30 Pro, which was a phone that shook up the entire smartphone scene back in 2019 with its aggressive hardware, I can’t help but see the resemblance in Honor’s aggressive push to innovate and shake things up - but this time, in the foldable phone market.

Funny how the US trade ban was expected to kill Huawei’s momentum and stop the company from taking over the smartphone industry, huh? Now, in one way or another, it seems like Huawei did it again… But this time, by letting Honor go and do its own thing. Romantic, isn’t it?

Fin.

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Martin, a tech journalist at PhoneArena, brings a unique blend of humor and insight to his work. His fascination with smartphones began with a Galaxy Young and evolved through a series of trades and upgrades, making him a self-proclaimed smartphone nerd. Martin's content often combines current analysis of market trends with historical references and future predictions. Whether it's a deep dive into technical issues or a first-person commentary on industry events, Martin's articles are designed to inform and engage. His critical perspective is driven by genuine curiosity and a desire to keep readers informed, not by any corporate sponsorship.