Last time I unboxed the Honor Magic V5 and gave you my first impressions. This time, I’m diving deeper. We’re moving past looks and thickness and getting into the real meat of the phone — its software, multitasking, cameras, and how it compares with today’s best foldables: the Samsung Z Fold 7, Vivo X Fold 5, OnePlus Open, and even the Honor Magic V3.
And let me tell you — this round of testing brought some surprises.
Brightness & Reflection: Don’t Believe the Numbers
On paper, the Honor Magic V5 boasts a massive 5,000 nits of brightness on the external screen. Sounds unbeatable, right? So, I lined it up outdoors next to the Z Fold 7, Vivo X Fold 5, and the Magic V3. Guess what? They all looked pretty much the same. So you can’s always believe the SPECS.
But here’s where Honor earns points — the anti-reflective coating on the inner display. While the others bounced light like mirrors, the V5 stayed darker, cleaner, and easier to see. Lesson learned: sometimes spec sheets don’t tell the full story.
Multitasking Showdown: Honor Steps It Up
One of the biggest reasons people buy foldables is multitasking, so I tested them all side by side.
- Z Fold 7: Still requires gestures and sidebars, but you’re limited to two apps plus a floater. Yes, you can split a third app on half the screen, but is it really usable?
- Vivo X Fold 5: Great “workbench mode” with up to five small windows, but it never feels like true full-screen multitasking.
- Honor Magic V5: This is where it shines. The V5 lets you run three full apps side-by-side, each of which can be tapped into full screen instantly. It’s smooth, intuitive, and very reminiscent of the OnePlus Open’s multitasking — but executed even better.
That alone makes the V5 a serious productivity tool.
Stylus Support: Honor’s Secret Weapon
Here’s something Samsung fans will want to hear: unlike the Z Fold 7, the Honor Magic V5 supports an S-Pen-style stylus on both the outer and inner screens. It feels natural, responsive, and it’s a huge plus for note-takers, editors, or anyone who sketches on the go. None of the other foldables in this lineup offer that.
Camera Tests: Specs vs Reality
On paper, the V5 looks stacked: a 50MP main, 50MP ultra-wide, and a 64MP telephoto. Samsung flexes with a 200MP main sensor, while Vivo goes with 50MP across the board.
Here’s what I found in real shooting:
- Z Fold 7: Unless you force 200MP mode, photos often come out soft because of heavy pixel-binning.
- Vivo X Fold 5: Surprisingly crisp results, especially at higher zoom. Its telephoto lens is sharp and consistent.
- Honor Magic V5: Daylight shots are colorful and clean, but I noticed some overexposure and processing quirks at times. In zoom comparisons, the V5 often held its own — and sometimes beat Samsung — but Vivo consistently edged it out at the very high zoom levels.
The good news? Honor’s anti-reflective screen makes shooting and previewing photos much easier in harsh light.
Battery Life & Performance
I’ll save the full drain test for another video, but so far, the V5’s battery life is the best of the bunch in my daily work use. And with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite under the hood, performance is on par with the Z Fold 7. For day-to-day apps, you won’t notice a difference.
Carrier support in the U.S. is still limited to T-Mobile and its MVNO partners, so Verizon and AT&T users are out of luck. But internationally, coverage may vary.
Final Thoughts: A Foldable to Watch
The Honor Magic V5 proves it’s not just about slim design — the software experience, multitasking flexibility, stylus support, and battery life all raise the bar for what a foldable can do. Its cameras are good (though not flawless), and its real-world usability feels like it’s pushing the foldable space forward in meaningful ways.
Is it perfect? No. But if Samsung doesn’t keep innovating, phones like the V5 and Vivo X Fold 5 might just steal the spotlight.
Stay tuned, because I’ll be doing full one-on-one comparisons with every foldable on my desk — and that’s when we’ll see exactly where the V5 lands in the rankings.