The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 has just been revealed and, despite a focus on iterative upgrades, it still seems a strong option in the big foldable stakes. A key competitor is the Honor Magic Vs. Let’s see how they compare.
Another year another upgrade to the Samsung range of foldables, with the new Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 being revealed, but in 2023, there are more competitors in this corner of the market for Samsung to contend with than ever before.
Samsung will have to beat the Google Pixel Fold, Oppo Find N2 Flip, Motorola Razr 40 Ultra and more but it’s fiercest rival just might be the Honor Magic Vs – here are all the important points of comparison.
The Honor Magic Vs is cheaper
This one is cut and dry, if you’ve got less money to spend on your foldable phone, the Honor Magic Vs is the option to go for. The Honor Magic Vs starts at £1,399 while the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 has received a price bump from the previous generation – meaning it comes in at £1,749.
Either way, these are high prices to pay for a phone so you’ll want to be sure that a big screen foldable is what you’re after. Nevertheless, an over £300 difference in price is not to be sniffed at.
Samsung has the better software and app support
Our review of the Honor Magic Vs stated “there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done on the software side,” with numerous apps not fully taking advantage of the larger display on the inside of this device. We also experienced apps struggling with the transition between the outer and inner screens, often closing completely.
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By comparison, Samsung being on its fifth iteration of foldables has allowed itself the time and experience to hone its software and app support. In our hands-on with the new Galaxy Z Fold 5, the experience was a smooth one, running two apps side by side with no issue and a helpful taskbar to aid multi-tasking. Samsung even deftly dodges the lack of app support for the larger screen by allowing you to force any app into a full screen mode to best take advantage of the extra real estate.
Honor has a bigger battery
There should be no competition on the battery front, the Honor Magic Vs has that sewn up. Honor’s foldable comes with a 5000mAh cell while the Samsung Galaxy Fold 5 only features a 4400mAh battery.
Admittedly, the difference isn’t huge on pure specs but, in our testing, the Honor Magic Vs managed to close in on two days of use – including still having 65% in the tank after a full day.
With the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, which had the same 4400mAh size battery, the device would be down to around 15% at the end of the day. So that’s only a day’s and a smidge use out of Samsung’s previous foldable.
The Galaxy Z Fold 5 camera should beat the Magic Vs
The Honor Magic Vs by no means has a bad camera and, in our review, we found the main camera to be plenty capable. However, when it comes to more complex and interesting photography, the Magic Vs struggled a tad. In particular, we found that the optical zoom wasn’t up to flagship standards, with an awkward switch in colour profile when you jumped from lens to lens. The 10x digital zoom isn’t a useful tool in its arsenal either, lacking detail.
Comparatively, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 fixed many of the camera shortcomings of its predecessor and the new model offers the same camera system. It isn’t up there with the best regular flagship phones out there, but all the outer cameras offer a top-notch and versatile experience.
Samsung has the latest Snapdragon chip onboard
If you care about having the latest and greatest specs onboard, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 will be the one for you, donning a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset. The Honor Magic Vs is not quite as cutting edge, with the previous generation Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 inside. When you are forking out more than a grand for a phone, it’s understandable that you’d expect the very best internal components.
However, it must be noted that our testing of the Magic Vs didn’t demonstrate any obvious shortcomings of sporting the older chip.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
