Does the thickness of your phone matter? If you’re Honor, it really does.
Its new Magic V5, which arrived in China earlier this month ahead of an expected global launch, is furnished with a bold claim: the thinnest foldable on the market.
The official specs leave us in little doubt: a thickness of 8.8mm when closed makes it slimmer than any other book-style device, including Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Fold 7.
However, popular leaker PhoneArt (previously known as Ice Universe) cast doubt on these claims in a post on X (below), claiming the Magic V5 was actually 8.95mm. That would mean the Galaxy Z Fold 7 (officially 9.0mm but 8.79mm according to this measurement) is actually the thinnest foldable phone on the market when shut, ignoring the camera modules.
the information presented is inaccurate
So, was Honor exaggerating the thinness of the Magic V5? The company has hit back, telling Tech Advisor that they “believe the information presented is inaccurate”.
It went on to say that the overall thickness “does not include the inner and outer protective films or the raised camera bump”, describing this as “a standard measurement practice across the industry”.
To measure it, Honor says it followed “standardized lab testing methods, excluding protective films and camera protrusions”, something that PhoneArt doesn’t appear to have taken into consideration. The company supplied the following image as evidence.
Honor
However, Honor acknowledged that “actual measurements can vary slightly based on configurations, manufacturing processes, and measurement techniques”.
It’s important to note that the thickness of the Magic V5 does vary depending on the model you choose. Only the ‘Ivory White’ model you see above is 8.8mm when folded, with the other colours clocking in at 9.0mm, just like the Z Fold 7.
So, it looks like the Magic V5 is the thinnest foldable after all, at least for now. But, Top Trump spec battles aside, you’re unlikely to notice the tiny difference compared to the Galaxy Z Fold 7 anyway – other factors are much more important for most people.
However, maybe you don’t really care about how thin your book-style foldable is (within reason), so the upcoming Pixel 10 Pro Fold could be a better option overall.