Foldable Futures: Vivo X Fold 5 vs. Honor Magic V5 Rumor Rundown
The foldable phone scene is getting exciting with two new players rumored to be on the way: the Vivo X Fold 5 and the Honor Magic V5. Both are expected to bring some serious tech to the table, but let's break down the whispers to see how they might stack up.
Vivo X Fold 5: Built for Lightness and Looks
The word is the Vivo X Fold 5 could launch in China as early as this month. Its big selling point? It's rumored to be incredibly light, under 219g, making it the lightest book-style foldable yet. When it's open, it is said to be super thin at just 4.3mm, and 9.33mm when opened.
For screens, we're hearing about an 8.03-inch AMOLED inner display with a sharp 2K+ resolution and a smooth 120Hz refresh rate. The cover screen is likely a 6.53-inch LTPO OLED with a 120Hz refresh rate as well. Powering all this could be the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, with up to 16GB of RAM. And to keep it going, a rumored 6,000mAh battery with fast 90W wired and 30W wireless charging. The X Fold 5 features a robust camera system, including a triple 50-megapixel rear setup with a Sony IMX921 primary sensor, an ultrawide lens with autofocus and a Sony IMX882 periscope telephoto lens offering 3x optical zoom. For selfies, it has two 32-megapixel cameras, one for each screen.
Honor Magic V5: Big Battery, Big Power
Then we have the Honor Magic V5 which could also be releasing this month. The biggest rumor here is its massive 6100mAh battery. If true, that's a significant boost over its predecessor and even larger than the rumored battery in the Vivo X Fold 5. We’re expecting a 6.45-inch LTPO OLED cover screen and an 8-inch 2K inner display, but sourcing these specific specs has been difficult.
Recent sightings on Geekbench gave us a peek at its potential performance. The Magic V5 was spotted with a "Snapdragon 8 Elite Leading Version" chip, featuring two prime cores hitting an impressive 4.47GHz. Given Vivo appears to be using last years snapdragon chip, this should be another advantage for Honor. It also showed up with 16GB of RAM and running Android 15. The Magic V5 is rumored to come with a triple rear camera system as well featuring a 50MP primary sensor, a 200MP telephoto periscope lens and an ultrawide of some sort. Despite the large battery, the V5 is also said to be under 9mm when folded. Accounting for the protruding inner bezels that folding phones tend to have, this could put the unfolded thickness into shockingly thin territory. For reference, the V3 was 9.2mm when closed and 4.35mm when opened. Could Honor take back the thinness crown from Oppo’s Find N5?
Can Samsung Compete?
With these two Chinese contenders pushing the boundaries of foldable tech, it's clear Samsung has their work cut out for them if they want to truly earn the “Ultra” status. Rumors about the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 suggest it aims to be as thin as 3.9mm, pack a whopping 200MP primary camera, feature larger inner and outer screens with the latter potentially reaching 8.2 inches, run on the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, and include a larger vapor chamber for cooling. The competition is definitely heating up, and consumers stand to benefit from these innovations. Of course Samsung’s biggest advantage is the fact that these others devices simply won’t be available outside import in the US.