The Honor Magic V5 is the thinnest foldable on the market right now – but how does it compare to Google’s Pixel 10 Pro Fold?
While both offer a book-style foldable experience with almost identical-sized 6.4-inch outer and 8-inch inner displays, there are significant differences, from the Pixel 10 Pro Fold’s impressive durability and AI capabilities to the Magic V5’s long battery life – and this could sway your buying decision one way or the other.
While we’re yet to go hands-on with the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold, we’ve thoroughly tested the Honor Magic V5, and here’s how the two stack up on paper.
Pricing and availability
The Honor Magic V5 is available in the UK (sorry US fans!) at £1,699 with 512GB of storage – though you can get £300 off from the Honor Store at the time of writing. It’s available to buy now, following its release on 28 August.
The Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold, despite being revealed alongside the rest of the Pixel 10 collection on 20 August, isn’t due for release until 9 October. It’ll set fans back £1,749/$1,799 with 256GB storage, though you can boost the storage for an additional cost.
The Honor Magic V5 is much thinner and lighter
If there’s one immediately noticeable difference between the Honor Magic V5 and Pixel 10 Pro Fold, it’d be the design.
Honor’s foldables have always been thinner than the competition, but this year’s entry really takes things to the next level. It measures in at just 8.8mm and 4.1mm when folded and unfolded respectively, making it the thinnest foldable on the market right now – and a whole lot thinner than Google’s comparatively chunky 10.8mm and 5.2mm.
It’s not just thinner either; despite packing some fairly high-end tech into the chassis, Honor has managed to keep the weight down to a respectable 217g – just 2g more than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, the lightest foldable around right now.
Google’s alternative is, ahem, quite a bit heavier, tipping the scales at 258g – and a difference of 41g will almost certainly be noticeable in the hand.
Elsewhere, the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold features the same flat edges and rounded corners as the rest of the Pixel 10 collection, while Honor softens its sharp edges with curves to make it sit a little more snug in the palm of your hand.
The Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold is more durable
Honor’s Magic V5 might be the thinner and lighter of the two foldables, but it’s Google’s Pixel 10 Pro Fold that’s the more durable – and it’s pretty impressive, actually.
You see, manufacturers have really struggled with making foldables as durable as bar-style counterparts. It makes sense; there are numerous moving parts in foldables that make them particularly vulnerable to dust and other debris. And with such small tolerances, even a single grain of sand could be enough to cause serious damage.
To be fair, manufacturers have made significant strides in this department. The Honor Magic V5, for example, offers dual IP58 and IP59 dust and water resistance, with the 8 and 9 representing protection from underwater dunks and hot pressure jets, respectively.
However, it’s the 5 that we’re focusing on here – it represents how dust-proof the phone is, and with a 5 rating, it’s dust protected but not totally dust-tight. It’s still a solid rating, but not the best.
The Pixel 10 Pro Fold, on the other hand, is the first foldable of any kind to offer full IP68 dust and water resistance, meaning it’s both completely dust-tight and can survive in up to 1.5m of water for half an hour.
That’s the same level of protection as you’ll get from flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, representing an impressive feat of engineering from the Big G.
The Honor Magic V5 has a more powerful processor
Google has used its own Tensor chipsets in its flagship Pixel line for a few years now, with the latest Tensor G5 found in the Pixel 10 Pro Fold – and the rest of the Pixel 10 collection, for that matter.
The Tensor G5, like its predecessors, prioritises AI performance over raw power – as evident in Google’s excellent AI capabilities, which we’ll explore later – but this means it falls behind the competition in benchmark testing.
While we ’re yet to test the 10 Pro Fold specifically, we have thoroughly benchmarked the Tensor G5 in the Pixel 10 Pro XL, and the results confirm that both CPU and GPU speeds are significantly slower than those of the flagship competition – although this wasn’t reflected in the everyday use of the 10 Pro XL. It still felt fast and responsive in everyday use.
That said, it pales in comparison to the power of the Snapdragon 8 Elite found in the Honor Magic V5.
The latest top-end Snapdragon chipset offers impressive performance across the board, with significantly better results in benchmarking than Google’s Tensor chipset – evident not just from the V5 but also in other 8 Elite phones we’ve tested, including the OnePlus 13 and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Put simply, while both should perform well in day-to-day use, gamers and power users may be more suited to the Snapdragon-powered Magic V5.
The Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold has much better AI features
Google’s Pixel range is known for two things – camera performance and AI – and it’s the latter that really stands out, especially when compared to the Honor Magic V5.
Google’s AI tools permeate pretty much every area of the Android experience, and that’s set to continue with the Pixel 10 Pro Fold. The company has introduced new camera tools like Camera Coach that uses AI to guide you on how to better frame your photos, along with Help Me Edit and, of course, updates to existing features like Best Take.
Then there’s Magic Cue, a totally new AI feature for this year’s foldable that looks to use AI to offer information to you proactively. Google has given examples including displaying trip booking information when on a call with an airline, listing suggested addresses in Google Maps based on your calendar and even contextual message suggestions in the Messages app.
It’s little things like this that make the Pixel experience, and with these new tools, the Pixel 10 Pro XL should continue the AI charge.
That’s not to say that the Magic V5 is devoid of AI features – that’s certainly not the case. It’s just that its features are, for the most part, par for the course in 2025, offering tools like text rewriting, translation, voice transcription and support for Google tools like Circle to Search.
There are a few Honor-branded AI features that stand out, like Deepfake detection that’ll let you know if the person you’re video chatting with is using AI to mask their identity, while Magic Portal offers an easier way to share text and images between apps.
They’re handy, of course, but they simply can’t compete with the package that Google is offering.
The Honor Magic V5 has a bigger battery and faster charging
Despite the Honor Magic V5’s ultra-slim and lightweight design, the company has managed to squeeze an impressively large battery within.
At 5820mAh, it’s one of the biggest batteries you’ll find in a foldable at the moment, and in our experience, that translates to strong battery life that’ll get most users through the day – and then some.
The Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold’s competing 5015mAh cell isn’t disappointing, especially when compared to the Z Fold 7’s comparatively small 4400mAh cell, but it might struggle to compete with the Magic V5’s longevity. We’ll just have to wait and see how it performs once it’s released in October.
The Magic V5 should also regain a full charge faster than the Pixel 10 Pro Fold despite the larger capacity, thanks to 66W fast charging support, along with 50W wireless charging. The catch is that you’ll need Honor-branded chargers to hit those top speeds, and they’re not supplied in the box.
The Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold might offer slower 30W and 15W wireless charging, but it has a secret up its sleeve: Qi 2.2 support.
It’s not just the slightly faster wireless charging speeds that the Qi 2.2 upgrade brings though; it also supports Pixelsnap, Google’s alternative to Apple’s MagSafe. It works in the exact same way, and Google has confirmed that existing MagSafe-branded accessories should be compatible with the foldable.
Early thoughts
The Honor Magic V5 is an example of foldable hardware at the top of its game; it’s as thin as a regular phone when folded, lightweight, offers impressive performance and some of the best battery life you’ll find on a foldable in 2025.
However, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold excels in a few key areas, notably its durability, boasting IP68 dust and water resistance – a first for any foldable device – and its excellent AI-infused software.
It looks like power users might be better off with the Magic V5, while those who want a great software experience could be better suited to the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, but we’ll withhold our final judgement until we’ve tested Google’s foldable.
