Size matters: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 versus Honor Magic V5, which is truly thinner?
Even the world of phones isn’t spared from unhealthy comparisons and a warped sense of proportions.
We were trying to avoid reporting about the strange size-measuring contest between two popular book-style foldables that were launched earlier this month. Unfortunately, its discourse has gotten too absurd to ignore.
Regular visitors to social media pages and websites of consumer tech outlets might have come across comparisons between the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 and Honor Magic V5, but not in the conventional sense of specs and value.
Fanboys in both camps are foaming at the mouth over the reported millimetres of both devices, as both sides appear to have the slimmest bi-folds since the advent of this form factor (at 8.9mm and 8.8mm, folded, respectively).
It’s not about the size, it’s all about how you use it
The latest update came from the Korean Consumer-centered Enterprise Association (KCEA), which came into the foray armed with callipers.
KCEA used a pair of digital callipers to measure a variety of recent foldables, and published their findings (various Korean news outlets promptly shared the report). The device list includes the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7, Honor Magic V5, and the Vivo X Fold5.
In particular, KCEA deliberately measured the Ivory White version of the Honor Magic V5, which is allegedly the slimmest version among the different Magic V5 colourways offered.
The different 2025 book-style foldables measured by the same set of digital callipers.
The agency found that the Honor Magic V5 was 0.54mm thicker than its advertised 8.8mm — its calipers read 9.34mm instead.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7’s numbers were also different. Instead of the 8.9mm it advertised, the KCEA’s readings put it at 8.82mm — the phone is 0.08mm thinner than what Samsung claimed.
The Vivo X Fold5, officially at 9.2mm folded, had a reading of 9.77mm, 0.57mm thicker than its specs sheet.
Granted, the phone brands tend to caveat that the readings are accurate via “internal lab tests”, so it’s not surprising these devices are slimmer/thicker than their marketed numbers.
Even the world of phones isn’t spared from unhealthy comparisons and a warped sense of proportions.
Source: Various (Business Korea, ChosunBiz)