Honor Magic V5 VS Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

The most defining design difference here is form factor: the Honor Magic V5 is a foldable, while the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is a traditional candy-bar slab. This shapes everything else. When unfolded, the Magic V5 spreads to a 145.9 mm width — nearly twice as wide as the S25 Ultra's 77.6 mm — offering a tablet-like display footprint in a phone. Yet despite this expanded surface, Honor engineers have achieved a remarkable 4.1 mm thickness in the unfolded state, compared to the S25 Ultra's 8.2 mm. In practice, the Magic V5 is genuinely half as thin when open, which is an impressive structural feat for a foldable.

Weight tells a surprisingly level story: both devices land at essentially the same mass — 217 g vs 218 g — meaning the Magic V5 does not impose the weight penalty that earlier foldables were notorious for. However, once folded, its volume and bulk will be higher than the spec sheet suggests, since the hinge mechanism doubles the thickness. The S25 Ultra's 103.6 cm³ volume versus the Magic V5's 93.8 cm³ (unfolded) reflects the Ultra's taller, narrower, and thicker profile rather than a compact advantage.

On durability, the S25 Ultra holds a clear edge: its IP68 rating certifies submersion in up to 1.5 m of fresh water for 30 minutes, while the Magic V5's IP58 rating sets a lower bar — typically shallower or shorter submersion tolerance. For users who regularly encounter rain, spills, or poolside use, that single digit difference is meaningful real-world protection. Overall, the Magic V5 wins on versatility and thinness-when-open, but the S25 Ultra edges ahead on water resistance and pocket-friendliness as a conventional slab.

Screen size is where the Magic V5's foldable nature pays off most visibly: its main panel stretches to 7.95″, a full inch larger than the S25 Ultra's 6.9″ display, delivering a genuinely tablet-scale canvas for media, multitasking, and reading. The S25 Ultra counters with a significantly sharper image, however — its 498 ppi pixel density versus the Magic V5's 403 ppi means text and fine details render more crisply, a gap that becomes noticeable when reading small text or viewing high-resolution photos up close. The Magic V5 also gains a secondary screen on its outer shell, useful for quick interactions without unfolding.

Brightness is a decisive differentiator in real-world outdoor use. The Magic V5's 5000 nits peak brightness nearly doubles the S25 Ultra's 2600 nits, meaning the foldable should remain far more legible under direct sunlight. That is a substantial practical gap. The S25 Ultra fights back on content ecosystem support: it carries both HDR10 and HDR10+ certification, enabling richer contrast and color depth when streaming compatible content — features entirely absent on the Magic V5. The S25 Ultra also offers an Always-On Display for at-a-glance notifications, and its branded damage-resistant glass adds a layer of everyday scratch and drop protection that the Magic V5 lacks.

Both panels share the same OLED/AMOLED technology and 120Hz refresh rate, so smoothness and baseline color quality are on par. On balance, the Magic V5 wins on raw size and outdoor visibility, while the S25 Ultra takes the edge on sharpness, content certification, and glass durability. Which advantage matters more depends entirely on the user — media consumption in bright environments favors the Magic V5, while precision and HDR content quality tilt toward the S25 Ultra.

At their core, these two devices are built from the same silicon: both run the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite on a 3 nm process with the Adreno 830 GPU, identical memory bandwidth, and matching storage at 1024 GB. That shared foundation sets a very high performance ceiling for both. The meaningful differences emerge in configuration and tuning. The Magic V5 carries 16 GB of RAM versus the S25 Ultra's 12 GB, a gap that matters most for heavy multitasking, keeping many apps live in memory, and sustained workloads — all scenarios the Magic V5's larger foldable display actively encourages.

Benchmark numbers reinforce the Magic V5's practical lead. Its AnTuTu score of 2,640,100 outpaces the S25 Ultra's 2,207,809 by roughly 20% — a gap too large to dismiss as noise, likely reflecting both the RAM advantage and thermal or clock configuration differences. Geekbench 6 results tell a more nuanced story: the Magic V5 edges ahead in both single-core (3,234 vs 3,057) and multi-core (10,059 vs 9,846), yet these margins are slim. Interestingly, the S25 Ultra's prime CPU cores are clocked slightly higher at 4.47 GHz versus 4.32 GHz, and its GPU runs at 1200 MHz versus 1100 MHz, suggesting Samsung's tuning prioritizes peak burst speed while Honor's configuration favors sustained throughput.

For everyday use, both phones will feel indistinguishable in speed. The Magic V5 holds a clear edge in memory-intensive and multitasking scenarios thanks to its additional RAM and higher AnTuTu score, making it the stronger performer on paper for this group. The S25 Ultra's slight GPU and CPU clock advantages are real but unlikely to translate into a perceptible difference outside of narrow benchmark conditions.

The rear camera systems diverge significantly in ambition. The S25 Ultra fields a four-lens array headlined by a 200 MP main sensor with a wide f/1.7 aperture — an exceptionally light-hungry configuration that captures enormous detail and performs strongly in low light. The Magic V5 opens with a 64 MP primary shooter at a narrower f/2.5, which is a meaningful gap in both resolution and light intake. The Ultra also extends its telephoto reach considerably further: 5x optical zoom across a 24–111 mm focal range versus the Magic V5's 3x zoom and 13–70 mm range. For portraits, wildlife, or any distant subject, the S25 Ultra has a substantial versatility advantage. It also supports RAW shooting and manual shutter speed — two omissions on the Magic V5 that matter to photographers who want full creative control in post-processing or low-light long-exposure shots.

Video capability is another area where the S25 Ultra pulls ahead. It records up to 4320p (8K) at 30 fps, compared to the Magic V5's ceiling of 2160p (4K) at 60 fps. The Ultra's BSI and CMOS sensors are also documented, confirming its low-light and dynamic range architecture, while the Magic V5's sensor construction is unspecified in the provided data. The S25 Ultra further adds HDR10 video recording, ensuring compatible footage retains richer color depth on supported screens — a feature the Magic V5 lacks.

Both phones share a strong common feature set: OIS, phase-detection and laser autofocus, slow-motion, HDR photo mode, and broad manual controls. The Magic V5's front camera edges slightly higher at 20 MP versus 12 MP on the S25 Ultra, which may appeal to selfie-focused users. Overall, however, the S25 Ultra holds a clear and multi-dimensional advantage in this group — higher main sensor resolution, wider aperture, longer zoom range, superior video ceiling, RAW support, and richer sensor documentation all point decisively in its favor.

Running the same Android 15 base, these two phones share an extensive and nearly identical software feature set — split screen, Picture-in-Picture, dynamic theming, on-device machine learning, offline voice recognition, customizable notifications, and a full suite of privacy controls are present on both. For the vast majority of daily software interactions, users switching between these devices would feel immediately at home. The differences, while few, are worth examining closely.

The S25 Ultra pulls ahead in three specific areas. It supports cross-site tracking blocking, adds Wi-Fi password sharing for frictionless network handoffs, includes Focus Modes for structured do-not-disturb workflows, and — most distinctively — supports PC mode, allowing the phone to function as a desktop-like computing environment when connected to an external display. The Magic V5 lacks all four of these. None are dealbreakers in isolation, but together they represent a meaningful quality-of-life gap, particularly PC mode, which is a tangible productivity feature for power users who want to consolidate their devices.

The Magic V5 holds no exclusive software advantages over the S25 Ultra based on the provided data. The verdict for this group is a modest but clear edge to the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, driven by its broader privacy controls, convenience features, and the addition of PC mode — a capability the Magic V5 simply does not offer.

Capacity is where the Magic V5 establishes an immediate advantage: its 5820 mAh battery outpaces the S25 Ultra's 5000 mAh cell by a meaningful 16%. All else being equal, that translates to noticeably more screen-on time before reaching for a charger — a relevant edge given the Magic V5's large foldable display draws considerable power. Wired fast charging reinforces this lead: at 66W, the Magic V5 charges significantly faster than the S25 Ultra's 45W, meaning a larger battery that also refills more quickly. Topping that off, the Magic V5 comes with a charger in the box, while the S25 Ultra does not — a tangible out-of-box convenience difference.

Wireless charging tells a similarly lopsided story. The Magic V5 supports 50W wireless charging, which is exceptionally fast for a cable-free connection and nearly eliminates the traditional speed penalty of going wireless. The S25 Ultra manages 15W wirelessly — functional, but far slower. Reverse wireless charging is present on both at roughly equivalent speeds (5W vs 4.5W), making this feature essentially a wash for topping up accessories like earbuds.

Across every battery metric provided — capacity, wired speed, wireless speed, and in-box accessories — the Honor Magic V5 holds a clear and consistent advantage. The S25 Ultra offers no compensating battery strength in this data set. For users who prioritize longevity and charging flexibility, the Magic V5 is the stronger choice in this category without qualification.

Wired audio is off the table for both devices — neither includes a 3.5 mm headphone jack, so wireless or USB-C listening is the only path. On the wireless side, both phones share a strong common codec foundation: aptX, aptX HD, and LDAC are all present, covering the most widely used high-resolution Bluetooth audio standards. In practice, this means both can deliver lossless-quality wireless audio to compatible headphones, with LDAC in particular enabling up to 990 kbps transmission — well beyond standard Bluetooth audio quality. Stereo speakers are confirmed on both as well.

The single differentiator in this group is the Magic V5's support for aptX Adaptive, which the S25 Ultra lacks. aptX Adaptive is a next-generation codec that dynamically scales bitrate between 279 kbps and 420 kbps (or higher in some implementations) based on connection conditions, and also offers lower latency — an advantage for gaming or video where audio sync is critical. It is backward-compatible with standard aptX devices, adding flexibility without any downside for Magic V5 owners whose headphones support it.

For most listeners, the shared LDAC and aptX HD support makes these phones functionally equivalent in audio quality. The Honor Magic V5 earns a narrow edge in this group solely due to aptX Adaptive, which benefits users with compatible headphones seeking lower latency or more resilient wireless connections. It is not a decisive gap, but it is the only differentiator the data provides, and it favors the Magic V5.

Across the core connectivity stack, these two phones are remarkably well matched. Both support 5G, Wi-Fi 7, NFC, identical download and upload speeds, dual physical SIM plus dual eSIM, and an identical sensor suite including GPS, gyroscope, barometer, accelerometer, and compass. For everyday wireless use, neither holds a structural advantage. Where differences do emerge, they are specific and worth unpacking.

The Magic V5 ships with Bluetooth 6.0 versus the S25 Ultra's Bluetooth 5.4. Bluetooth 6.0 introduces Channel Sounding for more precise distance measurement and improved connection reliability, representing a forward-looking advantage as compatible accessories proliferate. The S25 Ultra responds with a higher USB 3.2 spec compared to the Magic V5's USB 3.1, enabling faster wired data transfers — relevant for users who regularly move large files to a PC or external drive. The S25 Ultra also supports ANT+, a low-power protocol used by fitness equipment and sports sensors, which adds niche but genuine value for athletes using compatible gear.

The most impactful exclusive in this group, however, belongs to the S25 Ultra: an included stylus. For note-taking, annotation, and precision input on that large display, a built-in stylus is a meaningful productivity differentiator that the Magic V5 cannot match. Weighing everything, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra takes a modest edge here — its stylus inclusion, ANT+ support, and faster USB version collectively outweigh the Magic V5's Bluetooth version lead for most users.

This specification group presents a clean sweep of identical values across every data point. Both the Honor Magic V5 and the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra have a video light, lack a sapphire glass display, feature a flat rather than curved panel, and include no e-paper secondary display. There is simply nothing in this data set that separates the two devices.

This group is a complete tie — no advantage can be assigned to either product based solely on the provided specs.