Latest news with #HonorMagicV3
CNBC
3 days ago
- CNBC
Samsung aims to catch up to Chinese rivals for thin foldable phones as Apple said to enter the fray
Samsung will unveil a thinner version of its flagship foldable smartphone at a launch likely set to take place next month, as it battles Chinese rivals to deliver the slimmest devices to the market. Folding phones, which have a single screen that can fold in half, came in focus when Samsung first launched such a device in 2019. But Chinese players, in particular Honor and Oppo, have since aggressively released foldables that are thinner and lighter than Samsung's offerings. Why are slim foldables important? "With foldables, thinness has become more critical than ever because people aren't prepared to accept the compromise for a thicker and heavier phone to get the real estate that a folding phone can deliver," Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight, told CNBC on Thursday. Honor, Oppo and other Chinese players have used their slim designs to differentiate themselves from Samsung. Let's look at a comparison: Samsung's last foldable from 2024, the Galaxy Z Fold6, is 12.1 millimeter ~(0.48 inches) thick when folded and weighs 239 grams (8.43 oz). Oppo's Find N5, which was released earlier this year, is 8.93 millimeters thick when closed and weighs 229 grams. The Honor Magic V3, which was launched last year, is 9.2 millimeters when folded and weighs 226 grams. "Samsung needs to step up" in foldables, Wood said. And that's what the South Korean tech giant is planning to do at its upcoming launch, which is likely to take place next month. "The newest Galaxy Z series is the thinnest, lightest and most advanced foldable yet – meticulously crafted and built to last," Samsung said in a preview blog post about the phone earlier this month. But the competition is not letting up. Honor is planning a launch on July 2 in China for its latest folding phone, the Magic V5. "The interesting thing for Samsung, if they can approach the thinness that Honor has achieved it is will be a significant step up from predecessor, it will be a tangible step up in design," Wood said. Despite these advances by way of foldables, the market for the devices has not been as exciting as many had hoped. CCS Insight said that foldables will account for just 2% of the overall smartphone market this year. Thinner phones may be one way to address the sluggish market, but consumer preferences would also need to change. "There is a chance that by delivering much thinner foldables that are more akin to the traditional monoblock phone, it will provide an opportunity to turn consumer heads and get them to revisit the idea of having a folding device," Wood said. "However, I would caution foldables do remain problematic because in many cases consumers struggle to see why they need a folding device." Although the market remains small for foldables compared to traditional smartphones, noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of TF International Securities on Wednesday said Apple — which has been notably absent from this product line-up — plans to make a folding iPhone starting next year.
Hindustan Times
30-05-2025
- Hindustan Times
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge review: Super thin, unputdownable and a lot of substance
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, at 5.8mm in thickness, is the slimmest candy-bar smartphone you can splurge your money on at this point in time. For context, the similar screen size sibling — the Galaxy S25+ — measures 7.3mm. One could always point to the Honor Magic V3 or the Oppo Find N5 foldables, but they measure 4.65mm and 4.21mm respectively, when unfolded. The Tecno Spark Slim, a candy-bar design again, is still a concept that may or may not be made as it's been envisioned. In the here and now, Samsung has well and truly delivered on the slimness aspect. The pertinent question therefore is, must we compromise on something else? The Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge is at the bleeding edge of what is possible with smartphones, and plays the dimensions versus specifications balance better than anyone may have expected. In fact, it may be difficult to convey exactly how impressive this combination of a slim and lightweight (163 grams) build is. It has to be held in hand, to get the true sense of the achievement. The only contention really revolves around battery life, which sees a substantial 1000 mAh reduction in capacity, compared with the Galaxy S25+ (3,900 mAh compared with 4,900 mAh). More on that, as we contextualise this with performance. In terms of the underlying specs, there is absolute parity with the rest of the Galaxy S25 range. The 3-nanometer Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite with specific customisations for Samsung, 12GB memory and a 200-megapixel main camera leading the dual-camera setup instead of a troika (a telephoto has been sacrificed). One of my two key concerns (the other being real-world battery stamina) was how this slim chassis handled thermals, and therefore performance. On that front, the Galaxy S25 Edge is as much at par with the Galaxy S25 Ultra as it is with the Galaxy S25+, since there is no extra heating apparent on the back panel and the phone holds performance quite well. Credit to Samsung's redesigned cooling architecture, it has done the job. Specific to the battery capacity is an observation that Samsung isn't using the silicon-carbide battery pack chemistry, something phone makers such as OnePlus are increasingly doing, and the result is smaller, denser batteries that would be ideal for the slimness proposition Samsung is going for with the Galaxy S25 Edge. I had the chance to stress test the battery stamina earlier this month, when covering Google I/O. There was minimal voice calling on roaming, but extensive data usage as well as a lot of camera use, audio recordings and transcriptions along the way. There are software optimisations Samsung has done to make this more frugal, and that does help to an extent. A Galaxy S25 Edge, fully charged in the morning, would dip to a fairly uncomfortable level by around 3pm — anywhere between 20% to 30% charge remaining. Even if you're very careful with usage, a screen time of around 6 hours is perhaps the maximum you'd be able to eke out. That's the comparative, from close to 8 hours on a Galaxy S25 Ultra, when used similarly. You'd need to not be someone who needs a workhorse battery stamina from a smartphone, to consider buying an ultra-slim phone, any ultra-slim phone for that matter. The other aspect to consider is the camera setup. Instead of the three-camera setup that has been typical with Samsung's flagships over the past few years, this makes do with one less sensor. The trade-off is surely to open up some room in the innards. The 200-megapixel primary camera is really as good as it gets. The lack of a telephoto camera is compensated to an extent with the 2x optical zoom on the 200-megapixel camera, going all the way to 10x of AI-assisted zoom. For the latter, performance may vary depending on composition of shot too. If you are using the main sensor for most of your photography, the results are genuinely top-notch, and this I say as someone who's had his share of playing with Hasselblad, Leica and Zeiss optimised cameras in smartphones over the past few months. Colours are rich and well separated, there's just the right amount of sharpness, noise reduction doesn't seem to make an aggressive appearance and you'll like the dynamic range in most photos. Low light scenarios require some patience to get the best possible photos, but that is more a factor of how well you can do it. At this time, the singular price tag for the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge is ₹1,09,999 even though two variants are listed for India — the reason being, for a while, Samsung is upgrading all 256GB storage purchases to the 512GB storage variant. For all intents and purposes, this is the fourth addition to Samsung's flagship Android portfolio, and one that certainly has a unique personality. Yet, and it is a brave thing to do for any smartphone brand, this is targeted at a very specific demographic of potential buyers. Ones who loathe thick, heavy phones even though they'd not want to compromise on the screen size. And secondly, the user base that can work around the slightly lower battery life ceiling. The Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge does well to build on the unique thickness and weight proposition, by being a thoroughbred flagship rest of the time. Top notch performance, a 200-megapixel sensor that simply doesn't disappoint with photos, and the whole layer of Samsung's Galaxy AI, all adding value. The thing is, battery compromise aside, you'll begin to find every other Android phone thick and unnecessarily bulky, after getting a taste of the impressively thin 'Edge' design. That is perhaps Samsung's, and indeed the Galaxy S25 Edge's biggest win.
Phone Arena
20-05-2025
- Phone Arena
The world's thinnest foldable now expected to arrive in June
Honor Magic V3 is impossibly thin | Image credit: PhoneArena One of the most exciting foldables expected to be released this year, Honor Magic V5, is about to get its 'red carpet' moment. Honor has a penchant for releasing extremely thin and light foldables and the Magic V5 is no exception, at least according to the Chinese company's this week, Honor's exec Li Kun confirmed once again that the Magic V5 will be released in the first half of the year. According to them, the foldable ' will still be the lightest and thinnest ' on the market. Just like it did with its previous foldables, Honor will launch the Magic V5 in China first, but we can safely assume a global release will follow soon. Despite the fact that Honor's official wasn't very clear about the phone's launch, there are no big launch events the company scheduled to take place in May, which is why it's almost certain the Magic V5 will be introduced sometime in June. To become the world's thinnest foldable, Magic V5 must drop below the 9.2mm mark, the exact measurements of the Magic V3. In fact, in order to retain the title for more than a month, Honor's upcoming foldable must measure less than 8.9mm. Honor Magic V3 was once the world's thinnest foldable | Image credit: PhoneArena For the unaware, Samsung is expected to launch its next generation of foldables, Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7, in July. The former is said to measure 8.9mm, so Honor Magic V5 must be thinner. The only rumors regarding the Honor Magic V5 thickness claim that the foldable will measure 8.x millimeters, which is not hard to assume considering that it should be thinner than the Galaxy Z Fold 7 in order for Honor to respect its claims. Currently, Oppo Find N5 is the world's thinnest foldable at just 8.93mm thick. Besides its very thin silhouette, the Magic V5 is expected to pack a large 5,950 mAh battery. In comparison, the previous Magic V3 model has a 5,150 mAh battery, so it's incredible that Honor managed not just to make the Magic V5 thinner but also add a much bigger battery. Finally, a new report coming from reliable tipster Experience More claims the Magic V5 will use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset and will feature BeiDou satellite messaging.
GSM Arena
19-05-2025
- GSM Arena
The Honor Magic V5 is likely coming next month, will be under 9mm thick
The race is on – multiple makers will be competing to make the thinnest foldable smartphone this year. And Honor exec Li Kun set the challenge, saying that the 'Honor will still be the lightest and thinnest'. This refers to the Honor Magic V5 (it won't be called the V4). How thin? Well, all that we know officially about it is that it will launch by the end of next month. Turning to rumors, the Honor Magic V5 will allegedly measure 8.x millimeters when closed. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 will measure 8.9mm, according to Ice Universe, so it will be down to tenths of a millimeter. For reference, the Honor Magic V3 is 9.2mm. Honor Magic V5 (MBH-AN10) details on TENAA 5,950mAh battery (compared to 5,150mAh on the V3) with 66W charging, which is confirmed by TENAA details. Further details posted by Experience More promise a Snapdragon 8 Elite inside the V5 (the 8-core version). The phone will be available in Silk Road Dunhuang (should be a warm, earthy tone) and Velvet Black. BeiDou satellite messaging will allegedly be supported. Since we haven't heard anything about a big Honor event in the next couple of weeks, the Magic V5 will likely come out next month. The Z Fold7 is expected in July, by the way. Source 1 | Source 2 (in Chinese) | Via Honor Magic V3
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Yahoo
Foldable iPhone leak predicts a stunning phone worth the long wait
Apple's absence from the foldable phone market has been quite conspicuous, if not alarming. The likes of Samsung are into their seventh year of pushing foldable phones, while almost every major Chinese brand has done remarkable work, as well. It seems the long wait for a foldable iPhone might be worth it, assuming you have the patience to stay put until 2027. In an industry note, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has detailed some impressive bits about Apple's foldable iPhone plans. The device, which is expected to enter mass production late in 2026, will be quite a stunner, it seems. Kuo says Apple will be using a premium titanium alloy material for its debut foldable smartphone. The thickness is claimed to be just 4.5-4.8mm in the unfolded state, while in the folded format, the side profile might be somewhere around 9-9.5mm. Assuming that turns out to be true, the foldable iPhone might fall in the same league as the sleek Oppo Find N5, Honor Magic V3, and the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7. The inner foldable panel will reportedly measure 7.8 inches, while the external cover screen will rely on a 5.5-inch display unit. As per Kuo, the most arresting part of the device might actually be its crease-less foldable screen. So far, no smartphone brand has been able to get rid of the vertical ridge, even though recent phones such as Oppo Find N5 have done a remarkable job of minimizing it. The book-style Apple foldable phone will reportedly use the same high-density battery unit as the rumored iPhone 17 Air, the highly-anticipated ultra-thin makeover for Apple's mainline iPhone set to arrive later this year. Notably, the imaging hardware aboard Apple's foldable phone might be a meh affair, according to Kuo. There will only be two cameras at the back, probably owing to the space constraints and the challenges with fitting a large multi-lens camera module in a slim chassis. That, however, hasn't stopped the likes of Oppo, Vivo, and Honor from fitting triple-lens camera modules with massive sensors on their respective foldable phones. Apple is apparently playing it safe with its first foldable outing, which doesn't come as a surprise given the company's history. For similar reasons, Apple is also said to ditch the Face ID hardware, and will reportedly fit a Touch ID fingerprint sensor in the power button. Almost every flagship phone out there has taken a similar approach where the fingerprint sensor has been integrated within the side button. But do keep in mind that this is an early prediction. Kuo claims that the specs have not been internally finalized at Apple. The plans for making this phone will firmly kick into action in the third quarter of 2025, followed by mass production in the fourth quarter of 2026. The analyst is predicting a late 2027 launch for Apple's first foldable smartphone. As far as the pricing goes, Kuo mentions a rough price bracket of $2,000-2,500 for the phone, noting that demand would still be high for the product.
