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Tom’s Guide
Tom’s Guide
Technology
Scott Younker

Surprise! Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 found to be thinner than 'world's slimmest foldable'

Galaxy Z Fold 7 shown during Samsung hands on event.

Update (7/17/25): Honor sent a response refuting some of the claims.

Last year when Honor released its Magic V3 foldable phone it took home the honor of being the thinnest foldable on the market at 9.2mm closed and 4.34mm unfolded.

This year Honor is claiming that the Magic V5 is the "world's slimmest foldable," but a recent comparison video between the V5 and Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 7 seems to show that the newest Fold is microns thinner.

We unfortunately can't get the Honor Magic V5 in the U.S., but Honor's marketing materials claim that the Ivory White color way is 8.8mm when folded, which is 0.1mm thinner than Samsung's Z Fold 7 measuring in at 8.9mm.

A recent video from regular leaker Ice Universe popped up on X this week that shows the Magic V5 side-by-side with the Galaxy Z Fold 7. At first glance, the two devices look about the same thickness, though .1mm isn't that great a difference, but does it make the Z Fold 7 one of the best foldable phones?

However, a card placed on top of the phones appears to show that Honor's device is slightly taller than Samsung's. They further emphasized this by putting a ping pong ball on the card with the tilt going toward the Z Fold 7.

At this point, we're splitting micrometers difference here.

They do have another comparison video that includes the Xiaomi MIX Fold 5, vivo X Fold 5 and the OPPO Find N5, which Honor's device seems more of a match.

Let's get some caveats out of the way here.

Caveats galore

(Image credit: Honor)

One, Ice Universe is a regular, and seemingly only, leaker of Samsung products, specifically its phones. So there could be some bias there.

Two, with no wider shot or level on the table, it's not clear if the surface is actually even enough for a fair test.

In a comment to another X user they claimed, "My test is very rigorous. I switched the position of my mobile phone, and I have ruled out the uneven desktop. You can get the correct conclusion no matter what, even without a ruler."

To be fair, they did post a follow up with a digital ruler that appears to show the Magic V5 measuring at 8.95mm and the Z Fold 7 at 8.79mm.

Lastly, according to Honor's own metrics the 8.8mm measurement only applies to the Ivory White variant and that other colors may be thicker. Though Ice Universe does claim they tested the "white version."

"Data comes from the HONOR Lab. 8.8mm refers to the thickness of the Ivory White model in the folded state," Honor's website says. "The actual data may vary depending on configurations, manufacturing processes and measurement methods."

Honor responds

(Image credit: Honor)

An Honor spokesperson reached out to Tom's Guide saying that some of the information presented as "inaccurate."

They did confirm the Ivory White variant measures 8.8mm when folded, while also noting that "actual measurements can vary slightly based on configurations, manufacturing processes, and measurement techniques." The same language on the Honor website.

Additionally, we were told that the overall thickness does not include "the inner and outer screen protective films or the raised camera bump" which they said was a standard measurement practice. "Our thickness measurements follow standardized lab testing methods."

We were provided an image showing a digital ruler with an 8.8mm rating.

For what it's worth, one of my colleagues took some measurements of the Z Fold 7 and Magic V5 and found it to be thicker than Samsung's foldable both open and folded, so we're not exactly clear how Honor is getting the numbers it does.

Thin as thin does

(Image credit: Future)

We're not going to cast aspersions on Honor about whether or not they're lying. At best it's stretching the truth, since they go out of the way to caveat their own hype, but it does seem like Samsung may hold the thinness crown for now.

Though when you're measuring at micrometers, outside of marketing, is there really a difference?

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