Chinese language smartphone model Honor launched what guarantees to be the world’s thinnest foldable cellphone—simply 4.1 millimeters thick when unfolded—on Wednesday because it seeks to regain misplaced floor in China’s aggressive cellphone market.
The Magic V5’s thinness is made doable by improvements in its silicon-carbon battery, which stacks cells simply 0.2 millimeters thick to create a battery that’s as skinny as a financial institution card. The brand new cellphone can also be gentle: At simply 217 grams, the Magic V5 weighs lower than the iPhone 16 Professional Max.
Behind these improvements is a “large” quantity of analysis and growth, Hope Cao, Honor’s product professional on foldables, informed Fortune forward of the Magic V5 launch.
Honor invested 1 billion Chinese language yuan ($139 million) in direction of researching its silicon-carbon battery know-how. The corporate invests over 10% of its whole income in direction of R&D every year.
“By way of supplies, construction, craftsmanship…all the pieces is extraordinarily expensive from an R&D perspective,” Cao mentioned.
Foldables characterize a small however quickly increasing section of the Chinese language smartphone market. Gross sales on this class grew by 27% final yr, in response to Counterpoint Analysis. E book-type foldables, which open alongside the longer edge to create a bigger display, are notably common.
Cao suggests this aligns with Chinese language client desire for versatile gadgets for each work and leisure. A bigger display means more room for productiveness apps, that means customers can do their work on a foldable smartphone moderately than a laptop computer. The rise of “brief dramas”—cleaning soap operas designed to be watched on a cellphone and simply shared on social media—are additionally pushing buyers to spend money on bigger shows.
Honor was as soon as Huawei’s finances smartphone division. U.S. sanctions pressured the Chinese language tech big to dump the corporate in late 2020. The corporate had a 13% share of China’s smartphone market within the first quarter of 2025, in response to Counterpoint, shut behind Vivo, Oppo and Apple.
China’s finances manufacturers at the moment are venturing into the premium market, searching for development from promoting higher-value telephones, moderately than a bigger quantity of cheaper fashions.
Nonetheless, the return of Huawei to the smartphone market in 2023 is weighing on Honor’s enterprise. Counterpoint Analysis places Huawei in first place in China’s smartphone market, alongside Xiaomi.
Huawei’s success can also be weighing on Apple, whose iPhone as soon as dominated the Chinese language market. Native smartphones now supply designs and options that Apple’s tried-and-true iPhone is struggling to match. Apple plans to launch a book-style foldable cellphone in 2026, The Data reported final yr.
The iPhone maker can also be struggling to launch its AI providers in China. Earlier this yr, Alibaba introduced that it was going to be Apple’s native associate to supply Apple Intelligence to customers. But the deal has reportedly drawn scrutiny in each Washington and Beijing.
AI is rapidly turning into a key differentiator for Chinese language smartphones, together with these designed by Honor. The Chinese language firm is experimenting with on-device AI, or providers that run on the cellphone versus the cloud. Honor plans to speculate $10 billion over the following 5 years to develop AI for its product lineup, which it hopes to develop to incorporate PCs, tablets and wearables.
