For a smartphone firm that has been centered on the funds and mid-range phase since its inception, it was a massive shock when Tecno went all-in and unveiled its first folding smartphone throughout MWC 2023. Dubbed the Phantom V Fold 5G, this horizontal folding smartphone is a direct competitor to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold collection, and will probably be made fully in India. This might be one of many causes for its extremely aggressive value of Rs. 88,888, which is round the place we often discover vertically folding or flip smartphones. Tecno lately launched this cellphone in India, and we bought to spend a while with it. Here’s what we predict.
It is just pure to attract comparisons with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, and taking a look at its specs, the brand new Tecno Phantom V Fold 5G is fairly well-equipped. From its flagship-grade 4nm SoC and as much as 512GB of storage, to its huge 7.85-inch LTPO AMOLED show, it checks all of the essential packing containers. The cellphone itself is cumbersome, identical to some other folding cellphone of this sort, and is supposed for use with two fingers. It is on the heavier aspect too. When folded, there’s just about no seen hole between the 2 halves, which I fairly like. At its thickest level (close to the hinge), the Phantom V Fold 5G remains to be slimmer than the competitors at 14.5mm.
The Tecno Phantom V Fold 5G has an aluminium body. The firm has developed a proprietary hinge which it says minimises the crease. This can nonetheless be felt if you happen to run your finger throughout the centre of the folding display, however it’s is just seen at excessive angles. The outer show additionally has a light curve on one aspect which is an fascinating design alternative. The ports and buttons are the place you’d anticipate them to be, and the ability button additionally homes the fingerprint sensor. In my temporary time with this cellphone, its construct high quality appeared to be respectable, though I did discover a little bit of play within the hinge when the cellphone was folded.
The crease of the folding show (left) is just seen at excessive angles
The again panel of the Tecno Phantom V Fold 5G’s black variant is constituted of recycled plastic waste, whereas the white variant makes use of an “organic silicon leather” materials. There’s a distinctive digital camera module on the again which incorporates a 50-megapixel major digital camera, a 13-megapixel ultra-wide digital camera, and a 50-megapixel telephoto digital camera able to 2X optical zoom. The selfie digital camera on the outer display is a 32-megapixel sensor, whereas the folding display will get a 16-megapixel sensor in a hole-punch cutout. The digital camera app has a lot of additional options to benefit from the folding display and we’ll discover all of them within the full evaluation.
The Tecno Phantom V Fold 5G runs HiOS 13 Fold, which is predicated on Android 13. Tecno says that over 1,000 apps have been optimised to benefit from the folding show and ought to work in split-screen and multi-window modes. While the show can keep unfolded at about 90 levels, I discovered that it does not maintain its place very properly if you happen to attempt to depart it open it at different angles. I’m curious to see how this may have an effect on each day use and productiveness.
The outer show of the Tecno Phantom V Fold 5G is a 120Hz LTPO AMOLED panel
The Phantom V Fold lacks wi-fi charging, however makes up for that with a giant 5,000mAh battery and 45W wired charging. According to Tecno, the Phantom V Fold 5G ought to be capable to cost utterly in beneath an hour. Its outer show is a 6.42-inch full-HD+ AMOLED panel, whereas the within will get a 7.85-inch AMOLED show with a 2K decision. The Phantom V Fold 5G is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ SoC.
The Tecno Phantom V Fold 5G is essentially the most inexpensive folding cellphone of its type in India in the mean time, and that by itself ought to pique the curiosity of many who wish to get their first foldable. The benefits of a horizontal folding cellphone versus a vertical one are simple, and value contemplating now that you could get both sort for roughly the identical value. However, that is Tecno’s first stab on the premium smartphone market in India and it will be fascinating to see how consumers reply to the Phantom V Fold 5G. We’ll have our full evaluation of this cellphone prepared in due time, so be sure to do not miss that.
