Tecno Phantom V Flip 5G First Impressions: A Barely Perceptible Crease and Fast Charging, Without Breaking the Bank

Is this the affordable foldable phone we have been waiting for?

Written by David Delima, Edited by Roydon Cerejo | Updated: 26 September 2023 16:19 IST

Tecno Phantom V Flip 5G First Impressions: A Barely Perceptible Crease and Fast Charging, Without Breaking the Bank

The Tecno Phantom V Flip is equipped with two cameras located around the cover display

Highlights

Tecno Phantom V Flip is equipped with a Dimensity 8050 chipset
The handset runs on Android 13-based HiOS 13.5 out of the box
The Tecno Phantom V Flip packs a 4,000mAh battery

Tecno's Phantom V Flip 5G is the company's latest foldable phone to debut in India — this handset has arrived in the country ahead of other markets. The smartphone is equipped with an interesting set of specifications — the company is touting the device's camera, battery, and display chops — and has an even more noteworthy price tag. It will compete with the Motorola Razr 40 series, the Oppo Find N2 Flip and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 in the country. Here are our initial thoughts on the company's latest foldable phone.

The new Tecno Phantom V Flip 5G is available in a Mystic Dawn colourway that looks rather slick with a leather rear panel that has a lychee-pattern design. It is also sold in an Iconic Black colour option. The folding phone doesn't feel very heavy to hold and has metallic edges that feel cool to the touch. The sole 8GB RAM + 256GB storage configuration has an ‘early bird' price of Rs. 49,999 when it goes on sale on October 1.

Editor's note: Tecno has reached out to Gadgets 360 to confirm that the Tecno Phantom V Flip will be priced at Rs. 54,999 — the early bird price of Rs. 49,999 has been discontinued.

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The Phantom V Flip 5G sports a 6.9-inch flexible AMOLED screen with a crease that is difficult to detect — it's there and you can feel it when you're scrolling inside an app, but it's barely perceptible when you're looking at the display. The display has a peak brightness of 1,000 nits, and content is mostly visible when you're outdoors, except in direct sunlight.

According to Tecno, the ‘Hoverlock' design drop-shaped hinge on the Tecno Phantom V Flip 5G is capable of staying open between 30 degrees and 150 degrees, and can be folded up to 2 lakh times. It is possible to open the phone with just one hand but there's a bit of resistance, which means it's probably safer to use both hands.

When the display is opened at various angles, the user interface adapts to take advantage of the new layout — the camera app will show controls on the bottom half of the display, for example. This functionality is also supported on other smartphones, such as the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5, but it's good to see it's available on a folding phone that is slightly over half the price of Samsung's foldable phone.

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Apps on the Tecno Phantom V Flip adapt when the screen is partially folded

On the outside, the phone is equipped with a circular 1.32-inch AMOLED screen which is surrounded by the external cameras. This window is reminiscent of a round smartwatch display and can display notifications, time, and weather conditions.

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The cover display also has an always-on mode and can display animated pets that you can choose from. However, the size of the outer display means that you'll probably be opening the foldable phone more often than not to respond to notifications and to perform other tasks.

This Tecno Phantom V Flip 5G is powered by MediaTek's octa-core Dimensity 8050 chipset paired with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. It packs a 4,000mAh battery and supports 45W charging over a USB Type-C port. You also get a charger in the box, unlike its more expensive South Korean competitor.

The Tecno Phantom V Flip is equipped with a 6.9-inch AMOLED display

Tecno has equipped this smartphone with two external cameras — a 64-megapixel RGBW sensor with a f/1.7 aperture and a 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera with a 120-degree field-of-view — located around the circular outer display. On the inside, the handset is equipped with a 32-megapixel front camera with a micro-slit dual-flash LED light.

The recently launched Tecno Phantom V Flip 5G seems to offer the right blend of design and hardware features that might allow it to compete with other foldable phones available in the country. We'll be able to tell you more about the phone and our final verdict in the full review when it is out on Gadgets 360.

Disclosure: Tecno sponsored the correspondent's flights and hotel for the event in Singapore.

Is the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 the best foldable phone you can buy in India right now? We discuss the company's new clamshell-style foldable handset on the latest episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

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Tecno Phantom V Flip

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Smooth performance
Good battery life
Great inner display
Reliable main camera
Good build quality
Fast charging

Bad
Dim outer screen
Only two software updates
Relatively poor secondary camera
Pre-installed bloatware

Read detailed Tecno Phantom V Flip review

Display (Primary) 6.90-inch

Processor MediaTek Dimensity 8050

Front Camera 32-megapixel

Rear Camera 64-megapixel + 13-megapixel

RAM 8GB

Storage 256GB

Battery Capacity 4000mAh

OS Android 13

Resolution 1080x2640 pixels

More Tecno mobiles Tecno mobiles price in India

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Further reading: Tecno Phantom V Flip 5G, Tecno Phantom V Flip 5G price in India, Tecno Phantom V Flip 5G specifications, Tecno Phantom V Flip 5G first look, Tecno Phantom V Flip 5G first impressions, Tecno, Foldable Phones

David Delima

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As a writer on technology with Gadgets 360, David Delima is interested in open-source technology, cybersecurity, consumer privacy, and loves to read and write about how the Internet works. David can be contacted via email at DavidD@ndtv.com, on Twitter at @DxDavey, and Mastodon at mstdn.social/@delima. More