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Introduction
The democratization of foldables is now a fact. Joining a growing list of bendy-screen models now available outside of China, the Tecno Phantom V Fold presents a value-oriented alternative to the Galaxy of a similar name - the de-facto standard for a tablet in a phone's guise.
The Phantom has the better proportions of foldables that aren't the Galaxy - the cover screen is larger and so much more usable than the one on the Samsung, and the foldable display on the inside is bigger too. A large battery is then needed to power all that 120Hz OLED screen area, and you end up with a rather heavy package - a gram shy of 300g.
You do get a pretty capable camera system with a couple of 50MP units for main and tele, plus an autofocusing ultrawide - when are we ever getting AF on an UW on a Samsung foldable?
Unlike the bulk of foldables, the Tecno has a Mediatek chipset at its heart. The Dimensity 9000+ is about on par with the Snapdragon 8(+) Gen 1 though, so the Phantom V Fold is anything but underpowered. And with 12GB of RAM as standard and 256GB or 512GB of storage, you won't be pressed for memory either.
Other small niceties include 45W fast charging, stereo speakers, and an FM radio - flagship Snapdragons dropped that a while ago. It's a most welcome sight that the V Fold runs Android 13, so its software is current, too (also quite capable, it turns out).
Tecno Phantom V Fold specs at a glance:
- Body: 159.4x140.4x6.9mm unfolded, 159.4x72x14.2-14.5 mm folded, 299g; Gorilla Glass Victus front, plastic back, aluminum frame; Schott UTG on the foldable display.
- Display: 7.85" Foldable LTPO AMOLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, 1100 nits (peak), 2000x2296px resolution, 10.3:9 aspect ratio, 388ppi; Cover display: 6.42" LTPO AMOLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, 1100 nits (peak), 1080 x 2550 pixels, 431 PPI.
- Chipset: Mediatek Dimensity 9000+ (4 nm): Octa-core (1x3.20 GHz Cortex-X2 & 3x2.85 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4x1.80 GHz Cortex-A510); Mali-G710 MC10.
- Memory: 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
- OS/Software: Android 13, HiOS 13 Fold.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.9, 1/1.3", PDAF; Telephoto: 50 MP, PDAF, 2x optical zoom; Ultra wide angle: 13 MP, 120˚.
- Selfie camera: Cover:: 32MP, f/2.5. Internal: 16MP, f/2.5.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@60fps; Front camera: 1080p@60fps.
- Battery: 5000mAh; 45W wired, 40% in 15 min, 100% in 55 min (advertised).
- Misc: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); NFC; FM radio; stereo speakers.
Tecno Phantom V Fold unboxing
Tecno did come up with a fancy box for the Phantom V Fold, as befitting a foldable. As big as two regular phone boxes, and with the two strokes of a V meeting in the middle, the package opens to both sides, revealing a 'Beyond the extraordinary' cover. Only after removing that do you get to see the phone, itself in a separate tray.
Box contents • Snap-on case
Another box underneath holds a snap-on back cover with kickstand functionality. We're not entirely sure you'd want to be covering what is one of the nicest back panels in existence, but you do you. Two more separate containers have the charger and USB cable all neatly packed.
Design, build quality, handling
It's a foldable, alright, the Phantom V Fold, but we can't help but start our look into its design from the one quarter of its surface that's not a display. The seemingly random-textured fiber-like finish of the back panel is unique to Tecno and we're liking it just as much here as we did on the Phantom X2 Pro.
It's plastic in its essence, which isn't an issue in itself. In fact, it does feel rather premium, offers a reasonable amount of grip, and doesn't pick up fingerprints. You can call us fans.
Of course, the Black colorway of our V Fold review unit is nowhere as loud as the Mars Orange X2 Pro we had for review, and that's probably for the better - the incognito paintjob suits the Fold. That said, there's a white alternative too, which does look pretty appealing too, though we can understand how the copper-colored frame might be polarizing.
White colorway
Similarly not to everyone's taste is the camera island on the back, though the reviewer writing these words doesn't find it one bit objectionable. A Star Wars fan at the office pointed out a resemblance to the Death Star and we can see where he's coming from. In any case, much like the choice of color, the V Fold is a lot more restrained in its rear styling than the X2 pair, camera cluster included. High marks for looks, we'd say.
Flipping over to the front, the cover OLED display is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus, the bezels are decently thin, and the punch-hole for the selfie camera is tiny - there's nothing 'budget' about any of that.
The 21.3:9 aspect ratio and the 6.42-inch diagonal of the display make it infinitely more usable than the one on the Galaxy Z Fold4, but by now, you've probably heard us say that a dozen times - literally every other large foldable has a better cover screen than the Samsung when it comes to proportions.
V Fold (left) next to Z Fold4
The V Fold has a lot of exposed aluminum around its perimeter, and the gray frame on our black unit is treated to a satin finish. The bottom half is home to both physical buttons (in contrast to the Honor Magic Vs), and they both click positively. The capacitive fingerprint reader in the power button worked flawlessly with either the right thumb or the left index finger.
It's more of a nuanced experience opening the V Fold. The combination of rather powerful magnets, strong hinge, flat and somewhat slippery frame and little room to wedge your fingertips in, makes unfolding the Fold a little bit of a fiddly task. Of course, that's firmly in the nitpicking category, and since you're going to be using it with both hands anyway, applying some deliberate effort to open it isn't a huge deal.
Once opened, the V Fold doesn't actually fully unfold to a flat state. As in, the two halves still have to maintain an angle between them as opposed to being in one plane. Is that what the V in the name alludes to?
Mind you, it's all very subtle, and at no point are you actually feeling like the device hasn't unfolded fully, it's just something you notice when you go looking for it.
It's sort of a similar story with the display crease. This one is more of a gentle wave than a crease, per se - it's closer to the Oppo Find N2's flatness than it is to the almost-groove on the Galaxy Z Fold4. We'd say it's smoother than the Magic Vs', too.
An unusual hardware peculiarity on the Phantom that we hadn't seen is the faint corrugation of the display along the central axis. You can't see it in use by any means, nor can you feel it. But if you kill the lights on the display and look at the tablet at the right angle, you can spot it.
A lot of the above can be filed under curious observations and doesn't necessarily have practical implications. What does, however, is the hinge's aversion to any state that's not fully open or fully closed. That means no niceties for camera-related use cases like tripod mode or waist-level shooting. Oh, well. It does fold with no gap between the sides, so there's that.
V Fold (left) next to Z Fold4
The Phantom V Fold is one of the heaviest full-size foldables on the market, certainly the heaviest to leave China. At 299g, it's tangibly heftier than the Galaxy's 263g or the glass-backed version of the Magic Vs' 267g. You'd better wear a belt with those pants.
120Hz LTPO AMOLEDs inside and out
The Phantom V Fold's display specs won't be out of place on one of the higher-end foldables - in fact, the Tecno outspecs a few of them. The bendy panel is a 7.85-inch unit, while the 6.42-inch panel graces the cover, and both are LTPO AMOLEDs, carrying a promise for adaptive refresh rate in the 10-120Hz range.
The inner panel has a 2,000x2,296px resolution (pixel density works out to 388ppi) in a 10.3:9 aspect ratio, so it's marginally higher-res, if fractionally smaller than the Honor Vs' 7.9-inch 1,984x2,272px unit. The Galaxy Z Fold4 is even smaller, though, at 7.6 inches, and it's also not quite as pixel-rich (1,812x2,176px). The Tecno is tied with the Galaxy here for maximum refresh rate, while the Honor's foldable display maxes out at 90Hz.
Phantom V Fold (left) next to Galaxy Z Fold4
On the cover, the Tecno's 6.42-inch panel compares similarly to these two - just barely smaller than the Honor (6.45"), more meaningfully larger than the Galaxy (6.2"). The Phantom is obviously a lot more useful than the Galaxy, also thanks to its more sensible aspect ratio (21.3:9 vs. 23.1:9). The resolution is FullHD with a slightly unorthodox 2,550px measurement along the vertical axis.
Moving on to our brightness testing, we couldn't get the Tecno to reach the advertised 1,100nits of peak brightness on neither panel, with both hovering around the 500nits mark. No boost was observed with the Adaptive brightness toggled on either. That was our experience with the Phantom X2 Pro as well, though the X2 did have an extra 200nits to unlock - so it's not like the concept of a brightness boost is foreign to Tecno.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, |
White, |
||
| 0 | 492 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 505 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 1000 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 522 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 1054 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 594 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 876 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 502 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 1216 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 469 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 542 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 506 | ∞ | |
As a general rule, competitors' results are in the ballpark of the Tecno's when adjusting brightness manually, but they tend to offer a substantial increase when placed under bright light. It's not that the Phantom's disappears when placed in the sun - on the contrary, it remains perfectly usable. It's just that you'd get a more comfortable experience with the others.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, |
White, |
||
| 0 | 512 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 486 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 1034 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 501 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 940 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 549 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 1287 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 487 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 967 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 472 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 601 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 514 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 725 | ∞ | |
Color handling on the Phantom V Fold is done in the same two-mode way we observerd on the X2 and X2 Pro. Both the 'Bright-colored' and the 'Original color' modes target the DCI-P3 color space (there's no sRGB-specific mode) but neither does it with any particular accuracy. The bright mode is more of a vivid setting, while original tones things down a bit. Either way, you can expect relatively cold and bluish whites, and you may wish to nudge the temperature slider about a third of the way towards warm for the most neutral rendition.
The Phantom V Fold does not claim any HDR capabilities, and even though hardware detection apps list it as supporting HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG, that's more of a software decoding capability than actual HDR playback. YouTube did serve HDR streams, but they didn't have that characteristic pop or a boost in brightness. The Widevine L1 certification does allow FullHD playback for DRM-protected content.
The refresh rate menu gives you a total of four options - 60Hz, 90Hz, and 120Hz, plus an Auto-switch mode. Regardless of mode, you can expect the Tecno to wind down to 10Hz across the UI, if you're not touching it.
If you want to guarantee you'd be getting the full 120Hz in as many applications as possible, your best bet is the 120Hz mode. That will net you max refresh rate in games that support high frame rates. It will also let browsers roam free up to 120Hz (if for whatever reason you may want that), as long as there's dynamic content requiring it. You can still expect 10Hz when the page is still, and you're not touching the screen.
The full auto refresh mode will be more inclined to limit refresh rate on a per app basis, and while it will consistently give you 120Hz in the UI, browsers and games can end up capped at 60Hz. We'd stick to the 120Hz mode to get the most out of the Phantom V Fold's display - the adaptive smarts will still lower the refresh rate and save you battery, but you'll also be getting the maximum more consistently.
We encountered a very annoying behavior in YouTube, where if you're playing back videos fullscreen, the phone will drop its refresh rate to 10Hz, making for a choppy viewing experience. That was the case in all refresh rate modes, and affected videos shot at all frame rates except, oddly, 24fps which would play back just fine. We also observed it on both displays, so it's not limited to just the folding screen. We're hoping Tecno will come up with a software update to fix it because it's sort of a major issue if you like your adaptive refresh rate.
It was also present in Netflix, though we'd have been inclined not to make a big deal out of it, because we sideloaded the Netflix app ourselves. In a way, if it's not officially available, there's no reason to complain about an issue with it.
Tecno Phantom V Fold battery life
A 5,000mAh battery powers the Phantom V Fold - that's the same capacity as in the Honor Magic Vs and more than the Galaxy Z Fold4, Oppo Find N2, or Xiaomi Mix Fold 2. Compared to the Honor, the Phantom's more advanced display can be both a blessing and a curse - it's more adaptive, but its maximum refresh rate is higher. Then there's the matter of the chipset that sets the Tecno apart from the other large foldables - all of them use a high-end Snapdragon, this one is based on the Mediatek Dimensity 9000+.
But enough with the theorizing. In our testing, the Phantom proved a dependable performer from a longevity standpoint. We clocked 11 hours of web browsing (at a constant 120Hz) and 14:44h of looping videos (at 60Hz). The 29 hours of call time and a relatively average standby efficiency all combine to form an overall Endurance rating of 92h.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSerDevice app. The endurance rating denotes how long the battery charge will last you if you use the device for an hour of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. More details can be found here.
Video test carried out in 60Hz refresh rate mode whenever possible. Web browsing test done at the display's highest refresh rate whenever possible. Refer to the respective reviews for specifics. To adjust the endurance rating formula to match your own usage - check out our all-time battery test results chart.
We repeated the screen-on tests on the cover display. We clocked 17:09h on our web browsing script and 20:08h of looping our test video - again, at 120Hz and 60Hz respectively. The Tecno is a match for the Honor when used on the cover screen, and the two are better than the rest in this respect.
Charging speed
The Tecno specs rate the Phantom V Fold's charging capability at 45W, and that's also what the bundled adapter is rated for. According to the press materials, the phone should be able to reach 40% charge in 15 minutes and be fully charged in 55 minutes.
In our testing, we couldn't quite match Tecno's numbers, but we weren't too far off. The full charge took us 61 minutes, while 30 minutes into the process, we were looking at 62%, while the battery indicator showed 31% at the 15-minute mark.
Most of the other devices in the class charge faster - not dramatically so, but the difference isn't negligible, particularly if you compare against the Oppo Find N2 or the Honor Magic Vs. That said, the Galaxy Z Fold4 is slower than the Tecno - tangibly so, too.
The Phantom V Fold does not support wireless charging, but we can hardly hold it against Tecno. It's already one of the heaviest handsets of its kind, plus it's not like wireless charging is to be taken for granted in the class - of the internationally available large foldables, only the Galaxy has it.
Speaker test
The foldable Phantom features a stereo speaker setup with a driver on each end of the top/left half of the device. Each speaker outputs through a grille in the frame while the top one also serves as an earpiece and thus also diverts some of the sound towards the display.
As is fairly common, the top speaker is assigned the left channel when in portrait orientation (the Honor Magic Vs is a notable exception). Most others will adjust the output to match the device's orientation when you're holding it in landscape, but not the Tecno - so to get the correct channels coming from the correct side, you need to hold the Phantom V Fold with the camera half up. It's not a huge deal - that's the general behavior of all of Sony's phones for example, but auto switching can't be too hard to implement (if you're not stubborn about it).
Top speaker • Bottom speaker
Automatic channel switching or not, the Phantom V Fold did okay in our loudspeaker test. It earned a 'Very Good' rating for loudness - on par with the Honor Magic Vs and a couple of notches above the Galaxy Z Fold4. Sound quality isn't exactly impressive, but it's not bad either - there's a bit of a bathroom-y vibe to the mids, but the treble is well defined and there's some bass too.
Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.
Android 13, HiOS Fold 13 on top
The Phantom V Fold runs Android 13 with a layer of the in-house HiOS on top, that one in version Fold 13. So not only is it the first Tecno we encounter with the latest core OS version, but it also has a foldable-specific implementation of the proprietary software.
Ever a feature-packed Android overlay, HiOS has a fair share of functionality for you to make better use of the form factor - we're talking mostly about its extensive split-screen multi-window implementation.
There are numerous ways to go into split-screen or pop-up window mode. A tap on the three-dot button in the app's status bar will open up a menu with split-screen or pop-up options, and it's in there that you'll find the full-screen button for when you're in either of the other two modes. Alternatively, you can hold that three-dot button and pull down on it, which will move the current app to the left and show you the app drawer on the right to pick a second app.
Various shortcuts for going into split-screen or pop-up view
The task switcher also holds icons for both split-screen and pop-up window modes next to the apps that support them. Or maybe you prefer to use the Smart panel (summoned with a swipe and hold from either side edge) - in that case, tapping on an app icon opens it in a pop-up window, while dragging it to either side of the screen takes it into split-screen.
Multi-tasking shortcuts
It doesn't end there. The currently active fullscreen app can be sent into a sort of a minimized pop-up window by swiping up from the bottom edge of the screen and dragging it to either side. Then there's the pinch gesture - if you pinch in with four or five fingers, you'll shRink the fullscreen app to a pop-up window, but an active large-size one.
More multi-tasking shortcuts
It may all sound like a lot to remember, but the reality is that all the options are more or less natural and don't need a lot of deliberate thought. Plus, you'll likely get accustomed to using one or two of the different methods and stick to them. It's nice to have options.
App pairs are a thing too. You can find them in the task switcher, above the recent apps cards. You can save a new app pair by dragging it from the recent apps area to the row of pairs, or by tapping on the 'save' icon in the pop-up menu on the border between the two apps. We didn't find a way to place an app pair in the Smart panel or right on the homescreen - both options present in Samsung's One UI.
App pairs
We encountered a few other limitations too. For one, you can't really resize the windows when in split-screen - it's either 50/50 or fullscreen.
Then there's the matter that there's no horizontal split capability. Samsung has the best implementation of that, while Oppo and Honor have more limited (but still some) capability for it. Tecno joins Xiaomi and Huawei, which don't support it.
A foldable-specific problem to be solved is the hand-off from the internal screen to the cover when you're closing the device. The menu item on the Tecno is called 'Smart Relay' and offers four options.
Three of them are rather obvious but the fourth one is more of a novelty - once you close the phone, it will remain active on the cover screen for a couple of seconds while the selfie camera looks around for a face and if it doesn't see one, it will send the phone to standby. The wording in the menu implies it will work with 'your' face only, but in fact it works with any face.
Smart Relay
Also available is a Driving mode, which presents an arrangement of large buttons and cards with Google maps for navigation, Boomplay for music playback, a dialer, and a shortcut to the in-house smart assistant Ella. We found no way to customize this Driving mode, however, and while Google Maps would work great for navigation, an option for Spotify as a music player would be much preferred over the Boomplay one.
App pairs
There are no provisions in software for a semi-folded state other than YouTube automatically switching to its own foldable-specific half-screen split interface. The Tecno can't be made to stay in a half-unfolded state anyway, so not having software to benefit from such a use case isn't really an omission.
When it comes to the Phantom V Fold's interface in smartphone mode with this new HiOS 13, it's an ever so slightly touched up version of the HiOS 12 we saw on the Phantom X2 and X2 Pro.
The lockscreen has a couple of shortcuts on the bottom - one for camera, the other for the flashlight. They work with a long press as opposed to the usual swipe, mind you.
Once you're past the lockscreen, you arrive at a standard homescreen interface. The leftmost pane, called the Zero screen, holds cards with suggested news, weather and quotes widgets and an app usage widget. You can disable the Zero screen in the 'Desktop settings'. There's an app drawer by default.
Lockscreen • Homescreen • Zero screen • Folder view • App drawer • Task switcher
Entering the Phantom V Fold is no different to any other non-foldable - you get both fingerprint and face recognition. You can have the fingerprint reader unlock with just a tap or require a press as well, and face recognition can be set to bypass the lockscreen directly or require a swipe instead.
Biometrics and security
Tecno has a long-standing selection of advanced features that generally get carried forward from older models. That includes the Game mode with all the settings, statistics and parental controls. There is also the Smart panel with slide-from-the-side shortcuts that we mentioned above.
The Social Turbo toolset is rather interesting (a WhatsApp enhancer of sorts) - it can change your voice, enhance your face during video calls, record your WhatsApp calls, and allow you to read messages without marking them as Read.
MemFusion is Tecno's name for virtual RAM. The Phantom V Fold has 12GB of physical RAM chips on board and can extend that up to a total of 21GB with another 9GB of virtual memory. By default, MemFusion is set to 6GB.
Special function menu • Game mode • Social Turbo • Smart Panel • MemFusion • Phone Master
There are some pre-installed apps and utilities, but it's a pretty restrained package overall, with a lot less bloatware than the X2 and X2 Pro we had last, which in turn were a significant step in the right direction. You get an in-house gallery and video player, but no proprietary app stores and no Hi browser pre-installed. Not even the Hi Themes app is here - there are just a couple of themes pre-installed.
AI Gallery • AI Gallery • Visha Player • File Manager • Themes
Performance and benchmarks
The Phantom V Fold is the only large foldable not to be powered by a Snapdragon chipset - it uses the Dimensity 9000+ instead. It's not the only foldable with that Dimensity though - the clamshell Oppo Find N2 Flip also uses that Mediatek SoC.
A high-end chip built on a 4nm process, the Dimensity 9000+ has a very similar CPU configuration (same cores at mostly same frequencies too) to the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 that you'd find on a Galaxy Z Fold4 or an Honor Magic Vs. The GPU here is called Mali-G710 MC10.
Two memory configurations are in existence - 12GB/256GB (like our review unit) and 12GB/512GB.
In the single-core GeekBench 5 test, the Tecno was just behind the Galaxy Z Fold4, both comfortably ahead of the Honor Magic Vs. In the multic-core, all three posted virtually the same scores. The Mix Fold 2 was slightly better than all in both tests, while the Find N2 was towards the bottom of the pack.
- Galaxy S23 Ultra
1537 - Xiaomi 13 Pro
1490 - iQOO 11
1479 - Xiaomi Mix Fold 2
1374 - Galaxy Z Fold4
1337 - Tecno Phantom V Fold
1274 - Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
1248 - OnePlus 11
1150 - Oppo Find N2
1057 - Honor Magic Vs
1033 - ROG Phone 6D
1015 - Oppo Find N2 Flip
936 - Huawei Mate Xs 2 (Unfolded)
884
GeekBench 5 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi 13 Pro
5087 - Galaxy S23 Ultra
4927 - OnePlus 11
4899 - iQOO 11
4803 - Xiaomi Mix Fold 2
4368 - Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
3984 - Galaxy Z Fold4
3981 - Honor Magic Vs
3971 - Tecno Phantom V Fold
3963 - Oppo Find N2
3670 - ROG Phone 6D
3531 - Oppo Find N2 Flip
3265 - Huawei Mate Xs 2 (Unfolded)
3131
The Tecno pulls slightly ahead of the Galaxy in Antutu and the Honor is still lower down the chart. Another win for the Mix, too.
AnTuTu 9
Higher is better
- Xiaomi 13 Pro
1281666 - iQOO 11
1281665 - Galaxy S23 Ultra
1241531 - OnePlus 11
1140661 - Xiaomi Mix Fold 2
1050139 - Tecno Phantom V Fold
999348 - Galaxy Z Fold4
964530 - Oppo Find N2
962082 - Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
961576 - ROG Phone 6D
948594 - Honor Magic Vs
831175 - Oppo Find N2 Flip
773574 - Huawei Mate Xs 2 (Unfolded)
641608
In the offscreen tests in GFXBench, rendered at standardized resolutions, the Tecno is on par with the Galaxy and the Honor in the more demanding benchmarks, though it drops a little bit behind in the easier ones.
GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- iQOO 11
62 - Xiaomi 13 Pro
61 - OnePlus 11
61 - Galaxy S23 Ultra
59 - Oppo Find N2
46 - Honor Magic Vs
46 - Tecno Phantom V Fold
45 - Xiaomi Mix Fold 2
45 - Galaxy Z Fold4
45 - Oppo Find N2 Flip
44 - ROG Phone 6D
43 - Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
42 - Huawei Mate Xs 2 (Unfolded)
28
GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- Galaxy S23 Ultra
69 - iQOO 11
69 - OnePlus 11
68 - Xiaomi 13 Pro
67 - Oppo Find N2
51 - Honor Magic Vs
51 - Xiaomi Mix Fold 2
50 - Galaxy Z Fold4
50 - Tecno Phantom V Fold
48 - ROG Phone 6D
46 - Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
44 - Oppo Find N2 Flip
37 - Huawei Mate Xs 2 (Unfolded)
31
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- iQOO 11
128 - Xiaomi 13 Pro
127 - Galaxy S23 Ultra
126 - OnePlus 11
126 - Oppo Find N2
104 - Honor Magic Vs
103 - Galaxy Z Fold4
102 - Xiaomi Mix Fold 2
101 - Tecno Phantom V Fold
89 - ROG Phone 6D
84 - Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
82 - Oppo Find N2 Flip
75 - Huawei Mate Xs 2 (Unfolded)
72
GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi 13 Pro
222 - iQOO 11
222 - OnePlus 11
220 - Galaxy S23 Ultra
212 - Oppo Find N2
180 - Honor Magic Vs
180 - Xiaomi Mix Fold 2
178 - Galaxy Z Fold4
174 - Tecno Phantom V Fold
158 - ROG Phone 6D
152 - Oppo Find N2 Flip
147 - Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
140 - Huawei Mate Xs 2 (Unfolded)
121
In the onscreen tests, the Tecno is slightly behind the Honor Vs, both of them trailing the Galaxy, which has the lowest resolution display and is thus the easiest on the GPU.
GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)
Higher is better
- ROG Phone 6D
61 - Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
59 - Oppo Find N2 Flip
58 - Tecno Phantom V Fold (cover display)
57 - Galaxy S23 Ultra
54 - iQOO 11
54 - Oppo Find N2
49 - Xiaomi 13 Pro
49 - OnePlus 11
49 - Galaxy Z Fold4
43 - Xiaomi Mix Fold 2
40 - Honor Magic Vs
36 - Tecno Phantom V Fold
33 - Huawei Mate Xs 2 (Unfolded)
19
GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)
Higher is better
- ROG Phone 6D
64 - Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
62 - Galaxy S23 Ultra
60 - Tecno Phantom V Fold (cover display)
60 - Oppo Find N2 Flip
56 - iQOO 11
55 - OnePlus 11
53 - Oppo Find N2
52 - Xiaomi 13 Pro
52 - Galaxy Z Fold4
42 - Xiaomi Mix Fold 2
41 - Honor Magic Vs
38 - Tecno Phantom V Fold
36 - Huawei Mate Xs 2 (Unfolded)
21
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
71 - ROG Phone 6D
71 - Galaxy S23 Ultra
67 - iQOO 11
67 - Tecno Phantom V Fold (cover display)
66 - Xiaomi 13 Pro
64 - Galaxy Z Fold4
59 - Oppo Find N2
59 - Oppo Find N2 Flip
59 - OnePlus 11
57 - Xiaomi Mix Fold 2
52 - Honor Magic Vs
50 - Tecno Phantom V Fold
45 - Huawei Mate Xs 2 (Unfolded)
28
GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- ROG Phone 6D
122 - Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
115 - Galaxy S23 Ultra
112 - iQOO 11
112 - Tecno Phantom V Fold (cover display)
110 - Xiaomi 13 Pro
103 - Xiaomi Mix Fold 2
93 - Galaxy Z Fold4
93 - Honor Magic Vs
82 - Tecno Phantom V Fold
72 - Oppo Find N2
60 - Oppo Find N2 Flip
60 - OnePlus 11
60 - Huawei Mate Xs 2 (Unfolded)
45
In 3DMark, on the other hand, the Tecno is a good 20% behind the other large fodables. It does score a narrow victory over the Find N2 Flip that has the same chipset inside, for what that's worth.
3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- iQOO 11
12738 - Galaxy S23 Ultra
12241 - Honor Magic Vs
10561 - Oppo Find N2
10517 - Galaxy Z Fold4
10382 - Xiaomi 13 Pro
10289 - ROG Phone 6D
8666 - Tecno Phantom V Fold
8395 - Oppo Find N2 Flip
8144 - Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
7499 - Huawei Mate Xs 2 (Unfolded)
5830
While we're on the subject of 3DMark, let's mention that the Tecno put up one of the best showings we've seen from a high-end chipset smartphone in the Wild Life Stress test, returning a 95% stability rating. Mind you, at some point during the 20-minute test it dramatically lowered its display brightness, without that showing on the slider and without being excessively hot to the touch. So while the result is impressive, it's not entirely legit.
There were no such shenanigans in the CPU Throttling test, where the Phantom V Fold returned okay results. It dropped to 66% of its max performance, though with more careful tuning to smooth out those largely unnecessary spikes, it may be capable of maintaining performance in the high 70s percent.
CPU throttling test • 3DMark Wild Life stress test
Plenty of megapixels, functional cover screen
The Tecno Phantom V Fold has a competent camera configuration with a proper triple rear setup and a selfie camera for each display. On the back you're getting a couple of 50MP units for main and telephoto, plus a 13MP autofocusing ultrawide.
Somewhat oddly, the selfie cameras are different - 32MP on the cover, 16MP on the inside - but that's almost beside the point since there's a fully-functional camera UI on the cover screen when the V unFolds so you can use the rear cameras for photos of your mug.
According to the hardware apps, the primary camera is based on the Samsung GNV sensor, which we understand to be a derivative of the GN1, and an imager we considered exclusive to vivo. Then again, it was in the X80 Pro and the the X90 Pro has moved on from it, so maybe that exclusivity is no longer applicable. It's got a 1/1.3" optical format and 1.2µm pixels, and a Tetrapixel color filter array (Quad Bayer, in Sony speak), but with an RGBW twist, as best as we can tell. The lens has a reported aperture of f/1.9 and an equivalent focal length in the 24-25mm ballpark (by our estimate - Tecno doesn't specify it).
The zoom camera employs the Samsung JN1 - a popular solution for the task. It has a 1/2.8" optical format, 0.64µm pixels size and a Tetrapixel color filter too. We're calculating the lens' equivalent focal length at around 44mm, so hardly telephoto, but still not bad to have. The aperture is f/2.0.
The ultrawide uses the (S5K)3L6 sensor - 1/3" optical format, 1.12µm pixels and a conventional RGB filter array. Most important on this one is its autofocusing capability - a rare occurrence on anything that aims to fit in a tight budget.
For selfies, you get the (S5K)GD2 on the cover (1/2.8", 0.8µm, Tetrapixel) with a 25mm-equivalent f/2.5 lens. The internal selfie camera uses the only non-Samsung sensor - it's the OmniVision OV16B10 (1/2.8", 1.12µm, regular RGB) with the same lens specs. Both lenses have fixed focus too.
The Tecno doesn't miss the opportunity to offer cover screen UI for operating the rear cameras with the device unfolded - one of the key benefits of having a large-screen foldable is
Other foldable-specific features are available too, like a live preview on the cover screen for your subjects to look at themselves while you still have the controls on your end. Also present is a split-screen view where the view finder moves to one side, while the other side turns into a film strip with the most recently captured images. What's missing is a waist-level shooting type of split, but since the Tecno's hinge can't really be kept in intermediate states to begin with, we wouldn't call that a software omission.
Camera UI
Outside of the foldable-related bits, the camera app is straightforward - well, maybe aside from the full-auto photo mode being called AI Cam.
Camera UI
Daylight photo quality
Daylight photos from the Phantom V Fold's main camera are pretty good. They have a nicely wide dynamic range, though we'd say outdoor shots lean a little towards overexposure - half a stop darker almost universally looks better to our eyes. White balance is also just barely offthe mark and we're getting a faint green tinge when shooting outside.
An nudge in saturation also wouldn't hurt - it's alright as it is, but a bit more would improve things, we reckon. Then again, perhaps you prefer a more reserved color rendition that you can tweak yourself in post-processing. There's also the matter than the overly enthusiastic display colors can be misleading as to what results you'd actually be getting.
Sharpness and detail, meanwhile, are excellent, and the processing is very mature in this respect. There's no noise to speak of either.
Daylight samples, main camera (1x)
Speaking of detail, you stand to gain some if you opt for the full-res 50MP mode - it's not an upscale job from the binned photos like some others still do. You can expect small, but not dealbreaking penalties in highlight dynamic range and noise - nothing major. File sizes are typically 4 times larger, though.
Daylight samples, main camera (1x), 50MP
We'd normally steer clear of the AI Color Enhancement toggle, but we figured it was worth a go on the Phantom to maybe get a bit more saturation. Indeed, it delivers, and it does so in a measured way that's not over the top. Perhaps it's worth keeping the toggle on.
Daylight samples, main camera (1x), AI Color enhancement
The zoom camera (recent arguments over semantics in the office are making us question whether we should call it a 'telephoto') captures nice shots at 2x-ish magnification. Noise is minimal, while detail is plenty, if a bit sketchy in random detail like foliage or that 'castle' mural. Colors tend be livelier in the zoom shots, and white balance was more often accurate (though not infallible still).
Daylight samples, telephoto camera (2x)
The full resolution mode on the telephoto camera does give you finer detail. It sacrifices contrast in the process and introduces a light magenta cast.
Daylight samples, telephoto camera (2x), 50MP
The ultrawide shots have some composite action going on when the subject is distant enough - it's not very often manufacturers do this, but it does make for solid results when done right, which is the case here. The center portion of the Phantom's ultrawide shots comes from the main camera and the ultrawide only fills in the periphery. That's why you can expect softer detail around the edges than in the middle of the frame, but then ultrawides are prone to being softer off-center anyway.
You'd expect the ultrawide samples to be perfectly color-matched to the main camera's but that's not entirely true - skies in particular have deeper, bluer blues, next to the more cyan rendition at 1x. Overall though, some more saturation wouldn't hurt, as was the case on the main camera.
Daylight samples, ultrawide camera
Closeups
The ultrawide's autofocusing capability lets you capture closeups with it, and we appreciate Tecno's approach of not coming up with some 'macro' mode with digital zoom and upscaling - the ultrawide just focuses close and you can use that.
In those instances, you don't get the main camera's input - after all, if that could focus so close, you'd be using it instead.
One issue becomes evident quickly and that's the shadow you tend to throw with the phone simply because you're this close to the subject. Workarounds with weird angles can mean you don't get the framing you'd ideally want. With those caveats out of the way, the Phentom's closeups are actually quite great - whatever little is in focus is nicely sharp and detailed.
Closeup samples
Low-light photo quality
The Phantom's main camera photos in low light, while not perfect, are good in the default AI Cam mode already. Dynamic range isn't the widest, but it's respectable and while contrastier scenes will show clipped highlights and dark shadows, more balanced lighting will result in well exposed images. Detail is very good, noise is well contained, auto white balance deals well with all sorts of artificial lighting.
Low-light samples, main camera (1x)
Super Night mode does introduce some improvements. A notable increase in dynamic range will restore highlights nicely while also boosting the darker areas. You will get some of that relatively heavy sharpening and watercolor-like effect on detail, and while it's certainly not the most natural rendition, it's not the worst case we've seen either. We'd argue it's well worth it for the improved tonal properties.
Low-light samples, main camera (1x), Super Night mode
When it comes to the 2x zoom, we're happy to report we didn't encounter an instance when the Tecno would switch to its main camera, regardless of how dark the scene was. The tele does a respectable job with detail but does struggle with dynamic range and will more often than not give you shadows that are too dark, and some clipped highlights to go with those.
Low-light samples, telephoto camera (2x)
Super Night mode delivers the expected tonal development, particularly evident in scenes with darker shadows, though there's some highlight restoration action as well. The watercoloring feels stronger here, but it's still an acceptable trade-off.
Low-light samples, telephoto camera (2x), Super Night mode
The ultrawide's results in the dark are rather soft, unless the scene allows for the composite processing (samples 2 and 7 below), which we can't be entirely certain what the requirements for are. Dynamic range is good, though, all things considered, and white balance is dependable.
Low-light samples, ultrawide camera (0.6x)
Super Night mode apparently disable the composite processing - otherwise that would be some tough processing, we imagine. Other than that, the differences between the two modes are minimal. We'd speculate that the Tecno is already doing the best it can computationally in the regular mode, so the Super Night can't contribute a whole lot.
Low-light samples, ultrawide camera (0.6x), Super Night mode
Once you're done with the real world samples, head over to our Photo compare tool to see how the Tecno Phantom V Fold stacks up against the competition.
Tecno Phantom V Fold against the Galaxy Z Fold4 and the Honor Magic Vs in our Photo compare tool
Selfies
In foldables with a proper capability for rear camera selfie shooting it makes sense to start talking about selfies with the rear ones. Indeed, the Phantom's main camera will get you really nice selfies. Detail on your mug is very good, while the background has some natural blur, and skin tones are lifelike.
Selfie samples, main rear camera
Photos at the 0.6x zoom may actually sometimes be composites too, even for selfies at arm's length. The exact distance matters, as does the light - if you're too close and/or there's complex lighting requiring heavy HDR action, the UW is on its own.
Selfie samples, ultrawide rear camera
You can even take selfies with the 2x zoom camera - it will focus at arm's length, and those will have great detail. That said, in landscape you can't fit a lot more than just a face vertically in the frame.
Shooting in portrait orientation makes more sense then, though that poses some handling issues - holding the tablet with the left hand and pressing the volume button with the index finger for shutter release worked best for us. Palm shutter isn't available, while smile shutter is, and it worked fairly reliably, but you don't necessarily want to be smiling in all of your photos, right?
Selfie samples, telephoto rear camera (because why not)
With the rear selfies accounted for, let's have a look at some selfie camera selfies. The 32MP unit on the cover is capable of rather excellent detail in balanced lighting (samples 1, 3, 5) even if there's some noise in there as well. More complex or dimmer scenes (well, the rest of the samples) engage different processing and result in not quite as much per-pixel detail, though admittedly noone objectively needs 32MP pin-sharp selfies.
Dynamic range is not the widest, but it's good enough and the phone will expose to priotize for your face, so the worst that could happen is some blown out clouds in the background. Colors are, again, fairly laid back and could benefit from a minor saturation boost.
Selfie samples, cover selfie camera
The internal selfie camera is pretty great in its own right. It renders detail in a gritty, intensely sharpened way, and doesn't quite match the dynamic range of the other options, but neither of these is so bad as to be an issue - the former might actually be a positive, if you enjoy Google Pixel-style selfies.
Selfie samples, inner selfie camera
Basically, every which way you're holding your Phantom V Fold, you've got a capable selfie camera in front of you. We'd still prefer the images from the rear cameras, but the others are perfectly usable too for when you can't be bothered to be doing finger gymnastics or for any types of video messaging.
Portrait mode
The Phantom V Fold's Portrait mode can capture photos with the main camera at 1x or with the zoom camera at 2x, and it defaults to the 2x option. In both cases you're getting very good subject separation and the conservative blur level of the pre-set f/4.0 simulated aperture makes for a natural looking rendition of out-of-focus backgrounds.
The 2x camera helps a lot with subject distance and facial proportions and since it's a pretty solid camera to begin with, you get very nice image quality.
Portrait mode samples, 2x
The main camera forces you to get closer to your subject or go for wider framing overall. Image quality is very good in this case too.
Portrait mode samples, 1x
Video recording
The Phantom V Fold records video up to 4K60 with its main and zoom cameras, while the ultrawide is capped at 1080p30. There's no option for using the h.265 codec - the older, less efficient, but more widely compatible h.264 is the only way to encode videos. Stabilization is available up to 4K30.
We're not strictly fans of the Phantom's video footage for one main reason. Main camera 4K clips (53Mbps bit rate) have excessively high contrast that really jumps at you and the tonal extremes are way too harsh for our liking. Then again, white balance is on point and colors are looking nice overall - saturation is higher than in stills (which in this case means better). Detail is plenty, if somewhat overprocessed. 4K60 (about 65Mbps) has the exact same quality.
The ultrawide is in a similar boat with contrast and dynamic range, only it doesn't really have all the redeeming qualities of the main camera. If it were 4K, we could talk, but as it is, it's more of a disappointing performance.
The telephoto adds a flaw of its own into the mix - a magenta cast. It's similarly way too contrasty as the other two, but it is 4K unlike the ultrawide, so at least there's that.
One thing you can't fault the V Fold's videos for is stabilization - it's impeccable on all three cameras.
That stabilization praise doesn't necessarily translate into selfie videos with the ultrawide, which doesn't seem too keen to maintain focus on the subject. Then again, we already established that the ultrawide's video quality is rather meh to begin with, so in a way there's nothing new here.
It's a different story on the main camera, where have little to complain about when it comes to selfie video. It kept its focus on the subject, stabilized well, adjusted exposure to changing conditions, and the clip somehow doesn't look as overly contrasty as the balcony scene. High marks here.
It's worth pointing out that when shooting videos with the rear cameras, the clips end up upside down, regardless of what orientation you hold the phone in (whether it's display up, camera down, or camera up, display down - we're not suggesting vertical videos in the slightest). That's an issue obviously, but the built-in editor is capable of rotating them, so it's not all bad.
In low light, the Tecno appears to have made some rather conscious concessions for the Phantom's main camera footage - keep all the detail possible, with whatever amount of noise that entails. It's not an entirely objectionable approach, we must admit, though the grit is a bit too much even for our forgiving eyes. Dynamic range is reasonably wide given the circumstances though, blooming around light sources is well controlled, and colors maintain a good level of saturation.
The ultrawide struggles in a number of ways in the dark - dynamic range is severely limited and shadows are underexposed, and it can't properly acquire focus so things are pretty soft. Colors are well maintained though, so it's not all lost.
The telephoto puts out more of a so-so performance, leaning into above average. Dynamic range is about decent, and it manages to hold on to color and detail rather okay.
Here's a glimpse of how the Tecno Phantom V Fold compares to rivals in our Video compare tool. Head over there for the complete picture.
Tecno Phantom V Fold against the Galaxy Z Fold4 and the Honor Magic Vs in our Video compare tool
Competition
A high-end large foldable with what is a bargain price for the class - who is the Tecno Phantom V Fold really competing with? Going by form factor, the Galaxy Z Fold4 is surely a handset of a different caliber, yet it's so very similar to the Phantom. The recently reviewed Honor Magic Vs is also very much the same thing in principle, with nuances only to be seen upon closer inspection.
That said, we only have pricing for the Tecno for the Indian market, starting at INR 89,999 ($1,099) for the 12/256GB model, and Galaxies are typically not overly competitive here, the Fold being no exception. Meanwhile, the Magic Vs isn't available at all for the time being. But we can still theorize some.
Phantom V Fold (left) next to Galaxy Z Fold4
Naturally, it's hard to stand up to the Samsung - essentially the reference in the segment. The Galaxy will give you niceties like water resistance and wireless charging, plus way brighter displays. Arguably, however, it's the Tecno's displays that are more appealing in terms of size and proportions. OneUI is, without a doubt the best software you can get on a foldable, and even though the Phantom does better than most here, it can't quite match Samsung's polish. Samsung's camera performance is more consistent too, and we'd prefer it over the Tecno. The Galaxy retails for some 70% more than the Tecno in India, and while we can probably reason around it, it's too hefty a premium to ignore and just say that it's worth it.
It's somewhat easier with the Honor Magic Vs. Even though direct price comparisons between the Tecno and the Honor are close to impossible, we can almost dismiss the Honor just on the merits. It's missing a lot of the good stuff the Samsung has going for it (wireless charging, IP rating, refined software), and it's hard to name one area where it's meaningfully better than the Phantom. And, circling back and throwing some educated speculation into the mix, we can't imagine the Magic Vs retailing anything close to the Phantom's price, if the two happened to share a market.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 • Honor Magic Vs
As we pointed out in the Honor's review, there are hardly any other large foldable alternatives outside of China. Sure, more adventurous souls could go for an Oppo Find N2 or a Xiaomi Mix Fold 2, though we wouldn't recommend gray imports or living with a software build tailored for the Chinese market, outside of the said market.
Obviously, you could have a wide-ranging choice of regular non-bendy high-end smartphones for Phantom V Fold money. A Galaxy S23+ maybe, for its OneUI, great OLED display, battery life and solid camera system. Or why not a vivo X80 Pro for an even more versatile camera setup, top-notch display, and speedy charging.
But, in fact, there's a compromise of a different kind - the Galaxy Z Flip4 may not be as great a cameraphone, but it's a foldable alright, and a Samsung one too, for Phantom V Fold money. So what if it's half-size?
Samsung Galaxy S23+ • vivo X80 Pro • Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4
Verdict
The Phantom V Fold is the most affordable phone-turns-tablet style foldable - by a wide margin - and it's available outside of China. Those two alone should be enough to make a strong sales pitch, but by definition, budget means compromise, and there are a few to mention.
Perhaps the most important ones relate to the display. For one, while hardly a dealbreaker and perfectly usable as is, the Phantom's panels are lagging behind the competition in terms of maximum brightness. Then there's the unstable frame rate behavior in video streaming apps which makes it more or less unwatchable - we'd expect that to be fixed in a software update, but it's a major omission in the first place.
And while on the topic of displays, sort of, the hinge that makes the V Fold what it is, doesn't like to stay in any state that's not fully open or fully folded, thus robbing the phone of some potential use cases. Wireless charging wouldn't have hurt either, and with the weight already at 300-ish grams, how much of a difference would it have made.
It's an acceptable list of cons, though, particularly when you account for the price, which makes the Tecno's strong points all the more impressive. Extremes-only as it may be, the hinge does allow an almost creaseless unfolded state that no bendy Galaxy can match. You have a very feature-rich software package, competent high refresh rate handling and solid battery life. Cameras may have their flaws, but are pretty good for most things most of the time, and selfies stand out as particularly great. The speakers and the chipset are a lot better than one can expect at half-price, too.
One thing we can't be sure of, is how the Phantom will hold up over time and how Tecno will address potential mechanical issues with the folding display down the line (should they arise) - our past experience has taught us that Samsung is rather cooperative when their folding screens go bad.
In the end, the Tecno Phantom V Fold is giving you a lot of foldable for (comparatively) little money. We're on board with that. Just fix that refresh rate issue, Tecno!
Pros
- Unique finish on the back makes it both pleasing to handle and pretty to look at.
- Minimal internal display crease.
- High refresh rate displays inside and out, 120Hz available for gaming.
- Competitive battery life, fast charging.
- Loud stereo speakers.
- Feature-rich custom software, competent multi-tasking, well-utilized cover screen for image and video capture.
- Dimensity 9000+ leaves little to complain about.
- Excellent selfies no matter how you take them.
- Great video stabilization.
Cons
- Hinge doesn't support intermediate positions at all.
- Maximum brightness on both displays is not on par with the competition.
- Unstable refresh rate for video streaming.
- No wireless charging.
- Questionable choices in video processing.
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