Tecno Phantom V Flip review

Introduction

Tecno has already launched a very intriguing foldable smartphone - the Phantom V Fold - so it was all but a surprise to watch the maker unveil the Phantom V Flip. It's an addition to the V series with a unique take on the cover display.

The Tecno Phantom V Flip looks like your typical modern flip phone - an edge-to-edge foldable OLED on the inside, a cool design on the outside with a sleek metal hinge, and a small cover display for notifications and widgets.

The V Flip's exterior is covered with vegan leather, but what makes it unique is the round cover OLED, which is surrounded by a round black bezel that houses the cameras and the flash. This is a rare arrangement and will surely make the V Flip recognizable among its peers.

The Phantom V Flip has a 6.9-inch foldable LTPO OLED on the inside, a premium panel with a dynamic 120Hz refresh rate, 360Hz touch sampling and HDR10 support. The cover screen is a 1.32-inch AMOLED with 352ppi density.

The V Flip runs on the Dimensity 8050 5G chipset, which is an upper mid-range chipset that has already shown promising gaming potential. The V Flip will be sold in one memory configuration - 8GB LPDDR4X RAM with 256GB UFS3.1 storage.

Tecno is known for its premium camera experience, and it does offer some niceties such as a 64MP primary camera with an RGBW sensor and a 13MP secondary cam for ultrawide photos that supports autofocus and can do macro shots. The selfie camera uses a 32MP Tetracell sensor and supports autofocus!

Other notable specs include stereo speakers, a 4,000mAh battery with 45W wired charging, and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner.

Here is the complete specs sheet:

Tecno Phantom V Flip specs at a glance:

• Body: 171.7x74.1x6.9mm, 194g; Plastic front (opened), leather back, steel hinge, aluminum frame;.
• Display: 6.90" Foldable LTPO AMOLED, 120Hz, 1000 nits (peak), 1080x2640px resolution, 22:9 aspect ratio, 413ppi; Cover display: AMOLED, 1.32 inches, 360 x 360 px, 352ppi, 800 nits.
• Chipset: MediaTek Dimensity 8050 (6 nm): Octa-core (1x3.0 GHz Cortex-A78 & 3x2.6 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55); Mali-G77 MC9.
• Memory: 256GB 8GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
• OS/Software: Android 13, HiOS 13.5.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 64 MP, f/1.7, 25mm, 1/1.73", 1.6µm, PDAF; Ultra wide angle: 13 MP, 1.12µm, f/2.2, PDAF.
• Front camera: 32 MP, f/2.45, 24mm (wide), 0.8µm, PDAF.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60fps, HDR; Front camera: 1440p@30fps, 1080p@30/60fps.
• Battery: 4000mAh; 45W wired, 50% in 15min (advertised).
• Connectivity: 5G; Wi-Fi 6; BT 5.2; NFC.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); stereo speakers;

There is little missing on this new flip phone and probably the most notable omission is any sort of ingress protection. We guess this is reserved for the flagship foldables, particularly the ones coming from Korea.

Unboxing the Tecno Phantom V Flip

The Tecno Phantom V Flip ships in a rather large box that contains a lot. First, you get the phone, of course. Then, you will find a 45W power adapter and a USB-C-to-A cable.

The retail bundle also contains a super cool case with a metal ring. While this case looks a lot like the ones Samsung is selling for the Z Flip5, this one has the two separate covers connected with a piece of vegan leather. And that same ribbon holds the big metal ring you can use to hold the phone on your finger or maybe hook it on something for reasons.