Tecno Phantom V Fold review

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 Then again, it was in the X80 Pro and the the X90 Pro has moved on from it, so maybe that exclusivity is no longer applicable.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 rear camera selfie photos and video. Above the shutter release button you'll find the rear/front camera toggle, and above that one is the switch that moves the entire fully-functional UI to the front screen.

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