vivo V40 review

The competition

The MSRP for a vivo V40 in Europe starts at around €500, and the base variant for Europe is the 256GB/8GB model. The higher-tier 512GB/12GB one is going for around €690 at the time of writing, which is a hefty markup. India gets a 128GB/8GB variant as well for around INR 32,000, with the 256GB/8GB one costing around INR 35,700 and about INR 41,600 for the top 512GB/12GB model, which is a more reasonable pricing. Still, that's not an insignificant amount of money to pay for a phone, and it's kind of on the higher end of the midrange segment.

As mentioned, curvy displays and overly curvy phones, like the V40, are no longer the norm. Still, Motorola's Edge series continues to thrive with this design language. You could save significant money by going for the Edge 50 Fusion. However, the Edge 50 Pro is definitely the more direct competitor here. It offers a premium build with IP68 ingress protection, a quality 6.7-inch, dual-curved, 144Hz, HDR10+ display and a Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chipset. The Edge 50 Pro is also a heavy hitter in the camera department. It has a 50MP main camera with laser autofocus and OIS, plus an autofocusing ultrawide and a large 50MP autofocusing selfie, like the vivo V40. However, it also adds a 10MP 3x telephoto to the list.

Motorola Edge 50 Pro • Xiaomi 14T • Samsung Galaxy A55

Xiaomi has a few interesting offers in this price segment and plenty of good, cheaper alternatives as well. If you want to save a few bucks and still get a very solid experience, you can go for something like the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ or the ever-popular Redmi Note 13 Pro.

You can also step up to the Xiaomi 14T. It offers a superb build with IP68 ingress protection, an amazing 6.67-inch, 144Hz, Dolby Vision, a very bright display and a powerful Dimensity 8300 Ultra chipset. The Leica-backed camera setup is solid, although perhaps not quite as versatile as the one on the V40 due to the lack of autofocus on the ultrawide and the selfie. Still, you get a 50MP main, a 50MP telephoto, a 12MP ultrawide, and a 32MP selfie.

Over in camp Samsung, you can go for something solid like the Galaxy A55. It has great build quality and support, an awesome display, and a decent 6.6-inch, 120Hz, HDR10+ Super AMOLED panel. The camera setup isn't quite as fancy as the one on the vivo.

Our verdict

Vivo's V series has always been an intriguing line of devices. The V models tend to reside at the pricier end of the mid-range spectrum. While the focus has been shifting and shuffling over the years, V models have generally always focused on the camera and, particularly, the selfie camera experience. The V40 is no different. The camera setup is one of the clear highlights of this device, particularly the large 50MP autofocusing selfie.

The V40 also has a gorgeous, bright, curvy AMOLED panel that stands out in the current predominantly flat-screened smartphone space. The phone also offers solid and very stable mid-range performance, thanks to the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chipset and excellent cooling setup. But all of this can also be had with last year's V30.

The really exciting bits this year are the long-awaited introduction of a stereo speaker setup, which we missed last year (a great-sounding one at that). And the upgrade to IP68/IP69 ingress protection. Building upon the already impressive battery life of the V30, the V40 comes with an even larger 5,500 mAh battery, though this somehow resulted in the same endurance rating across our tests, with the only improvement being the gaming.

The vivo V40 is a solid, well-rounded package. It sucks that vivo removed the charger from the retail box this year. There is also a bit of uncertainty regarding vivo's commitment to software support as nothing has been announced yet. The V40 might get three, but it is more likely to only get two major OS updates, eventually. And, of course, the V40 remains on the pricier end of the spectrum.

The vivo V40 is a solid and well-rounded device with very few, if any, major omissions. If cameras are a big priority for you, particularly selfie camera performance, then you should definitely have it on your shortlist. Anyone else might benefit from checking out some of the available alternatives, but definitely won't be disappointed with a V40.

Pros

• Excellent, bright AMOLED with a 120Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ support.
• Newly-added, nice-sounding stereo speaker system.
• Newly-added IP68/IP69 ingress protection rating.
• Larger battery and outstanding battery life.
• Stable performance with very little thermal-throttling.
• Great all-around camera performance.

Cons

• Our regional version didn't get a charger in the box.
• No chipset and performance upgrade since last year.
• Virtual proximity sensor.
• A bit on the pricey end.