vivo X Flip in for review

Say hello to the vivo X Flip - the maker's first attempt at a clamshell foldable, and one that looks the part from all angles.

It ships in a big box that packs a 44W charger, a USB cable, and a two-piece transparent case that doesn't hide the phone's design.

vivo goes head-on with other clamshell foldable on the market with the X Flip. It's a bit bigger than the Galaxy Z Flip4 but affords the vivo bigger displays, and a bigger battery.

The cover display, in particular, is much more useful than the Galaxy's. It's a 3-inch panel that fits its own version of Android with a set of apps and widgets. It's not as full-featured as Motorola's take, but it's leaps and bounds ahead of Samsung's. And, it's a joy to take main-cam selfies on.

Still, the Razr 40 Ultra has an even bigger 3.6-inch cover screen that fits a bit more.

The 3-inch cover display

The folding display is a 6.74-inch 120Hz AMOLED panel of 21:9 aspect. It's a tad smaller than the Razr 40 Ultra's display, but it's more conventional in its aspect (the Motorola is a narrower 22:9).

The vivo X Flip is a zippy phone, thanks to a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip, fast UFS 3.1 storage, and vivo's Origin OS.

For cameras, the X Flip packs the standard main and ultrawide, but both sensors have phase detect autofocus and Zeiss tuning.

The vivo X Flip has the biggest battery among its peers at 4,400mAh - that's quite a bit more than the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra, and Galaxy Z Flip4, and even larger than the likes of the Huawei Pocket S, and Oppo Find N2 Flip.

Finally, the vivo X Flip is a handsome phone. We received the Gold model and it's a gentle cream color with flame-like accents when the light hits it right.

The phone is also nicely tapered and curved on all sides, making it a comfortable device to have in your hand.

A unique look

vivo's first clamshell is a great addition to the segment. And even if hopeful buyers outside of China won't be able to get one, we'll still run our usual set of test to find out how far vivo has come.