Foldables, after selling at exorbitant rates are finally coming down the pricing ladder. Flip phones, in general, can be bought for around Rs 60,000 — and that is what you will need to shell out for the recently launched Moto Razr 40. But, the latest offering from Tecno, the Phantom V Flip is priced at a mouthwatering early bird price of Rs 49,999 — making it the cheapest flip phone in the Indian market. We spent some time with the device, here are our first impressions.
Tecno Phantom V Flip First Impressions: Pricing and availability in India
The Phantom V Flip will be sold at an early bird price of Rs 49,999 in India. The actual retail pricing of the lone 8GB + 256GB is still under the curtains. We will update this article as soon as we know, so stay tuned. The foldable will be available on Amazon India starting October 1st.
Tecno Phantom V Flip First Impressions
There’s no doubt the flip phones look stunning and the Phantom V Flip is no different. It looks quite attractive in the Mystic Dawn which uses a purple shade, much like that of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 (Review) — but with a vegan leather finish that is well-constructed and feels premium to the touch. Moreover, it helps with griping the device. The foldable is also available in a black hue. The back panel has a little ‘V’ logo at the end with a texture fit for fidget, but from a design perspective, it looks out of place. At 194 grams, the weight of the phone is well distributed.
The right side of the device features the volume rocker and a power button which doubles up as a fingerprint sensor. On the bottom, you get the USB Type-C port, speaker grille and primary microphone. The phone misses out on any sort of IP rating.
The top half of the phone features a big circular module that sports a 1.32-inch display and a dual camera setup. With a circular outer display, the Phantom V Flip stands out in the flip community, but the display is limited. It looks big at first glance, but a lesser screen estate is being offered. The display module does not protrude much but both, the outer and main displays are easily prone to fingerprint smudges. The number of times we had to wipe it down just for a photo cannot be counted on our fingers.
While other phones let you run full-blown apps, here you can access shortcuts such as quick settings, camera, music, fitness stuff, quick replies, and more. But hey, at half the price of the Galaxy Z Flip 5 (Review), not many will be complaining.
Tecno has also introduced a bunch of interactive 3D pet animations that look quite adorable. But, we still prefer Moo on the Razr series. The AMOLED display gets bright enough for outdoor usage at a peak brightness of 800 nits. The hinge, for this price, is surprisingly very good. We tried this besides a Moto Razr 40 Ultra (First Impressions), and the hinge feels smoother on the Phantom.
The magnets are strong, so opening it up with a single hand is tough unless you jam your thumb in to do the deed. When folded, the hinge shows the Phantom branding. Also, just like the latest generation of foldables, the Phantom V Flip also sits flush leaving only a little gap between the two halves. Tecno claims the phone can last 200,000 folds.
The main display is a sizeable 6.9-inch panel with a resolution of 1080×2640 pixels. The 120Hz refresh rate helps with smoother usage. As per our initial impressions, the display produces vivid colours and has a peak brightness of 1000nits. We will be testing the display further in our review.
The crease on the main display is not prominent, but can still be a good fidget tool. The top of the phone sports a hole punch notch which uses a 32-megapixel selfie camera. Speaking of cameras, the rear module features a 64-megapixel RGBW primary camera and a 13-megapixel ultra-wide camera. It also uses a quad flash at the back.
The Phantom V Flip is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 8050 processor. The same chipset can be found on the Infinix GT10 Pro and even Tecno’s Camon 20 series (Review). The foldable runs on HiOS 13.5 based on Android 13.
The phone comes with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. You get a 4,000mAh battery with 45W charging. This is faster than the Moto Razr series and the Galaxy Z Flip 5.
Initial Thoughts
The fact that a foldable smartphone will be launched around the Rs 50,000 price tag is still unimaginable considering that a couple of years ago, this wouldn’t have been possible. But, it’s good to see the prices for foldables coming down. This would entice more people to opt for a foldable smartphone, hence, democratising the category.
While Tecno obviously had to cut down corners with the outer display, but the Phantom V Flip comes across as a promising device. We are more interested in seeing the performance and the battery life of the device when we put it through daily rigour. Stay tuned to MySmartPrice for its detailed review.
