Vivo recently hosted its first ‘Tech Day’ in India where it showcased past camera innovations, 5G connectivity, and its colour changing technology. However, despite a heavy focus on innovation, the main star of the show was its foldable smartphone. The Vivo X Fold might not be getting a debut in India just yet, but it nevertheless made its presence felt at the event. I managed to get my hands on Vivo’s foldable smartphone for around an hour and here are my thoughts.
2/8
The back of the Vivo X Fold very-much resembles the rear panel of the Vivo X80 Pro (Review). The X Fold retains the circular camera housing with the large island and Zeiss branding of the Vivo X80 Pro. However, that is where the similarities end as the X Fold is much clunkier thanks to the foldable form factor. The Vivo X Fold is offered in Blue and Black colour options with a leatherette-covered rear panel, which gives the device a premium feel. In my brief experience with the device, I’d say the panel was quite resistant to fingerprint smudges and felt easy to grip.
3/8
Looks apart, the Vivo X Fold is pretty durable with an “Aerospace-Grade Hinge” that incorporates six different materials. Vivo claims that this makes it “76 percent stronger than ordinary materials”, although that statement feels quite vague and is 21 times more resistant to corrosion. Vivo also notes that even after folding and unfolding the device 300,000 times, the “depth and width of the crease remains within the acceptable range”. The Vivo X Fold is also the first smartphone to pass TUV Rheinland’s “Reliable Folding” certification. It is worth noting the phone does feel heavier than the Galaxy Z Fold 4 (Review) and I feel the crease is less visible here. There’s also a layer of UTG (ultra-thin glass) protecting the inner display.
4/8
The Vivo X Fold boasts a 6.53-inch outer OLED display with a 2,520x1,080-pixel resolution. When unfolded, the Vivo X Fold’s main OLED screen measures 8.03 inches diagonally. Both panels support a 120Hz refresh rate, although the internal screen uses LTPO technology to offer refresh rates between 1Hz to 120Hz. The display supports HDR10+ and a 100 percent DCI-P3 colour gamut. The main folding screen on the X Fold was slightly larger than that of the Galaxy Z Fold 4. Additionally, the cover screen’s 21:9 aspect ratio makes the phone very easy to use as a regular smartphone when unfolded. Vivo’s first foldable phone also comes with a 3D ultrasonic dual-screen fingerprint sensor.
For performance, the Vivo X Fold is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC paired with 12GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage. The handset runs on Android 12 with Vivo's OriginOS Ocean on top. The Vivo X Fold packs a 4,600 mAh battery and comes with 66W wired charging support. Moreover, it also supports 50W wireless fast charging and 10W reverse wireless charging. OriginOS, the operating system that Vivo uses in China instead of FuntouchOS seems relatively clean and smooth to navigate through. But I wasn’t able to test the performance and battery life of the X Fold.
6/8
When it comes to optics, the Vivo X Fold has a formidable setup with a 50 MP Samsung GN5 sensor at the helm. The main camera is paired with a 48 MP ultrawide shooter, a 12 MP portrait lens, and a 5 MP periscope camera. Both the main and rear cameras support OIS. Additionally, the Vivo X Fold’s cameras come with ZEISS branding and T* lens coating. The Vivo X Fold has two 16 MP selfie cameras, one of the cover screen and another on the internal display, although these aren’t hidden underneath the panel. As formidable as the setup maybe here, we didn’t get a chance to put the cameras through their paces, but you can expect solid results as the setup is quite similar to that of the Vivo X80 Pro.
7/8
In my ‘very’ brief time with the Vivo X Fold, it is safe to say that the device was quite impressive. As far as first attempts at folding smartphones go, Vivo is off to a flying start. The Vivo X Fold has all the functionality of the Galaxy Z Fold 4, while maintaining a comparable build. Additionally, the X Fold also has a ton of neat camera tricks to full utilize the folding form factor, although it might not be to the same extent as the Galaxy Z Fold 4. As far as foldable smartphones go, I think there’s a very little missing here, if anything, although my experience with the X Fold didn’t last more than an hour.
8/8
I think the Vivo X Fold ticks all the right boxes and feels like an excellent addition the foldable smartphone market, capable of giving the Z Fold 4 a run for its money. However, Samsung still reigns king for now and with good reason. It is worth noting that the Vivo X Fold isn’t available in India at the moment and I’ve yet to here of plans to bring the device to the country. The base (12GB+256GB) variant of the Vivo X Fold will cost CNY 8999 (Approx. Rs 1,07,500) and the fully-loaded (12GB+256GB) variant of the phone will set you back CNY 9999 (Approx. Rs 1,19,400).
