Foldable phones have surged in popularity, captivating tech enthusiasts and mobile users alike. While brands like Samsung, Huawei, and Xiaomi have dominated the foldable market, Tecno’s entrance with its Phantom V Fold2 aims to disrupt the foldable landscape. With a strong focus on innovation, design, and affordability, Tecno has captured attention with this second-generation foldable device. In this detailed review, we explore everything that makes the Tecno Phantom V Fold2 stand out, from its design to performance, camera, and software experience.
Design and Build Quality
One of the first things that you’ll notice about the Tecno Phantom V Fold2 is its futuristic and elegant design. Tecno has clearly worked hard to offer a foldable phone that looks premium and feels just as luxurious in your hands as any other high-end foldable from competitors.
Exterior Display and Construction
When folded, the Phantom V Fold2 features a compact outer display that makes it feel like a regular, sleek smartphone. The front display is made of a durable Corning Gorilla Glass Victus panel, giving it protection against minor scratches and drops. The 6.5-inch AMOLED display on the outside offers vibrant colors, deep contrasts, and high brightness levels that make using the phone outdoors a pleasure. With slim bezels and a small punch-hole camera, Tecno ensures that the front looks clean and modern.
The hinge is another significant component of any foldable smartphone, and the Phantom V Fold2 does not disappoint. The hinge on this device is sturdy and feels well-engineered. Unlike earlier foldables that had a noticeable gap when folded, Tecno has minimized the gap, offering a more flush design. The hinge movement is smooth, and it’s robust enough to hold the device at various angles—ideal for using the phone in a semi-folded mode for content consumption or video calls.
Interior Foldable Display
Opening the Tecno Phantom V Fold2 reveals a stunning 8.03-inch foldable AMOLED display. This screen is the star of the show, with minimal creasing that is barely noticeable during daily use. Tecno has made significant advancements in reducing the crease visibility, providing a seamless viewing experience.
The 120Hz refresh rate makes scrolling through the UI fluid, while the colors pop thanks to the AMOLED’s superior contrast levels. With a resolution of 2200 x 1840 pixels, the display is sharp and perfect for watching videos, gaming, and reading.
The foldable nature of the display allows users to enjoy a tablet-sized screen on the go without sacrificing portability. Whether you’re browsing the web, editing photos, or playing high-definition games, the large screen real estate feels like an upgrade from traditional smartphones.
Durability and Fold Mechanism
Durability is always a concern with foldable devices, and Tecno has taken steps to address this. The Phantom V Fold2’s frame is constructed from aerospace-grade aluminum, making it both lightweight and durable. The hinge has been tested to endure thousands of folds without degrading the performance or compromising the structural integrity of the device. However, as with any foldable, it’s always wise to handle the device with care, especially when it comes to dust or liquid exposure.
Tecno offers an IPX8 water resistance rating, meaning the device can withstand submersion in water for short periods, but it is still not dust-proof. Keeping it away from sandy environments or environments where debris could get into the hinge mechanism is recommended.
Display Performance and Features
The Phantom V Fold2 is a foldable phone that impresses with its displays—both the external and internal screens are vibrant, responsive, and packed with features designed to enhance user experience.
External Display
The 6.5-inch AMOLED display on the front is ideal for one-handed use. With a high brightness level of 1200 nits, it remains easy to view even in direct sunlight. The external screen supports a 120Hz refresh rate, providing fluidity in swiping, scrolling, and navigating through apps. This makes the outer display perfect for quick tasks, messaging, and checking notifications without needing to unfold the phone fully.
Despite being smaller than the foldable display inside, the outer screen feels just as premium. Watching videos or browsing social media on the external display is a pleasant experience, and it’s more than enough for regular smartphone tasks.
Internal Foldable Display
Unfolding the Phantom V Fold2 is where the magic happens. The 8.03-inch AMOLED screen is a true showstopper, offering immersive visuals that rival premium tablets. The large, tablet-like form factor provides ample space for multitasking, making productivity apps, gaming, and entertainment more enjoyable.
Tecno has implemented adaptive refresh rate technology that dynamically adjusts the refresh rate based on the content displayed. This means you get a smooth 120Hz for fast-paced games and videos, but the refresh rate lowers during static tasks to conserve battery life.
The inner display also supports HDR10+, ensuring deeper blacks and more vibrant colors, which makes media consumption incredibly rich and detailed. Whether you’re streaming a 4K movie or playing high-definition mobile games, the screen delivers exceptional quality.
Performance and Hardware
The Tecno Phantom V Fold2 comes packed with impressive hardware that ensures it can handle anything you throw at it, from demanding apps to heavy multitasking.
Processor and RAM
Powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 10000+ chipset, the Phantom V Fold2 is no slouch when it comes to performance. The Dimensity 10000+ is a high-end SoC built on a 4nm process, offering improved efficiency and performance over previous chipsets. It’s comparable to Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon chips, providing powerful CPU and GPU capabilities.
The Phantom V Fold2 is equipped with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM, ensuring that multitasking is seamless. Whether you’re switching between apps or using multiple windows in split-screen mode, the device handles it without breaking a sweat. Apps launch quickly, and there’s no noticeable lag, even when running graphics-heavy games.
Storage Options
The Phantom V Fold2 offers two storage options: 256GB and 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage. The UFS 4.0 technology ensures faster read/write speeds, contributing to quicker app installations and file transfers. The device does not support microSD card expansion, so users will need to choose a storage variant that suits their needs.
With the 512GB option, you have ample space for storing 4K videos, high-resolution photos, and large apps or games.
Camera Setup and Performance
Tecno has made significant strides in camera technology with the Phantom V Fold2, offering a versatile camera system that takes sharp, vibrant photos in a range of conditions.
Rear Camera System
The Tecno Phantom V Fold2 features a triple-camera setup on the rear:
- 50MP Main Camera – Equipped with an f/1.9 aperture and OIS (Optical Image Stabilization), this sensor captures detailed shots with excellent dynamic range. The colors are accurate, and the camera performs well in both bright and low-light conditions.
- 12MP Ultra-Wide Camera – The ultra-wide sensor offers a 123-degree field of view, making it perfect for landscape shots or capturing larger groups. The distortion correction is effective, and the details remain sharp even at the edges of the frame.
- 10MP Telephoto Lens – The telephoto lens provides 3x optical zoom, allowing you to capture distant subjects without losing quality. Combined with digital zoom, it can go up to 30x, though results are best up to 10x.
Night Mode and Low Light Performance
Tecno has invested in improving the night mode capabilities of the Phantom V Fold2. Photos taken in low-light conditions are bright, with minimal noise and excellent detail retention. The night mode uses multi-frame processing to combine several shots, reducing motion blur and improving image clarity.
Video Recording
The Phantom V Fold2 is capable of recording 4K video at 60fps, delivering smooth and detailed video footage. Both the main and ultra-wide cameras support 4K recording, allowing for versatile video capture. The presence of OIS and EIS (Electronic Image Stabilization) ensures that videos remain steady even during handheld shooting.
Front Cameras
Tecno hasn’t skimped on the selfie cameras either. The front punch-hole camera on the external display is a 32MP sensor that takes high-quality selfies, with natural skin tones and good detail. On the internal foldable display, Tecno has included a 16MP under-display camera for video calls. While not as sharp as the main front-facing camera, the under-display camera is adequate for basic video calls without being intrusive on the display itself.
Software Experience
The software experience on the Phantom V Fold2 is a blend of innovation and functionality. Tecno’s custom skin, HiOS Fold, is optimized for foldable devices, ensuring that users can make the most of the unique form factor.
HiOS Fold Customizations
HiOS Fold is a tailored version of Tecno’s HiOS, designed to optimize multitasking and productivity on a foldable device. It includes features such as:
- Multi-window support – You can run up to three apps simultaneously on the large foldable display, making it perfect for multitasking. Switching between apps is smooth, and resizing windows is intuitive.
- App Continuity – This feature allows users to seamlessly switch between the outer and inner displays. For example, you can start watching a video on the outer screen and unfold the device to continue watching it on the larger screen without interruption.
- Floating Windows – HiOS Fold supports floating windows, which is useful for quickly checking messages or browsing the web while watching a video or editing