Read update
You may not have heard about Tecno just yet, but the company has been making a name for itself withstrikingly designed phonesand animpossibly cheap foldablefor a while now. The latest to come from the Chinese upstart is a flip-style phone, which was introduced during its big “Flip in Style” Singapore launch event today. The Phantom V Flip wants to undercut the competition in price, all while still providing an uncompromised experience. I’ve gone hands on with the incredibly priced V Flip — roughly $600 — to find out if that’s indeed the case.
A smartwatch slapped on your phone
The Phantom V Flip looks just like you’d expect a flip phone to look, though it’s clear it’s not giving you the latest and greatest hardware ideas. Rather than a big, usable screen on the outside like you can find on theSamsung Galaxy Z Flip 5or theMoto Razr+, it just has a small 1.32-inch circular OLED screen embedded into its camera array, offering a 60Hz refresh rate at 466x466.
It certainly gives it a unique look, but the screen is arguably a lot less useful. It’s reminiscent of a smartwatch, as you can swipe through an array of widgets, including quick access to the camera for selfies, but you can forget about running full-sized apps on it.
The V Fold will also show you notifications with some predefined answer options on it. Other gestures let you access some quick settings toggles, music controls, and more, but all this simply isn’t on par with the latest developments. Instead, Tecno resorts to its own version of memojis and digital pets that you can show off on that screen.
On the inside, a foldable 6.9-inch 1080x2640 screen with a refresh rate of 120Hz awaits you. It has an elongated 22:9 aspect ratio, just like what we see on the Galaxy Z Flip 5. In contrast to Tecno’s book-style foldable, this one supports Flex Mode positions, allowing you to leave it open in half-folded positions.
This lets you take stable pictures without a tripod and enables fun features like Google Meet controls and playback controls on the bottom half. The crease between the top and bottom portions of the screen is definitely visible and noticeable to the touch, though I’m sure you’d stop noticing it after using the phone for a while, just like on other foldables. That’s not to say that virtually crease-free phones like theOppo N2 Fliparen’t what manufacturers should be striving for.
The hinge and materials are a big step-up for Tecno
The big, circular camera array with its small display has another disadvantage. When using the V Flip unfolded, it’s slightly top-heavy, making it more dangerous than I’d like it to use in one hand. The camera array is also big enough to get in the way when I hold the phone, with my index finger touching the glass and leaving unsightly prints all over it.
Thankfully, the cameras are arranged at the top of the circular glass panel, but I intuitively want to attempt to avoid touching it. Other phones have cameras all over their backs, so I’ve learned to try to avoid touching these parts. I also wish the power button with its integrated fingerprint scanner was just a tad further below on the rail, making it easier to reach. In the grand scheme of things, this is nitpicking, but definitely something to be aware of with this phone.
The hinge action on the foldable also feels fairly robust and reliable, though I don’t love how loose both halves of the phone feel when I’m moving the hinge. I don’t want to critique this too much right now, though, since I was only able to go hands-on with a pre-production unit. Stay tuned for my full review to get the full picture here.
One thing I really like about the Phantom V Flip is its lychee-pattern leather material. It feels great on both the black and “Mystic Dawn” purple variants, and is a big step-up compared to the outright bad fake leather used on the Phantom V Fold. It’s good at repelling fingerprints and concealing smaller scratches and wear that a glass back would inevitably pick up.
Tecno Phantom V Flip
Moving on to the interior hardware, you’re looking at a Mediatek Dimensity 8050 for the CPU, 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. The V Flip’s 4,000mAh is fairly big for the form factor, and it supports charging at up to 45W with an included charger. The camera system consists of a 64MP primary and a 13MP ultra wide, sadly without optical image stabilization on board. The inner selfie camera offers 32MP.
Tecno needs to prove it can provide reliable software updates
One thing that makes me worry about the long-term viability of the V Flip is the fact that the company hasn’t talked about software updates at all. When I retrieved Tecno’s book style foldable from my drawer for some comparisons a month ago or so, it still didn’t have any updates pending at all after my review in April this year, with a vastly outdated security patch still on it.
Whether you find monthly software updates annoying or not, a phone that runs such an outdated security patch is just waiting for a hack to happen, and until Tecno offers better update support, I’m reluctant to recommend its phones. Regular security patches are vital to ensure your safety online, and given how ubiquitous the internet has become for every part of our lives, we absolutely need phones with up-to-date security. Other manufacturers have long understood how important this is, and that it is something that makes a difference for customers.
For what it’s worth, Tecno shared with me that it’s promising two major Android updates for two years and three years of security updates when I asked.
Overall, the Tecno Phantom V Flip may not win you over with raw power and delicate engineering or design, but rather with its price. In India, the phone is launching at INR 49,999, which is roughly $600. This is an early bird price, so there may be a price increase down the line, but even at $100 more, the Phantom V Flip would be without much competition, with most competitors costing you more than $1,000 at launch. This allows you to get your hands on a novel form factor that is otherwise not as easily obtainable.
At the same time, we need to remember that the regular Moto Razr 2023 is just £800, which is £250 cheaper than the higher-end Moto Razr+ we reviewed. It’s difficult to compare prices directly given that they’re released in vastly different markets. Tecno may not have much competition in the cheap book-style foldable market, but it looks like the flip market will be a very different beast and a completely different nut to crack, especially as more companies are eager to move the technology to a cheaper price point fast.
Like so manygreat folding phones, the Phantom V Flip is not coming to the US, at least officially. You might be able to import it, but as always, you may not be able to use it to its full extent on US networks. Tecno will launch it in more markets than just India going forward, too.
UPDATE: 2025-07-29 5:09 EST BY MANUEL VONAU
Updated with software support details
We’ve updated the article with Tecno’s software support promise, which the company confirmed to us after the launch.
The Tecno Phantom V Flip wants to undercut the competition in price, all while being a fashionable and competitive flip-style folding phone in its own right. The cirular front display may not be the most useful one compared to the bigger screens other foldables have, but it’s a design option no one else matches.
