vivo X Flip review

Introduction

Is it foldables season at GSMArena or what? It sure feels like it is raining phones that bend in half left and right. We have here the X Flip, vivo's first attempt at a clamshell-style handset. No stranger to bendy phones, the company is at gen two of the phone-turns-tablet design, but the X Flip only now joins the likes of the Galaxy Z Flip and Motorola Razr to battle for the hearts of smaller phone lovers.

There's a catch, though - the X Flip, much like the X Fold2 and X Fold will not be leaving China. So while we're happy to have one in our hands for review to see where vivo stands in comparison to the others in the field, the X Flip's viability as a potential purchase from a Westerner's perspective is questionable at best. But proceed we shall, anyway.

The X Flip joins the clamshell crowd in what can almost be called its maturity and as such, has done a few things right on the first try - things which Samsung, for one, is only poised to address for the Z Flip5. The cover display is the first of those, a nice 3-inch unit that's not quite as large as the Razr 40 Ultra's or even the Find N2 Flip, but still way better than Samsung's current one. Also spot on from the get-go is the internal display - an almost creaseless 6.74-inch LTPO OLED with a nicely adaptive refresh rate.

While hardly an industry-leading cameraphone - foldables don't normally come close - vivo's X Flip features a very promising dual setup that's got the potential to be the best on a clamshell as a whole. Let's hope they haven't botched the cover screen implementation - we'll see about that.

Last year's best Snapdragon is in charge, same as on the Razr 40 Ultra and the Z Flip4, though the soon-to-be-released next-gen Galaxy will feature the next-gen Snapdragon - but the X Flip's SD 8+ Gen 1 should be good enough, really. The 4,400mAh battery sounds better than merely 'good enough', though the lack of wireless charging is admittedly a blemish on an otherwise solid specsheet. Also missing is any mention of dust and water resistance, leaving the Galaxies as the only foldables that can certifiably survive a dunk in a jar of water.

vivo X Flip specs at a glance:

• Body: 166.4x75.3x7.8mm, 198g; aluminum frame.
• Display: 6.74" Foldable LTPO AMOLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1080x2520px resolution, 21:9 aspect ratio, 407ppi; Cover display:, AMOLED, 3 inches, 422 x 682 pixels, 14.5:9 ratio.
• Chipset: Qualcomm SM8475 Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 (4 nm): Octa-core (1x3.0 GHz Cortex-X2 & 3x2.5 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4x1.80 GHz Cortex-A510); Adreno 730.
• Memory: 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
• OS/Software: Android 13, OriginOS 3.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.8, 23mm, 1/1.49", 1.0µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, Laser AF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 12 MP, f/2.2, 16mm, 106˚, 1/2.93", 1.22µm, Dual Pixel PDAF.
• Front camera: 32 MP, f/2.5, (wide).
• Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60fps; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
• Battery: 4400mAh; 44W wired.
• Connectivity: 5G; Dual SIM; Wi-Fi 6; BT 5.3, aptX HD; NFC.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted).

vivo X Flip unboxing

Our X Flip arrived in an oversized silverish box that's a lot fancier than what the Galaxies ship in, though it's similar in poshness to the Find N2 Flip's. Inside, you'll find a two-piece snap-on protective cover with a particularly tacky golden periphery, a 44W adapter and a USB-A-to-C cable.

Comparing against other offerings in the field, we'd call this a standard bundle. We'd use the opportunity to once again single out the Galaxy for its barebones cable-only retail package. The vivo (alongside its somewhat related Oppo counterpart) could take a little bit of criticism for an overly voluminous presentation, while the Razr 40 Ultra's middle-ground approach of fitting everything necessary in a reasonably-sized box seems the most sensible.