Tecno Phantom X2 review

HiOS 12 on top of Android 12

The Phantom X2 runs on Android 12 and Tecno's custom HiOS 12 on top of that, just like its Pro sibling. Tecno has been running and refining its own skin for some time now, which we've generally found to be quite good in the past, with a few on-and-off caveats here and there. These mostly come down to pre-installed bloat and ads. But, credit, where credit is due, the situation on both fronts appears to have gotten a lot better. The Phantom X2 didn't annoy us with pesky notifications and pushy offers nearly as much as some of its predecessors. The experience is actually pretty clean.

That's not to say there aren't many pre-installed apps and utilities. Tecno is still sticking to its traditions of developing and deploying its own set of apps to cover the basic features. You get an in-house gallery and video player and an app store, even two depending on how you count them. These can still get annoying at times, but we can understand the angle Tecno is coming from.

Hi Browser • AI Gallery • AI Gallery • Phone Master • AHA Games • Palm Store

If some of the third-party apps are bothering you with various notifications - you can disable those - either from within the annoying app or from the Notification settings.

Getting into the Phantom X2 is business as usual, with both fingerprint and face recognition available. You can have the fingerprint reader unlock with just a tap or require a press as well, and you can do that for face recognition as well.

Biometrics and security

The lockscreen has a single shortcut in the bottom right to access the camera. Once you're past that, you arrive at a standard homescreen interface. The leftmost pane, called the Zero screen, holds cards with suggested news, weather and quotes widgets and an app usage widget. You can disable the Zero screen in the 'Desktop settings'. There's an app drawer by default which you can access from the old-school A-Z orange icon at the bottom or with an upward swipe from the bottom.

Lockscreen • Homescreen • Zero screen • Folder view • App drawer • Task switcher

Themes are available as part of HiOS, and there is a dedicated Theme store for this purpose.

Hi Theme

Tecno has a long-standing selection of advanced features that generally get carried forward from older models. That includes the Game mode with all the settings, statistics and parental controls. There is also a Smart panel with slide-from-the-side shortcuts.

Social Turbo toolset is rather interesting (a WhatsApp enhancer of sorts) - it can change your voice, enhance your face during video calls, record your WhatsApp calls, and allow you to read messages without marking them as Read.

MemFusion is Tecno's name for virtual RAM. The Phantom X2 has 8GB of physical LPDDR5 RAM chips on board and can extend that up to 13GB with another 5GB of virtual memory. By default, MemFusion is set to 3GB.

MemFusion

The CarIcare aftersales assistance utility is also onboard, and you can fire it anytime if you encounter problems with your phone.

Special function menu • Game mode • Social Turbo • CarIcare • Smart Panel

If you want even more details about the HiOS, you can learn more in the software section of the Camon 16 Premier review. All the extra features outlined there are still present and relevant.

Performance and benchmarks

The Phantom X2 is rocking a flagship Dimensity 9000 4nm chipset. That's one of the ways Tecno is trying to push the envelope and enter flagship territory with the X2 line. MediaTek offers plenty of customizability on this chip, but Tecno is running it at stock speeds. The CPU configuration includes one ARM Cortex-X2 core running at up to 3.05 GHz, three Cortex-A710 ones clocked at up to 2.85 GHz and four Cortex-A510 cores at up to 1.8 GHz.

These are paired with a 10-core Mali-G710 MC10 GPU, clocked at 850 MHz. The Tecno Phantom X2 also comes with 256GB of fast UFS 3.1 storage and 8GB of physical fast LPDDR5 RAM. We're really happy to see LPDDR5 RAM in the Phantom X2. It's not that common to see.

Let's start with some CPU runs and GeekBench. Expectedly the Phantom X2 comes in very close in performance numbers to the Phantom X2 Pro. The Dimensity 9000 is also capable enough to compete with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• ROG Phone 6D (X Mode+)
  4631
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  4575
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  4265
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  4081
• Tecno Phantom X2
  4027
• Realme GT2 Explorer Master
  4021
• Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
  3984
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  3839
• Xiaomi 12T
  3756
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  3658
• ROG Phone 6D
  3531
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  3505
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  3458
• Sony Xperia 5 IV
  3448
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  3403
• OnePlus 10T
  3401
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  3395
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  3187
• Oppo Reno8
  2694
• vivo V25 Pro
  2521
• vivo V25
  2023
• Tecno Camon 19 Pro
  1734
• Tecno Phantom X
  1670

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• ROG Phone 6D (X Mode+)
  1399
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  1360
• Realme GT2 Explorer Master
  1336
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  1277
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  1276
• Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
  1248
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  1238
• Sony Xperia 5 IV
  1233
• Tecno Phantom X2
  1230
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  1196
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  1160
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  1073
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  1056
• OnePlus 10T
  1043
• ROG Phone 6D
  1015
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  1001
• Xiaomi 12T
  925
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  894
• vivo V25 Pro
  858
• vivo V25
  716
• Tecno Camon 19 Pro
  512
• Tecno Phantom X
  512
• Oppo Reno8
  493

Another interesting observation concerns devices like the Tecno Camon 19 and the original Phantom X. We can see that the Phantom X2 pair is in a different performance category compared to those devices with well over twice the raw CPU power.

AnTuTu, with its compound set of tests, also includes some GPU runs, among other things. It is also very favorable toward the Phantom X2. As expected, we find it surrounded and slightly outpaced by a few Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 phones.

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  1107464
• ROG Phone 6D (X Mode+)
  1104042
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  1074722
• Realme GT2 Explorer Master
  1045876
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  1032185
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  979921
• Tecno Phantom X2
  973623
• Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
  961576
• ROG Phone 6D
  948594
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  941895
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  940400
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  931170
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  838832
• Sony Xperia 5 IV
  835038
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  827929
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  796369
• OnePlus 10T
  786238
• Xiaomi 12T
  780204
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  718351
• vivo V25 Pro
  704090
• Oppo Reno8
  619610
• vivo V25
  461428
• Tecno Camon 19 Pro
  348546

The Dimensity 9000 and its Mali-G710 MC10 GPU can generally compete with Qualcomm's high-end chips in GPU rendering tasks as well. This is clearly evidenced by the GFXBench runs. The Adreno 730 inside the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 does outpace it in performance, but not drastically so.

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  65
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  63
• ROG Phone 6D (X Mode+)
  62
• ROG Phone 6D
  61
• Tecno Phantom X2
  60
• OnePlus 10T
  60
• Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
  59
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  59
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  59
• Realme GT2 Explorer Master
  59
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  52
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  51
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  50
• Sony Xperia 5 IV
  48
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  43
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  43
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  39
• vivo V25 Pro
  33
• Oppo Reno8
  31
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  26
• vivo V25
  16
• Tecno Phantom X
  12
• Tecno Camon 19 Pro
  8.1

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Realme GT2 Explorer Master
  46
• OnePlus 10T
  46
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  45
• ROG Phone 6D (X Mode+)
  45
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  45
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  45
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  43
• ROG Phone 6D
  43
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  43
• Tecno Phantom X2
  42
• Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
  42
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  39
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  32
• Sony Xperia 5 IV
  29
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  29
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  26
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  26
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  26
• Oppo Reno8
  22
• vivo V25 Pro
  21
• vivo V25
  11
• Tecno Phantom X
  7.8
• Tecno Camon 19 Pro
  5.7

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  64
• ROG Phone 6D
  64
• ROG Phone 6D (X Mode+)
  64
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  63
• Tecno Phantom X2
  62
• Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
  62
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  62
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  60
• OnePlus 10T
  60
• Realme GT2 Explorer Master
  59
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  58
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  55
• Sony Xperia 5 IV
  55
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  46
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  40
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  35
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  31
• Oppo Reno8
  30
• vivo V25 Pro
  28
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  25
• vivo V25
  15
• Tecno Phantom X
  11
• Tecno Camon 19 Pro
  7.5

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  51
• OnePlus 10T
  51
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  50
• Realme GT2 Explorer Master
  50
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  49
• ROG Phone 6D (X Mode+)
  48
• ROG Phone 6D
  46
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  45
• Tecno Phantom X2
  44
• Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
  44
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  44
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  43
• Sony Xperia 5 IV
  38
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  34
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  30
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  26
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  26
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  23
• Oppo Reno8
  20
• vivo V25 Pro
  19
• vivo V25
  10
• Tecno Phantom X
  7.4
• Tecno Camon 19 Pro
  5.3

As we go down lower in test intensity to some older OpenGL ES 3.1 and 3.0 scenarios within GFXBench, we can clearly see the Phantom X2 manages to push past the 60fps mark. It definitely has the GPU power to do so, but this also demonstrates that the phone handles its high refresh rate operation well enough to allow for apps to render at over 60fps. This is the behavior we observed with actual games, capable of higher frame rates as well.

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  78
• ROG Phone 6D (X Mode+)
  76
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  74
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  73
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  72
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  72
• Tecno Phantom X2
  71
• Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
  71
• ROG Phone 6D
  71
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  69
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  68
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  65
• Sony Xperia 5 IV
  63
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  62
• Realme GT2 Explorer Master
  60
• OnePlus 10T
  60
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  44
• Oppo Reno8
  42
• vivo V25 Pro
  42
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  34
• vivo V25
  21
• Tecno Phantom X
  17
• Tecno Camon 19 Pro
  11

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Realme GT2 Explorer Master
  103
• OnePlus 10T
  103
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  101
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  100
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  95
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  93
• ROG Phone 6D (X Mode+)
  90
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  89
• ROG Phone 6D
  84
• Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
  82
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  82
• Tecno Phantom X2
  80
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  79
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  76
• Sony Xperia 5 IV
  70
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  63
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  63
• Oppo Reno8
  51
• vivo V25 Pro
  48
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  46
• vivo V25
  26
• Tecno Phantom X
  20
• Tecno Camon 19 Pro
  15

In fact, we can see that in Manhattan 3.0 - the easiest GFXBench test we still keep around, the Phantom X2 manages to fully saturate its 120Hz display refresh rate on-screen, just like the Phantom X2 Pro.

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  124
• ROG Phone 6D (X Mode+)
  123
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  122
• ROG Phone 6D
  122
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  116
• Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
  115
• Sony Xperia 5 IV
  114
• Tecno Phantom X2
  113
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  113
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  111
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  103
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  97
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  82
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  72
• vivo V25 Pro
  67
• Realme GT2 Explorer Master
  60
• OnePlus 10T
  60
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  60
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  57
• Oppo Reno8
  55
• vivo V25
  37
• Tecno Phantom X
  28
• Tecno Camon 19 Pro
  20

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 10T
  183
• Realme GT2 Explorer Master
  182
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  179
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  178
• ROG Phone 6D (X Mode+)
  172
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  164
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  160
• ROG Phone 6D
  152
• Tecno Phantom X2
  148
• Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
  140
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  137
• Sony Xperia 5 IV
  132
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  126
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  121
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  114
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  108
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  97
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  81
• Oppo Reno8
  81
• vivo V25 Pro
  70
• vivo V25
  43
• Tecno Phantom X
  33
• Tecno Camon 19 Pro
  25

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  142
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  131
• ROG Phone 6D
  131
• ROG Phone 6D (X Mode+)
  130
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  129
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  121
• Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
  120
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  120
• Sony Xperia 5 IV
  120
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  119
• Tecno Phantom X2
  119
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  103
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  100
• vivo V25 Pro
  96
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  93
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  61
• Realme GT2 Explorer Master
  60
• OnePlus 10T
  60
• Oppo Reno8
  59
• vivo V25
  58
• Tecno Phantom X
  47
• Tecno Camon 19 Pro
  33

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 10T
  274
• Realme GT2 Explorer Master
  267
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  264
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  262
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  251
• ROG Phone 6D (X Mode+)
  244
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  230
• ROG Phone 6D
  210
• Tecno Phantom X2
  195
• Sony Xperia 5 IV
  187
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  186
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  178
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  178
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  172
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  170
• Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
  137
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  137
• Oppo Reno8
  124
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  99
• vivo V25 Pro
  98
• vivo V25
  66
• Tecno Phantom X
  54
• Tecno Camon 19 Pro
  39

3DMark paints a very similar graphical performance picture. As expected, the Phantom X2 managed to max out both older Slingshot and Slingshot Extreme test runs. The Dimensity 9000 really is a flagship chipset through and through.

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  10468
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  10248
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  9794
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  9406
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  8687
• ROG Phone 6D
  8666
• Sony Xperia 5 IV
  8560
• Tecno Phantom X2
  7691
• Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
  7499
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  6470
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  5797
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  5668
• Oppo Reno8
  4653
• vivo V25 Pro
  4497
• vivo V25
  2173
• Tecno Phantom X
  1501
• Tecno Camon 19 Pro
  1187

3DMark Wild Life Extreme (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  2753
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  2740
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate (X Mode+)
  2668
• ROG Phone 6D (X Mode+)
  2622
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  2599
• ROG Phone 6D
  2555
• Tecno Phantom X2
  2424
• Tecno Phantom X2 Pro
  2393
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  1835
• vivo V25
  612

In more practical terms, we had no issues with responsiveness and fluidity with HiOS on the Phantom X2. The ROM runs smoothly with practically no hiccups or slowdowns despite the fact that it is kind of on the heavy side when it comes to customization and features. The phone also chewed threw every task we threw at it with ease ranging from the mundane all the way up to heavy mobile gaming.

All things considered, the Phantom X2 pretty much aced its performance testing. Tecno did a great job integrating and making the most out of the Dimensity 9000 chipset. The chip itself is very potent and has plenty of power to throw around. Not only that, but it offers a modern feature set and connectivity to go along.