vivo X Flip review

Competition

It's debatable what the point is in going over the alternatives to the vivo X Flip since it's only going to be available in China. But comparisons can live outside of the context of helping with purchasing decisions, so let's see where this foldable stands.

The go-to small-size foldable for sale at the moment is probably the Galaxy Z Flip4. It loses to the X Flip in terms of cover screen usefulness, it's got the most prominent crease of all models of its kind, and it doesn't fold flat. The vivo is also the better cameraphone, and it's got longer battery life. Then again, the Galaxy does counter with a proper IPX8 rating, stereo speakers, and wireless charging.

Now, there's also the Galaxy Z Flip5 that's right around the corner, and it will come with a larger cover display and newer chipset, plus who knows what other improvements, so the balance could shift away from the vivo in this head-to-head.

Another global clamshell, the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra has the biggest cover display of them all, and it's the most fully functional one, too - pretty much everything you can do on the main display, you can also do on the second one - and with a high refresh rate too. The Moto's battery life is shorter, and its charging is marginally slower still than the already sluggish vivo, but you do get wireless charging on the Razr. There are also nicer, stereo speakers on the Moto, and some water protection. Once again, it's the vivo that would win a camera contest.

In the final battle, the one between the pair of China-only small foldables that also happen to be somewhat related, the Oppo Find N2 Flip comes with a slightly less capable camera system (a recurrent theme, given that the vivo has the best one on this page), worse battery life (but faster charging), and a somewhat less useful if a bit larger cover display. Vivo's Flip has a small advantage in performance over Oppo's Flip too. Overall, though, we'd pick the X over the N.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 • Motorola Razr 40 Ultra • Oppo Find N2 Flip

Verdict

Arriving late to the clamshell party, the vivo X Flip manages to get more things right on the first try, though it's not exactly perfect.

Video capture with the cover cameras when using the cover screen for framing is the biggest missed opportunity - 4K is disabled, there's no stabilization, and you can't access the ultrawide. We reckon these are fixable with a software update, but we wouldn't hold our collective breath.

Most of the X Flip's other shortcomings are built in (though technically they were built out) - the lack of stereo speakers is unacceptable at this level, and the competition is fitting wireless charging while vivo hasn't. The X Flip is also missing any explicit ingress protection, though we're still debating whether to hold that against it.

What's hardly disputable are the X Flip's strong points. It's got what we'd call the best camera system on a clamshell foldable - in terms of image quality and also maybe in the way it uses the cover display for photos. The battery life results are unrivaled among flippy smartphones, too, though the slow charging is a letdown.

The smooth internal display and gapless folding hinge have almost become the standard, though the fact that the Galaxy hasn't adopted them yet means we can still point them out as a plus on the X Flip. And it's a good-looking handset too, if not as striking as a Razr.

We can't have nice things - or at least not all of them. But China can, and the vivo X Flip is one of those nice things that we'd be happy to have too. Maybe the next generation?

Pros

• Good-looking on the outside, almost creaseless on the inside.
• Class-leading battery life.
• Very useful cover screen implementation for photos.
• Possibly the best all-around camera on a clamshell foldable.

Cons

• Relatively slow charging.
• Video capture with the rear cameras and the cover display isn't as well-implemented as it could be.
• No stereo speakers.
• No wireless charging.