This comes as a surprise to us. I am talking about the TECNO POVA Metal Tonino Lamborghini Limited Edition, the supposedly “world’s first full-metal unibody 5G phone.” It turns out to have been a concept all along. TECNO revealed it at MWC in March, and now, at IFA, it has been launched as the POVA 8 Pro 5G Tonino Lamborghini Limited Edition.
And no, it is not a thin device, but man, at 7.39 mm (0.29 inches), it would still be the envy of most phones today. The highlight here is, of course, its marriage with the Italian lifestyle house, blending Italian design cues with serious mobile power. But let’s talk design first.
The phone wears Tonino Lamborghini’s signature black-and-red palette, complete with a Pulse Line inspired by mechanical precision and a hexagonal pattern representing strength and endurance. A dual-layer rear panel uses tiny internal mirrors to redirect light, causing its red elements to appear and disappear as the phone moves.
A metallic Tonino Lamborghini shield anchors the rear, while the collaboration continues inside with customized icons, a black-and-red interface, a bespoke boot animation, and even an exclusive ringtone. The rear Alive Matrix Display can also show a personalized “L” signature, just in case the metallic badge has not sufficiently informed everyone that yours is the fancy one.
Beneath all that Italian drama is a MediaTek Dimensity 7400 Ultimate processor paired with TECNO’s P1 graphics chip. The latter helps supported games reach up to 144 fps, while heavier titles such as Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail can run at up to 90 fps. A 5,000 mm² vapor chamber and nine-layer cooling system attempt to prevent the whole performance from becoming authentically Mediterranean in temperature.
The 6.78-inch 1.5K AMOLED display refreshes at 144 Hz, reaches a claimed 4,500 nits of peak brightness, and offers a 2,800 Hz instantaneous touch-sampling rate. Wet and oily finger recognition keeps it responsive in rain, during workouts, or when you insist on gaming immediately after eating fried chicken.
Power comes from a surprisingly large 6,500mAh battery. TECNO says it can operate between −20°C and 60°C (−4°F and 140°F) and retain over 80% of its health after 2,000 charging cycles, equivalent to around six years of use.
Photography is handled by a 50-megapixel Sony LYTIA 700C main camera with OIS and 2× lossless zoom, accompanied by an 8-megapixel ultrawide and a 13-megapixel selfie camera. AI tools can summarize YouTube videos, cancel background voices, remove reflections and shadows from photos, assist with writing, and generate custom themes. Selected markets also receive a face-scanning health feature that estimates several health metrics, though it is explicitly not a medical device.
The POVA 8 Pro is protected by Gorilla Glass 7i and carries IP66, IP68, IP69, and IP69K ratings, along with SGS 5-Star Drop Resistance certification. It runs HiOS 16 and is promised two major Android upgrades plus three years of security updates.
Pricing and availability for the TECNO POVA 8 Pro 5G Tonino Lamborghini Limited Edition have not been announced.
Images: TECNO.
