The Vivo X Fold2 may be the flagship of the flagships but it is the first vertically folding phone, the Vivo X Flip that has our full attention. Why? Because it is Vivo’s first flip-style folding device and it has an enormous secondary display that begs for attention.
And then there is, of course, the awesome featured colorway: purple with a stitch-style textured diamond pattern. The other two colors are diamond black and silk gold. At this point, I am sold. Well, almost sold. Unfortunately, though, it is not getting the best of the best under the hood. Specifically, the SoC.
There’s no Snapdragon 8 Gen 2; instead, it gets the last generation’s Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 with a 3.0 GHz max clock speed ARMv9 processor. And while it did get the fastest RAM there is today, i.e. LPDDR5, the storage is the last-gen UFS 3.1. That’s not to mention it has a USB 2.0 with a USB-C interface.
The new Vivo X Flip uses a similar hinge design to the Vivo X Fold2. When folded, this complex yet robust hinge design allows the flexible screen to form a 5.3 mm diameter water drop-shaped that makes fold lines almost invisible. Internally, it has a dual cam structure that eliminates the hunchback syndrome common to small folding devices as well as eliminating uneven surfaces (crease lines).
Overall, the ultra-durable lightweight hinge features aerospace-grade materials and multi-layer 3-dimensional support structures, et cetera, which Vivo said could better handle impact from drops. Finally, like Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 the hinge on this vertically folding phone also supports opening at multiple angles.
The device has a claimed 500,000 folds durability. The main display is a 60/120 Hz 6.74” FHD+ (2,520 x 1,080 pixels) AMOLED LTPO display that touts 1 billion colors and supports HDR10+. The secondary display, on the other hand, is a 60 Hz 3.0” AMOLED display with 682 x 422 resolution and 16.7 million colors.
In the imaging department, it is equipped with Zeiss T* optics and bionic spectrum technology to improve the quality of movie recording. Both front and rear cameras feature Zeiss optics and let you capture Zeiss-style portraits at the press of a button.
The main imaging hardware is a dual camera setup comprising a 50 MP main camera (1/1.49” IMX866 sensor, 1.0µm, f1.75, 7P lens, OIS) and a 12 MP super wide-angle (1/2.93” sensor, 1.22µm, f2.2 6P lens, AF, macro). Over at the front, a 32 MP front-facing camera (f2.45).
Interestingly, Vivo has decided to leverage the square folding form factor to introduce a virtual powder/makeup kit. Additionally, it also proposes using it like a traditional DV recorder. How? By opening the phone halfway and holding it horizontally like a DV recorder. In this mode, you can choose from 6 preset mini-movie modes each featuring its own retro filter.
Other notables include a 4,400 mAh battery with 44 W flash charge, side-mounted fingerprint sensor, dual nano SIM, support face recognition, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3, triple band WiFi 6, built-in positioning (GPS, AGPS, Beidou, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS), and it runs on OriginOS 3-flavored Android 13.
The new Vivo X Flip is offered in 12+256 and 12+512 configurations. It is available to order in China with a starting price of 5,999 yuan (approximately US$870).
Images: Vivo [CH].
