Vivo has certainly come a good distance within the Indian market. What began off with the Vivo X1 in 2012 has now lastly moved previous the premium section into the ultra-premium section with the launch of its first foldable system, the X Fold 3 Professional. The latter, being the corporate’s newest providing, packs in just about what one would anticipate from a foldable that is meant to compete with the OnePlus Open and the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 (and shortly Galaxy Z Fold 6). Identical to its BBK sibling, OnePlus, Vivo has skipped launching a smaller clamshell foldable and instantly gone with a book-style foldable as a substitute. Has Vivo performed something in a different way? Let’s discover out.
The Vivo X Fold 3 Professional is priced at Rs. 1,59,999 in India, which makes it the model’s most premium providing ever after its Vivo X100 Professional (an everyday bar-shaped smartphone), which was launched earlier this 12 months. With a price ticket this excessive, consumers will definitely anticipate nothing however the very best.
The cellphone seems not too thick when folded however tremendous slim when open. That is primarily right down to the brand new hinge which helps the show with a minimal crease and lets each halves lay flat in opposition to one another. The cellphone measures simply 5.2mm when unfolded, which is principally as skinny as its USB-C port on the backside. When folded, this doubles as much as 11.2mm, which, regardless of showing a bit chunky, doesn’t really feel too uncomfortable to carry. That is primarily right down to its weight, which feels nearly like an everyday premium flagship at 236 grams. For reference, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 5 weighs 253 grams (which is a bit over 1 / 4 of a kilo), whereas Apple’s iPhone 15 Professional Max (an everyday bar-shaped smartphone) weighs 221 grams.
Whereas not as distinctive because the camera-focussed OnePlus Open (with its fake leather-based rear panel), it is nonetheless not as fundamental as Samsung’s Galaxy Fold 5. You could have a curved edge cowl show which bends little or no over the appropriate fringe of the cellphone, and the identical goes for the rear panel (which is product of a plastic fibre) and bends over its left edge. When opened, the larger-than-usual foldable, with its large 8.03-inch folding AMOLED panel, regardless of its measurement, feels snug to carry. Like many different options of this foldable, it too get’s the “greatest on the block” bragging rights. The internal show has a 4:3.55 side ratio, which makes it higher than the OnePlus Open’s practically sq. kind issue, which, as identified in my [review], was not good for media consumption.
The marginally rectangular internal folding show does make the 6.53-inch AMOLED cowl show a bit narrower (21.1:9 side ratio) than the OnePlus’, but it surely’s not as slim because the Galaxy Z Fold 5’s remote-control-like (23.1:9) panel which felt a bit squished whereas typing. The foldable additionally has two fingerprint readers for comfort. There’s one embedded into the duvet show, whereas the second sensor is accessible upon unfolding the primary show within the backside space of the appropriate half of the panel.
The cellphone’s design additionally focuses on sturdiness. Vivo provides an IPX8 water resistance ranking, which is identical as that of Samsung’s cellphone.
For its core {hardware}, Vivo has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC. There’s 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. The cellphone additionally has area for 2 nano SIM playing cards. There is a large 5,700mAh battery which is the largest we’ve got seen on any foldable to this point in India. And it expenses up utilizing a 120W charger at 100W. Vivo’s additionally thrown within the kitchen sink and provides 50W wi-fi charging as effectively, which occurs through its particular charging dock (bought individually).
Vivo was by no means shy about digital camera efficiency with its premium gadgets, with each new era trying to outdo the opposite in our evaluations of its X collection smartphones. Its first foldable in India additionally will get the Zeiss branding together with its T-star coated lenses. There is a 50-megapixel major digital camera with OIS accompanied by a 50-megapixel ultrawide digital camera and a 3X 64-megapixel telephoto digital camera (OIS) as effectively. Selfies are dealt with by two 32-megapixel mounted focus cameras, one situated within the cowl show and the second in the primary show. As with each Zeiss-branded system from Vivo, this one additionally comes with quite a few Zeiss lenses and kinds within the numerous digital camera modes.
Vivo has performed issues a bit in a different way from OnePlus in the case of software program. Other than providing the most recent Android 14-based Funtouch OS 14 out of the field, there are additionally a number of new generative AI integrations within the notes and recording apps, together with language translation. Vivo has additionally used AI for the cellphone’s folding talents to make them smarter.
Certainly, Vivo has a strong contender for Samsung within the foldables area this 12 months, packing in a couple of segment-leading {hardware} options. Whereas Samsung has already taken a success on a world stage due to Huawei’s reemergence, there’s lots banking on this 12 months’s new foldables from Samsung, which can also be anticipated to reach in a brand new ‘Extremely’ flavour as effectively. For now, Vivo clearly appears to have sufficient in the case of bragging rights, given its {hardware} specs. However we must put the cellphone via its paces to see the way it all comes collectively when used as a every day driver and is subjected to the wear and tear and tear of every day utilization. So, keep tuned to our detailed overview of the Vivo X Fold 3 Professional, which shall be out quickly.