Vivo unveiled its first foldable clamshell last week, the vivo X Flip. It features a large 3-inch display and benefits from the company’s hinge design improvements. The second generation horizontally foldable vivo X Fold2 has also been announced, and it brings a number of improvements (and some downgrades).
The two foldable devices launched in China, vivo has not shared any plans to sell them in other markets at the moment. And if that happens, will it offer both, or will it do what Oppo did and only offer the Flip to a wider audience?
We can only speculate now, and while we’re on the subject, do you feel it would be a missed opportunity to not sell the Foldable X globally? In other words, would you buy one if it was available in your area?
vivo’s new hinge design has helped reduce the X Fold2’s size to 12.9mm when folded, down 1.7mm compared to the X Fold+, although the unfolded thicknesses of the two are fairly similar (6.0mm and 6.3mm). The phone is 33 grams lighter to boot.
The company has also upgraded to the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset and boosted wired charging to 120W (up from 80W), so a full charge takes 26 minutes instead of 35 minutes as in the old model (with a similar 4,800mAh battery capacity). per hour and 4730 mAh (mAh).
The X Fold+ has some of the best cameras on a foldable device, the X Fold2 takes it a step backwards in that regard. Gone is the 125mm periscope, replaced by a simple 47mm portrait camera (at only 12MP, the sensor doesn’t offer much in the way of digital zoom). Also, the 48MP ultra-wide camera has been dropped in favor of a 12MP unit with a narrower field of view (16mm vs. 14mm).
vivo did this for a reason — the company has addressed a major concern with foldable devices, namely price. The base model X Fold+ (12/256 GB) was CNY 10,000, while the X Fold2 with the same memory configuration starts at CNY 9,000. But is that 10% discount really worth losing out on the excellent telephoto and ultra-wide cameras? And is the low price enough to entice people who have written off foldables as too expensive?
A quick look at the competition shows that the Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 also starts at CNY9,000 for the 12/256GB model, while the Oppo Find N2 is CNY8,000 cheaper (for the 12/256GB model, CNY9,000 gets you the 16/512GB) . Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold4 has the largest footprint in terms of availability and comes in at CNY13,000 (12/256GB) in China.
Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 • Oppo Find N2 • Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4
With all that in mind, are you interested in getting the vivo X Fold2?
The vivo X Flip has a large enough coverage screen to actually be usable (it can handle text messages, maps, social networking apps, etc.) and features an LTPO panel for the main screen, unlike a certain Galaxy. It uses the older Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset and arrives with a 50 + 12 MP dual camera setup (basically an X Fold2 setup without the vertical lens). vivo has used a Waterdrop hinge, which is designed to hold the phone from different angles.
The vivo X Flip starts at CNY6,000 for the 12/256GB unit, and double the storage is just a CNY700 upgrade. Oppo Find N2 Flip in 12/256 GB configuration is priced a bit more, CNY 6,400, Galaxy Z Flip4 (8/256 GB) is CNY 7,500, while Motorola Razr 2022 (8/256 GB) is cheaper, at CNY 5,600.
Oppo Find N2 Flip • Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 • Motorola Razr 2022
What do you think – vivo X Flip, yay or nay?