Tecno Phantom V Flip takes on the clamshell competition

Samsung might rule the foldable part of the smartphone world right now, but that’s not going to stop rivals from making their own play for the throne. Tecno is the latest, having unleashed the Phantom V Flip ahead of a global rollout later this year. A high pixel count camera and a unique circular cover screen certainly make this debut effort stand out, and the promise of rapid charging could take some of the shine off of the Galaxy Z Flip 5.

Arriving in Mystic Dawn and Iconic Black colours, the Phantom V Flip is a faux leather-wrapped clamshell with neatly curved sides and a side-mounted fingerprint sensor. The hinge can stay open at any angle between 30 and 150-degrees, and it clamps closed to a mere 14.95mm so should easily slip in a pocket.

The 1.32in circular AMOLED cover screen is the big head-turner. It’s designed for one-thumb control, can be customised with wallpapers and widgets – think weather, fitness rings, a sound recorder, stopwatch, timers and photo galleries. Tecno has seamlessly surrounded it with a round camera bump, which holds two exterior snappers: a 64MP main sensor and a 13MP ultrawide. Neither has optical image stabilisation, though. There’s also a 32MP telephoto designed for portraits and selfies.

Opening the phone up reveals a 6.9in, 2640×1080 resolution folding OLED, with a 10-120Hz adaptive refresh rate using LTPO tech. Underneath there’s a MediaTek Dimensity 8050 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB on-board storage. It’s running Tekno’s HiOS 13.5 operating system, which sits on top of Android 13.

The 4000mAh battery can handle 45W charging, so a 15 minute top-up is enough for 50%, and 45 minutes will supply a full recharge.

Tecno says the Phantom V Flip is going global, but has yet to confirm exactly which countries will be in line to receive it. Pricing is also a mystery right now: it will launch at INR 49,999 in India, which is roughly $600/£500. That’s significantly less than top-tier flip phones including the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5.

Related: What’s the best foldable phone? folding and flipping smartphones reviewed

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A tech addict from about the age of three (seriously, he's got the VHS tapes to prove it), Tom's been writing about gadgets, games and everything in between for the past decade, with a slight diversion into the world of automotive in between. As Deputy Editor, Tom keeps the website ticking along, jam-packed with the hottest gadget news and reviews. When he's not on the road attending launch events, you can usually find him scouring the web for the latest news, to feed Stuff readers' insatiable appetite for tech.