Tecno Phantom V Fold is nearly half the price of Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 4 with bigger displays

Ben Schoon | Mar 1 2023 - 8:26 am PT

As the foldable market heats up, prices should eventually start coming down. At MWC 2023, the smaller smartphone brand Tecno announced the Phantom V Fold, a foldable in the same style as Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 4, but at nearly half the price.

Starting at $1,099, the Tecno Phantom V Fold is a “book” style foldable that delivers a lot of what makes the Galaxy Z Fold 4 great, just at a fraction of Samsung’s $1,799 price point.

The Phantom V Fold cuts down on price by utilizing MediaTek’s Dimensity 9000+ chip instead of a Qualcomm counterpart. That doesn’t mean it’s a slouch, though, we’ve had a great experience with that chip in Oppo’s Find N2 Flip lately. That chip is paired with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage, with another variant offering 512GB of storage for a higher price. It also runs Android 13 out of the box with Tecno’s usual skin on top.

The display on the Tecno Phantom V Fold is a 7.85-inch internal display at 2296×2000. That’s bigger and slightly higher resolution than Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 4, and Tecno matches the 120Hz refresh rate. The outer display is a 6.42-inch panel at 2550×1080 and also hits 120Hz. As for the hinge, it uses a style that lessens the crease, much like Oppo, and Tecno claims durability for 200,000 folds. Tecno also used recycled plastic in the phone’s back cover, which has a unique look.

Powering that is a 5,000 mAh battery – much larger than the Galaxy Z Fold 4 – with 45W fast charging. There’s no wireless charging, though.

As for cameras, there’s a 50MP main camera, 50MP 2x telephoto camera, and a 13MP ultrawide camera. There’s a 16MP selfie camera on the inner display with a 32MP camera on the outer display.

Overall, the Phantom V Fold looks quite compelling for its price tag, but availability is a big question. Sadly, it’s unlikely the Phantom V Fold will be sold particularly widely. Tecno will bring the device to India, with countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America likely to follow.