The vivo X Fold+ is this week’s biggest release (figuratively and literally) with its 8-inch folding screen, new chipset and larger battery. Does it have what it takes to reach for your wallet?
The big factor for many will likely be availability – vivo has yet to confirm if the X Fold+ will be available in markets outside of China. The original X Fold from back in the day never got its world tour, so we’ll just have to wait and see if the Plus model fixes that.
vivo X Fold+
We can also clarify pricing – the vivo X Fold+ starts at CNY9,999, which is roughly $1,400/€1,440/INR 114,500 for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage configuration, while the 512GB storage model costs CNY10,999. This puts it in line with devices like the Galaxy Z Fold4, Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 and Oppo Find N.
The big update on the X Fold+ is undeniably the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, which should offer 10% better performance compared to the SD 8 Gen 1 while consuming 30% less power than before, making the phone with the latest Samsung in is brought into line and Xiaomi foldables on the market.
The other notable update is in the battery department, where the X Fold+ brings a 4,730mAh cell, which is rated for nearly 2 hours more video playback than the X Fold and its 4,600mAh battery. Charging is the best you can currently get with 80W wired and up to 50W wireless on a foldable device if you have the proprietary Vivo wireless charger nearby.
The display remains an excellent LTPO E5 Samsung AMOLED with a resolution of 2K+ (1916 x 2160 pixels) and a 120Hz refresh rate. You get a square aspect ratio of 4:3.55, which means some apps like Instagram will continue to look weird will. The panel has an improved anti-reflective coating and is HDR 10+ certified.
6.5″ cover display and 8″ clamshell display
One of the main advantages of the Vivo compared to something like the Galaxy Z Fold4 is its cover display, which offers a mainstream 21:9 aspect ratio. This should make it more user-friendly at times when you don’t want to open the big screen.
The cameras are impressive too – you get a decent 50MP wide, 48MP ultra wide and two telephoto modules – a 12MP with a 47mm lens for 2x portraits and an 8MP -Periscope camera with 5x magnification (60x digital zoom) and OIS. This is the same setup used on the original X Fold, and it’s far more versatile than just about every other foldable device out there.
Speaking of size, the X Fold+ is still a building block of a phone, weighing in at 311 grams. That’s a lot heavier than the Mix Fold 2 (262 grams) and Z Fold4 (263 grams) and pretty much every other phone on the market . It’s also physically larger than these two devices at 162 x 144.9 x 6.3mm when unfolded. However, there is no official ingress protection rating, which is a shame.
The software side brings the Origin OS Ocean from vivo in addition to the regular Android 12 and not the 12L version which is optimized for folding devices and tablets. There are some nice additions like the mode that lets you stand the device half-open on a surface during video calls or when watching movies, although that’s pretty much it. Samsung is still the leader when it comes to foldable phone software and we don’t expect that to change in the coming months.
The X Fold+ also comes in a striking new Huaxia Red colourway, which wasn’t offered on the standard vivo X Fold. With the arguments for and against the X Fold+ settled, let’s take a look at the competition.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 is arguably the big foldable screen to beat right now. It boasts the most polished software experience, features the latest Qualcomm chipset, and is IPX8 water-resistant – something no other foldable device can boast of except for the Z Flip4. The Z Fold4 also offers pen support, a decently sized battery, and other nice features like Samsung DeX.
Sure, the cameras are still not at the level of the top-end flagship phones, but they match those of the S22 and S22+, which are very reliable. However, charging is still limited to just 25W, which is far behind the rest of the industry at this point.
There’s Xiaomi’s Mix Fold 2, which offers a similarly sized 8-inch 120Hz AMOLED screen and Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, along with a 4,500mAh battery with 67W fast charging. The camera department is pretty respectable with a 50-megapixel main camera, 13-megapixel ultrawide and 8-megapixel telephoto with 2x optical zoom.
The foldable Xiaomi is also one of the most stylish devices on the market with a thickness of only 5.4mm and is built like a tank. It’s only available in China and we found its GPU overheating in our test. The video recording capabilities here are less than impressive.
Last but not least, we have another foldable device that is only available in China – the Huawei Mate Xs 2. This is the most expensive phone on the list at 14,000 CNY (€2,000). It brings with it the less common outward fold design that wraps the screen around the device. The upside here is there’s no crease, which is very appealing, but the downside is that the device is more prone to damage when the screen is wrapped.
The Mate Xs 2 cameras deliver excellent quality both in daylight and at night. Mate Xs 2 runs on the older generation Snapdragon 888 (4G), has fairly disappointing battery life and no IP rating alongside the usual software limitations that come with Huawei devices.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 • Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 • Huawei Mate Xs 2
So what do you think of the vivo X Fold+? Would you be willing to try it out when it’s available in your corner of the world, or do you prefer the foldables offered by Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei and Oppo? Cast your vote below and chat in the comments section.
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