AFFORDABLY UNATTAINABLE

Interestingly, Tecno has never officially sold its devices in Singapore, and that's still true for the Phantom V Flip 5G.

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Tecno (not to be confused with Tecno Singapore, home appliance brand) made a bold move by choosing Singapore as the global launch location for its first-ever clamshell foldable, the Phantom Interestingly, V Flip 5G. 

Priced at an astonishing US$598 (~S$816), the Tecno Phantom V Flip 5G aims to blend lifestyle and photography, presenting a unique lychee-pattern classic leather exterior with a "nearcreaseless" panel, as per Tecno's claims.

It boasts a 64MP primary camera paired with a 13MP ultra-wide secondary shooter and a 32MP front camera integrated into its primary display. Running on Android 13, this phone features a 4,000mAh battery with 45W wired charging and is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 8050 5G chipset. The flagship-tier AMOLED main display is complemented by a circular secondary display Tecno aptly calls "The Planet" Personalized Versatile Cover Screen.

The 6.9-inch flexible AMOLED panel features Ultra Thin Glass and a proprietary drop-shaped hinge. While Tecno claims the crease is less than 0.11mm even after 200,000 folds, there's still some visible creasing during video or photo content consumption. However, the panel itself is high-quality, featuring a 100% DCI-P3 gamut, 1,000-nits peak brightness, 1,440Hz high-frequency PWM dimming, a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, and Full HD resolution of 2,640 x 1,080 pixels. While it's almost flagship-grade, it lacks HDR support.