What you need to know
- Vivo has shared the first look at its next foldable smartphones.
- The Vivo X Fold 2 and X Flip will launch on April 20 in China.
- Alongside the foldables, the company is launching its next tablet, the Vivo Pad 2.
Vivo is the next major player to take on Samsung foldables this year. While the company already had the X Fold from last year, it is preparing to launch its successor, the X Fold 2, next to the first clamshell foldable phone, the X Flip. The latter phone will take on the likes of the Galaxy Z Flip 4, Motorola Razr, and OPPO Find N2 Flip.
The company announced that the next foldable phones from Vivo will launch on April 20 through its official handle on the Chinese microblogging site Weibo. Alongside the announcement, the company has given the first look at the next-gen Vivo X Fold 2 and the X Flip, the company's first clamshell foldable phone. Next to the foldables, Vivo has also unveiled the Pad 2, which will be the latest entry to the Android tablets market.
Going by the showcased images, X Fold 2 will look very similar to the first-gen Vivo X Fold. There is a slight change in the camera module at the back, though. The X Fold had a circular camera island enclosed in a large rectangular pane. Instead, the X Fold 2 will stick to just a circular housing carrying three sensors, an LED flash, and the famous 'ZEISS' branding. This design will also carry over to the X Flip.
Vivo X Flip might be the one that turns heads across the industry since it's the first clamshell phone from the company, and it's competing with some more popular phones in the segment, including the Galaxy Z Flip 4 and OPPO Find N2 Flip. The official images show a relatively sizeable foldable screen that looks prominent and makes the phone look taller than the competition. When in the folded state, the X Flip has a significantly bigger cover screen that includes some fun features like having an interactive cat character respond to an alarm or a notification alert, for example.
Next to the cover screen, the flip phone also incorporates a circular camera island very similar to the X Fold 2. However, instead of three cameras, the X Flip contains only two cameras, which are also ZEISS-powered. The power button on the X Flip is likely to act as a fingerprint sensor for authentication.
The other interesting product we will witness during the launch is the Vivo Pad 2, a successor to the Vivo Pad. It also comes with the relatively same design as the predecessor, but it would also opt for a similar camera module as the foldables are getting this year.
Aside from the design, aesthetics, and launch date, Vivo has revealed a few other specs. The X Fold 2 features a 2K folding display with a 120Hz refresh rate. It has a 4nm chipset powering it, which reliable tipster Digital Chat Station expects will be the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC. The device also features a whopping 120W super fast wired charging, which may be paired with 50W wireless charging.
The X Flip, on the other hand, may be powered by Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC coupled with 44W fast charging and dual cameras featuring an IMX866 50MP sensor. Lastly, the Pad 2 will launch with MediaTek Dimensity 9000 processor and is likely to sport a 2.8K LCD display with a 144Hz refresh rate.
Overall, it is good to see more OEMs launching foldable phones, a form factor largely dominated by Samsung. We're looking forward to Vivo's next big launch and hope to get our hands on some of these devices.
