Vivo X Fold5 Review: This Light, Powerful and Practical Foldable Smartphone is the One I Want to Use The Most

Old wine in a new bottle? This may not be a ‘Pro’ model, but the Vivo X Fold5 is reinventing the wheel. It may be swimming in familiar territory, but it’ll delight and surprise you unlike any foldable has before (except Samsung’s Z Fold7, but then again, that foldable has a sticker shock).

Just one glance at the X Fold5 and you’ll know what I’m talking about. The X Fold5 succeeds the X Fold3 Pro. Yes, as I mentioned above, there is no ‘Pro’ model; however, in practical terms, according to the Vivo team, the X Fold5 has everything and more.

With the X Fold, you’re getting a foldable (folding smartphone) that is cheaper than the Z Fold7, its main rival in India. The X Fold5 has a single variant with 16GB of memory and 512GB of storage, which retails at ₹1,49,999 (this price is without any offers applied). Meanwhile, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 starts at ₹1,74,999 (a higher starting price than the Z Fold6).

Price aside, the other thing you’ll immediately notice is the fact that the X Fold5 has completely slimmed down and that the crease is hardly visible when you’re looking directly at the screen.

Yes, the X Fold5 comes in at just 217 grams, 19 grams lighter than the X Fold3 Pro. It’s also thinner (4.3mm when unfolded and 9.2mm folded as opposed to 5.2mm and 11.2mm). Even I was mighty surprised by the ergonomics and just how pocket-friendly the foldable smartphone is this time around. This is coming from someone who has used all the previous generations of foldable smartphones released on the market.

The Vivo X Fold5 comes with a 6.53-inch cover display and an 8.03-inch screen when unfolded. What’s particularly impressive is that Vivo has managed to fit a 6,000mAh battery into its foldable device. This ensures that the foldable can last a full day on a single charge, even with a heavy usage pattern.

However, there is one area where Vivo held back, and that may help explain how the company managed to aggressively price the smartphone, despite advancements in the hinge and IP rating. Vivo has decided to continue with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, the same one used in the previous generation. The spec-heavy Indian consumer would likely raise an eyebrow at this. With the Snapdragon 8 Elite being the flagship chipset and Samsung using it in their foldable, Vivo has undoubtedly made a misstep here.

Is the Vivo X Fold5 the best foldable available in India today?

Yes, if you look at the ecosystem overall, Vivo certainly punches above its weight and delivers a smartphone worthy of your hard-earned money. Let me break it down for you.

- Hinge: The durability of the Hinge has been vastly improved. It can now stay unlocked at any angle between 45 and 150 degrees, and that’s one of its biggest strengths. Opening and closing the smartphone is straightforward and doesn’t require any extra force. The smartphone features good ergonomics, making it comfortable to hold, with the edges of the hinge not protruding.

- To unfold or not to unfold: There are obvious reasons - binge-watching, editing documents, using Microsoft Excel - for using the device unfolded. However, when folded, the device resembles a traditional clamshell design of a smartphone. For daily tasks, there is no need to fold and unfold the smartphone repeatedly.

- Ingress protection: I’ve been spoiled by Oppo and taking my smartphone into any open body of water. I don’t swim much, but if the fear of a smartphone getting damaged by water is a thing of the past, then that’s a good thing. I’m happy to report that the X Fold5 has an IP56 and IP59 ingress protection rating. Something that cannot be understated.

- Displays: Both displays are par excellence. They’re both AMOLED displays and feature LTPO tech. This means they feature a dynamic refresh rate (up to 120Hz), and they can get very bright. Yes, they can get very bright, but the adaptive brightness isn’t up to standards.

Oftentimes, I had to manually adjust the brightness to suit the scenario I was in. Colours are excellent, viewing angles are great, and the stereo speakers can get quite loud (though there is a slight crackle at high volumes).

- Shortcut Button: I didn’t care for it, but there is a dedicated button for triggering actions. It’s located on the upper edge (not the most convenient location), and it’s precisely like the Action Button on an iPhone. You can assign short and long press actions.

- Performance: Yes, the X Fold5 misses out on Qualcomm’s top-tier Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, but it doesn’t skimp on power. I didn’t play any heavy games, but for the rest of my usage, I never noticed any slowdowns or lag. For casual gaming, snapping dozens of photos, taking videos, video calling, and more, the X Fold 5 performed flawlessly. Yes, pushing it to the maximum with high-end games or shooting videos all day long will cause the smartphone to throttle aggressively. The thermal management is significantly different on foldables compared to clamshells.

- Battery life: The USP of the smartphone! Yes, the 6,000mAh battery performs admirably well.

Thanks to silicon-carbon tech, Vivo was able to cram a large battery into such a thin profile. Even with my heavy usage (excluding high-end games), I managed to last an entire day without needing to charge. The 80W fast charger (it’s included in the box) can juice up the device in just over 50 minutes. Furthermore, there is 40W wireless charging support here, which is excellent.

- Origin Workbench: The X Fold5 runs FunTouch OS 15 (based on Android 15). It’s one of the best software for a foldable smartphone out there. There is one key feature up its sleeve that gives it the much-needed advantage over other foldable smartphones. Yes, I’m talking about Origin Workbench. With Origin Workbench, you can run up to five active windows simultaneously when the device is unfolded. The app that you’re using remains in focus, while the other four are in a tab-style layout on the left-hand side of the screen.

Let’s talk cameras

I won’t go into much detail here; instead, I’ll simply tell you that the X Fold5 boasts the best cameras of any smartphone ever released in India. There, I said it. Vivo’s partnership with Zeiss continues to pay dividends, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. There are three 50MP shooters present on the X Fold 5. You get a 50MP IMX921 primary shooter, followed by a 50MP Samsung JN1 wide-angle lens and a 50MP Sony IMX772 telephoto lens (3x optical zoom). There are two 20MP selfie shooters on both of the front displays.

If you’ve used the X200 Pro, then you’ll feel right at home as the colour science is the same. This translates into fantastic photos. Yes, you can get excellent pictures with X Fold5. Even videos taken with the foldable come out with true-to-life colours and a lot of detail. Daylight shots are most excellent with a great amount of details and colours. The standout, though, for me, is the portraits. The X Fold5 can match up to the X200 Pro in terms of them. Yes, it is a step behind the X200 Pro (if you’re after the best camera in a smartphone), but it does enough to retain the crown of the best camera in any foldable to date.

Should you buy the Vivo X Fold 5?

By slimming down, becoming more ergonomically friendly, and cramming in a massive 6,000mAh battery, while also offering the camera capabilities for even the laziest person to take good photos, the X Fold 5 emerges as the top choice in the world of foldables. To boot, it’s one of the more affordable options available (if you’re comparing it to older models in the country).

The X Fold5, for all the praises I’ve been singing, isn’t perfect. It doesn't have the best hardware; the speakers aren’t the best, FunTouch OS has some annoying quirks, and only one colour option is available in the country.

With that said, these are minor quibbles in what is a fantastic foldable smartphone. The X Fold5 shines bright, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed using it for every day of my review period.