The competition
The vivo X Fold5 is set to launch in a few select global markets. As of the time of writing this review, we have an official Amazon India listing to reference for the price – INR 149,999 for a 16GB/512GB unit. That works out to around $1,735 or €1,480. That’s a pretty competitive price point, to be honest. Additionally, it appears that there are further promotional offers and trade-ins available to help lower the price.
Honor Magic V5 • vivo X Fold5 • Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7
For reference, the new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 costs INR 174,999/$ 1,999.99/€2,099.00 for the base version. Currently, you can get the 12GB/512GB model for the same price on promo, as Samsung tends to do. The Z Fold7 has certain advantages, including the newer and more powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite, seven major OS updates, and an arguably more reliable camera setup. On the other hand, the vivo X Fold5 features brighter Dolby Vision-certified displays, an IP58/59 ingress protection rating, and a larger battery with significantly faster charging.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 • Oppo Find N5 • Honor Magic V5 • Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold
The Oppo Find N5 is another potentially great alternative to the X Fold5. It is almost as compact as the vivo, despite sporting larger displays. The Snapdragon 8 Elite is also under the hood of the Oppo. While not necessarily more impressive in terms of hardware, the camera setup in the Oppo is arguably of higher quality. Despite its smaller battery, the Find N5 also offers similar endurance to the vivo.
The Honor Magic V5 is another very compact foldable, though sporting slightly smaller displays than the vivo. It is just as well protected, with an IP58/59 ingress rating. This is yet another Snapdragon 8 Elite device. Other than that, the displays on both phones look solid on paper, and so does the camera setup.
Honor Magic V5 • vivo X Fold5 • Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7
Last and probably least, we have the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold. Unless you are really into clean Android, it is a bit hard to recommend the Pixel over any of the other foldables here. An argument could be made for Google’s excellent computational photography prowess, combined with the fact that it features a 5x telephoto lens, as opposed to the typical 3x. Other than that, however, the Google Tensor G4 chipset is not particularly impressive, nor is the battery endurance.
Our verdict
The vivo X Fold5 is one of the most compact and elegant book-style foldables we’ve seen to date, and that alone is a major accomplishment. At just 4.3 mm thick when unfolded and weighing only 217 g, it’s both thinner and lighter than many slab phones, yet it manages to pack a massive 6,000 mAh battery, a large 8.03-inch inner display, and a complete camera system. The engineering that went into this phone is nothing short of remarkable.
We were particularly impressed with the X Fold5’s displays – both the inner and cover panels offer excellent brightness, color accuracy, and high refresh rates with great adaptive behavior thanks to LTPO technology. Battery life is also stellar, solidifying the X Fold5’s position among the most long-lasting foldables to date. The phone is also IP58/IP59+ certified and offers solid performance.
However, the X Fold5 isn’t without its shortcomings. , The phone uses last year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 instead of the newer Elite variant, essentially putting it at the same level as last year’s Pro model. Then the camera hardware appears promising on paper, but falls short in practice. While detail and colors are generally good, dynamic range is consistently limited across all snappers, and the promised improvements over the previous generation don’t materialize in a meaningful way.
In the end, the vivo X Fold5 nails the fundamentals of what makes a foldable great – compact design, strong displays, and long battery life. But it’s held back slightly by an older chipset, weak speaker output, and a camera system that doesn’t quite live up to the promise. Still, if those aren’t dealbreakers for you, this is one of the sleekest and most practical foldables on the market right now.
Pros
Excellent build quality.
Improved ingress protecton with an IP58/IP59+ rating (up from IPX8).
Great displays with HDR10+ and Dolby Vision (the cover screen is now LTPO too).
Battery life is just as good as X Fold3 Pro despite the slimmer and lighter body.
Very fast wired and wireless charging.
Versatile camera hardware with full 4K@60fps video on all rear cameras.
Cons
Uses the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip from X Fold3 Pro.
Under-display fingerprint sensors are now gone.
Camera image quality doesn’t hold up to close scrutiny.
Still no eSIM support.