Vivo X Fold 5 (Long Term) Review: The real challenger to the Galaxy Fold!

The foldable market has been dominated by Samsung for a while. First mover’s advantage in the segment, combined with exceptional brand value, made the South Korean brand a one-stop shop for all foldable phones for the longest time now.

However, other brands are now catching up. One of them is Vivo, which brought the Vivo X Fold 3 Pro to India last year, seemingly delivering everything the Samsung Fold was not – it was slim, came with a big battery with fast charging support, shut without any gaps in the middle, and had a proper external (cover) display.

Vivo has now launched its predecessor, the Vivo X Fold 5, an even more refined foldable. And it comes with an equally premium price tag too – Rs. 1,49,999. Like its predecessor, it goes up against the ultimate foldable, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7, and if our experience with the phone over the last couple of months has told us anything, it is that it can be a formidable challenger!

Vivo X Fold 5 Looks and design: sturdy, slim, and premium

When it comes to design, the Vivo X Fold 5 has not strayed too far away from the design of its predecessor, and it is a good thing. The Vivo X Fold 3 Pro had one of the most impressive designs we had seen on a foldable phone, and the Vivo X Fold 5 brings in a similar form factor but with a little more refinement and upgrades. The phone is sleek and does not feel any thicker or unusually heavy compared to regular non-folding flagships. This phone unfolded is an impressive 4.3 mm thin, and even while folded it measures 9.2 mm in thickness, numbers that make it even slimmer than its predecessor, and only slightly thicker than the 8.9 mm ‘normal’ OnePlus 13.

On this slim frame, the right side holds the volume rocker and the power/lock button, which doubles up as a fingerprint scanner, while the left side has a ‘shortcut button’. The base has the SIM card slot, speaker grille, and is just slim enough to hold a USB Type C port (the phone is so slim that the port almost goes over to the back). Vivo has not given in to the industry trend of straight sides and has added slightly rounded, glossy sides in the X Fold 5. We really liked the rounded and comfortable hand feel of the phone.

Weight is another factor that makes the X Fold 5 feel like a regular flagship in everyday handling – the phone weighs just 217 grams. Its slimness and weight make the X Fold 5 an absolute pleasure to handle and hold. The phone is slim and light but in no way feels flimsy, and is quite sturdy and solid. During our long-term review, never did we face an issue with the folding aspect of the device – the hinge feels quite sturdy, even while being quite easy to open the phone (the curved sides help). It shuts completely when folded, leaving no space for dust or dirt to get in. There are different textures and elements that make up the phone– the cover display is glass, the frame is a glossy aluminum alloy, the main display is plastic, while the back comes with a frosted glass– some might say it lacks harmony, but we think we liked the mix and match.

The phone brings a tall, 6.53-inch cover display on the front with razor-thin bezels around. Unfolding it reveals a much bigger, 8.03-inch main display, which converts the phone into a small tablet. The bezels around this display are a tad thicker but remain thin by foldable standards. There is a punch hole notch on the corner of the display and another on the cover display, both of which are home to selfie cameras on the respective displays.

The matte back has a huge circular camera module that protrudes out a fair bit, making the phone wobble when we put it down. This made us keep the phone display down, which ended up catching a fair bit of scratches. Thankfully, Vivo packs the phone with a thin screen protector on the cover display, which also comes with second-generation Armor Glass. The camera unit has Zeiss branding in blue and comes with a shiny, metal accent around the circumference. The back also has the Vivo logo near the base. Making the phone even more sturdy and solid is the IP58/IP59+ rating, making the phone dust and water resistant, although well below the IP68/69 ratings that accompany many flagships.

Vivo also packs in a very good-looking leather-finish case with the phone, which covers the spine and the back quite well. All in all, the Vivo X Fold 5 is one of the best-looking foldables we have used to date, if not the best. It is sleek, sturdy, and light, and feels premium too.

Vivo X Fold 5 Display(s): In one word, gorgeous!

The Vivo X Fold 5 comes with a beautiful 6.53-inch LTPO AMOLED cover display with 120 Hz refresh rate, 5500 nits peak brightness, and 457 ppi. Complementing this is the main display, which is an 8.03-inch foldable LTPO AMOLED one with a 120 Hz refresh rate, 4500 nits peak brightness, and 412 ppi.

Both displays come with brightness levels that can easily handle harsh sunny environments, vibrant colours (you can customise them if needed), and super smooth scrolling thanks to the dynamic refresh rate. We were particularly impressed by the cover screen, which was quite sharp and is very close to what you get on a regular phone (an issue with some foldables). We used the cover display a lot and often did not feel like we were missing out on much.

The folding crease on the main display was noticeable when we first started using the phone, especially when our fingers slid over it, but as we started using the phone more regularly, our brain started to ignore it, and it almost became invisible to us. It does not look as premium as the external display (perhaps because of the element of plastic in it), and the unconventional aspect ratio also causes some scaling issues, but multitasking is a treat on the main display. The Origin Workbench feature allows you to open multiple apps and use one main app, and then switch between apps as well. We could also fold the phone to ninety degrees, like a laptop, and use two apps at once– one on top, another on the bottom half. All in all, it is a very capable display set that allows one to do conventional phone chores on the cover display and unconventional ones (or rather tablet-ish ones) on the main display.

Vivo X Fold 5 Performance: Older, but still Snappy Dragon saves the Vivo day

The Vivo X Fold 5 is powered by a flagship-level processor, all right, but not the latest one. It does not bring the most powerful chip– Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite, to the mix, which is a bit disappointing given the phone’s premium pricing, but instead runs on the very good (but old) Qualcomm Snapdragon Gen 3 processor, paired with 16 GB speedy LPDDR5X Ultra RAM and 512 GB UFS 4.1 storage. This is a very mighty combination, but it is a level below most premium Android flagships.

The lack of the best in business Snapdragon does not really affect the everyday snappiness of the phone. It is quick, smooth sailing, and gets through everyday chores without any hiccups. The Vivo X Fold 5 does not feel like it is missing out on anything while going through daily smartphone-ing – casual games, jumping from one app to another, checking mail, social media doomscrolling, or binge watching shows…it was all effortless on the device. Apps load quickly and without any struggle. The phone can run high-end titles like Genshin Impact, Call of Duty Mobile, and handles them quite well, too, although it does not feel as snappy as the devices with the Snapdragon 8 Elite. The stereo speakers on the phone make the multimedia and gaming experience quite immersive, especially with the larger display.

However, the phone’s real excellence comes through in multitasking and using work-related apps on the phone. When open, the X Fold 5 is basically a mini-tablet that can easily get a lot of work done on the go – we often edited articles on that display and it never felt like we were working on a smartphone. The side-mounted fingerprint scanner acts and unlocks swiftly, and the face unlock feature works pretty well, too. All in all, the Vivo X Fold 5 does not feel like it lacks any real substance, in spite of the slightly older, if still flagship, chip. It gets a little warm occasionally, but it never reaches alarming levels.

Vivo X Fold 5 Cameras: Zeiss-laden cameras!

There is a triple camera set up on the back of the Vivo X Fold 5, comprising three 50-megapixel sensors. The main camera is a Sony IMX921 with OIS, the second a Samsung JN1 ultrawide, and the third a Sony IMX882 telephoto with 3x optical zoom, 100x HyperZoom, and OIS. Vivo has had a long-standing partnership with Zeiss, and the X Fold 5 is another brick in that wall. The phone’s main camera captures an impressive amount of detail, but in the best Vivo tradition, the colours tend to lean towards a slightly warmer, brighter side.

There are a number of filters that are built into the camera app that alter the colors – you can choose the one that suits your liking, although some of them do end up compromising the details of the pictures. The ultrawide sensor does not generate the same level of detail, but the colors reproduced by this sensor feel more natural. The telephoto lens is particularly good and captures excellent close-ups; portraits turn out especially well. The details delivered are sharp, edges come out clean, and the bokeh feels very authentic and not at all faux. There are special Zeiss filters dedicated to Portrait mode, which add a nice and different touch to regular portraits. The camera app also lets you choose between different focal lengths – there are five options to choose from, but we liked the 50mm one the best.

The quality of images does dip a little as the light goes down, but it remains impressive still. The cameras capture a lot of detail and deliver impressive sharpness and do not artificially yellows the shot, which many phones are guilty of, in low light. There is support for 8K videos at 30 fps, 4K at up to 60 fps, and 1080p at up to 60 fps as well. Videos also turn out impressive, in both well-lit and low-light conditions. 4K results are especially good, and OIS helps in taking good low-light videos with not too much noise.

The X Fold 5 comes with two 20 megapixel selfie cameras – one on the cover screen and one on the main screen. Both tend to brighten up images a fair bit and smooth out skin, but they do capture a decent amount of detail, and deliver images that would be to most people’s liking and are social media-ready. There is again an array of filters and modes in the front camera UI, but many of them feel very artificial. The portrait mode works well here as well. Detecting edges well. All in all, the cameras on the Vivo X Fold 5 are quite impressive, especially for a foldable smartphone where camera quality is often compromised for the form factor.

Vivo X Fold 5 OS: FunTouch still ain’t fun, and no Android 16 yet!

The Vivo X5 Fold shipped with Android 15 with Funtouch OS on top. While this was somewhat acceptable at the time of its launch, the fact that it has still not been updated to Android 16 is a bit of a bummer in a premium flagship. Vivo does promise four years of major Android updates, but this only means that after updating to Android 16, you will only get three major Android updates.

There are plenty of features on Funtouch OS, though. There are a number of multitasking features on the device, like the Origin Workbench, which adds a new layer of functionality by letting us open five windows (apps ) simultaneously. We could work on the main app, while the rest were tucked in the corner, and we could bring them to the front by simply tapping on them. There is also the Smart Sidebar, which allows easy and quick access to a number of apps and can be customised as well. In keeping with modern trends, there are a number of AI features, including AI Erase, Smart Call Assistance, Gemini Live, Snap Text, and AI Transcribe. They work well, but some of them need us to log into a Vivo account. We would also recommend using AI on this device only when you have a really good Internet connection.

For all the customisation options and features it has, Funtouch OS still does not feel very intuitive and appears a little cluttered. It comes with a number of third-party apps, which you can uninstall, but are still irritating. Vivo just needs to up its OS game and give it a more premium feel – something which might happen with the plans to bring Origin OS to Vivo devices in the coming days. Right now, the absence of Android 16 and the presence of a crowded interface take some of the sheen off the Vivo X Fold 5.

Vivo X Fold 5 Battery: Best battery on a Fold. Period

The Vivo X Fold 5 shines in the battery department. The phone brings a huge 6,000 mAh battery, which frankly feels unreal given just how slim the device is. And to top this, Vivo backs it with 80W fast charging and 40W wireless charging support. It also has a charger packed in the box, which is another major plus. The phone’s battery performance matches the high numbers. We could easily get usage of a day and a half on a single charge with moderate everyday use, which is perhaps the best we have seen on any foldable phone yet. It can easily last a day, even if pushed a bit. Fast charging is an added bonus – one can get up to 50 percent charge in under 30 minutes, while a full charge takes less than an hour. Those are very impressive figures for a foldable!

Vivo X Fold 5 Review Verdict: Built for success but faces tough competition

With the price of Rs. 1,49,999, the Vivo X Fold 5 is an expensive offering, even though it is actually lower priced than the X Fold 3 Pro, which was launched at Rs 1,59,999. There will be some muttering about its processor, but the phone does bring quite a lot to the table. It has a really premium, slim design that holds a massive battery– the best we have seen on a foldable phone so far, and its cameras are up there with the best that we have seen on foldables. Top that with gorgeous displays and impressive performance, and you get a device that basically ticks all boxes quite well.

It has not got Android 16, the UI in general needs to be a bit more refined, and the selfie cameras are not the greatest, but it still stands tall and is a great offering for anyone who is looking to add a capable foldable to their arsenal.

The biggest threat to its existence remains the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, which not only brings a better processor, diverse and power-packed AI features, and the latest Android version but also comes with a proper external display and a much slimmer design. That said, the Fold 7 is significantly more expensive at Rs 1,74,999. Almost two months after we started using it, we think the Vivo X Fold 5 is perhaps the best flagship-level foldable for those who want all the multi-tasking joys of the foldable phone world, without going north of the Rs 1,50,000 mark.

Buy Vivo X Fold 5