Review Verdict: TECNO continues to refine its formula of an affordable flip foldable with the Phantom V Flip2 in the Philippines. We appreciate all the improvements TECNO made to the Phantom V Flip2, but they fell short with their processor of choice for it. 

Pros

• Decent camera performance
• Affordable for a flip foldable
• Outer display has many uses

Cons

• Subpar battery life
• Tends to run warm
• Dated processor of choice

It has been a year since TECNO wowed everyone with the OG Phantom V Flip as a flip foldable that’s truly for the masses with a Php 30k price tag. TECNO is following up with the same formula with the Phantom V Flip2, making a few improvements while keeping the price as affordable as possible. We used the Phantom V Flip2 for a few weeks, and here are our thoughts on this mid-range flip foldable.

TECNO Phantom V Flip2 Review Philippines: Design

Catching up with other flip phones in the market, the Phantom V Flip2 looks more premium than its predecessor, especially in this Travertine Green colorway that has a matte, paper-like texture with a subtle Phantom branding etched into it. The gold-colored aluminum frame complements the back panel very well, and you also get the same gold accents to the camera rings.

The Phantom V Flip2 also has a gapless hinge design that can be unfolded in multiple angles. However, we find the hinge on the Phantom V Flip2 feels more refined than its predecessor–proof that TECNO is making big improvements to the design of its flip phone while keeping its price accessible for most consumers.

The button and port layout is the same as its predecessor, so you still get a USB-C port, stereo speakers, and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. You don’t get a MicroSD card slot or a headphone jack, and the Phantom V Flip2 still lacks an IP rating–so you’ll need to be mindful using it especially in rainy and dusty conditions.

TECNO Phantom V Flip2 Review Philippines: Display

The biggest change on the Phantom V Flip2 is the outer display, which is not a 3.64-inch wraparound design that makes it more usable than the peculiar circular outer display of its predecessor. The bigger outer display meant that you could do more things with the Phantom V Flip when it’s folded. We used Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube on the Phantom V Flip2’s outer display, and while the UI warns us that support for it is in beta mode, we found it surprisingly useful. Scrolling through different YouTube shorts and Facebook/Instagram Reels was a fun experience, and it’s also usable for doomscrolling on Facebook and Instagram.

While it has a few quirks–we could not swipe through different Instagram stories properly–it’s a big improvement on TECNO’s part to add flexibility on how you’d use the Phantom V Flip2, especially in its folded state.

The inner display is pretty much similar to its predecessor as it is a 6.9-inch 120hz AMOLED panel, but TECNO is using an LTPO panel this time for better power management in dynamically adjusting the refresh rate based on what you’re doing with the inner display. Typical of AMOLED panels, the colors are vibrant, and the blacks are deep enough to keep you immersed in the content you’re viewing on the phone. It’s peak brightness is good enough for outdoor use, which shows that TECNO is stepping up its game in using better components on the Phantom V Flip2.

TECNO Phantom V Flip2 Review Philippines: Cameras

Another upgrade you get on the Phantom V Flip2 is its cameras, as it borrows the same set of sensors used on the Camon 30 Pro 5G. That consists of a 50-megapixel main shooter with OIS and a 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera.

We’ve used the Phantom V Flip2 to take a few snaps around Metro Manila, and we’re impressed at the imaging performance it has to offer.

Both the main and ultra-wide cameras are consistent with their image quality even when shooting in low-light conditions, and we like how the Phantom V Flip2’s camera software applies distortion correction when using the ultra-wide camera to keep shots less distorted than usual.

We got plenty of detail in the photos we took regardless if we used the main or ultra-wide camera.

The main camera has a lossless 2x zoom feature that’s also good enough for most uses–another big improvement compared to its predecessor.

The same can be said for the 32-megapixel selfie camera that now has PDAF to keep selfies in focus and keep image quality good in most lighting conditions.

For videos, the Phantom V Flip2 can shoot at 4K30 resolution on both main and ultra-wide cameras, making it versatile for vlogging especially if you want to play around with its DV mode where you take videos with it like how you shoot with an old-school camcorder. The footage we got is decent, and stabilization on the main camera is good enough for handheld shooting.

 

TECNO Phantom V Flip2 Review Philippines: Internals and Battery Life

Powering the Phantom V Flip2 is a Dimensity 8020 processor that’s paired with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage. That’s the same processor used on the ZERO 30 5G, and while that might sound like a downgrade from the Dimensity 8050 used by its predecessor, it addresses most of the thermal issues associated with the Dimensity 8050.

Overall performance is more stable as far as daily use is concerned, but the Phantom V Flip2 struggles when you use it for gaming. With Genshin Impact, we reached temps as high as 51 degrees Celsius, making the Phantom V Flip2 very warm and leading to throttling in-game. This makes TECNO’s affordable flip phone not suitable for games, as the design of the Phantom V Flip2 does not have an efficient heat dissipation to keep temps as low as possible.

The Phantom V Flip2 has a bigger 4720mAh battery, though battery life is held back by the dated 6nm process used by the Dimensity 8020 (where it is a rebranded Dimensity 1100 in reality). We only got around 8 hours in PCMark’s battery benchmark test, and we had to plug the Phantom V Flip2 into a power bank in the latter half of the day to make it through. This is something we think TECNO can improve through future software updates. Despite the lackluster battery life, you do get 70w fast charging, which will let you fully charge the Phantom V Flip2 in under an hour.

On the software side of things, the Phantom V Flip2 comes with Android 14 out of the box, and we expect TECNO to give it 2 major OS updates and 3 years of security updates like the Camon 30 series. We appreciate some of the UI optimizations made to utilize the cover screen and the inner display in different unfolded states, and it has less preinstalled bloatware compared to TECNO’s previous phones.

 

TECNO Phantom V Flip2 Review Philippines:  Wrap-up and Conclusions

To TECNO’s credit, the Phantom V Flip2 has several key improvements over its predecessor while keeping roughly the same price tag, which is a big accomplishment in making flip foldables more accessible to everyone while minimizing any compromises. While its processor of choice is a bit questionable, we think that its power efficiency issues can still be improved through future updates–especially given the improvements TECNO has made with the Phantom V Flip2’s UI compared to its predecessor.

 

TECNO Phantom V Flip2 Review Philippines: Price

The Phantom V Flip2 is priced at Php 34,999, though you can get it for as low as Php 27,999 in TECNO’s TikTok Shop on December 6 and at Php 28,999 at TECNO’s Shopee store on December 8.