Review verdict: Aside from quality of life upgrades, the vivo V40 makes ZEISS more accessible to consumers, making it a midrange device great for taking portraits in the Philippines.

Pros

• Stereo speakers and IP68 rating at last
• Impressive battery life
• Decent suite of ZEISS features
• Ultra-wide camera can finally shoot 4K video

Cons

• No telephoto camera
• Same internals as the V30
• Slightly more expensive than is predecessor

After introducing ZEISS co-engineering with the V30 Pro, vivo is also giving the same treatment to the standard V40, making it the brand’s most accessible offering with ZEISS. Building on what made the V30 good, the V40 positions itself as a compelling camera-centric midrange phone.

vivo V40 Review Philippines: Design

One of the characteristics of the V series is that they have a slim build. That also applies with the V40 and its 7.5mm slim body, which is made more impressive by packing a bigger 5500mAh battery inside. Our review unit is in Nebula Purple, and we like how vivo opted for a matte finish for both the frame and back panel, and the color-keyed case is also a nice addition as well.

vivo finally added stereo speakers and an IP68 rating on the V40, addressing the complaints we have with the V series for several iterations.

The oblong-shaped camera module has a circular top module housing the two cameras and flexing the ZEISS branding, while the bottom part has the Aura Light and a light sensor. The button and port layout is the same as its predecessors, with the top part of the phone adding an additional grille for the second speaker.

 

vivo V40 Review Philippines: Display and Speakers

vivo has been using the same 120hz curved AMOLED display found on the V29. You still get the same 1.5k resolution, and the only difference is the higher maximum brightness of 4500nits, which is well appreciated when using the V40 outdoors. Since it’s technically the same panel used on previous V series models, the V40’s display is great for content consumption with its vibrant and accurate colors.

While the display gets a modest upgrade, the audio side gets a big boost with the V40 finally having stereo speakers. We don’t know why it too vivo this long to add this feature (we’ve been pleading for it since the V27), but we’re glad to see it on the V40 to make it a proper midrange phone.

 

vivo V40 Review Philippines: Cameras

While the V40’s cameras remain the same as the V30–which consists of a 50-megapixel main camera, 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera, and 50-megapixel selfie camera–the biggest upgrade it gets is having ZEISS co-engineering. Once exclusive to the V30 Pro, vivo is making ZEISS features also available to the V40–with a new feature called ZEISS Multifocal portrait.

This mode utilizes the main camera and simulates three iconic focal lengths for street photography. These are 24mm (1x), 35mm (1.5x), and 50mm (2.2x). It’s a nice feature to have on a midrange phone, and it makes good use of the main sensor in maximizing the detail produced in every photo even if the latter two focal lengths use digital zoom.

Like the V30, the V40’s ultra-wide camera is among the best ultra-wide cameras we’ve seen on a midrange phone and we noticed a few improvements when it comes to low-light shooting.

Despite technically having the same camera hardware as the V30, the ZEISS co-engineering makes improvements on the software side of things especially with image post processing. The most versatile one is ZEISS natural color, which gave us more real-to-life colors with the images we took.

As for video, vivo finally addressed our concern with the V30 regarding the ultra-wide camera, as the V40 can now shoot 4K video using the ultra-wide camera, giving you more flexibility for shooting video. Just like the V30 Pro, you also get an option to shoot using ZEISS Cinematic, where the video is shot at a 21:9 aspect ratio and at Full HD 24FPS for that cinematic look.

As for Aura Light, it is smaller compared to previous V series models, but we found it to be just as bright–and as versatile with the ability to adjust color temperature.

 

vivo V40 Review Philippines: Internals and Battery Life

vivo stuck with the same set of internals used on the V30, so you’re also getting a Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 on the V40, along with 12GB RAM and up to 512GB storage. There’s also an 8GB/256GB variant, but that was an online exclusive during the 9.9 sale. We’re familiar with the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3, and it’s no surprise why a number of midrange phones opt for this chip: it has a great ISP, can run games like Genshin Impact at high graphics without any issues, and is power efficient as well. If there’s one thing we wished vivo changed with the V40, it has to be the storage used, as you’re only getting UFS 2.2–which feels like a crime for a phone priced above Php 20k.

Despite its slim body, vivo managed to pack a bigger 5500mAh battery inside the V40, making it a stellar slim phone. We got a battery life 20 hours and 54 minutes, which is impressively long for a midrange phone and one of the best we’ve tested this year. Like its predecessor, you get 80w wired charging with the V40, and charging speeds is around an hour to 100%.

vivo V40 Review Philippines: Wrap-up and Conclusions

Building on the things we like about the V30, vivo made a few quality of life upgrades to the V40–on top of ZEISS co-engineering with its camera features–to make it a competitive midrange phone in the Philippines for 2024.

vivo V40 Review Philippines: Price

The vivo V40 is priced at Php 26,999 for the 12GB/256GB model and Php 29,999 for the 12GB/512GB model.