Vivo X Fold 5 Full Review – Premium Foldable Flagship with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 & ZEISS Cameras

Vivo X Fold 5 Vivo has steadily grown into one of the most innovative smartphone manufacturers, and with its fifth-generation foldable, the Vivo X Fold 5, the company has pushed the boundaries of what a folding phone can achieve. As foldables transition from futuristic novelty to practical productivity tools, Vivo’s X Fold 5 embodies that transformation. With a premium build, powerful hardware, high-end camera system, and a refined folding mechanism, the Vivo X Fold 5 enters the scene as a strong contender among luxury foldable smartphones. This article provides a comprehensive breakdown of everything the Vivo X Fold 5 has to offer, including its design, display, performance, software, battery life, and value proposition.

Vivo X Fold 5 Design and Build Quality

The Vivo X Fold 5 makes an immediate impression with its luxurious aesthetic and sophisticated form factor. The phone uses aviation-grade aluminum and ultra-durable glass to create a foldable chassis that feels sturdy and refined. The back panel has a matte-textured vegan leather finish that not only adds grip but also elevates the phone’s premium feel. The hinge has been upgraded from its predecessor, with a lighter yet stronger mechanism that supports over 500,000 folds without degradation. The water-drop shaped hinge also allows for a more subtle crease and a gapless design when the phone is folded shut.

When folded, the phone resembles a premium flagship with a compact, curved-edge cover display. When unfolded, it transforms into a tablet-sized device with an edge-to-edge inner display. The phone weighs around 268 grams and measures about 11.2mm thick when folded, which is slim for a foldable of this size. The folding motion is smooth and satisfying, and the hinge supports various angles, enabling laptop-mode or tent-style usage for hands-free media viewing or video calls. The camera module sits in a circular design on the rear panel, giving the phone a bold and futuristic look that complements its foldable nature.

Vivo X Fold 5 Main Display and Foldable Experience

One of the core highlights of the Vivo X Fold 5 is its massive 8.03-inch foldable AMOLED inner display. This display has a resolution of 2160 x 1916 pixels and supports a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. It uses LTPO technology to dynamically adjust the refresh rate between 1Hz and 120Hz based on the content being viewed, which improves battery efficiency while ensuring smooth visuals. The brightness peaks at 1800 nits, making it usable even under direct sunlight.

The crease in the middle is minimal and becomes barely noticeable when the screen is turned on. Vivo uses UTG (Ultra Thin Glass) over a protective polymer layer to improve durability. The display supports HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and an excellent color gamut, providing an immersive viewing experience that’s ideal for watching videos, gaming, or multitasking. With its 4:3.5 aspect ratio, the display behaves more like a square tablet, offering an excellent canvas for split-screen apps, drag-and-drop multitasking, and side-by-side document editing.

The display’s responsiveness is top-notch. Paired with the fast refresh rate and refined animations in Vivo’s Funtouch OS, the foldable screen doesn’t feel compromised in any way. It’s engineered for durability and utility, successfully bringing a high-end tablet experience into your pocket.

Vivo X Fold 5 Cover Display and Usability

On the outside, the Vivo X Fold 5 features a 6.53-inch AMOLED cover display with Full HD+ resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. It uses a tall 21:9 aspect ratio, similar to traditional smartphones, making it ideal for one-handed use. The cover screen is curved at the edges, which helps it blend seamlessly with the frame and enhances ergonomics.

The display is vibrant and sharp, with support for HDR10+ and excellent outdoor visibility. It’s fully usable for all regular smartphone tasks, including messaging, calls, photography, and app usage, which means users don’t have to unfold the phone every time. The cover display is also protected with ultra-tough glass, improving its resistance to scratches and drops.

Vivo X Fold 5 Performance and Hardware

Powering the Vivo X Fold 5 is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, the current flagship SoC designed for premium performance. Built on a 4nm process, this octa-core chipset includes one Cortex-X4 prime core, several performance cores, and efficiency cores that strike a perfect balance between raw power and battery efficiency. The phone is paired with up to 16GB LPDDR5X RAM and 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage, ensuring blazing-fast data access and seamless multitasking.

Whether you are editing videos, running graphically intensive games, or working with productivity apps in split-screen mode, the Vivo X Fold 5 handles everything with ease. Applications open instantly, transitions are buttery smooth, and multitasking feels natural with the added screen real estate. Thermal management is handled well with a large vapor chamber cooling system, allowing extended gaming or work sessions without noticeable heating.

With its foldable form, the Vivo X Fold 5 is designed for power users who demand performance without sacrificing portability or form factor. It achieves this with finesse, setting a new benchmark for foldable flagships.

Vivo X Fold 5 Software and Multitasking

The Vivo X Fold 5 runs on Funtouch OS 14 based on Android 14. Vivo has customized its software to take full advantage of the foldable form factor. When the phone is unfolded, apps can run in split-screen or floating windows. Drag-and-drop between apps is supported, making file management and content sharing easier.

The multitasking interface is intuitive. You can run up to three apps at the same time in different layouts. Switching between windowed mode and full screen is seamless, and the system remembers your app positions when returning from sleep. Certain apps automatically adjust their layout when the phone is unfolded, providing a richer experience for reading, browsing, or watching videos.

Features like App Pair allow you to launch two apps together in split-screen with a single tap. Vivo has also included an enhanced desktop mode, which connects wirelessly to external displays and mimics a PC-like environment for work-oriented users. The software feels refined, responsive, and optimized for foldables.

Vivo X Fold 5 Camera System and Photography Experience

The Vivo X Fold 5 carries a flagship-grade camera setup co-engineered with ZEISS. It includes a quad-camera system on the rear: a 50MP main sensor with OIS, a 48MP ultra-wide lens, a 64MP periscope telephoto lens with 3.5x optical and up to 100x digital zoom, and a 50MP portrait lens. The camera system is housed in a raised circular module and includes ZEISS T* lens coating to reduce glare and improve contrast.

Photography on the Vivo X Fold 5 is nothing short of exceptional. The main camera delivers sharp, vibrant images in all lighting conditions. Low-light photography benefits from Vivo’s advanced night algorithms and the wide aperture of the main sensor. Ultra-wide photos retain detail and natural colors without distortion, and the telephoto lens captures distant subjects with impressive clarity. The portrait mode stands out, offering bokeh quality that rivals professional cameras.

On the front, there are two 32MP selfie cameras — one on the cover display and one on the foldable inner display. Both support portrait enhancements, video calls, and facial recognition. Thanks to the folding form, users can also take high-quality selfies using the rear cameras and the cover screen as a viewfinder.

Video recording supports 8K at 30fps and 4K at 60fps with superb stabilization. The camera software includes features like ZEISS Cinematic Video, Ultra Stabilization, Pro Mode, Night Mode, Astro Mode, and more, appealing to both casual and professional creators.

Vivo X Fold 5 Battery Life and Charging

The Vivo X Fold 5 is equipped with a dual-cell 5500mAh battery, intelligently split to support the folding design. Despite its power-hungry hardware and large screens, battery optimization is well-executed. On a single charge, the device easily lasts through a full day of mixed usage, including content consumption, gaming, and multitasking.

The phone supports 80W wired fast charging, capable of charging the battery from zero to 100 percent in around 35 minutes. It also supports 50W wireless charging and 10W reverse wireless charging. Vivo includes the fast charger in the box, which is a notable advantage as many competitors have removed chargers from retail packages.

Battery management features in Funtouch OS allow users to enable modes like Smart Charging and Optimized Charging at Night, which help maintain battery health over the long term.

Vivo X Fold 5 Connectivity and Security

The Vivo X Fold 5 comes loaded with the latest connectivity features. It supports dual SIM 5G, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC, dual-frequency GPS, and USB-C 3.2 Gen 2. These ensure blazing-fast data speeds and stable connections whether you’re transferring files or streaming high-resolution media.

In terms of security, the phone is equipped with dual ultrasonic fingerprint sensors, one under each display. These are fast, accurate, and allow secure unlocking in both folded and unfolded states. Face unlock is also available through both selfie cameras.

Vivo X Fold 5 Audio and Multimedia

Vivo has equipped the X Fold 5 with stereo speakers powered by Dolby Atmos. The audio experience is loud, clear, and rich in depth. Whether you’re watching movies on the inner display or listening to music, the sound quality is immersive and satisfying. The combination of high-quality display and sound makes this phone a multimedia powerhouse. The phone lacks a 3.5mm headphone jack, but high-resolution audio output via Bluetooth and USB-C is supported.

Vivo X Fold 5 Pricing and Availability

The Vivo X Fold 5 is positioned as a premium foldable and is priced accordingly. In the Chinese market, its price starts at around CNY 9,999, which roughly translates to ₹1,15,000. Global availability may vary, and a potential India launch would be seen as Vivo’s ambition to expand its foldable footprint. The phone is available in elegant color options like Cosmic Black and Azure Blue, with special edition finishes possibly coming later. With trade-in offers and early-buyer benefits, Vivo is expected to make the premium device more accessible.

Conclusion

The Vivo X Fold 5 represents a significant leap in foldable technology. It combines flagship-grade performance, excellent camera capabilities, a refined folding experience, and powerful software features into a package that’s as practical as it is futuristic. Vivo has clearly matured in the foldable space and now challenges the dominance of Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold series with a product that feels equally luxurious and possibly more feature-rich in some areas. While it remains a premium device with a high price tag, for users who demand the best in innovation, productivity, and design, the Vivo X Fold 5 is among the best foldables you can buy in 2025.