The vast majority of large and not-so-large smartphone manufacturers have already released their own models with foldable screens. Of course, Samsung models are still the most popular on the global market. But this does not mean that other manufacturers do not do anything interesting. Today, we are going to get acquainted with the foldable flagship vivo X Fold3 Pro, which has many interesting features. Formally, the company has released a global version of the smartphone outside of China, but so far it is only India and Indonesia. Perhaps later the company will decide to expand its sales geography.
vivo X Fold3 Pro specifications
| Dimensions and weight | Folding mill: 160 x 72.6 x 11.2 mmMachine: 160 x 142.4 x 5.2 mm236 grams |
| RAM and storage | 16 GB LPDDR5X ROM, 512 GB of UFS 4.0 storage |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 |
| Graphics processor | Adreno GPU 750 |
| Wireless modules | Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, ІЧ-порт |
| Display | External: 6.53 inches, AMOLED, 120Hz, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, 2748×1172 pixels, 21:9, 4500 nits peak brightnessInternal: 8.03 inches, Foldable LTPO AMOLED, 120 Hz HDR10+, Dolby Vision, 2480×2200 pixels, 416 PPI, 4500 cd/m² |
| Main cameras | 50 MP wide-angle, ƒ/1.68, optical stabilization, phase detection autofocus, laser autofocus;64 MP periscopic telephoto, ƒ/2.57, optical stabilization, phase detection autofocus, 3x zoom50 MP ultra-wide, ƒ/2.0, 119˚, phase autofocus; |
| Front camera | Internal: 32 megapixels, ƒ/2.4; external: 32 MP, ƒ/2.4 |
| Audio | Stereo sound |
| Battery | 5 700 mA/year |
| Charging | Wired up to 100 W, drots up to 50 W, wireless drots |
| Connectors | USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2 |
| Operating system | Android 14 + OriginOS 4 (China), Funtouch 14 (International) |
Design and ergonomics
vivo X Fold3 Pro has a typical book-shaped design for modern folding smartphones with a large folding internal display and a smaller external one. The smartphone turned out to be quite "tall", but this is not surprising, given the 8.03-inch internal folding display. When folded, the smartphone is relatively convenient to use with one hand thanks to the rather narrow external display. You can easily reach the opposite side with your thumb. But, of course, not to the top.
The external display of the vivo X Fold3 Pro has a diagonal of 6.53 inches and an aspect ratio of 21:9. It is protected by Armor Glass with very small bends on the sides. But it's important not to confuse Armor Glass with Gorilla Glass Armor. The front camera is in a round notch, and above is a barely noticeable thin slot for the earpiece speaker.
In the open position, we have something close to a tablet with an 8.03-inch screen. It has an almost square shape. And thanks to its large diagonal, it's easy to read, work with documents, or browse the web. There is still a crease on the screen. It is almost invisible, although you can feel it with your finger. The company calls the coating of the internal screen Super Tensile UTG and claims that it is strong and durable.
Unlike the external front-facing camera, the internal one is located in the upper right corner instead of in the middle. With the dark theme, it doesn't catch the eye at all in everyday use.
The frame of vivo X Fold3 Pro is made of metal with a matte, pleasant to the touch finish. It has a flat surface and small chamfers that make it easy to open the smartphone. There are many traditional plastic inserts around the perimeter for stable operation of wireless interfaces. The main speaker, two microphones, a fast USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2, and a tray are located at the bottom.
The tray is designed for two nano SIM cards. Unfortunately, even the flagships of Chinese manufacturers do not always support eSIM. This is just such a case.
On top there is another microphone, speaker holes, and an infrared transmitter for controlling consumer electronics.
If you look at the folded vivo X Fold3 Pro on the right, you'll see the usual volume and power buttons. On the other "half", a little higher, there is a two-position switch for quick switching to silent mode. In the settings, you can turn off only calls and notifications, or everything at once, including multimedia. Similar solutions have long been used in OnePlus and OPPO models.
The hinge is covered by a neat and rather thin metal cover. The hinge itself is made of carbon fiber and weighs just under 15 g. It is claimed to withstand 500,000 folding cycles. It is moderately tight and pleasant to use. It can be locked in intermediate positions and auto-adjusted to the extreme positions.
The back cover is made of a composite material that includes fiberglass and UPE polymer. It feels like frosted glass to the touch. The smartphone is available in black and white. The white one has an interesting texture. The rear camera is made in the form of a large black disk with 3 camera modules, a flash, laser autofocus and the Zeiss logo. The camera protrudes quite a bit above the surface of the back cover. But thanks to its symmetry, the smartphone doesn't wobble when lying on the table.
vivo X Fold3 Pro weighs 236 g, which is quite typical for this form factor. But the thickness was a pleasant surprise: 5.2 mm when unfolded and 11.2 when folded. It doesn't feel much different from modern monoblock smartphones. The smartphone is IPX8 waterproof and can theoretically withstand immersion in fresh water to a depth of 1.5 meters.
Features of use and form factor
In general, the vivo X Fold3 Pro does not differ from other similar models in terms of usability and form factor. The external screen is sufficient for the vast majority of basic tasks. This includes calls, messages, email, using the camera, and more.
The expanded version offers a large screen of 8.03 inches. That is, we have a tablet with an almost square screen. It's great for reading books, working with documents, browsing, and playing games. In most cases, there are no problems with scaling or aspect ratio. For watching videos, such a screen is no longer so useful: the vast majority of videos now have an aspect ratio of 16:9, and movies have a 21:9 aspect ratio, so there are large black areas on the screen at the bottom and top.
This screen is useful for working with multiple applications in split-screen mode. You can save such combinations to the bottom dock, or save these settings for quick launch from the sidebar. It also supports launching applications in a window that can be resized or minimized to an icon. The so-called bottom dock stores the latest and most frequently used applications.
vivo X Fold3 Pro, like all similar smartphones, can be useful in a semi-bent position when working with two applications. In this position, you can, for example, reply in a messenger without interrupting a video conference. It's also worth noting that some apps support the so-called Bend Bar: the app itself is displayed in the upper part, and the controls are displayed in the lower part.
You can also take photos in a semi-bent position without the need for a tripod. This includes taking selfies with a gesture: you just need to show your palm and the 3-second countdown to the shot will start.
Among the interesting features is the so-called tent mode. In this position, a locked smartphone can display the date, clock, and notifications on the external screen like a desk clock.
Quality of displays
The Vivo X Fold3 Pro smartphone is equipped with a main flexible Foldable LTPO AMOLED display with a diagonal of 8.03 inches and a resolution of 2480×2200 (413 ppi). The Samsung E7 matrix is used. The screen supports an adaptive refresh rate of 120 Hz. The external AMOLED display of the BOE Q9+ has a diagonal of 6.53 inches and a resolution of 2748×1172 (21:9), also with a refresh rate of 120 Hz. Both screens support HDR10+ and Dolby Vision standards. The color gamut is said to be 100% of the DCI-P3 color space. A peak brightness of 4500 nits is claimed for both screens.
The screen settings are quite familiar: a dark theme, eye protection, refresh rate settings (auto, 60, 120 Hz, or individual settings for different applications), fonts, interface scale, and color display modes with the ability to manually adjust the color temperature. There are three modes: standard, professional, and vivid. As measurements have shown, standard and vivid, if they differ, the difference is minimal. Professional imitates the sRGB color gamut.
The screens of vivo X Fold3 Pro are of really good quality. They have a sufficient level of brightness and rich colors. But, as with most variations on the OLED theme, at certain angles, the white color has a greenish tint. In this case, it's more about the external display. Measurements showed that in the "Bright" mode, the external display has a brightness of 512.518 cd/m². It's far from the highest, but it's not bad. The color gamut is much higher than sRGB, but the color temperature is very high, the screen leans noticeably towards cold shades, so the ability to manually adjust the color temperature is appropriate:
In Professional mode, the maximum brightness is 519,506 cd/m². The color gamut is closer to sRGB, but not quite the same. At the same time, the color temperature is slightly closer to the reference value:
The internal display is very close to the external one, both in terms of brightness and color reproduction. In "Bright" mode, the internal display demonstrates a brightness of 506.121 cd/m², a wide color gamut, and similarly tends to cool shades:
In Professional mode, the maximum brightness is 485.128 cd/m², the color gamut is closer to sRGB, and the color temperature is not so high.
Security
Unlike the vast majority of folding smartphones, vivo X Fold3 Pro has more than one fingerprint scanner on the side. There are two ultrasonic in-screen ones. One is in the outer screen and the other is in the right half of the inner screen. They work perfectly: very quickly and accurately. Of course, you don't need to register your fingerprints separately for each screen: those registered on one screen are recognized just as quickly on the other.
Face recognition by the front cameras is implemented as standard. So you can expect quick response in good light. For dark environments, there is a function to increase the brightness of the screen. In most cases, it helps, but the speed may still be slower in very dark environments.
Performance and software
vivo X Fold3 Pro received the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor. This is a processor that is already familiar from a large number of flagships, which will soon be replaced. It is manufactured using the 4 nm process technology, has one powerful ARM Cortex-X4 core with a frequency of up to 3.3 GHz, three Cortex-A720s of 3.2 GHz, two Cortex-A720s of 3.0 GHz, and two energy-efficient Cortex-A520s of 2.3 GHz. The graphics accelerator is Adreno 750.
The smartphone has 16 GB of LPDDR5X RAM and a 512 GB UFS 4.0 storage. In benchmarks, vivo X Fold3 Pro demonstrates results close to the most powerful current flagships. Therefore, there are no problems with performance. The shell, heavy applications, modern games are not a problem for vivo X Fold3 Pro.
The stability is not as bad as you might expect from a foldable smartphone. Due to the very dense layout of internal elements, such smartphones usually overheat significantly. At maximum load, the smartphone operates stably with minimal performance degradation for the first 12 minutes, after which there are periodic performance drops of up to 50%:
Modern games run well on vivo X Fold3 Pro. Unfortunately, we couldn't find an FPS counter in the proprietary gaming application, because this part of the interface remains in Chinese. But visually, in Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty Mobile, you can expect a stable 60 FPS on high graphics settings. XCOM2 - 30 FPS, no longer supported by the game itself.
vivo X Fold3 Pro has a good set of modern wireless interfaces: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e/7, Bluetooth 5.4 with support for aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless codecs, LHDC, NFC and an IR port. Global positioning systems GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS, QZSS are supported. The only thing missing is eSIM support. There is a proprietary application for the infrared port. It has almost standard functionality. Among the unusual features is the ability to take a photo of the device's remote control to find it faster in the app's database.
The vivo X Fold3 Pro runs on Android 14, in our case with the proprietary OriginOS 4 shell for China. That is, there were no Google services out of the box, but the smartphone arrived in the editorial office with them. There is no Ukrainian language. The shell has a bunch of local Chinese software and (judging by the information on the network) is quite different from the conventionally international Funtouch 14.
OriginOS 4 is a typical Chinese shell with a redrawn design, familiar desktops, different navigation options (buttons, gestures), and a double curtain. That is, you have to pull down on the left side of the screen to get notifications, and on the right side to get the panel with quick switches. Judging by the screenshots on the web, the global version with Funtouch 14 has a close to stock Android curtain.
In addition to the aforementioned features related to the folding design, the large screen has many options for opening applications in a window, support for split screen, and a so-called bottom dock with the most recently launched applications. When you launch an application, this dock shrinks in size and an icon appears on the left, which allows you to open a tile with all installed applications. You can hide or show the dock by long-pressing the bottom of the screen.
The Application Manager has two types of display: the usual horizontal carousel or tiles.
In general, everything is quite convenient and quite typical for folding models with an interface adapted to the large internal screen.
Sound
vivo X Fold3 Pro reproduces stereo sound using the main speaker on the bottom of the smartphone, as well as an earpiece speaker with additional holes on the top edge. The sound is loud and even has hints of low frequencies. Although at maximum volume, they are almost completely drowned out by high and medium frequencies. The volume balance is good, there is no noticeable difference between the speakers.
The smartphone supports Dolby Atmos virtual surround sound. There is a proprietary sound enhancer, thanks to which (theoretically) the most compressed tracks should not sound so bad. In general, there are no complaints about the sound. The only thing else worth mentioning is the location of the speakers: when the smartphone is unfolded in a horizontal orientation, they are slightly covered by the palms of your hands. This, of course, reduces both volume and sound quality.
Cameras
vivo X Fold3 Pro has a triple rear camera. The manufacturer claims that it was developed together with Zeiss and the camera modules use Zeiss optics and lens coatings. The main module has a resolution of 50 MP, an aperture of ƒ/1.68, optical stabilization, phase detection, and laser autofocus. By default, images have a resolution of 12.5 MP. The camera is capable of recording video at 8K 30fps.
The periscopic telephoto module has a resolution of 64 MP, ƒ/2.57 aperture, 3x zoom, optical stabilization and phase detection autofocus. It can focus at a distance of 15 cm to infinity and is used for macro photography. The maximum video resolution is 4K 60 fps. The ultra-wide-angle camera does not have optical stabilization, but has phase detection autofocus. The resolution is 50 MP, the aperture is ƒ/2.0, the angle is 119˚, and the video resolution is 4K 60 fps. Both front cameras have similar characteristics: 32 MP, ƒ/2.4.
The vivo X Fold3 Pro camera app is virtually no different from most modern Android smartphones. The familiar mode carousel, camera switcher and zoom on the viewfinder, and basic settings in the drop-down menu. There are a bunch of additional shooting modes, including astrophoto, supermoon, and something like Tilt-Shift simulation.
vivo X Fold3 Pro takes high-quality photos with the main camera. With fairly natural colors, excellent detail and wide dynamic range. Night mode also works well overall, but it adds a bit of unnatural yellow and orange tones. This is true for night mode on all cameras.
2x zoom is due to the crop from the main camera:
The periscopic camera with 3x zoom proved to be surprisingly effective. It's capable of taking beautifully clear photos in low light:
You can also use the 10x digital zoom, but it becomes more difficult to take clear photos at night:
The ultra-wide-angle camera generally performs well, too. The viewing angle is slightly smaller than that of competitors, but the image deformation is noticeably less. And blurring around the perimeter of the frame is minimal:
The telephoto camera is very good at macro:
vivo X Fold3 Pro shoots 4K 60 FPS video very well on the main camera. Detail is good, although stabilization could be better:
The ultra-wide-angle also did a good job of shooting 4K 60 FPS:
The camera can also shoot 4K 60 FPS in telephoto , but there's some jitter.
Battery life
vivo X Fold3 Pro is equipped with a 5700 mAh battery, which is significantly more than many competitors. In particular,Samsung Galaxy Fold6. This does not provide a radical increase in battery life, but the smartphone is quite durable for this form factor. Of course, the operating time will depend quite a bit on the ratio of use of the external and internal displays. But with active use (including games, videos, and a browser on the big screen), the smartphone will live until late in the evening. Without games, you can count on a day.
Unfortunately, the vivo X Fold3 Pro came to us without a delivery kit, so it was not possible to measure the charging speed from the bundled 120 W power supply (although the smartphone itself supports 100 W). The smartphone takes about 2 hours to charge from a third-party unit.