The Vivo X Fold 3 Series Is Powerful, Thin, And Light
Vivo has just released its two mainline book-style foldables for 2024: the Vivo X Fold 3 and the Vivo X Fold 3 Pro. Both devices set a high bar for foldables and make me very excited to see how the competition will respond. Let’s talk about them.
The Design
For the most part, both of Vivo’s latest models share the same design language. They have a front panel with a massive cover display and a glass back panel with a large circular camera module in the upper third. The arrangement of the camera lenses themselves differs slightly. Both devices are available in black and white colorways.
The X Fold 3 Pro is IPX8 waterproof, while the regular phone is just IPX4. Both phones use a carbon fiber hinge, which helps save weight. The X Fold 3 weighs 219g, making it the lightest book-style foldable ever, and the Pro model weighs 236g, which is on par with the S24 Ultra. Now that we’ve discussed weight let’s talk about dimensions — particularly thickness.
When folded, the X Fold 3 and the X Fold 3 Pro measure 10.2mm and 11.2mm, respectively. They’re both thin, and the latter is just minimally thicker than the Honor Magic V2 (9.9mm), the current thinness champ. However, here’s the catch: when unfolded, the regular Vivo X Fold 3 measures 4.7mm, matching up with the Honor Magic V2’s unfolded thickness. Plus, it shaves off 12g.
The Screens
The two devices share the same displays on the inside and the outside. The cover display is an 1172 x 2748 6.53-inch 120Hz AMOLED with 4500-nit peak brightness, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision certification, and a 120Hz refresh rate.
The foldable display on the inside shares many traits, like the same peak brightness, refresh rate, and certifications. However, it is an 8.03-inch LTPO AMOLED screen instead, with a 2200×2480 resolution.
The Internal Hardware
The Vivo X Fold 3 is powered by 2022’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, just like most other flagship foldables in the market. However, the X Fold 3 Pro is a bit more of a headliner since it runs on the current Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 – and it is the very first foldable to do so. Both run on Android 14 and Vivo’s OriginOS 4.
Both phones come with UFS 4.0 storage in all configurations. The X Fold 3 Pro has only 16GB/512GB and 16GB/1TB configurations, which are also options for the vanilla X Fold 3. However, the latter also has two additional storage choices: 256GB of storage with either 12GB or 16GB of RAM.
The X Fold 3 relies on a massive 5,500 mAh battery to keep the lights on, while the Pro model bumps that up slightly to 5,700 mAh. They both support fast wired charging, with the vanilla model at 80W and the Pro model at 100W (0 to 100 in about 30 minutes, according to Vivo). However, only the Pro model has wireless charging and 50W at that, too.
Finally, while they both have fingerprint scanners, the X Fold 3 goes for a side-mounted unit, while the X Fold 3 Pro has two, one under each display.
The Cameras
The cameras are mostly similar between these two foldable models. There’s a selfie camera cutout in the inner and cover display, each packing identical 32MP sensors.
The rear cameras boast of a partnership with Zeiss. The primary camera for both phones is a 50MP unit with OIS (though aperture and sensor size differ very slightly), paired with a 50MP ultrawide with a 119° field of view. The telephoto lenses are different, though: the vanilla model settles with a 50MP module with 2x optical zoom, while the Pro bumps that up to 64MP with 3x optical zoom and OIS.
The Pricing And Availability
The regular X Fold 3 starts at $970 and goes up to $1,247 for the top-tier configuration. Meanwhile, the X Fold 3 Pro starts at $1,385 for the 16GB/512GB configuration, and if you’re interested in doubling the storage, the price goes up to $1,524.
While all previous Vivo foldables have been available only in China, the Vivo X Fold 3 series might differ, as a certification has already been seen in Indonesia. This could suggest a much wider release, and we’ll keep our fingers crossed.
