The Vivo X Fold is a promising new foldable smartphone and the first from the Chinese manufacturer. However, Samsung has a strong grip on the foldable smartphone market, not only because it has launched more foldable smartphones than any other manufacturer but also as a result of their wide availability as it sells them in several countries across the globe.
Save for Samsung, the only other manufacturer that sells its foldable smartphones in multiple regions is Huawei. This can be surprising, considering the sanctions placed on Huawei have greatly affected its business. Its most-recent foldable is the clamshell-style Huawei P50 Pocket, the only true Galaxy Z Flip 3 rival. Apart from China, Huawei also sells the phone in other countries in Asia and Europe.
Vivo's X Fold is yet to be available for purchase anywhere in the world, but it is already accepting pre-orders in its home country of China ahead of the April 22 release date. Unfortunately, Vivo didn't disclose plans for a global release of its first foldable phone at the launch, so there is no news of its availability outside China. However, if that changes in the future, it likely won't be sold in the United States as Vivo doesn't sell its phones in North America.
The Vivo X Fold Is Exclusive To China
Vivo isn't the only Chinese manufacturer that limits the availability of its foldable smartphone to China alone. For example, the Honor Magic V, another Galaxy Z Fold 3 challenger that launched in Jan. 2022, can only be bought in China. There is also the compact Oppo Find N, which is a pretty impressive foldable smartphone but is also exclusive to China. Great as these devices are, and in some cases better and cheaper than Samsung's offerings, their limited availability is still a major issue. And until that hurdle is surmounted, Samsung will continue to be the leader in the foldable smartphone space.
The Vivo X Fold has two displays, AMOLED panels with a 120Hz refresh rate and their own in-display fingerprint scanner. The cover display is a 6.53-inch FHD+ screen, while the inner display is an 8.03-inch 2160×1916 screen with Ultra-Thin Glass. Qualcomm and Vivo have partnered on a custom version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 for the X Fold. There is also 12GB of RAM on board with the option for 256GB or 512GB of storage. Each of the displays has a punch hole for a 16MP camera while the back of the phone has four cameras— a 50MP Samsung GN5 primary sensor, a 48MP ultrawide angle camera, a 12MP portrait camera, an 8MP telephoto camera with a periscope lens and OIS for 5x optical zoom and up to 60x superzoom.
Vivo has included a dual-cell 4600mAh battery in the X Fold that can charge at up to 66W via a wired charger and up to 50W via wireless charging. It also has an alert slider on the side. In addition, the phone runs a custom UI called Origin OS Ocean that is based on Android 12. The price starts at ¥8999 (~$1412) for the 256GB version and goes up to ¥9999 (~$1570) for the 512GB version. All hope is not lost for those who reside outside China but want the Vivo X Fold. These buyers keen to get their hands on the phone can import them to their country. However, they should expect a markup in the price if they buy from third-party retailers and factor in the additional fees they will pay via import duties.
Source: Vivo