Vivo X Fold5 review: Does its older processor justify the S$2,499 price?

Overview

July is the month of foldable smartphones. Entrants like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 and Honor Magic V5 have made it clear that the foldable space is an extremely tough fight.

Now, we have the Vivo X Fold5 joining the fray (in Singapore). We’re here to find out if it’s good enough to go up against what’s already out.

Unlike the other flagship foldables, the X Fold5 uses an older Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor instead of the Snapdragon 8 Elite like its rivals. While the Snapdragon chip is powerful, we’ll have to compare its value to other folding competitors launching in the same period.

Otherwise, the X Fold5 primarily uses up-to-date hardware, including LPDDR5X Ultra RAM and UFS 4.1 storage. It also has a massive 6,000mAh battery, an enhanced IP5X, IPX8, and IPX9 dust and water resistance rating, and more.

Additionally, the phone pairs a large 8.03-inch main screen with a 6.53-inch cover screen, which is among some of the largest screens for this form factor.

Is it worth the S$2,499 price tag? Let’s find out.

Design and Handling

While Vivo X Fold5 didn’t wave its thin build in our face, it’s still an incredible 9.2mm (folded) and a mere 4.3mm when unfolded. That’s a whole 2mm slimmer than the previous Vivo X Fold3 Pro (folded).

Unfortunately, unlike its rivals, the Vivo X Fold5 struggles with implementing a USB-C port, which is visibly exposed and raised. Such a design makes it easier for lint, dust, and other small items in your pockets or bags to damage a crucial connectivity component.

The phone is on the lighter side, weighing 217g (just 2g heavier than the Galaxy Z Fold7). The lighter touch is noticeable when you’re using the phone one-handed.

On the left side of the phone (unfolded) is a convenient shortcut button that makes it easy to toggle the phone-silencing DND mode or turn the flashlight on. When folding, the button goes over to the same right side of the device and sits above your volume and power controls.

This physical silencer is something the Galaxy Z Fold7 and Magic V5 lack, and we think it’s a clever use of the foldable’s extra space (the other 2025 foldable with a similar feature is the OPPO Find N5’s alert slider).

Both the 8.03-inch main screen and the 6.53-inch cover screen feature a peak brightness of 4,500 nits and a refresh rate of up to 120Hz. Colours appear great, and the high refresh rates makes general browsing and usage super smooth and fluid. The main screen’s crease is more noticeable than its competitors’, but it’s less visible when you have content playing. You will, however, feel it if you run a finger over the seam.

Vivo claims its kinematic hinge is internally tested to withstand 600,000 folds, and we noticed it has extra resistance when clasping (we believe this helps to prevent the phone from accidentally slapping shut).

The cover screen has second-generation Armor Glass for better durability and extra puncture resistance. Vivo has also upgraded the X Fold5 to include IP5X dust resistance, in addition to IPX8 and IPX9 water resistance. This is slightly higher than the IP48

The one design aspect Vivo X Fold5 didn’t update was the same dated, curved aesthetic found on Chinese bar-type and foldable handsets. Angular designs, such as those found on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7, communicate change and upgrades more effectively, given how slim these foldables are becoming. However, this is a matter of personal preference.

Elevated by the software, except...

Bi-fold phones typically feature multitasking capabilities, with the most common implementation being split-screen apps. The Vivo X Fold5 takes it to a whole new level with the Origin Workbench suite.

Similar to Apple’s Stage Manager for iPad multitasking, Origin Workbench allows up to five apps to be open simultaneously and conveniently swapped between them. One app takes centre stage, while the other apps are arranged vertically down the left side of the display, barely outside of view. Origin Workbench supports drag-and-drop functionality across apps, which allows power users to drag and drop, say, a file from Google Drive, and attach it to a Gmail draft.

Most people might not need more than just two apps open. However, it’s nice to have the feature available for users who might have intense productivity requirements.

By default, the Vivo X Fold5 runs on Funtouch OS 15, which is Vivo’s customised version of Android 15. It’s a decent operating system which is mildly stingy with its customisation.

There is one major problem. Despite this being a S$2,499 flagship phone, Vivo still pushes app recommendations and bloatware through notifications. If this were a low-cost phone, we could understand the need to further subsidise the device (preferably with other cost-saving measures, not ads). This is simply unacceptable for a handset at this price. We believe Vivo’s loyal users deserve much better, especially when they are already paying a premium for a device that already packs a last-generation chipset.

The phone packs useful AI tools like AI captions for translating videos, which is fairly accurate but not in real-time (~3s delay). The screen translation tool from the sidebar also pulls up Google Translate to translate whatever’s on screen, which is quicker than taking a screenshot and putting it through the Google Translate app.

Vivo only offers three years of software updates and security updates, which is slightly under the average period that Chinese brands tend to offer for high-end devices. Since most Singaporeans upgrade phones sooner than the global average of 3.2 years, this seems like a reasonable amount of time to provide support for, but that means you probably can’t safely hand it down to the next user in your family.

Imaging performance

The X Fold5 features a triple 50MP rear camera array, a fairly common combo for Chinese foldable smartphones these days.

• 50MP main camera (f/1.6 aperture, 1/1.56-inch Sony IMX921 sensor, PDAF, OIS)
• 50MP periscope telephoto camera (f/2.6 aperture, 1/1.95-inch Sony IMX882 sensor, PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom)
• 50MP ultrawide camera (f/2.1 aperture, 119˚ FOV, 1/2.76-inch Samsung JN1 sensor, PDAF)

These cameras are all ZEISS-branded and come with proprietary features, such as ZEISS-style bokeh options, which we’ve tested in our Vivo V50 review. The cameras perform well in various situations, including both well-lit and dimly lit scenarios, both indoors and outdoors.

The main camera takes colour-accurate shots while retaining plenty of detail. Indoors, the saturation and contrast can feel slightly boosted due to the ZEISS Vivid colour preset being the default option. If you prefer a more natural look, consider switching to its natural colour profile.

The ultrawide camera takes decent shots, but there is a noticeable amount of fisheye distortion that isn’t automatically corrected. If you take a lot of wide shots, you may need to put in some effort into post-editing.

The 3x optical zoom on the telephoto camera works brilliantly, with photos turning out sharp and with colours consistent to the main camera.

Benchmark performance

Surprisingly, Vivo has opted to use the older Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor in the X Fold5 instead of the 2025 chip for flagship-tier Android handsets, Snapdragon 8 Elite. This will almost certainly result in relatively lower benchmark scores since all of the 2025 launches we have here (like the Honor Magic V5, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 and OPPO Find N5) use the up-to-date processor.

Despite the lower numbers, the phone runs smoothly in all real-world use cases, even with multiple apps open. While the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 may not be the latest processor, it remains a capable one that can handle most people’s needs.

Battery Life

Our battery benchmark uses PCMark for Android’s Work 3.0 Battery Life, with results shown in minutes. This controlled benchmark simulates real-world usage, such as web and social media browsing, video and photo editing, parsing data with various file formats, writing, and more.

The results showed that Vivo’s huge 6,000mAh BlueVolt does translate to better battery life, with the phone hitting over 13 hours in the battery test. Even during normal usage, the X Fold5 could easily last a whole day, with only about 10% of battery used when idling for 24 hours.

The 80W wired fast charging and 40W wireless charging also help to juice the phone up quickly, with it taking just 28 minutes to get from 0-50%, and a full charge from 0% in 56 minutes. A full tank within the hour is expected for premium devices.

Conclusion

Foldable phones have made significant strides over the years. The Vivo X Fold5 is no exception, despite its flaws. Whether it’s a sensible purchase depends on your priorities in premium purchases.

There are some downsides we didn’t enjoy. For example, it has an older processor despite its prohibitively high S$2,499 price. It also has a curved design that’s not quite as sleek and fresh. We also found it unacceptable that a premium device has ads.

But, we do understand some users are hardly bothered by those shortcomings. Vivo X Fold5 still does a great job of providing great performance alongside its useful software features.

Origin Workbench is probably one of the features we we enjoyed the most, since it gave meaning to the inner display beyond having something big to look at. Multitaskers and app switchers will find it game-changing.

However, it gets harder to recommend the phone if you consider what Vivo’s rivals are using to woo Singaporeans. At S$2,499 for 512GB, it’s the same price as the OPPO Find N5, and more expensive than the Honor Magic V5 (S$2,199 at 512GB). Both are Chinese Android brands, but with a more updated design, newer processor, and comparable specs and features. The Vivo X Fold5 is a good alternative, but a competitive landscape means it has to settle for being an option, rather than the choice.

That said, it is still a very good option, if you don’t mind its lower value for money overall.

The Vivo X Fold5 retails for S$2,499 (16GB RAM + 512GB storage) and is available in Titanium Grey. Pre-orders start from 31 July to 7 August 2025, with official retail beginning on 8 August 2025.

During the pre-order period, each purchase of Vivo X Fold5 via Vivo’s official platforms is also entitled to a S$300 discount, a free Vivo Watch GT (worth S$299), a free pair of Vivo Buds (worth S$89), two years of global warranty, and three months of screen warranty.

The phone can be purchased online from Shopee, Lazada and TikTok, or offline at authorised retailers, Challenger, Best Denki, Courts, Gain City, Harvey Norman, Popular, Singtel & M1.