Right now, we’re far past the point where affordable phones have gotten extremely good. Many top brands and brands that specialize in mid-range devices have delivered some stellar phones at under $600. These are phones that, while not quite as high quality as an iPhone or a Galaxy S phone, will still make you think twice about dropping over $1,000 on one of them. At some point, affordable smartphone screens got really great along with their designs, battery, performance, and camera in some cases. The Vivo V series of phones strides to lead this pack of devices, but does the series stand a chance against the rising competition from Tecno, Nothing, Poco, and other brands? I was given the opportunity to review the Vivo V40 and V40 Pro.
The mid-range market of phones has ballooned over the past couple of years. Not just in terms of quantity, but quality. Several years ago, there was a clear line between Flagship phones and mid-range devices. The thought of a mid-range phone running a flagship processor or coming with a flagship-grade design never really crossed anyone’s mind. They were the elite and there were the amateurs.
Nowadays, however, it’s not uncommon to see a $500 phone running last year’s Flagship SoC with OLED displays that will knock your socks off and other amazing features. So, they’re basically Flagship phones without the flagship price.
And that leaves us with the two phones in this review. Does the Vivo V40 Pro have what it takes to take on the elite, or has it been beat? Let’s find out in this review.
As a side note, this review will be about both phones, but I will focus on the Vivo V40 Pro. However, I will also make references to the Vivo V40 base edition. This is a very similar phone with the exception of a few spec differences.
Vivo V40 Pro Review: Design
Starting off with the design of this phone, it’s really hard for me to express just how I feel about it. This is one of those phones that have clashing design mentalities. It almost reminds me of the first time I saw the design of the Pixel 6. It’s a design that is unapologetically eccentric, but it grows on you. It’s a design that, while it is weird, you appreciate it for being so different and iconic.
The body of the phone itself is very thin and sleek. It will give you LG velvet Vibes. It’s a sizable phone with some rather sharp corners. It has the waterfall-style curved display that meets the metal frame. Also, it has a curved back that lets the phone sit comfortably in the hand. Since both sides of the phone are curved, it gives you the impression that it’s thinner than it actually is. Don’t get me wrong, this is a rather thin phone.
Speaking of the back of the phone, the colorway that Vivo gave me was the Moonlight White color. It’s an extremely glossy back that I can basically use as a mirror. The primary color is white, but it does have some bluish-gray streaks running across it. It almost makes me feel like I’m looking at a marble backplate. It’s an extremely gorgeous color, and it matches the bright silver metal frame.
What really makes this phone’s design stand out is its rather peculiar camera package. Vivo is no stranger to circular camera bumps. The Vivo V40 Pro has a massive circular camera bump on the back that houses two camera sensors. However, there’s a large pill-shaped protrusion right under the camera bump that houses an additional camera sensor and the flash. Those two components sit inside of another smaller pill-shaped section.
The entire camera package is lined with a glossy metal frame. The circular camera section has a frame all its own. This gives the phone some clashing design philosophies. The matte metal contrasts the glossy glass and the smooth curved edges clash with the rather angular camera package that juts directly out of the backplate.
I’m on the fence about how I feel about the design. It honestly looks nice. I think that Vivo did a good job of balancing the different materials, and I can’t get over just how well-crafted it looks. However, the design isn’t growing on me as quickly as some other odd-looking phones I’ve seen. It’s a bit alien-looking, and I know that that is what Viva was going for. It’s eccentric and unique, and I give the company points for that. So, I’m not complaining about the device, as it’s a matter of taste.
Base Vivo V40
This model has the same design. The main difference is the fact that the back glass is not glossy, but it’s matte. It adds that certain level of distinction to the device.
Vivo V40 Pro Review: Build Quality
During my journey of reviewing mid-range phones, I’ve come across a wide range of build qualities. I’ve used phones that feel cheap and plasticky, but I’ve also used phones that feel like they should cost at least $900. These are the phones that are mostly hefty with metal frames and glass backs. They make you question if you accidentally bought a flagship phone by mistake. The Vivo V40 Pro is one of them.
In all honesty, I have yet to come across a phone that feels one-to-one to an iPhone or a Galaxy S phone. The closest phone to doing that was the Poco F6 Pro. The Vivo V40 Pro feels maybe a step behind the Poco F6 Pro. It has a lovely combination of thinness and heft that I love.
Not all thin phones are light. It’s always great when I see a paper-thin phone that feels a bit heavy in the hand. This lets me know that the company stuffed a bunch of high-quality materials into the phone. It’s one of those things that adds to the smartphone’s experience without you even knowing it. The smartphone experience begins from the moment you touch the phone, and if you pick up a phone that feels cheap, then that will impact your experience going forward.
But, the Vivo V40 and V40 Pro feel great in the hand. As I said before, the curved back makes them feel extremely comfortable to hold. Adding to the great feeling is the smooth glass on the V40 Pro. It’s smooth, but it’s not slippery. That’s one thing I really appreciate about it. It does a good job of sticking to my fingers when I’m holding it. If my fingers are slightly moist from oil or sweat, I can grip the foam perfectly fine. It addresses quite possibly my biggest gripe with the Vivo X Fold3 Pro (Review), which had an extremely slippery matte glass material. This, along with the metal frame makes it one of the best-feeling phones I’ve used.
I performed a light bend test on the phone and listened for any sort of creeks or groans coming from it. The phone was completely silent as I bent it. Granted, I didn’t put a ton of force into bending it. I wasn’t bending it with the intent of breaking it. Basically, I bent it enough to see how much force it takes to see some sort of flex from the phone. After applying a fair amount of force, I still didn’t see the phone bend at all. This is a bit surprising because of how thin the Vivo V40 Pro is. The same thing goes for the Vivo V40.
Overall
All in all, I have no complaints about the build quality of these phones. They’re compact devices that feel rather premium. They have a great feeling in the hand, and they don’t feel like I’m about to drop them without a case. Vivo put a lot of thought into building these phones.
The only difference between the V40 and V40 Pro is that the regular model uses a matte glass back that has a more sandy texture. It’s still pretty good at holding onto my fingers. Though, there is a little bit more of a tendency for them to slide on that phone.
Vivo V40 Pro Review: Display
Both the Vivo V40 and the Vivo V40 Pro have the same screen resolution and technology, so there’s no reason to review these as separate devices. We’ve reached a point where mid-range phones can have Flagship grade displays. Many of them come with very bright and vibrant OLED panels that can defeat the bright afternoon sun and give you a cinematic experience. I’ve definitely reviewed some phones with displays that leave me in shock. How is the display on the Vivo V40 series?
Brightness
Starting off with the display brightness, this is one area where cheaper phones would typically fall flat on their faces. For years, we’ve been used to having to cover our phones with our bodies or walk under shade just to reply to a message. However, as the display brightness for flagship phones has risen over the years, so has the display brightness for mid-rangers.
The displays on the V40 phones are more than bright enough to see in the daylight. Honestly, they’re some of the brightest displays on any phone that I’ve reviewed, and they’re only a few steps behind what I would see on the Galaxy S24+. I can see the displays with perfect clarity even in the bright Florida Sun. So, I give them points for brightness.
I also give it points for not having the issue I’ve had with a few other phones with their adaptive brightness. Some phones I’ve reviewed would crank their screen brightness down to 0% when the lights go down. I’m not talking about when I’m in pitch black. I’m just talking about when I’m sitting in front of my computer monitors at night.
That’s a bit excessive because I often find myself having to turn the brightness up a little bit just to see the screen clearly. The Vivo V40 phones crank the brightness down to about 5%. It’s darker, but it’s still bright enough to clearly see what’s on the screen.
Bezels
Just like the brightness, the bezels on flagship phones have been improving, and so have the bezels on mid-range phones. I reviewed some mid-rangers with pretty thin bezels, and they look gorgeous. In the case of the V40 phones, I wouldn’t say that these bezels are the thinnest that I’ve used. There’s still just a little bit of a chin and a little bit of a forehead bezel. However, when I say little, I mean little. While these aren’t the thinnest I’ve used, they’re not far off. The bezels are very thin, and that goes especially for the sides because of the curved screen.
Colors
Moving on, these phones use OLED panels, so you can expect some bright and vivid colors. Out of the box, the colors are set to the Natural setting, but I set them to the Bright color mode which delivers the most saturated colors.
One thing I realized about this mode is that it doesn’t boost the colors to the point where they are too much. All the colors get a pleasant and responsible punch. App icons have a little more life, wallpapers have a little more juice, and games look a little bit better. I actually prefer this to phones that push the colors to an annoying degree. I’ve used some displays with colors that just sizzle.
My only complaint is that I think Vivo could have gone just a step more with the colors. The Bright Color mode looks nice, but I think there could have been just slightly more of a pop to the colors to give them more life. I think that the display in the Galaxy S24+ hits the perfect balance of saturation for me, and I think the Vivo V40 is just nipping at its heels.
That’s Just personal preference, and I’m pretty sure that most people will be completely happy with the display. All the colors are very well-balanced along with being nice to look at. I’m not really seeing any colors that are disproportionately augmented. Blues and greens look nice and lush, reds and oranges are nice and warm, and the whites are pure white. This is a very pleasant and well-calibrated display.
This is another example of the fact that having a truly good OLED panel goes far beyond just boosting the colors. It’s about calibrating them so that they all look pleasant to the eye. It’s okay to have some dim or less vibrant colors along with the juicy colors.
All in all, these are gorgeous displays, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching all sorts of content on them.
Overall
There’s not much more to say other than these are just such damn good displays! The colors aren’t only vibrant, but they’ve been tuned to give the displays a distinct Vivo look to them. There’s a certain coolness to the colors that go along with the FunTouch android skin. Also, they’re brilliant, bright, and just high quality in every way. Take that with the rather sharp resolution, and you have yourself an incredible viewing experience.
Vivo V40 Pro Review: Speakers
When it comes to the speaker performance of mid-range devices, I have to admit that I have been let down more than I have been impressed. However, the times I was impressed really stuck out. There are some phones that come with a surprisingly good set of speakers, and they actually deliver a nice experience. I wasn’t only surprised by mid-range speakers, as Vivo was able to fit a surprisingly good pair of speakers in the incredibly thin Vivo X Fold3 Pro. So, let’s see how the speakers in the Vivo V40 Pro do.
Volume
You want to make sure that your phone is properly loud so that you can hear it when outside or in a noisy environment. I definitely used some phones with wimpy speakers, and it’s always a bit annoying when that happens. The V40 phones have a set of decently powerful speakers. I would say that there are some of the loudest that I’ve used.
I cranked the volume all the way up and played a very loud rock piece that I designed specifically for this test. The speaker did very well, and they did a good job of keeping the distortion in check. There was definitely distortion at the highest volume level, but cranking it down just one volume level was able to pretty much eliminate all of it.
Bass
Smartphone speakers have come a long way in terms of providing ample low-end. The Vivo V40 phones are a testament to that. I ran the phone through my bass speaker test, which primarily consists of lower string and wind instruments. The lowest note that they play is C1 on the piano. However, we really want to listen for tones around the 60Hz to 70Hz range.
First and foremost, just going by ear, the bass sounds incredible. It sounds warm, lush, and spacious. I can hear the texture of the lower instruments, and I do hear a bit of rumble as well. They sound fantastic.
I ran the piece through a visualizer on my computer, and I saw that the speakers could reproduce tones as low as 50Hz, but the tones I heard were mostly around 100Hz. That’s really good. It’s safe to say that Vivo did an excellent job with the base reproduction in the speakers.
Treble
When talking about speaker technology, it’s sometimes very easy to overlook treble. The higher-pitched sounds really add a lot of character to a set of speakers. They add a tactile quality to the sound so that voices really shine through. Also, we can’t forget about good old ASMR.
Listening to my treble example piece, I found that these speakers do a great job of replicating higher-pitched tones. They are definitely better than most other phones I’ve reviewed. They have a nice crisp quality to them that I really like.
Vocals
Again, another thing that people overlook with speakers is the vocal performance. If you’re going to be using the speakers to listen to music or watch content, you’ll want to make sure that the voices project clearly.
I chalk this as another victory for the Vivo V40 and V40 Pro’s speakers. The voices sound very nice. I’ve definitely heard better, but in general, these speakers are great when it comes to vocals. When listening to music, The voices come through nicely and clearly. They all sound Pleasant.
Immersion
Putting it all together, do these speakers create an overall immersive experience? Yes. I was thoroughly impressed with the performance of the speakers in the Vivo V40 phones. Oftentimes, I would use a pair of speakers that excelled in maybe one or two areas. However, the speakers in the Vivo V40 series are just generally great speakers all around. The bass, treble, volume, and vocals, all come together to create a magnificent experience. I have no issue using this phone’s speakers while watching media or listening to music. I won’t feel obligated to plug in a set of headphones or put on my Bluetooth speaker. Overall, they are very great speakers
Vivo V40 Pro Review: Performance
Ah, performance. If there’s any area where mid-range devices lag behind flagship phones, it’s the performance. Over the years, mid-range phones have lagged and stuttered their way through their software, but they have been improving. Nowadays, we are finding mid-range devices that run the software extremely smoothly to the point where they look like a flagship device.
This is probably where the Vivo V40 and the Vivo V40 Pro differ the most. The former uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3, and the latter uses the MediaTek Dimensity 9000+. Neither of these chips is the latest and greatest, but they are still decent in terms of power.
I can honestly say that, while both of these phones have different Hardware, I was able to get perfectly smooth performance from both. Navigating the software, jumping in and out of apps, and just generally using the phones were all completely smooth. I think that Vivo properly optimized the software to run on these chips.
However, using the phones side by side, I can see where these two phones differ in power. The base Vivo V40 is pretty snappy. However, compared to the Pro version, it’s a step or two behind. When I would use the phones side by side and open the same app at the same time, I noticed that the Pro would open the app almost instantaneously. As for the base variant, it would linger on the splash screen for about half a second longer. It’s not drastic, but it is definitely noticeable. It’s the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 taking just a little bit more time to “think” than the Dimensity. Sometimes, they are closer to one another but in general, the Pro is a bit snappier than the base phone.
Going by the numbers
I know that benchmark numbers are not an indicator of real-world performance. It is still nice to see some general numbers to see where the chips stand on a scientific test. I used both Geekbench 6 and 3DMark for the phones. Starting off with the base V40 Pro, this phone scored a single-core score of 1,156 and a multi-core score of 3,192. Those are pretty middle-of-the-road scores, and they’re not too bad for a mid-range device.
As for the Vivo V40 Pro, this phone scored a single-core score of 1,563 and a multi-core score of 4,766. Clearly, the Vivo V40 Pro is a fair bit ahead of the base phone in terms of benchmark scores.
For the 3D Mark scores, I ran both of these devices through the Wildlife Extreme Stress test. The base Vivo V40 got a best Loop score of 1,494 and a lowest Loop score of 1,486. This gave it 99.5% stability. The lowest frame rate it hit was 7fps and the highest it hit was 11fps.
As for the Vivo V40 Pro, this phone gained a best Loop score of 3,909 and a worst loop score of 1,888. This gave it a stability score of 48.3%. So, the phone throttled really hard throughout the test. It reached a highest frame rate of 28fps and the lowest frame rate of 8fps.
Overall
These phones break the assumption that mid-range devices are automatically slow. Both of these phones are decent performers, and they’re more than capable of giving you a smooth performance no matter what you throw at them.
Vivo V40 Pro Review: Gaming
Most people would shudder when you mentioned trying to get good gaming performance from a mid-range device. We don’t typically associate mid-range phones with the most graphically intensive games on the market. However, mid-range processors have gotten much better at bringing graphically intensive games to life with several mid-range phones being able to handle Genshin Impact and other games like that without breaking a sweat.
Vivo V40
To test these phones out, I primarily used Genshin Impact and Zenless Zone Zero. Starting off with Genshin Impact on the base Vivo V40, the phone performed surprisingly well. I know that Genshin Impact is usually better optimized than most other graphically intensive games, but I was able to run it extremely smoothly. I cranked all the graphic settings to the max, and I was able to get a very smooth frame rate. I don’t think I was able to get 60fps, but I was able to get very close. Also, I didn’t experience any dropped frames or stutters. This was after playing it for a while and having it heat up quite a bit.
Now for Zenless Zone Zero, this is also a pretty graphically intensive and action-packed game. Just like with Genshin, Zenless Zone Zero ran completely smoothly. I turned the graphics all the way to the highest settings, but I didn’t experience any stutters or dropped frames.
Vivo V40 Pro
The story is the same for the Vivo V40 Pro. I ran both games for an extended period of time at the highest settings, and neither of them slowed down. These are some of the most graphically intensive games on the Google Play Store, so if it can run these games smoothly, these phones can run pretty much any game on the market.
I found that the heat management seems to be a bit better on the Vivo V40. I felt that the Vivo V40 Pro heated up just a bit more. In any case, it was never to the point where it felt uncomfortable to play.
Vivo V40 Pro Review: Camera
Budget phones have come a long way when it comes to camera technology. Back in the day, you would never pick up a sub-$500 phone to use as your main camera phone. You’d only use it to take pictures and that’s it. Nowadays, I’ve actually reviewed a fair amount of affordable phones with some really impressive camera technology.
So far, the Vivo V40 Pro has been a very impressive phone, so I shouldn’t be shocked if it has a great camera. So, let’s Dive In.
Exposure/ contrast
Right off the bat, I have no complaints about the exposure. This is one of the phones that tends to expose on the brighter side. So, images seem to almost teeter on being overexposed. However, they don’t cross the line. I do like the brighter overall profile of the images.
When it comes to the contrast, I noticed something about Vivo’s cameras that I didn’t notice about others. There’s definitely a quality about the way this camera handles contrast that I have only ever seen on the Vivo X Fold3 Pro. There’s a certain almost cinematic quality to the pictures that I really dig.
I can’t quite describe it, however, looking at the images, these pictures are on the more contrasty side. It’s just a bit more contrast than I would normally see from most phones. Honestly, it can be a bit extreme in some scenarios, but I think it all boils down to personal preference. Personally, I do like the more dramatic shots that I get thanks to the contrast.
Details
I captured these images using the main camera at its default setting. So, the phone spat out images that are 4,096 x 3,512. Overall, I say that the amount of details is rather decent. I could zoom in a fair bit before I started to see image degradation. I wouldn’t say that it’s particularly exceptional. Image degradation starts to occur right about where I would expect.
Colors
The colors are another area where this phone’s camera goes the extra mile. Vivo really punches up the colors with its images. It goes a step beyond just adding a little bit of punch to a picture. Vivo produces some rather juicy images. Whether or not they’re too much is a matter of taste, as people have their own preferences as to how much color they want in their images.
Personally, I think that the color can be just a dash too much at points. In many of the images I’ve taken, the phone added a very pleasant bit of punch. However, there’s the occasional image where I feel Vivo dipped into the cartoonish range. For example, it turned these green leaves into this candy green color.
The colors aren’t as bad as the ones that I saw in the Motorola Edge 2023. My eyes are still burning from looking at those pictures. However, there’s still up there.
Low light
Now, on to the low-light performance. I have no idea what Vivo does, but the company creates some insane low-light photography. Taking pictures inside with the lights down brings no challenge whatsoever to this phone. In order to truly test this film’s low-light capabilities, I had to wait until nighttime, lock myself in my room, shut off most of the lights, and try to find the darkest locations I could find.
The amount of detail that Vivo was able to pull from the scene with just a two-second exposure is absolutely insane. The picture of the little round light was almost pitch black to my eye and to the viewfinder. The cords in the background were completely invisible. After two seconds of exposure, they are completely exposed. I can even see the color of the red cord.
So, this phone has no issues absorbing light. The only issue I would say is that the pictures tend to be a bit blurry. This comes with all low-light photography. However, I think that is definitely blurry compared to what you would get from a more expensive phone. However, the level of light absorption I’m seeing from this camera is absolutely breathtaking.
This should definitely be your low-light photography powerhouse.
Video
Moving on to video, I’m seeing some of the same pitfalls I see with other affordable phones. However, this phone really excels in some key areas. Usually, when switching to video, you see a degradation in color, contrast, and details. Well, I think that this phone was able to process video very well. The details are decent, and the contrast didn’t take too much of a hit. As for the colors, they’re still very bright and punchy.
Overall
We’re no longer in the dog days of mid-range phones producing undesirable pictures. I feel like some of what made the Vivo X Fold3 Pro’s camera great trickled down to the Vivo V40 Pro. Images produced are bright, detailed, colorful, contrasty, and overall great. I feel that the colors can be a bit much, but they might not be an issue for the casual shutterbug.
When it comes to the video, Vivo managed to create some really nice-looking videos. They retain some of the splendor of the photos that this phone takes. I really love the camera.
The Vivo V40 and V40 Pro share basically the same camera package, so all of my comments apply to both models. The base V40 is missing the 2x telephoto camera that’s in the Pro along with the ability to record 4K 60fps (it caps out at 4K 30fps).
Vivo V40 Pro Review: Battery
When it comes to the battery life, you can chalk this up as another win for both of these phones. Both phones last about the same amount of time. To test the battery, I turned the screen brightness to 100% and ran a 24-hour video until both phones died. Both of them lasted more than 19 hours, which is near-flagship-grade. To put that into perspective, phones like the Galaxy S24+, Galaxy S24 Ultra, and iPhone 15 Pro lasted more than 20 hours.
This translates to these phones being more than 2-day phones with moderate usage. Using these phones for gaming, video-watching, photography, and social media, I wasn’t able to kill them before going to sleep.
Honestly, these phones have excellent battery life. I was surprised that the battery life is so similar on both of these phones because the chips are from two different manufacturers.
Vivo V40 Pro Review: Final Verdict
When you’ve reviewed as many mid-range phones as I have, it’s easy for their experiences to blend into one another. You experience a certain baseline of quality that not many of them deviate from. However, there are those phones that stand out above the rest. These are phones that excel in many, if not all, of the areas that define the smartphone experience. Those phones transcend the realm of mid-range phones and enter the Premium Mid-Ranger category.
These are phones that are too good to be considered a mid-ranger but don’t quite pack the punch of a full-on flagship. This type of phone, because of its price, sits right above the Flagship Killer category.
I feel that these phones sit in different categories. At around $430 USD, the Vivo V40 sits in the Flagship Killer category. The incredible screen, smooth performance, great design, capable camera, excellent speakers, and great battery life at this price point should make you question getting a more expensive phone. This is a reliable companion, and it’s punching far above its weight in terms of price.
As for the Vivo V40 Pro, this phone sits in the Premium Mid-ranger category. This phone comes with all of the benefits of the baseline V40 with the added benefit of a more powerful processor, a telephoto camera, smoother 4K recording, and higher starting storage. This is a step above the baseline phone, and it’s well-equipped to take on some of the lower-level flagship handsets.
If you’re looking for an affordable phone that’s incredible in almost every way, you should pick up the Vivo V40. If you’re looking for a phone that’s the closest thing to a flagship phone while still saving a substantial amount of money, then you should pick up the Vivo V40 Pro. Either way, you’re getting an absolutely fantastic phone.
