Vivo V40 Challengers: Vivo recently launched the Vivo V40, which embodies the Vivo V series fundamentals– loaded cameras, and a lot of style. The phone comes with a sleek, curvy design and striking colours. It brings three 50-megapixel cameras to the table– two on the back and one on the front.
The 50-megapixel main camera on the back comes with OIS and the other is ultrawide, while the one on the front comes with autofocus (which is rare). All three bring the legendary Zeiss magic to the table, making the Vivo V40 a straight-up camera boss in its segment. The Vivo V40 gets a lot of other basics right too.
It sports a 6.78-inch full HD+ AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate and 4,500nits peak brightness. Despite being slim, it is powered by a large 5,500 mAh battery which comes with 80W fast charging support.
Vivo claims it's the slimmest 5,500 mAh battery phone at 7.58 mm. The phone comes with a mid-segment Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chip, paired with up to 12 GB RAM and 512 GB storage. This combination will easily get you through your everyday chores and even handle some of your power-hungry tasks well but, you would need to manage your expectations. The phone also comes with Vivo’s slightly cluttered FunTouchOS on top of Android 14.
At its starting price of Rs 34,999, the Vivo V40 is a great option for those wanting a slim, stylish phone with great cameras, but that does not mean it does not face competition. These five phones can give the Vivo V40 a run for its money:
Poco F6: The Power-Packed Headache For V40
Price: Rs 29,999 onwards
The Vivo V40 truly only lacks one thing – power, and the Poco F6 is a device that delivers that in spades. The phone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chip which is close to a flagship level processor in its own right.
This is paired with speedy LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage, making it a combination that will easily cater to all your smartphone needs, including heavy-duty gaming, no matter how power-demanding they may be. Add a 6.67 inch 1.5K AMOLED display with 120 Hz refresh rate and the Poco F6 becomes an absolute shark for those seeking a lot of power on a tight budget.
That said, although it comes with a good 50-megapixel main camera with OIS, its other camera numbers are more modest - an 8-megapixel ultrawide on the back and a 20-megapixel sensor on the front. And obviously, none has Zeiss. The phone runs on a relatively smaller 5,000 mAh battery but comes with faster 90W fast charging support.
The phone comes with Android 14 and Xiaomi’s HyperOS.
iQoo Neo 9 Pro: Cousin With A Killer Instinct
Price: Rs 34,999
In the past, brands and their sub-brands used to stay out of each other’s smartphone lanes. This is not the case any more, which is why one of the competitors standing in the way of the Vivo V40’s success is the iQoo Neo 9 Pro, from Vivo’s sub-brand. The phone comes with muscular hardware and an eye-catching design (especially the Fiery Red variant).
It features a 6.78-inch LTPO AMOLED 1.5 K resolution display with a very high refresh rate of 144 Hz and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor which may be a bit old but is well ahead of the chip on the Vivo V40 Pro. Paired with up to 12 GB RAM and 256 GB storage, the iQoo Neo 9 Pro is a smooth operator capable of handling everything from routine work to heavy-duty gaming.
In the camera department, the iQoo Neo 9 Pro sports a dual camera setup comprising a 50-megapixel Sony IMX920 main sensor and an 8-megapixel ultrawide sensor, with a 16-megapixel sensor in front for selfies and video calls.
Keeping it all going is the task of a 5,160 mAh battery which is smaller than the one on the V40 but comes with much faster 120W fast charging support. Like the V40, the iQoo Neo 9 Pro also comes with Android 14 out of the box, topped with the feature-rich FunTouch OS 14.
OnePlus Nord 4: A Heavy Metal Competitor
Price: Rs 29,999
There is a new Nord in town and by its very nature, it is a pain in the neck for all in its vicinity. The OnePlus Nord 4 has all of its Nord-ness intact, but its biggest highlight is its design. In the sea of plastic and glass backs, the Nord 4 comes with a beautiful metal back, giving the Vivo V40 tough competition in the looks department.
In spec terms, the phone brings a 6.74 inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 2772 x 1240 and a refresh rate of 120 Hz, and a 5,500 mAh battery to the table which is the same as the Vivo V40 but has faster charging support at 100W. Like the Vivo V40, the Nord 4 is also powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 3 chip.
This comes up to 12 GB with speedy LPDDR5X RAM, 128 GB UFS 3.1 storage, and 256 GB and 512 GB UFS 4.0 storage. The Nord 4 features a dual camera set up on the back consisting of a 50-megapixel Sony Lytia main sensor with OIS and an 8-megapixel ultrawide sensor. On the front, there is a 16-megapixel selfie sensor.
Round this up with Android 14 topped withOxygenOS, and the Nord 4 packs in enough to be a very close competitor to the Vivo V40.
Samsung Galaxy S23 FE: Samsung's Rain On V40 Parade
Price: Rs 34,999
The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE may be a little old but it still carries the soul of a flagship. It has a very typical Samsung design and comes with a beautiful 6.4-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2x display with FHD+ resolution and with 120 Hz adaptive refresh rate. It is powered by Samsung’s in-house Exynos 2200 processor which is quite powerful for the segment, paired with 8 GB RAM and 128 GB/ 256 GB storage options.
The phone features a triple camera setup on the back spearheaded by a 50-megapixel main sensor with OIS, backed by a 12-megapixel ultrawide and an 8-megapixel telephoto sensor with OIS that serves up 3x optical zoom.
The phone also comes with a number of shooting modes, including the popular Nightography feature which is a Samsung flagship staple, while a 10-megapixel selfie snapper in front handles vanity snaps and videos.
The phone does come with a smaller 4,500 mAh battery and much slower 25 W charging support with no charger in the box, and Android 13 out of the box with Samsung’s OneUI.
But this has been updated to Android 14, with four generations of OS upgrades and five years of security updates being promised. It might seem a little plain in terms of specs and design, but at the end of the day, it is a Samsung and comes with the reliability and consistency many associate with the brand.
Redmi Note 13 Pro+: A Noteworthy Competitor
Price: Rs 31,999 onwards
From its humble beginnings, the Redmi Note now goes up against premium mid-segment devices and its top model stands in the way of the Vivo V40. The phone is the first Note and the only phone in this list to come with a curved 6.67 inch 1.5K resolution AMOLED display with 120 Hz refresh rate and has a stylish vegan leather back variant, cementing its premium-ness.
The biggest highlight of the phone is its 200-megapixel Samsung Isocell HP3 main sensor with OIS, a large f/1.65 aperture and up to 4x lossless zoom. This makes it a pretty much ‘do it all’ sensor, although it is coupled with a nominal 8-megapixel ultrawide sensor and a 2-megapixel macro on the back, while a 16-megapixel sensor on the front which handles selfies and video calls.
The phone runs on a 5,000 mAh battery which comes with extremely fast 120W charging support with a charger in the box. While the chipset that powers it, the MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Ultra 5G is not as powerful as compared to the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 on the Vivo V40, it does come with 12 GB LPDDR5 RAM and up to 512 GB UFS 3.1 storage, which makes it a very capable phone. It comes with Android 13 out of the box but has been updated to Android 14 with HyperOS, and is a smooth performer.