vivo continues its legacy of producing great and accessible camera phones with the vivo V40 5G. Just like the vivo V30 Pro, the new V40 is co-engineered with ZEISS, the legendary optics maker, making it a phone that lives up to its moniker of “Portrait Master.” We were able to spend some time with the vivo V40 and below are our quick thoughts.
vivo V40 Packaging Design
Box Contents
Opening the Aura- and Zeiss-co-branded box it ships with, the vivo V40 comes bundled with a free case in a color similar to the unit, 80W vivo FlashCharge power brick, USB Type-C cord, SIM ejector pin, and some documentation. There is also a pre-applied screen protector on the screen for added peace of mind.
Construction and Display
The vivo V40 comes in various premium-looking colorways: shimmering matte Nebula Purple; Sunglow Peach with a glossy back finish; and Stellar Silver with glossy anti-fingerprint coating. Its Zeiss co-engineered camera island is styled in what vivo is calling the Gemini Ring. Inspired by the shape of its namesake constellation, the vivo V40’s rounded and rectangular camera hump further contributes to its clean and premium aesthetics.
Build-wise, the phone’s edges are made out of solid plastic material, while the back is covered in glass. Despite this combination build, the phone has no give in its body, making for a reassuring experience. Better yet, the vivo V40 is IP68 dust- and water-resistant, meaning it can handle some light abuse. Lastly, the vivo V40 is only 7.58mm thick despite its sizable 5500mAh battery.
A closer look at the ports and button placements on the vivo V40
For the display, the vivo V40 is equipped with a 6.78-inch 1.5K 2800×1260 AMOLED display with a sharp 452 ppi, maximum 120Hz refresh rate, 100% DCI-P3 color coverage, and 4500 nits of local peak brightness.
Performance
The vivo V40 runs on a Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 processor paired with 12GB of RAM and either 256GB or 512GB of non-expandable internal storage. This is the same hardware setup as its predecessor, the vivo V30.
As such and as expected, the vivo V40 is capable of handling day-to-day use cases, gaming, and photo-video editing. MOBAs like Pokemon Unite and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang; shooters such as Call of Duty Mobile; and even more intensive games such as Diablo Immortal, NBA 2K mobile, and Genshin Impact all run really well even with higher graphical settings turned on. Photo and video editing is also smoothly handled by the V40, even with 4K video footage.
Software
The vivo V40 runs Android 14 with the brand’s Funtouch 14 OS which keeps everything functionally close to vanilla Android with a few key differences. These include the various pre-installed vivo apps and uninstallable third-party applications; the various aesthetic and navigation customizability; and of course, various changes to the stock UI design.
Camera
The vivo V40 is indeed a portrait and photography master. Leading the camera suite on the vivo V40 is a ZEISS 50MP All Main Camera with a 1/1.56-inch Samsung ISOCELL GNJ sensor. This sizable sensor and accompanying Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) technology enables the V40 to produce brighter, sharper, and clearer images even in low-light conditions.
Ultra-wide duties are handled by another ZEISS-branded 50MP camera.
For selfies, the vivo V40 features a 50MP ZEISS Group Selfie Camera with an f/2.0 aperture and a 92° field of view.
A standout feature on the V40’s camera setup is the ZEISS Multifocal Portrait mode. With a few taps, you can access three distinct focal lengths for various use-cases: 24mm for travel and landscape; 35mm for street photography; and 50mm for portraits. This comes with ZEISS Style Portrait modes for various realistic bokeh effects, namely: Biotar, Planar, Distagon, Sonnar, Cinematic, B-Speed, and Cine-flare Portrait.
For a more natural look, the ZEISS Natural color mode available in the camera app offers subtle, true-to-life tones, ideal for those who prefer to fine-tune colors in post-processing.
Lastly, returning in the vivo V40 is the AI Aura Light system, now 33% brighter than before.
This soft, ring light-esque illuminator helps a ton when in dimly lit environments or when your portraits need more flattering light. Complementing this hardware lighting solution is the vivo AI 3D Studio Lighting, an AI-powered virtual fill light that delivers even lighting in backlit or shadowed environments.
Experience the photography potential of the vivo V40 with these sample images we snapped.
1x Photo mode, Indoor, Ambient Lighting
0.6x Photo mode, Indoor, Ambient Lighting
2x Photo mode, Indoor, Ambient Lighting
1x Photo mode, Outdoor, Sunny Weather
0.6x Night mode, Outdoor, Low Lighting
1x Selfie, Indoor, Ambient Lighting
0.8x Selfie, Indoor, Ambient Lighting
1x Portrait Mode with Aura Lighting, Indoor, Ambient Lighting
Battery
As mentioned above, the vivo V40 comes packing a 5500mAh battery which means you can enjoy its power and shooting prowess for much longer. Its predecessor, the vivo V30, comes packing a comparatively smaller 5000mAh power pack, and that was able to last well over 15 hours in our review. As such, it is no wonder that the vivo V40 is able to last much longer.
When it does sputter out, the bundled 80W vivo FlashCharge power brick and USB-C cable can take the vivo V40 from zero to full in just under an hour.
Quick Thoughts
Just like its last top phone, vivo’s new V40 once again makes high-quality photography accessible for many. So accessible in fact, that you don’t need to shell out more bucks for the Pro variant just to get the oh-so-good ZEISS camera technology in your pocket. While it is a photography-oriented phone, the vivo V40 is so much more than that. It has a reliable and power-efficient processor, plenty of RAM and storage, a gorgeous display, and a battery life that lasts and lasts. It is everything you could want in a daily driver.
Pricing
The vivo V40 sells for PHP 26,999 for the 12+256GB variant and PHP 29,999 for the 12+512GB one. It is available for purchase in vivo concept stores and kiosks nationwide, as well as through online shopping platforms.
Full Specifications – vivo V40 5G
- PHP 26,999(12+256GB) and PHP 29,999 (12+512GB)
- Nebula Purple; Sunglow Peach; Stellar Silver
- 78-inch 2800 x 1260 AMOLED display, 120Hz refresh, 452 ppi, 4500 nits, 100% DCI-P3 Color Gamut, 105% NTSC
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3, octa-core up to 2.63GHz
- 12GB RAM
- 256 or 512GB non-expandable internal storage
- 50MP f/1.88 main rear with OIS; 50MP f/2,0 ultrawide rear with 119° FoV; 50MP f/2.0 front; Aura Light
- Wi-Fi 5GHz, Bluetooth 5.4, GPS, BeiDou, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS
- 5500mAh battery
- 80W vivo FlashCharge
- IP68 dust- and water-resistant
- 16 × 74.93 × 7.58 mm
- 190g
- Funtouch OS 14 (Android 14)
- In-Display Optical Fingerprint Sensor
