Vivo’s X Fold 6 accidentally feels like a throwback

It’s a quirk of the release calendar that when Vivo’s X Fold 6 launched in China this June, it was just another foldable. Now that it’s ready for its global release, the size and aspect ratio feel oddly old-fashioned.

The X Fold 6 is much the same size as Vivo’s previous foldables, and most other foldables that launched before both Apple and Samsung pivoted to a shorter, wider form factor with the Z Fold 8 and iPhone Duo. The 6.51-inch cover display is in the standard smartphone 20:9 aspect ratio, opening to an almost square 8.02-inch panel. The crease is a little behind rivals, since it’s quite visible, and the IP59 rating is good but not great.

Where the X Fold 6 stands out is its cameras. The 1/1.4-inch-type, 200-megapixel main camera sensor is one of the biggest on any foldable phone (only Huawei uses bigger), and it’s paired with 50-megapixel telephoto and ultrawide cameras that also look decent. The 6,900mAh battery isn’t bad either, with a custom “Super Edition” of the MediaTek Dimensity 9500 running the show.

The phone is launching now outside China, though Vivo didn’t tell me the price or specific markets ahead of time; I’ll update this article once I have them. I’ve got a few phones on my desk right now (literally — it’s a mess) but I’m hoping to give this camera a proper test when I can, since it should be better than almost any other foldable’s.

Photography by Dominic Preston / The Verge.