vivo V40 Pro review

Competition

The vivo V40 Pro launches at a slightly higher price than its predecessor and is now going for nearly INR 50,000, according to vivo's official web store, but you can easily find other offers that put in the sub-INR 45,000 class. Since India is the handset's main market, we checked out a handful of worthy alternatives which are available there.

The Realme GT 6 is perhaps one of them. Realme's contender poses serious competition as it outperforms the vivo V40 Pro in key aspects - chipset, battery life, charging speed and display. The vivo, on the other hand, is a better choice if you are looking for a complete camera package. It has a more versatile setup, takes nicer pictures overall and has an excellent selfie unit.

Realme GT 6 • Xiaomi 14 Civi

The Xiaomi 14 Civi is perhaps an even bigger threat as it has a snappier chipset, a slightly better display with Dolby Vision support, roughly the same camera system with comparable image quality and a more compact build (6.55-inch display). Xiaomi's offer fails to impress in terms of endurance, though, but gives you two selfie cameras with different focal lengths.

Honor 200 Pro • OnePlus 12R

The similarly priced and recently released Honor 200 Pro is another alternative worth considering. It strikes us as a better all-rounder because it has the same camera features as the V40 Pro but without AF on the selfie unit and with a further optical zoom reach of 2.5x. It also runs on a comparable chipset, charges slightly faster, supports fast wireless charging, promises longer software support and has nicer speakers. The V40 Pro's only advantage is battery life.

Lastly, the OnePlus 12R is also an option, but it's a tough call despite its considerably lower price tag. The 12R may impress you with raw performance, battery life and snappy charging, but its camera capabilities are no match for the V40 Pro.

Verdict

Although with good camera capabilities, the V40 Pro finds it hard to stand out from the crowd in its current price bracket. Its versatile and rather capable camera system can be found in some similarly priced models, while the rest of the hardware and software features aren't necessarily unique.

The V40 Pro charges fast, but it's not the fastest one around. It offers dependable battery life, but we've seen better. It has a capable chipset, but most other competitors have even more powerful SoCs. The display is bright and supports HDR10+, but so do the rest of the smartphones in the price segment.

All in all, the V40 Pro is a very good smartphone, but without particular stand-out qualities. Maybe when the price goes down in the following months, it will become more competitive, but for now, you can find similarly priced alternatives that are either more powerful or offer a bit more for the asking price.

Pros

• Thin and lightweight design with premium feel, IP68/69 certification.
• Dependable battery life with fast charging.
• Versatile camera setup with generally good daylight and nighttime performance.
• Gets stereo speakers, nice-sounding at that.

Cons

• Ultrawide photos don't hold up to scrutiny.
• Virtual proximity sensor.
• Doesn't have eSIM support.