New Delhi: Foldables have been around for about seven years, and it took Apple’s iPhone Duo to get everyone talking about them again. Vivo clearly noticed. The X Fold 6, launched in India this week, is being compared to Apple’s phone almost by default, and on paper Vivo has a decent case.
Start with the number that jumps out: a 6,900 mAh battery. That’s big for any phone, and unheard of in a foldable. In daily use the reviewer got more than a day out of it, and sometimes a day and a half, while shooting plenty of photos, playing games and watching video.
What’s odd is that it isn’t heavy. The phone is 9.4 mm thick folded, and each half is 4.4 mm when open. It weighs 228 g. Apple’s iPhone Duo is about 247 g, so Vivo has packed in more battery and more cameras and still comes out lighter.
The outer screen is 6.51 inches, LTPO, and a bit narrower and taller than usual, which makes it feel like a normal phone for WhatsApp or one-handed typing. Open it up and you get an 8.02-inch LTPO AMOLED panel at 120 Hz. The crease is visible only if you look at it from an extreme angle with the screen off. You can’t feel it under your finger. The hinge, which Vivo calls sixth-generation, uses liquid metal, zirconium and carbon fiber, and holds firm at 90 degrees.
Software is where Vivo seems to have put real effort. The phone runs Origin OS 7 on Android 17. A feature called Workbench keeps one app front and center while up to four others sit around it, so you can have Google Docs open with YouTube, Chrome, Reddit and X within reach. Pair it with Vivo’s Office Kit and the unfolded screen can act as a second display for a MacBook or Windows laptop, with the laptop’s keyboard and mouse controlling the phone and files dragging across. Plug it into a monitor with a keyboard and mouse and you get a desktop mode, similar to Samsung’s DeX. Vivo promises five years of OS updates and seven of security patches.
Cameras are usually where foldables cut corners. Here there’s a triple Zeiss setup led by a 200 MP main sensor, 1/1.4-inch, with specs close to the standard X300. The reviewer shot over 100 photos and described skin tones and color as close to natural. Video tops out at 8K/30, with 4K at 120 fps and Dolby Vision at 4K/60. There’s a 20 MP selfie camera on both the inner and outer screens. One disappointment: the telephoto extender kit Vivo sells in China won’t come to India.
Under the hood is the MediaTek Dimensity 9500 in a Super Edition tune, which scored about 33.04 lakh on AnTuTu. Multitasking and gaming ran smoothly. Charging is a little unclear. The box includes a 90 W charger, but the spec rundown quotes 80 W wired, plus 40 W wireless with a compatible pad. Worth checking against Vivo’s official listing before you buy.
Durability is IP5X for dust and IPX8/IPX9 for water, which is good by foldable standards. The body is aluminum alloy with glass on both sides, and it comes in two colors.
Then there’s the price. ₹2,19,999 is a lot, and the reviewer says as much, but it undercuts the iPhone Duo’s ₹2.99 lakh by a wide margin. Plenty of phones will cross the ₹2 lakh line this year, he argues.
No other foldable in India currently matches this hardware across performance, camera and software, and years of Vivo foldable work show in the polish. Whether that’s enough to pull buyers from Apple’s side is a different question. The iPhone Duo has the brand, and that counts for a great deal at this price.
