Tecno unveils Phantom X2 Pro smartphone with retractable portrait lens: Digital Photography Review

About a year ago, smartphone maker Oppo teased a retractable 50mm equiv. camera module in one of its concept devices. Now a different manufacturer has beaten Oppo to market, Tecno. The Tecno Phantom X2 Pro flagship smartphone includes a 50MP retractable rear portrait camera as part of its triple camera setup.

The 2.5x hybrid zoom appears to be able to swap between focal lengths, up to 65mm equiv, rather than deliver a smooth zoom. This means that Tecno’s new retractable camera lacks typical optical zoom, unlike Sony’s Xperia IV and the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom before that. Concerning aperture, Tecno’s retractable portrait camera has an F1.5 max aperture.

Digging further, the 50MP sensor has a Type 1/2.7 (5.2 x 3.9mm) sensor 0.64µm pixels. The other 50MP wide-angle rear camera array uses a larger Type 1/1.28 (9.8 x 7.4mm) Samsung GNV ISOCELL 3.0 sensor. A 13MP Type 1/1.3 (9.1 x 6.9mm) sensor behind the ultrawide camera module flanks the two 50MP cameras. Rounding out the cameras is a 32MP front-facing camera for selfies and video calls.

Under the hood is a Mediatek Dimensity 9000 chipset alongside up to 12GB of RAM. The Phantom X2 Pro includes up to 256GB of storage and features a 6.8″ FHD+ curved AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate underneath the device’s Gorilla Glass Victus. The 5,160mAh battery is a respectable size, but the device does lack wireless charging. The phone includes Bluetooth 5.3 and dual nano SIMs, but there’s no word on 5G connectivity. The Phantom X2 Pro runs on Android 12 and HIOS 12.

International availability looks like a mixed bag. Tecno has confirmed the Phantom X2 Pro will be available in various Europe, Latin America and Middle East countries, but there’s no word regarding North America and the rest of Asia. European pricing isn’t available yet, but the Saudi Arabian price is 3,499 Saudi riyals, which is around $930. The flagship phone comes in gray and orange colorways, with the latter option being made using recycled ocean plastics.