Tecno’s roots lie in the value-for-money segment, but the company has ambitions to expand into the premium market with its Phantom sub-brand. The original Phantom X delivered a lot of bang for the buck as is typical of Tecno and had a better screen and camera than any of its siblings.
It had some weak points too, like the Helio G95 – a decent chipset for the mid-range, not so great for the Phantom’s target market. Now the X2 series is here and it’s improving on some of those shortcomings while keeping the focus on screen and camera quality (in fact, there are some major improvements here, too).
We’ve already reviewed the X2 Pro, and now we have the Tecno Phantom X2 in our hands. A vanilla model that nonetheless shares most of its hardware with the Pro, so if you want a sneak peek at the screen, chipset, and battery life, check out our Pro review. The main difference between the X2 and the X2 Pro lies in the cameras. The vanilla model lacks the large main sensor, instead relying on a better lens and RGBW sensor to increase its performance. There’s no portrait camera either, and that’s exclusive to the Pro.
Moving beyond the camera, both models have essentially the same dimensions and the same design. The way to tell them apart is that the Pro marks the retractable selfie camera with a decorative ring.
We have a feeling the design will be divisive. The standout camera island is truly eye-catching, whether it looks good or bad, it is in the eye of the beholder. We tend to like it – it’s unique and symmetrical and there are no ugly labels. We wish the vanilla model had a color other than “grey,” something like Mars Orange of the Pro. Many will cover the back in an opaque bag so they don’t care, but still.
Phantom X2 Pro (left) and Phantom X2 (right)
While holding the Phantom X2, we notice that Tecno has modified the aspect ratio from 19.5:9 to 20:9. That shaves the width off a full millimeter, which usually makes phones easier to hold. Here this is overshadowed by how heavy the phone is – be careful how you hold it, or it could cause a back tipping over.
Tecno serves markets where a €1,000 flagship wouldn’t sell well, no matter how great its hardware is (not that the X2 is cheap, we’ll get to the price). We don’t expect the Phantom X2 to excel in every category, but we expected that the company’s value-for-money roots would motivate it to keep some practical features on board.
The original X had 256GB of storage and a microSD slot, as well as a 3.5mm jack. The Phantom X2 has 256GB of storage and that’s it — no memory card slot, nowhere to plug wired headphones (unless you get a USB-C adapter, of course).
The Phantom X2 series has dropped the microSD slot and 3.5mm jack
The X2 looks more like a proper flagship than the original Phantom X. The Dimensity 9000 chipset is a big part of that, with the original Helio G95 dragging it down. The X2 is fast and responsive and the Mali-G710 MC10 GPU can handle some serious gaming.
The first Phantom got excellent battery life from a 4,700mAh capacity, and the X2 series increases the battery capacity to 5,160mAh. However, more powerful hardware also draws more power — based on the X2 Pro’s results, the X2 will have battery life that’s just as great if not as good as the X’s. The company also upgraded the charging system from 30W to 45W, but we haven’t seen An actual improvement. At least not on our X2 Pro unit, we’ll see if the vanilla X2 does better.
We should mention one last thing before we get back to our phone review — the Phantom X2 is priced at SAR 2,700 ($720 / €685 / INR 59,000), although in Saudi Arabia the tech usually costs more than it does elsewhere. due to local taxes. However, this is a big step up from the Phantom X, which was launched in India at a price tag of INR 26,000.
