• The latest vivo foldable, the X Fold3 Pro is now available outside of the Chinese market.
• The device comes with premium performance specifications, a wide array of cameras, large battery, and Google Gemini AI software.
• vivo says that a South African launch is not on the cards for now, but a different foldable may hit the local market eventually.

The international availability of foldable smartphones has just increased by one, as vivo is taking its latest device, the X Fold3 Pro out of China and joins rivals like Huawei, Honor, OPPO, and Samsung to battle it out for supremacy in the premium segment.

Like the Honor Magic V2, the vivo X Fold3 Pro is a lightweight foldable – a slim profile of 11.2 mm when folded and 5.2 mm unfolded. vivo South Africa calls it “remarkably light and thin” without compromising on performance associated with expensive smartphones.

vivo claims that the device’s folding hinge, made from carbon fibre, has been certified by TÜV Rheinland for 500 000 reliable folds, compared to Samsung’s Z Fold5‘s 200 000 folds. The X Fold3 Pro also has an IPX8 rating for water resistance, which means that the device will work even when submerged in non-salty water for up to 30 minutes.

vivo X Fold3 Pro specifications

With the penultimate generation of Snapdragon silicon and 16GB of RAM, the X Fold3 Pro will likely deliver premium performance, and with its bigger-than-average battery, and wide-ranging camera array vivo has pulled out all the stops for its latest foldable. We expect the device to be among the most pricey in the company’s portfolio.

Let’s dig into the camera setup this machine has: we have three main shooters, two wide lenses and one telephoto lens. But vivo has brought in ZEISS for a number of camera software improvements, including true colour sensors for more realistic and vivid colours.

The ZEISS partnership also gives the 64mp telephoto lens 3x optical zoom and 100x digital zoom.

For nighttime photography, AI Night View and vivo Origin Imaging Engine work together to capture “rich and delicate colours despite the complex nightscape lighting.” ZEISS also brings seven different Bokeh depth of field blurs and a number of portrait options.

On top of its chipset and RAM, vivo has included its Ultra-Wide Intelligent Cooling System on the device, claiming a heat dissipation area of over 20,000 mm².

Along with Android 14, and not to be left out of the AI conversation, the X Fold 3 Pro comes ready with Google Gemini’s family of generative AI software, including Google Cloud’s Vertex Al platform. While Gemini is not as powerful as the latest models from OpenAI, the generative AI offered on the X Fold3 Pro will beat out the “generative AI” that Samsung is offering in its latest handsets.

Other novel software features include a Split-Screen Screenshot for screenshotting and a taskbar for efficient access and quick app switching. The Fold to Split feature allows apps to split screens when lightly folded.

vivo South Africa told Hypertext that the device is not slated for South Africa this year, and there are currently no plans to bring it to South Africa in 2025. However, we have heard unofficial word that the X Fold4 or other similar foldable devices may come to South Africa next year. But these comments are unconfirmed.

The X Fold3 Pro comes in Celestial Black or White and is now available in India and in Indonesia. Pricing starts at around $2 077 on Amazon or 160 000 Indian Rupees (around R36 000). vivo says that exact pricing will depend on the region.