There's been talk of including a retractable lens in the camera array of a smartphone for a while now, with both Xiaomi and Oppo throwing their hats in the ring. But seemingly out of nowhere comes the Phantom X2 Pro from Tecno, which sports just such a lens.
Phantom Mobile is a premium sub-brand of Tecno, a Shenzhen-based tech brand with a presence in more than 70 locations across the globe – including Africa, the Middle East, India, Latin America and Eastern Europe. As far as we can tell, its products are not readily available in North America.
The Phantom X2 series was launched in Dubai recently and is made up of two handsets, the X2 5G and the X2 Pro 5G. Though both billed as flagship models, the latter is arguably the more interesting as it boasts the world's first retractable portrait lens.
The main advantage of such a lens is that users can benefit from 2.5x optical zoom in a fairly slim handset measuring just 8.95 mm (0.35 in). Tecno reports that the F1.49-aperture lens has a focal length of 65 mm and a bokeh-friendly shallow depth of field (18.9 cm/7.4 in), and claims that users can capture portraits "comparable to professional camera shots" with the 50-MP main camera it's paired with (which rocks a 1/1.3-type sensor). The rear array also sports a second 50-MP main camera and a 13-MP wide.
The company has tapped into the creative prowess of British photographer, publisher and film director John Rankin Waddell – better known as just Rankin – to both show off the photographic capabilities of the X2 Pro 5G and to consult on the development of artistic filters. There's advanced computational photography onboard, and 4K video at up to 60 frames per second is available too.
Out front is a 6.8-inch AMOLED display topped by durable Corning Gorilla Glass Victus, with a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz and support for the DCI-P3 color gamut. The punch-hole hosts a 32-MP selfiecam.
Inside is the MediaTek Dimensity 9000 4-nm mobile platform, with octa-core processing at up to 3.05 GHz plus a multi-core GPU – all supported by 12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256 GB of UFS 3.1 storage. A 5,160-mAh battery promises all-day usage, with 45-W fast-charging available for those in a rush. The phone runs Tecno HiOS 12 (which is based on Android 12) and comes with an AI voice assistant called Ella, built-in language translation and document scanning chops.
The X2 Pro 5G model is also being made available in an eco-friendly edition that comes with a microfiber back cover made using recycled ocean plastics.
The X2 5G phone that completes the series features a 6.6-inch HD display with a 90-Hz refresh rate, a 64-MP main camera and RGBW image sensor as well as a 13-MP wide and a 2-MP shooter, and is available with 8 BG of RAM and 256 GB of storage.
The Phantom X2 series is expected to roll out to key markets by the end of December, though we've no word on pricing.
Source: Tecno
