It’s been a minute since Stuff had a shiny new Vivo to play around with. Ever since the Chinese smartphone maker’s V27 5G graced us with its presence, it’s been quiet. That’s no longer the case after the company officially launched the Vivo V30 Series in South Africa at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit on Thursday, 18 April 2024.
Headling the affair and joining the ranks of Vivo’s flagship V Series was the V30 5G — described as the company’s thinnest smartphone that still manages to pack in a 5,000mAh battery in the trunk. Following in its footsteps is the Vivo V30e, a lower-end mid-ranger that shares plenty of similarities with its more expensive sibling.
The Vivo V30 Series made Vivo history at its launch event on Thursday, with both the V30 5G and V30e launching on all four of South Africa’s major network operators: Vodacom, Cell C, Telkom and MTN.
Valiant Vivo V30 5G
The Vivo V30 5G, as the name implies, is 5G capable, thanks to the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 SoC shoved in there. Arriving with eight cores, 12GB of RAM (plus the usual promises of an extra 12GB of virtual memory) and 512GB of storage, there’s no denying this is one well-specced mid-ranger. As long as the price is right, of course…
You’ll hear Vivo blather on about the V30 5G’s camera and what it calls an ‘Aura Light Portrait System’ a whole lot in the marketing, and, honestly, it has reason to. There are three 50MP shooters covering the device, with two taking residence on the rear in the form of a 50MP main shooter and a 50MP ultra-wide sensor, and another on the front for selfies.
While the 50MP ultra-wide and selfie cameras certainly defy mid-range norms, it’s the Aura Light Portrait System that had us intrigued. Placed under the dual-camera array on the rear is an adjustable lighting module that Vivo reckons outperforms regular flash nineteen times over. We’re not so sure about that last bit, but we’re willing to give Vivo the benefit of the doubt until we’ve spent some time in the device’s company.
You’ll be looking at the results through the 6.78in 1260×2800 AMOLED display repping 120Hz refresh rate. Finally, we arrive at the middling 5,000mAh battery that’s saved by the fact that it happens to be the largest battery Vivo could squeeze into a phone this thin (7.45mm). Oh, and the 80W charger, we guess.
Validated Vivo V30e
Aside from the vastly different rear camera setup, the V30e looks mightily similar to the V30 5G. It features the same 50MP rear shooters and Aura Light System, and swaps out the 50MP selfie camera for a less capable, but still great 32MP shooter. Other differences include a weaker Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 SoC and only 256GB of storage rather than the V30’s 512GB, though it’s managed to hold onto the 12GB of RAM found in the premium phone.
Where the V30e manages to surpass the V30 5G is battery life, packing a 5,500mAh battery, though charging specs are still unknown. Judging by the V30e in India, it’s likely it’ll be fitted with 44W charging powers.
You can pick up the V30 5G for the RRP of R20,000 and the V30e for R14,000 from Vodacom, MTN, Cell C and Telkom.