Tecno Mobile in partnership with Airtel yesterday launched Tecno’s new flagship smartphone Phantom X2 Series in Uganda. The phone was officially launched and made available in a few markets in December and now has been made available in the Ugandan market effective Jan. 24 onwards.
Tecno’s premium Phantom series comes with a new camera innovation, improved battery life, and a more powerful chipset. The series comes in two phones: Tecno Phantom X2 and Tecno Phantom X2 Pro, one of which brings the world’s first-ever retractable portrait lens comparable to a professional camera. The series marks the brand’s bold entrance into the high-end global smartphone market with a host of groundbreaking features and outstanding performance.
Speaking at the launch of the phones in Kampala, Mr. Timmy Shen, Brand Manager of Tecno said the company has always been pushing to uncover the latest and best premium technologies. “As Phantom’s new flagship smartphone, the Phantom X2 Series brings the Phantom brand to the high-end market with a pioneering spirit of innovation, inside and out.” “Following the successes of the original Phantom X smartphone, the Phantom X2 Series takes premium experience to even greater heights.”
With a special partnership with Airtel Uganda, customers that buy any of Phantom X2 smartphones will receive free 5GB Airtel data every month for 3 months, and a 100% data bonus on all bundles loaded, Ms. Joweria Nabakka, Head of Data at Airtel Uganda confirmed.
“Customers who will purchase a Phantom X2 phone and uses the Airtel SIM card in SIM slot 1, will receive 5GB data every month for 3 months,” Nabakka told the press.
Nabakka noted that it was a great pleasure for the telco to partner with Tecno Mobile to launch the series in Uganda — emphasizing that such partnerships increase the uptake and use of smartphones and access to internet-based solutions. “The features on the Phantom X2 phones coupled with free Airtel data will make work and access to internet-based tools a great experience,” she added.
The Tecno Phantom X2 and Phantom X2 Pro are both powered by the Dimensity 9000 (the non-plus version). While not the latest, it is still a 4nm chip from TSMC’s foundry using recent tech (Cortex-X2 prime CPU core, three A710, four A510, and a Mali-G710 MC10 GPU), it’s miles ahead of the Helio G95 used in the original Phantom X. The X2 phones use LPDDR5X RAM – 8GB on the vanilla and 12GB on the Pro – plus 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage.
The X2 series improves on the original Phantom by running the AMOLED display at 120Hz (up from 90Hz). The panel has a slightly longer diagonal, 6.8” (up from 6.7”), with FHD+ (20:9) resolution. However, the aspect ratio is different (20:9 instead of 19.5:9), so the phones are slightly narrow. Also, the display is more secure now that it is guarded by Gorilla Glass Victus.
Both phones are paired with a fairly large Li-Po 5,160mAh battery. The larger battery is paired with faster charging, 45W (for comparison, the Phantom X had a 4,700mAh battery with 33W charging).
Both phones have a rear triple camera setup and feature single 32MP selfie cameras. The X2 uses the same 13MP ultra-wide camera module as the X2 Pro that has a macro mode and adds a 2MP depth sensor for computational bokeh. The X2 has a 64MP main camera while the X2 Pro has a 50MP main camera. The X2 Pro comes with a retractable portrait lens — a 65mm lens long enough to use as a telephoto lens with 2.5x magnification. As for why this is a “retractable” lens, it’s to keep the phone thin — a powered mechanism extends the lens outward when in use and retracts it afterward. According to Tecno, the innovative lens will empower users to capture portraits that are comparable to professional camera shots.
The phones are available in an Eco-Friendly Edition featuring a pioneering microfiber back cover made from recycled plastics.
