Infinix is a brand that’s mostly known for it’s budget-friendly, entry-level devices but it seems to be venturing into the mid-range segment with the Zero 40. The new phone that came out just last month is the brand’s most expensive offering to date (aside from the upcoming Zero Flip), but can it compete with other brands at this price point?
Specifications
The Zero 40 sports a 6.78-inch AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 144Hz and a peak brightness of 1,300 nits. For added durability, the phone comes with an IP54 rating for dust and water resistance along with Corning Gorilla Glass 5. Under the hood, you’ll find a MediaTek Dimensity 8200 Ultimate chipset paired with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage.
As for the optics, the smartphone features a 108MP main camera with OIS, a 50MP ultra-wide lens, a 2MP depth sensor, and a 50MP selfie shooter with autofocus. Powering the mid-ranger is a 5,000mAh battery with support for 45W wired and 20W wireless charging. On the connectivity side, it supports 5G, Wi-Fi 6E, NFC, and Bluetooth 5.2.
Looks & Functionality
The Zero 40 with a large screen with curved edges; I personally find this to be an abomination. My bias against this superfluous design choice aside, it’s honestly a great display. While it may not be the best in terms of brightness, it’s still somewhat usable when out on a sunny day. Moreover, the 144Hz refresh rate makes things feel smoother — not so much that I would look for it in every phone I purchase, but it’s a welcome bonus.
The majority of smartphones that have an under-display fingerprint scanner commonly place the sensor a bit too low for comfort, and Infinix is no exception, but the Zero 40 also happens to be quite top-heavy, meaning that it’s especially uncomfortable unlocking the phone with your thumb while holding it in one hand.
The backplate comes in three colourways and the one I got is the violet colourway, although I think it looks a little pink. With a two-tone design, it actually has a grippy texture that makes the phone comfortable to hold safely without putting a case on it. However, despite having a relatively matte finish, it reflects just enough light to show off fingerprint smudges. I’m also not sure about the durability given that I’ve only has this phone for less than a month and there are already some minor scratches.
The XOS skin comes with a crowded list of features including a Dynamic Bar, which is its version of Apple’s Dynamic Island. It can indicate ongoing phone calls, charging status, ongoing recordings, face unlock, and it even has its own media player. Like many of the Chinese phone brands that copied the feature, it offers a much needed correction, allowing users to open the media player with a short tap and open up the app with a long press (Apple’s version does the opposite of this).
There is also the brand’s own AI assistant called Folax, which is meant to replace typical voice assistants like Google’s. I rarely use voice assistants in general but admittedly, Folax is capable of doing almost anything you would imagine a self-aware phone would be able to do, including opening up the camera and taking a picture via voice command, locking the phone, set a driving route, and much more.
Folax even has a built-in translator that can translate real-time text, text in images, and a real-time dialogue translator that works surprisingly quick. My only complaints are that it does not have access to the functions of most third-party apps such as Spotify and that when you call it up, it takes a couple of seconds before it starts detecting your voice prompts.
Performance & Battery
I haven’t tried gaming on this phone because that’s just not something I do regularly, but for everyday tasks – browsing through social media, taking photos, using messaging apps – it works flawlessly and smoothly, especially with the high refresh rate of the screen. Of course, with the benchmark scores I saw, it’s not exactly a phone built for power.
Based on synthetic benchmarks such as 3DMark and Geekbench, it boasts unremarkable, but respectable, scores. However, it does achieve a high stability rate, meaning that it isn’t prone to overheating and thermal throttling, which is usually the case with mid-range chips.
The battery life on the Zero 40 is well above average, regularly lasting me a full day with mid-to-heavy usage and over a day and a half with light use. I put it through a YouTube streaming endurance test and it lasted just a little over 17 hours, despite the battery usage settings inaccurately listing a screen-on time of only eight hours.
While the addition of wireless charging is always welcome in affordable smartphones, it’s unfortunate that it had to come at the sacrifice of a slower wired charging speed. The 68W charging speed of its predecessor has been reduced to just 45W, which is still more than acceptable, but it’s not a beneficial trade-off if you’re not willing to purchase a wireless charger separately.
Camera
Like many affordable smartphone brands, the camera module is where you will often find the most cut corners. Despite the setup looking impressive on paper, the photos taken with the Zero 40 expose why the phone is under RM2,000.
Most photos end up looking soft and dull with blurry edges, even with adequate outdoor lighting. Macro close-ups shots become a pixelated mess, so there’s no point in using the macro mode. As for night-time photography, any situation without incredibly bright lights will result in tons of noise, and even with proper lighting, there is still the issue of extreme blooming.
Camera Samples
Competition
POCO X6 Pro
POCO is Xiaomi’s budget sub-brand and the X6 Pro is its current mid-ranger. It actually costs less than the Zero 40 at only RM1,499 for the 8GB+256GB model, while the 12GB+512GB has the same price tag as Infinix’s at RM1,699.
The X6 Pro is fitted with a 6.67-inch 120Hz AMOLED display with a peak brightness of 1,800 nits. It runs on the comparable MediaTek Dimensity 8200 Ultra chipset and is powered by a 5,000mAh battery paired with 67W charging. For imaging, it has a 64MP main camera with OIS, an 8MP ultra-wide lens, a 2MP macro lens, and a 16MP front sensor.
POCO F6
Another good competitor from POCO with comparable specs and prices is the F6. The base model with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage costs RM1,799, which is only RM100 more than the Zero 40. With that little bit extra, you get a much more powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chip.
Camera-wise, the F6 is fitted with a 50MP main sensor with OIS, an 8MP ultra-wide lens, and a 20MP selfie snapper. You also get a 5,000mAh battery that supports a whopping charging speed of 90W.
Conclusion
You might be confused with the title of the review given how I’ve mostly said nice things about the Infinix Zero 40. Well, on its own, I can’t deny that it gives you a good display, a respectable processor, and fantastic battery life. However, as you can see from my comparisons, there are phones out there that cost just as much or less while providing similar, or even better, performance.
While RM1,699 is still relatively affordable, it’s RM400 more than the Zero 30. For that price difference, you’re only getting a somewhat upgraded chipset, a marginally brighter display, and wireless charging at the cost of slower wired charging. Somehow, despite being under the affordable smartphone umbrella, it still manages to be overpriced.
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