“Good phones are getting cheap, and cheap phones are getting good” is the saying we’ve all heard from our good friend MKBHD. It’s a statement that’s stood the test of time, simply because budget phones have improved in performance, camera quality, and overall usability every year. Unfortunately, 2026 feels like a bit of an outlier. It’s the year of AI consequences, with rising component costs that have wreaked havoc in the smartphone world. As you may have already guessed, budget phones are the most affected. They already have razor-thin margins, and these new costs have driven prices up significantly. vivo’s T-series was one of my favourite budget phones of last year, because they understood the formula well. This year, vivo is back again with the T5x.

So, what is the new vivo T5x about? It’s about a new processor, the Dimensity 7400, a full HD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate, and the ability to record 4K videos. All this at a price of ₹18,999 made me wonder where vivo has cut corners? To find out, I got the new T5x, swapped my SIM to it, and tested it for a couple of weeks. Here’s my experience.

Design & Hardware

The previous T4x was a handsome phone, with a big camera module and a pretty design. And I can pretty much say the same things about the T5x, except for the fact that its design is more mature. vivo’s T-series phones were some of my favourite budget phones. The back captures the light at different angles, making a wavy pattern. This matte finish picks up zero fingerprints, so you don’t have to spend hours cleaning the phone.

In 2026, everyone’s making phones with flat sides. That’s the trend, but people like me do miss the way backs melted into the frames, which was super comfortable. Well, vivo has apparently listened to us, since the back of the T5x has a subtle curve that blends into the frame. It’s a small touch that pays dividends in the comfort department. I had no issues using the phone for long hours or holding it while taking my evening walks. The back also houses the dual-camera setup, and its design resembles the V70’s, with a square camera island, and I quite like it.

The frame is plastic, of course, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. They are flat, which is good, but the corners are rounded, so they do not dig into your palms. The 215g weight is surprisingly low for a 7,000 mAh battery, and the center of gravity is perfectly centered.

Beyond the basics, the vivo T5x features a side-mounted fingerprint scanner that works well with both dirty and wet fingers. Another major selling point of the T5x is the IP ratings. The device supports IP68, IP69, and IP69+. All these fancy terms mean that you can submerge your phone underwater for over 30 minutes. As always, I’d warn against doing so, since water damage isn’t covered under warranty and nobody wants a dead phone.

Display & Speakers

The vivo T5x features a 6.76-inch 2344×1080 FHD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate. Yes, the panel is LCD, meaning you won’t get the inky deep blacks, but it fared pretty well in my testing. I used the phone both indoors and outdoors, where the 1200-nit peak brightness kept everything legible without me needing to squint. The panel covers about 83% of the NTSC color gamut, which means plenty of accurate colors for watching Netflix or YouTube. Speaking of the speakers, they are decent. I wouldn’t describe the audio quality as full, but it’s okay if you just want to listen to something on the go.

What I’m not a big fan of, though, are the bezels. They are uneven, and the chin at the bottom is fairly large for the price. In other news, vivo hasn’t stated the type of glass used for protection. Fortunately, there’s a pre-installed screen protector, so I’d recommend keeping that on.

Performance

Performance is what makes or breaks the experience on many budget phones. Fortunately, vivo hasn’t fumbled this with the T5x. Under the hood, the T5x houses the MediaTek Dimensity 7400-Turbo processor, an octa-core chip built on the 4-nanometer process technology. Beyond that, my review unit came with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage.

I’ve enjoyed using the new OriginOS skin on several vivo phones this year. Interestingly, none of them have been budget smartphones, so I was quite excited to see how vivo has optimized its UI. The answer? Pretty well. The T5x, coupled with the 120Hz refresh rate, breezes through opening and closing multiple apps without a hitch. The animations, while not as smooth as on the X300 Pro, are still fluid enough. The 8GB of RAM is also enough to hold multiple apps in memory. There’s also the AI eraser that helps effectively remove people from the shot.

That being said, there are some pre-installed apps and the infamous “Hot Apps” folder, though everything can be removed in a matter of minutes. vivo has promised two years of major Android updates and four years of security patches.

To push the Dimensity 7400-Turbo to the limits, I also ran a series of benchmarks. The T5x scored 1,039 on Geekbench’s single-core test and 2,833 on the multi-core test. On the flip side, in AnTuTu, the device scored 1,189,871 points. But benchmarks rarely tell the full story, so I also ran a series of games, including BGMI. In Smooth+Extreme settings, the phone maintained a steady 60 fps gameplay without dropping frames. The phone also includes gaming-centric features such as 4D vibration (exclusive to BGMI), bypass charging, and the ability to cycle through different performance modes.

Battery & Charging

If you need one reason to buy the vivo T5x, it’s probably the mammoth 7,200 mAh battery. It’s a phone that’s impossible to kill in a day. Trust me, I’ve tried. On the first day after I charged the phone to full, I went shopping with my family, where I took about 15-20 photos and left the camera running for more than 30 minutes. After I got home, I played a couple of BGMI games with my friends for an hour, then did a gym session with my Bluetooth earbuds connected to my phone. I ended the day with my favourite activity — doomscrolling on Instagram — and still had about 45% of the charge remaining.

When I ran out of juice, the 44W fast charging came to the rescue. It helped recharge the battery from 20% to 80% in just under an hour, which is plenty fast.

Cameras

Given the current situation, I honestly didn’t expect much from the T5x’s cameras, since corners have to be cut to accommodate the high RAM prices. But the T5x’s cameras are more than good enough for the price. The camera setup includes a 50MP Sony IMX852 main sensor paired with a 2MP depth sensor. Selfies are handled by a 32MP shooter.

As evident from the samples, the sensor produces pleasing images with ample details, accurate colors, and good-enough HDR in daylight. vivo’s portrait mastery also shines on the T5x, with photos that look aesthetic and fairly accurate edge detection in both daytime and nighttime conditions. There were a few situations where highlights were slightly blown out, but that isn’t a big issue.

Speaking of nighttime, I did notice some noise creeping in when capturing the night sky. There’s also a shutter delay at night, so capturing moving subjects could be an issue. That said, after giving the sensor enough time, the results were detailed enough, and the colors weren’t washed out. Selfies, on the other hand, were solid in both daytime and nighttime scenarios, and I had no complaints. Beyond that, I love the 4K video support on both the front and back cameras. The video quality isn’t the best when compared to more expensive phones, but it’s decent enough to capture a family gathering.

Verdict

At ₹18,999, the vivo T5x surprisingly gets a lot of things right. The design looks great, especially in the silver finish. The display, while not OLED, is serviceable and bright in all conditions, and the performance is more than good enough. Not to mention the stellar battery life that lasts more than a day, and cameras that actually capture good photos. Sure, it’s not all perfect, but given the current market conditions, it’s certainly one of the better budget phones I’ve tested this year. And if you’re shopping in the segment, you should check it out.