vivo V40 Lite 5G Review: AI Aura Light for Better Portraits

vivo rounds up their mainline V series this year with the vivo V40 Lite 5G. While it doesn’t have the same ZEISS heritage as its bigger brothers, it still promises better photography and portrait features with its cameras an AI Aura Light, and the distinct sleek looks that the range is notable for.

vivo V40 Lite 5G

Unboxing

The vivo V40 Lite 5G ships out in the traditional dark blue vivo box. It’s accompanied by a silicone case with a USB-C flap, a SIM ejector pin, a white USB-C to USB-A cable, an 80W FlashCharge adapter, a SIM ejector pin, and documentation.

Design and Aesthetics

The vivo V40 Lite 5G sports the sleek and minimalist design that the range has been known for. Our unit came with the silver colorway, but vivo is offering the device in Black and Violet variants as well. Its rear is relatively flat with a light-reflective, matte finish with the only raised part being its vertical camera module.

The chassis itself is rated for IP64 dust and water resistance, which allows it to be more resilient to accidental splashes. All of its buttons are clustered at the right-hand side with its power button integrating a fingerprint scanner.

Its dual hybrid SIM tray is placed at the bottom with one compartment able to house up to a 2TB microSD card. Beside it is its USB-C port and bottom-firing speaker. The smartphone does come with a dual-stereo setup with the speaker up top doubling as another loudspeaker.

Screen and Audio

For its display, the V40 Lite 5G sports a 6.67-inch 2400 x 1080 120Hz AMOLED display. Colors look decent on the screen and blacks are really deep as expected from an AMOLED panel. The 120Hz refresh rate makes using the smartphone silky smooth even if you’re just browsing the web. Its brightness is good enough for the screen to be visible even under sunlight.

As for its dual stereo speakers, performance is what you expect from a lower midrange smartphone. It can get pretty loud since the brand implemented a 300% volume boost, but the quality will suffer. At the higher end of the volume scale, things tend to get pretty aggressive to the ears. Better stick to a moderate volume level if you want a decent listening experience.

Cameras

The camera department is where vivo really put their focus on. While the vivo V40 Lite lacks the ZEISS branding of the other entries in the lineup, they still packed it with a capable 50MP f/1.8 main camera, an 8MP f/2.4 ultrawide, a 32MP f/2.45 front-facing camera, and their distinctive AI Aura Light.

Its 50MP f/1.8 main camera is the workhorse of the lot, and it’s a pretty decent camera. You’ll be able to constantly take good shots with plenty of detail and vivid colors. Low-light performance does take a hit though unless you have a steady hand for longer shutter speeds.

Its edge detection for subject works well for portrait mode, and you have the ability to adjust the level of bokeh via the album app. The AI Aura Light complements the main camera for portrait shots as it can match the temperature and intensity of light to recreate soft lighting on subjects. You’ll need to get close to your subject though to get the full effect.

Its 8MP f/2.4 ultrawide rear secondary is serviceable, but it’s not the best out there. You can get decent shots in daylight or well-lit sceneries, but quality severely drops once the sun goes down. Darker scenes will lead to noticeable noise and night mode doesn’t really help and instead highlights more of the ultrawide’s shortfalls.

Performance and Battery Life

There are two vivo V40 Lite’s in the Philippines. The 4G variant packs a Snapdragon 685 chip and the 5G model that comes with a Snapdragon 4 Gen2. The latter, which we are using for this review, comes with 8GB RAM and 256GB of internal storage. Daily performance is pretty smooth, outside of really heavy multitasking and heavy workloads such as editing videos.

Benchmark figures are nothing special as the Snapdragon 4 Gen2 is a fairly budget-oriented chip, but that doesn’t mean its cheap. On AnTuTu, it scores just shy of the 450,000 mark while PCMark Work 3.0 puts it at 9,054.

Gaming performance is decent as well. Mainstream MOBAs such as Honor of Kings, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, and League of Legends: Wildrift run at a steady pace at their highest settings. Graphically intensive games like Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail will need their settings turned down to get reasonable framerates.

Powering the V40 Lite 5G is a 5,000mAh battery, which is pretty average for its class. It should be able to last you the whole day on average use. Going a bit more conservative with your usage will extend its battery life by a couple of hours. Thanks to its support for 80W FlashCharge, filling up the battery from empty will only take about an hour.

vivo V40 Lite 5G Review – Conclusion

The vivo V40 Lite 5G might not have the same ZEISS pedigree as its siblings, but it does well on its own. Its main camera takes good sceneries, and with its AI Aura Light, you can easily step up your portrait game. Its sleek design should allow it to fit in with you regardless of your style.

Performance is nothing special, but its Snapdragon 4 Gen2 does the job. Its ultrawide lens could have been better, but you should be able to get decent shots with a steady hand and fortunate weather. Battery life is also decent, but the inclusion of 80W FlashCharge keeps the downtime low for charging.

Starting at PhP 15,999 for the 5G variant of the vivo V40 Lite, the smartphone offers a sleek look and a portrait experience reminiscent of older vivo flagships. If that’s your focus, then the device is definitely worth a look.

vivo V40 Lite 5G – Price and Availability

The vivo V40 Lite is priced starting at PhP 13,999 in the Philippines. You can now get it through vivo’s official Lazada, Shopee, and online store, as well as vivo concept stores and authorized retailers nationwide.