The foldable phone market is the newest segment of the smartphone market, and it is nice to have it around because it brings a lot of excitement and innovation from the brands jumping into that side of the pool. However, one part of the foldable world that many people want to see do better is the pricing.
Well, this month, there was a clear new winner in the Cheapest Clamshell Foldable contest, and it was the Nubia Flip. Now, there's another owner of that crown, and it's the Blackview Hero 10. Never heard of them? I wouldn't be surprised.
The Blackview Hero 10 Becomes The Cheapest Foldable In The Universe At $425
If you've never heard of Blackview before, I certainly won't blame you. Blackview is a Chinese smartphone manufacturer, and while they are lesser-known to general smartphone users, they're pretty well-known among those who have needs for rugged smartphones (though they make regular tablets and phones too).
The Blackview Hero 10 is the latest device from the company, and their first foldable at that too. For a first attempt, it is impressive that they now have the crown for the cheapest foldable in the world. Of course, this means some corners are cut, but not as many as you might expect. Let's talk about them.
The Design
The Blackview Hero 10 has a pretty simple design, at least as far as foldables can be simple. The phone comes in Eclipse Black and Sakura Purple colorways, and the panel with the cover display is the most interesting part of the back of the device.
The cover display is circular, and when off, hides in the same little black panel that holds the dual camera setup and the flash. The frame is made of aluminum and the back panels are vegan leather.
The hinge might be the most technical part of a foldable, and in this case, Blackview used a waterdrop hinge rated for 250,000 folds. It will only be able to hold itself open between 30° and 150°.
The Screens
The cover display is a 1.19-inch OLED display with 390 x 390 resolution. You can use it for notifications and a viewfinder for selfies. The usual stuff.
The foldable display is the more interesting one, as it is a 6.9-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with 1,300-nit peak brightness. You don't get a fast refresh rate for the screen, but that shouldn't surprise anyone considering the price. You get 1,920Hz PWM dimming too.
The Hardware
The processor in this is a MediaTek Helio G99 (the same chip the OnePlus Pad Go uses), which is probably going to be the most disappointing part of this smartphone for most people, but it really shouldn't be a surprise that this wasn't about to get a top-end Snapdragon or Dimensity chip. It does mean you will need to sacrifice 5G though. It comes with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage.
The battery is a 4,000 mAh cell that supports 45W fast charging, which is nice for a foldable at this price point (learning anything, Samsung?). It also has NFC and dual-SIM support, and it'll come running Android 13 on DokeOS 4.0 which will be supported for three years with updates (though not explicitly stated to be major OS updates). Android 14 is coming later this year though, and that's been confirmed.
The Cameras
The selfie camera on this is a basic 32MP sensor, but the back is where things are at. You get a 108MP unit as the primary camera, using a Samsung sensor behind everything. This is joined by an 8MP ultrawide with a 120° FOV.
The Pricing And Availability
The phone can currently be bought on AliExpress, so as long as you can ship it to where you live, you can get it. However, keep in mind that the current price listed on the website is a placeholder price, and the device is expected to cost €400 ($427). Just for reference, the Nubia Flip 5G costs $499 right now.
