Vivo V40 Lite review: Worth buying for 37,000 rupees?

The Vivo V40 5G was launched a while ago and its Lite version, the Vivo V40 Lite is also here. As the name implies, it’s a toned-down version with major cuts on almost all the major components such as camera, display, speaker, and such, except for the design segment, which is Vivo’s troop card for their phones. And it is priced at 37,000 rupees, a price hike from the last gen V30 Lite which was originally launched at 35,000 rupees and on paper both siblings bear very similar specs. I have been using this guy for almost a week now, and here’s everything I have found, felt, and dealt with the V40 Lite. But before directly processing the Vivo V40 Lite review, let’s take a look at its specifications first.

Vivo V40 Lite Specifications:

• Design: Glass front, IP64-rating
• Dimensions: 163.23 x 75.93 x 7.79 mm
• Weight: 188 grams
• Display: 6.67-inch E4 AMOLED ,120Hz ,394ppi, 1,800 nits
• Resolution: FHD+ (1,080 x 2,400)
• Chipset: Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 685 (6nm)
• RAM: 8GB extendable
• ROM: 256GB UFS 2.2
• OS & UI: Funtouch OS 14 based on Android 14
• Rear Camera:
  • 50 MP, f/1.8, PDAF
  • 2 MP, f/2.4, (depth)
• Front Camera: 32MP, f/2.0, (wide)
• Battery: 5,000 mAh Lithium-ion cell with 80W super fast charging
• Color Options: Titanium Silver, Emerald Green
• Price in Nepal: NPR 36,999 (8/256GB)
• Buy Vivo V40 Lite here!

Vivo V40 Lite Review

Beautiful Design

• Glass Front, Plastic Back
• Plastic Middle Frame

Vivo and a beautiful design? Well, it’s like the sun rising from the east– Vivo always emphasizes building a phone that looks good aesthetically. So, the V40 Lite is a gorgeous-looking phone, and this Emerald Green option is the one to go for! Meanwhile, the Titanium Silver version is quite bland to my liking. The texture feels smooth and nice, and overall, it is pretty elegant. Flipping on the front, you are greeted with a hole-punch cutout display. The bezels are respectable all around, if not the best. Also, the IP64 rating is commendable here. Overall, I would rate a solid 4.5 stars out of five for the design side of things.

How’s the display?

• 6.67-inches AMOLED, 120Hz refresh rate
• 2400 x 1080 pixels, 20:9 aspect ratio

In terms of display, the V40 Lite sports a 6.67-inch AMOLED panel, which is identical to the one on its predecessor, the V30 Lite. I would say, it’s a pretty decent panel but not so extraordinary. The colors are punchy and fair for your reels, TikTok, and movie-watching. But let me tell you, there is no HDR playback support on Netflix or YouTube. It’s still a 120Hz refresh rate, so scrolling-wise, you are getting a smooth experience. You can also use the smart refresh rate option to save some battery juice here. Meanwhile, the stereo speaker setup is just basic and can cater to your personal space. The indisplay fingerprint scanner works as intended and the sunlight readability is fine too with 1200nits of HBM.So, overall, the Vivo V40 Lite’s display bags an A- rating from my side. 

Performance

And then, here comes the part, in which I’m disappointed, for obvious reasons! Firstly, it’s the same old Snapdragon 685 SoC from the V30 Lite, and, that too at a more expensive price tag! Vivo could have priced this phone more effectively because if you look at the competition, we have much more powerful phones like the OnePlus Nord CE 3 with Snapdragon 782G, Realme Narzo 70 Pro with Dimensity 7050, and even, the Redmi Note 13 Pro 4G with Helio G99 SoC. Amongst this bunch, the SD 685 stands pretty weak as expected! It can give you a basic kinda performance and if you tend to do some gaming, let me tell you– it’s just meant for casual gaming. Do not expect a smooth 60fps PUBG action, as it’s capped at 40fps while Call of Duty Mobile plays at 50fps. But again, CODM is a very optimized title and it can play at the same fps on much cheaper phones as well.

So, you are not getting any sort of performance boost from the predecessor. And the UI side is FunTouch OS 14 which I’m really not a big fan of from the early days. Plus pair that with the Snapdragon 685’s average performance, and the UI experience gets laggy sometimes, in spite of the phone boasting 8GB of RAM.

Camera

• Dual-camera setup at the back
• 50MP main, 2MP depth, Flicker sensor
• 32MP selfie camera

Alright, the camera section is also basic here, a 50MP main camera with no OIS and a 2MP depth sensing unit. A Deja Vu from the V30 Lite once again! However, the front camera is now bumped to 32MP from the 8MP resolution. And here’s what I have found on the cameras of the V40 Lite.

Daylight

The V40 Lite clicks good images when the light source is ample. The outputs are not super punchy and processed. They are more on the close to natural side, I would say! But a bit more colors would have been really nice tho’

Portraits

The portraits are on the decent sides. I found a similar color tone as the V30 Lite which has a similar tint, which doesn't look too natural to my liking.

Selfies

The 32MP snapper clicks good selfies most of the times, social media ready, I would say!

Lowlight

When the sun goes down, the dedicated night mode comes into play to garner some extra light and provide you with usable samples.

Aura Light

And how can Vivo miss out on some fancy thing like Aura Light? It comes in pretty handy when you are opting to capture a portrait shot in a low-light environment.

Videos

The videography side is below average. Do not expect smooth videos here despite turning on the Stabilization mode. 1080p 30fps is all you can go while 60fps is surprisingly only available on the age-old 720p resolution, which is a bummer!

Battery and Charging

• 5,000mAh battery
• 80W wired fast charging support

Moving on, the Vivo V40 Lite's 5,000mAh battery lasts you till the day as it should on moderate usage. Likewise, the 80W in-box charger can top it up in an hour or so. Other than that, Vivo claims a 4-year battery health on this guy.

Vivo V40 Lite Review: Conclusion

Okay, it's conclusion time everybody! The Vivo V40 Lite brings good looks, decent main camera and selfies, but the performance side should have been better considering its price. Likewise, there is no ultrawide camera and the no guaranteed update policy, making it an average offering for around Rs. 35,000.

Vivo V40 Lite 4G Review: Pros and Cons

Pros

• Elegant design and IP64 rating
• 80W fast charging
• Good selfies

Cons

• Average performance for the price
• EIS not working on videos
• Pricing could have been better