Tecno Camon 40 Pro Review: A good low-priced option, if you can get it  

For those not familiar with Tecno, this Chinese brand is generally aimed at emerging markets, including those in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In other locations, such as the UK and the US, you might struggle to get hold of Tecno devices, but where you can, they’re generally available at impressive prices, giving other budget phones a strong competitor.

The Tecno Camon 40 Pro is one of the latest models in Tecno’s Camon line-up, sitting below the Camon 40 Premier. It’s available at a cheaper price than the flagship, while still giving some good specifications for those on a lower budget.

Tecno Camon 40 Pro At A Glance

• 50MP f/1.9, 23mm (1x) equivalent camera, 1/1.56” sensor, PDAF, OIS
• 8MP f/2.2, 14mm (ultrawide) equivalent camera
• 50MP f/2.5, 24mm equivalent selfie camera, PDAF
• 4K at up to 60fps
• 6.78-inch AMOLED display, 393ppi, 2436 x 1080 pixels, Corning Gorilla Glass 7i
• 5200mAh battery, fast charging (no wireless charging)
• Android 15
• MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Processor

The specs for this model are about what we’d expect from a budget phone, but it’s not too much of an upgrade from its predecessor, the Tecno Camon 30 Pro. In fact, in terms of the cameras, in some ways it’s a downgrade. For example, we now have a lower-resolution ultrawide camera, while the depth camera has been removed altogether. There have been improvements made to design and durability however, it’s still worth considering.

Availability and pricing for this phone varies around the world, so it’s worth checking your local retailer. It’s likely to be roughly around $330/£250 equivalent. Even for a budget or mid-range phone, this is a great price.

Tecno Camon 40 Pro: Features

As stated above, there are some differences between the 40 Pro and 30 Pro, not all of them are good differences. Still, the Camon 40 Pro makes for a good budget-friendly device all the same.

The main sensor is a 50MP device, with a 23mm equivalent lens – that’s pretty impressive for such a cheap model. It’s joined by an 8MP ultrawide lens – that might sound like a disappointment when you compare it to the 50MP device found on the predecessor, but we’ll see how well it performs shortly. There’s no third lens here, but that’s to be expected from such a cheap phone. You can digitally zoom instead if you need to get closer to the subject.

Better news is that there’s a 50MP selfie camera, which impressively has AF. Being such high resolution and with AF is very rare for a budget phone.

The new features of this phone come in the shape of the screen and body design. It is roughly the same size, but it’s a little bit lighter. However, more usefully, it now has IP68/69 waterproofing and uses Corning Gorilla Glass 7i, making it a lot tougher than the Camon 30 Pro, which had neither.

Other interesting features include 4K 60fps video recording, and a 5200mAh battery. While there is fast charging, there’s no wireless charging. The phone comes ready with Android 15, with Tecno promising up to three major Android upgrades.

Tecno Camon 40 Pro: Design and Handling

With its 6.78-inch screen, the Camon 40 Pro has a pretty large screen for a mid-range device. Unlike many devices, the screen has curved edges, which on the one hand can feel a little old-fashioned, but on the other leaves you feeling like the screen is perhaps bigger than it is. The bezels of the phone are fairly noticeable, but perhaps better news is that the selfie camera just has a hole-punch cut out to maximise the screen availability.

One thing’s for sure, this is a very slim and lightweight phone, so the overall impression is one of sleekness. The screen is an AMOLED and has Gorilla Glass 7i. This should mean it withstands every day usage fairly well, but it likely won’t be resistant to scratches and marks as something with a Gorilla Glass Victus screen, such as the Samsung Galaxy A56.

Better news however is that it has IP68/IP69 waterproofing. That means that not only can it withstand the usual dunking in 1m/2m of water for 30 seconds, it can actually withstand high-pressured jets of hot water being sprayed at it. I don’t how often most people are likely to do something like that, but perhaps it’s good news if you accidentally drop it into the dishwasher.

Tecno has not disclosed the brightness (nit) rating of the 40 Pro’s screen. I can see that it’s not as bright as the 1600-nit Tecno 40 Premier, but it still looks fairly good nonetheless.

I’ve been using the “Glacier White” colourway of the phone, which actually has a blue tint to it – I guess like an actual glacier. Emerald Lake Green is a more funky turquoise colour, while there’s also an interesting looking Galaxy Black colour. A case is provided in the box with the phone, which is worth using for best protection but of course hides the design of the phone. On the plus side, the case provided is also a nice blue colour.

Tecno Camon 40 Pro: Native Camera App

Like other Tecno phones, and indeed many other Android phones, there’s lots of different shooting modes available with the Pro 40.

The standard mode you’ll likely be using most often is “AI Cam.” With this, you can shoot with the 0.6x, 1x and 2x lenses. You can also tap the 1x icon to quickly jump to 1.2x (28mm) and 1.5x (35mm) equivalents. This is something I find quite useful for small but effective adjustments to composition. If you want to go beyond 2x, you can pinch out to zoom up to 15x.

Other settings options in the AI Cam mode include adding digital filters, changing the aspect ratio, switching on/off HDR and using flash. Additional settings can accessed via a settings menu, including the option to correct lens distortions and to notify you if the lens is dirty (the latter I find particularly useful if my daughter has been in the vicinity of my phone).

When shooting in low light, a Night mode should automatically activate. You can also manually select a “Super Night” shooting mode if you prefer, too. Other shooting modes include Portrait, FlashSnap, Long Exposure and Pro.

There’s no automatic macro mode, but there is a “Super Macro” in the More tab. With this, you can get as close as 10cm to the subject, with manual focus only.

Portrait mode gives you the option to choose between 24mm, 35mm and 50mm equivalent focal lengths as well as adjust the amount of background blur. There are some slightly dodgy and surreal “image enhancements” you can make, such as the ability to make someone appear slimmer, but I tend to stay away from these entirely – they don’t look that great anyway, beyond the ethical issues.

Pro gives you the opportunity to adjust certain settings such as ISO, shutter speed or white balance. There is no option to shoot in raw format though. FlashSnap is a new shooting mode for the Tecno Camon 40 series. It’s designed for shooting fast-moving subjects, such as sports and action, but you could also employ it for something like pets and kids – anything where the subject moves a little erratically. You can only shoot at a maximum of 1x when using this mode, however.

For cleaning up your images, there are some AI editing tools which come in handy. For example, you can extend a scene, or erase something from a scene. The latter is very useful for removing stray tourists from an otherwise unblemished landscape – I find it works best if the background is fairly neutral and free from other distractions.

Tecno Camon 40 Pro: Image Quality and Performance

In the past, I’ve had concerns about how much Tecno is guilty of ramping up the colour saturation in images. However, it appears that for the Camon 40 series, the company has scaled things back significantly, for much more natural and realistic results – great news.

As I would expect, the main sensor delivers the best results, with plenty of detail, good exposures and general overall quality. The ultrawide lens is not amazing – but, for sharing on your phone or on social media sites, 8MP is more than enough. There’s some loss of detail, and it’s a noticeable lack in quality when compared to the 50MP lens, but it’s still usable.

Digital zoom options at around 2x-4x are pretty good, with even up to 8-10x being OK. The full 15x zoom loses a lot of detail, so I wouldn’t rely on that unless particularly keen.

Although there’s no automatic macro mode, having a SuperMacro option in the pull-down menu is quite good at this price point. The results are actually pretty good too, especially if you don’t examine them too closely – there’s a little bit of oversharpening but it’s not too bad.

Portrait mode can be used to good effect, creating some nicely blurred backgrounds. Outlines around hair aren’t perfect, but again, this is only really obvious if you’re very closely scrutinising the results. It can also be true that you get some slightly plasticky results sometimes, but I’ve seen worse from other models before. Skin tones are rendered well, with Tecno very keen to boast about its “Universal Skin Tone” technology across its devices.

I’m also pretty pleased with the selfie camera results, with AF and 50MP at this price point being extremely impressive. Again, I would definitely switch off the extreme portrait effects for the best results.

In low light, the 1x lens delivers some good results. However, the colour rendition here is very warm / orange-toned, which is not accurate to the real situation. It’s not a terrible effect, but it’s not as impressive as I’ve seen elsewhere from other budget models including the Samsung Galaxy A56. The ultrawide lens performs very badly in low light, sometimes losing so much detail as to be unusable – so that’s perhaps something to think about if you do a lot of low-light shooting. The low light results are better from the Tecno Camon 40 Premier, if you can afford the extra uplift in cost.

Tecno Camon 40 Pro: Value for Money

At the time of writing, it’s quite hard to definitely say how much the Tecno Camon 40 Pro will retail for, as it has a variety of price points in different markets around the world.

However, it’s likely asking price is around $330/£250, which makes it incredibly well-priced. It’s also a significant saving when compared to its own stablemate, the Tecno 40 Premier, which will set you back around $600/£470 equivalent.

For the 40 Pro, you get a lot for your money. This is especially true when compared against other bigger, more global brands. For example, it’s hugely cheaper than the iPhone 16e, while it also saves you cash compared to the Samsung Galaxy A56.

Of course, the big problem here is the lack of availability. At the moment, Tecno is generally available in Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe.

Tecno tells us that it’s considering expanding into other markets, so if you’re in the UK or US then one day you might be able to access these great value devices, hopefully that will be the case at some point.

Tecno Camon 40 Pro: Verdict

If you’re in the market for an ultra-cheap phone but still want something capable of delivering good results, the Camon 40 Pro is a good option – with some caveats.

While the main lens is very good, the 8MP ultrawide doesn’t work well in all situations. If photography is your main concern, and you can possibly stretch to spending a bit extra, I would definitely recommend looking at the flagship Tecno Camon 40 Premier.

Otherwise, the 40 Pro is an attractive option, with a tough body, a nicely sized screen, decent battery life, all for a good price.

Obviously, it not being available in every market will be a disappointment for some, but if you happen to be in one where it is, then you can expect a well-performing budget phone.

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