TECNO CAMON 40 Pro 5G review—beauty, brawn, and brains
The TECNO CAMON 40 Series is the latest flagship imaging and artificial intelligence (AI) smartphone from TECNO, which seamlessly harnesses AI technology with a user-friendly design. Succeeding the previous TECNO flagship series, the CAMON 30 Series, the new CAMON 40 Series consists of four models: CAMON 40 Premier 5G, CAMON 40 Pro 5G, CAMON 40 Pro, and CAMON 40. This review focuses on the CAMON 40 Pro 5G.
White variant has a base of classic white topped with a glacier-like texture.
Physical Characteristics
The CAMON 40 Pro 5G arrives in three elegant color variants: Galaxy Black, Glacier White, and Emerald Lake Green. The Galaxy Black variant has a back cover that seemingly blends the moon’s texture with the night sky that lusters depending on the light angle. Meanwhile, Emerald Lake Green sports turquoise, a color that can be associated with luxury labels Patek Philippe, Rolex, and Tiffany. The Glacier White variant (featured in this review) has a base of classic white topped with a glacier-like texture that also shimmers according to light angle.
AMOLED 3D curved display with FHD+ (1080 × 2400p) screen resolution.
Despite having a delicate aura, do not let this beauty fool you; the CAMON 40 Pro 5G is a tough nut to crack. Certified by Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS), a globally recognized testing, inspection, and certification company, the CAMON 40 Pro 5G can withstand 1.8-meter drops (SGS 5-star and 360-degree drop resistance certified). TECNO made this possible by equipping the CAMON 40 Pro 5G with Corning Gorilla Glass 7i protection. The smartphone also has IP68 and IP69 ratings for water and dust resistance, including hot water exposure.
Measuring 7.29mm thin and weighing 179g light, the CAMON 40 Pro 5G has rounded corners and curved sides, which make it comfortable to handle and easy to maneuver. The smartphone sports a 6.78-inch AMOLED 3D curved display with FHD+ (1080 × 2400p) screen resolution and 1600 nits peak brightness for screen visibility even under bright sunlight. The CAMON 40 Pro 5G display also features a high dynamic refresh rate of up to 144Hz. It means the smartphone maintains a high refresh rate for video games and other graphic-intensive applications, while automatically switching to 60Hz in more static applications like browsing to reduce power consumption. The CAMON 40 Pro 5G is TÜV Rheinland blue light certified for eye protection, so hours of use should not be a concern.
The CAMON 40 Pro 5G has power and sound volume buttons, all of which occupy the right side of the smartphone. However, the most eye-catching is the metallic orange One-Tap Button, which sits on the left side. We will discuss the functions of One-Tap Button in other sections of this review. The USB Type-C connector and SIM slot occupy the bottom of the phone.
AI Features
For enhanced productivity, TECNO has equipped the CAMON 40 Pro 5G with a comprehensive set of AI features. Beginning with Ella, users can launch this AI smart assistant by holding either the power button on the right side or One-Tap Button on the left side. The marquee lights up, indicating that Ella has been summoned, along with a text input field below the screen where you can type a query or say your question through the microphone. Tapping the plus button beside the microphone provides access to additional AI tools like AI Image Generator and Image to Doc, which allows you to take a photo of a physical document and transform it into an editable digital format (Word or PDF). Ella also has the Problem Solving tool, which you can use, for example, to solve mathematical problems. Snap a photo of a math problem through Problem Solving, and Ella will solve the problem for you.
With 360° AI Call Assistant, the CAMON 40 Pro 5G employs AI Noise Cancellation to minimize background noise when taking calls in noisy settings. Meanwhile, AI Auto Call Answer generates auto-reply messages when the user cannot take calls. Activated by tapping One-Tap Button twice during a call, AI Call Translation translates calls into a foreign language, while AI Call Summary summarizes that call. Under the AI Efficiency set of features, Circle to Search is activated by holding the onscreen button. After that, users can encircle an object in a photo to automatically conduct an online search to get more information about the object in question.
Another AI Efficiency feature, AI Writing can be used to generate text about a keyword or topic, rewrite in different styles (Friendly, Professional, or Concise), proofread, and summarize. To launch this feature, input a word or question in the Notepad app, select that word or question, and then choose AI Writing in the popup menu. This menu also offers an option to translate the text into another language through the AI Translate feature.
Camera Features
The rear camera system of the CAMON 40 Pro 5G comes with a 50MP Sony Ultra Night main camera (Sony LYT-700C). The LYT-700C has a 1/1.56” image sensor with a 2.0μm pixel unit and f/1.8 aperture for increased light sensitivity and better image quality. The LYT-700C collects 56% more light than its predecessor, the LYT-600. The rear camera system also has an 8MP ultra-wide camera with a 3cm macro lens, offering a 111.4° wider field of view (FOV). AI Snap Sensor, an intelligent detection device, is added to the rear camera to improve the success rate of image capture. Meanwhile, above the display, a 50MP autofocus (AF) camera with 91.6° ultrawide angle camera FOV is useful when taking group photos. Both front and rear cameras support 4K at 30 FPS video recording.
Apart from using the camera icon, the camera of the CAMON 40 Pro 5G can be launched faster by using One-Tap Button. Tap the button twice to launch the camera app from screen-off mode; one tap to open the app when screen-on. The CAMON 40 Pro 5G camera has six default modes: FlashSnap, AI CAM, Portrait, Super Night, Video, and Dual Video. Other camera modes include Slow Motion, Time-Lapse, Sky Shop, Dual-view Video, Pro Mode, Vlog Mode, Document Mode, Long Exposure, Super Macro, and Wide Selfie (front camera only).
Using One-Tap Button in FlashSnap mode, the super shutter is specifically tuned to reach up to 1/11235 seconds, over 2600 times the speed of a human blink, ideal for capturing fast-moving subjects like cars racing at over 100kph.
The CAMON 40 Pro 5G also harnesses AI to help users enhance their captured images. A part of AI Studio, AI Sharpness Plus automatically adjusts parameters like brightness and contrast to make images look sharper. AI Eraser 2.0 allows you to remove unwanted elements from the photos, such as photobombers and signages. AI Image Extender supports 10% to 40% proportional and free angle expansion while keeping image details intelligently. AI Perfect Face enhances facial clarity in portraits; it can even repair closed-eye scenes in certain conditions. AIGC Portrait 2.0 performs advanced portrait enhancements by adding hairstyle and outfit changes based on four regional templates: Africa, Eastern Europe, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.
Utilizing the camera features of the CAMON 40 Pro 5G, the images we captured with the phone are remarkably sharp and vibrant, especially the ones shot with One-Tap Button and in FlashSnap mode. If you prefer taking images more straightforwardly, we recommend shooting in AI CAM mode because it automatically determines which mode is appropriate for a particular subject or scenario. We also like the Long Exposure mode of the CAMON 40 Pro 5G because of its predetermined settings: Starry Night, Star Trails, Traffic Flow, Silky Water, and Light Painting. For those who are more adventurous, Pro mode has camera parameters that you can play around with.
In addition to SGS and TÜV Rheinland certifications, the CAMON 40 Pro 5G is the first smartphone of 2025 to receive a DXOMARK Smart Choice Label. The CAMON 40 5G is also No.1 in the DXOMARK Global Photography Ranking Under $600 (~₱34,000) with a camera score of 138.
Hardware and Battery Performance
Under the hood, the CAMON 40 Pro 5G is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 octa-core processor, which consists of 4x 2.5GHz Cortex-A78, 4x 2.0GHz Cortex-A55, and a Mali-G614 MC2 GPU, running on Android 15 OS. Our CAMON 40 Pro 5G comes with 8GB + 8GB RAM with 256GB onboard storage. The phone is also available in 12GB + 12GB RAM + 256GB ROM version. Running AnTuTu Benchmark on our review unit, the CAMON 40 Pro 5G scored 682868, falling within the range of the top 100 smartphones in the AnTuTu Benchmark ranking for March 2025. Running PUBG Mobile, the phone can also hit up to 90 FPS in graphics performance.
Packed with a 5200mAh CM8 silicon anode battery with up to 1800 charge cycles, the CAMON 40 Pro 5G can withstand up to 10.6 hours of continuous video play. In 1% Extreme Battery Life mode (the last 1% holds 100mAH power), the phone can stay on standby for up to 10 hours and handle 40 minutes of 4G/5G calls for up to 40 minutes.
The CAMON 40 Pro 5G also supports 45W Super Charge via USB Type-C. The phone takes only 23 minutes to become 50% charged and 43 minutes 100% charged. It also supports bypass charging, which means when playing games or using video apps while charging, the power is supplied directly to the motherboard, bypassing the battery. It reduces heat generation during gaming or video watching.
Final Words, Pricing, and Availability
Overall, the TECNO CAMON 40 Pro 5G seamlessly combines beauty, brawn, and brains. The smartphone sports an elegant, durable exterior that can withstand accidental drops, water splashes, dust, and even scalding hot water. The CAMON 40 Pro 5G brims with intelligent features, harnessing AI from practical productivity applications to creative image manipulations. Of course, this maximized use of AI is made possible by equipping the CAMON 40 Pro 5G with reliable hardware from the cameras to its overall mobile processing platform. TECNO offers the CAMON 40 Series with lengthy software support of up to five years (up to Android 18). Even by that time, the phone is guaranteed usable as its battery would still have more than 80% capacity.
In the Philippines, the TECNO CAMON 40 costs ₱9,999, while the TECNO CAMON 40 Premier sells for ₱21,999. Both models are available starting April 24 through all online and offline platforms.
The TECNO CAMON 40 Pro 5G 8GB + 8GB RAM with 256GB onboard storage costs ₱12,999 (first sale on TikTok), while the TECNO CAMON 40 Pro 5G 12GB + 12GB RAM + 256GB ROM variant sells for ₱14,999 (first sale on Shopee). Both models are available for preorder from April 24 to May 10. Preordered units can be claimed from May 11 to May 25.
To make the deal sweeter, TECNO offers the CAMON 40 Pro 5G 8GB + 8GB RAM + 256GB ROM with a ₱1,000 discount, a set of freebies worth ₱1,999 (Bluetooth speaker and power bank), and boosted T-SPOT points to 2,000 during the preorder period. Meanwhile, TECNO offers the CAMON 40 Pro 5G 12GB + 12GB RAM + 256GB ROM with a ₱1,500 discount, a set of freebies worth ₱1,999 (Bluetooth speaker and power bank), and boosted T-SPOT points to 2,500 during the preorder period.
From April 24 to May 10, customers can get any TECNO CAMON 40 Series smartphone through a 12-month loan program with a 0% monthly interest rate (equivalent to ₱27 per day for the CAMON 40 Pro 5G) and a voucher worth ₱500 through Home Credit. Based on the preorder policy, if a customer pays in full for a unit of the CAMON 40 Pro 5G, they can get up to ₱2,000 discount.
The CAMON 40 Pro 5G 8GB + 8GB RAM + 256GB ROM is also available for its first exclusive sale on TikTok at ₱10,999 and the CAMON 40 Pro 5G 12GB + 12GB RAM + 256GB ROM on Shopee at ₱12,999 from April 24 to April 30. Both models come with a limited CAMON Premium Gift Set during the said period.
ADVT.
This article is brought to you by TECNO Mobile.
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