TECNO CAMON 50 Ultra 5G Review

When it comes to smartphones with really capable cameras in the midrange segment, TECNO’s CAMON series has proved to be among the good ones.

And today, we just got our hands on the new TECNO CAMON 50 Ultra 5G. Spoiler alert: it’s shaping up to be a daily driver aimed at users who spend a lot of time on their phones. Whether that be scrolling through social media, watching videos, doing mobile photography or even jumping into games during breaks.

But in real world use, does this new ‘Ultra’ phone deliver a balanced experience? Let’s find out in this review.

Design and Construction

Starting with design, the CAMON 50 Ultra 5G does have that familiar look yet some unique touches here and there. It has a slim profile at just 7.38 mm thick which is impressive considering it has a large 6500mAh battery.

In the hand, it feels balanced and comfortable even during extended gaming sessions, mainly thanks to its subtle curved edges. The phone never felt awkward to hold even after gaming or watching videos on it for a while.

The phone also gets extra- I mean EXTRA layers of protection. For starters, the CAMON 50 Ultra carries IP66-, 68-, and even IP69K ratings.

Before, that level of dust and water resistance was usually reserved for the flagships. It’s quite nice to see that phone makers nowadays are making it more common for midrange phones to have that kind of ingress protection for a midrange device. So, thumbs up for that.

For buttons and ports, found on the right side are the power and volume buttons; the IR blaster and one of the mics on top; while the bottom has the main loudspeaker, USB-C, another mic, and the SIM tray. It does have dual stereo audio but the second speaker is integrated with the earpiece.

And if you’ll notice here on the left side, there’s this dedicated button for TECNO’s AI assistant called “Ella”. The placement here is far enough from the edge that it won’t cause any accidental press when gaming for example.

Overall, the design looks and feels premium in our opinion. It does look like a Galaxy phone with those vertically aligned camera lenses, but give credit where credit is due. TECNO with its own touches make this phone rather unique than looking like a cheap copy.

Not to mention, included in the box is a hard case following the same design language as the phone’s rear panel but with some kind of jumbled text markings. That’s something you don’t usually see from other phones, so that’s a plus.

Display, Multimedia, and Biometrics

Flipping the phone over, the CAMON 50 Ultra sports a 6.78-inch AMOLED panel with a 1.5K resolution and 144Hz refresh rate.

It feels smooth and responsive in daily use as expected. Scrolling through social media feels fluid, and the colors pop without looking oversaturated.

Although, 144Hz refresh rate is a bit overboard for most apps, so checking out device info, we can see that the phone has variable refresh rate, meaning it can automatically adjust to as low as 30-, 60-, 90-, and up to 120- and 144Hz.

Meanwhile, its stereo speakers provide decent volume and clarity. The audio is loud enough to fill a small room.

For a midrange phone, it won’t replace a Bluetooth speaker for deep, punchy bass, but it handles highs and mids pretty well. And the stereo setup also adds a level of immersion to the viewing experience.

For biometrics security, the in-display fingerprint sensor is quick and accurate. And face unlock works reliably even under low lighting so that’s a nice touch.

Cameras

Now, let’s talk about one of its main highlights: the cameras.

The CAMON 50 Ultra features a triple-rear setup consisting of a 50-megapixel main shooter, an 8-megapixel ultrawide, and surprisingly, a 50-megapixel telephoto sensor with 3x optical zoom. Both the main and telephoto sensors support optical image stabilization (OIS) by the way.

On the front, there’s another 50-megapixel sensor camera with autofocus.

Zoom levels here range from 0.6x and up to 3x optical zoom. You can crank it up to 60x digital zoom, but as expected, the image quality drastically drops at that point.

Not to mention, there’s already a Live Photo feature available, so that’s a neat addition.

In well-lit environments, all the cameras perform well. Photos are detailed, colors are pleasing and dynamic range is decent.

For the main camera, the image quality is usually superb. However, if there’s every tricky lighting, the phone tends to brighten up the image more than it needs to be. So, I mostly had to adjust the exposure down a notch.

But for anything else, especially daylight shots, the main camera remains more than capable.

Ultrawide shots are decent at best. With an 8-megapixel sensor, we can only do so much anyway. Still, the quality is respectable enough for casual social media uploads.

As for the telephoto shots, the quality looks surprisingly good. At 3x zoom, the details remained sharp, mainly thanks to OIS support. It also covers nice colors and the dynamic range here is quite good.

Selfies are generally good, however, even with the beautify options turned off, there seems to be a filter that smoothens my face. The skin tones any skin color look accurate for the most part though.

TECNO CAMON 50 Ultra sample photos

Feb 21 – Mar 9

Moving on to video capture, both the rear and front cameras can shoot up to 4K at 30 fps. And just like with the image quality, the video quality also looks neat.

Sample video:

There’s minimal shake even at 4K, at least for the rear camera, and the overall look is above average in my opinion.

There are times that focus tends to struggle, especially when zoomed in, but the overall shooting experience has been quite hassle-free.

Performance and Benchmarks

Moving on, let’s talk about performance. Equipped with the MediaTek Dimensity 7400 Ultimate and up to 8GB of RAM, the phone handles multi-tasking and gaming well.

Apps launch quickly and switching apps is generally smooth. The 8GB memory is also good enough to keep multiple apps running in the background without causing any slow downs.

Checking out our benchmarks results, the phone managed to pump out over 800K points in AnTutu V11, and in 3DMark Wild Life, it had an average frame rate of 23 FPS.

Lighter games such as Pokémon Unite ran smoothly at High graphic settings with stable frame rates even during clashes. For graphic-intensive games however, like Wuthering Waves, this is where the midrange chipset shows its limits.

Even at the ‘Ultra Performance’ preset, which is already a lower graphics setting than the default one, the game still struggled relatively with occasional frame drops during intense moments.

For casual gameplay or less demanding games, it does perform admirably and lowering graphics can improve stability.

Thermal management is decent with the back warming up slightly under extended gaming sessions. Thankfully, it didn’t go up to a point where it was alarmingly hot.

OS, UI, and Apps

Software-wise, the CAMON 50 Ultra ships with Android 16 and TECNO’s HiOS 16 on top.

The very first thing I noticed is the “refreshed” UI. It’s almost as if I’m holding an Apple device because of how the app icons look like. Even some navigational UI elements get some design inspiration from Apple’s iOS 26.

It’s not that we’re complaining though. The OS still looks good in our opinion.

That said, there is bloatware present out of the box as the phone comes pre-loaded with several third-party apps and TECNO services that I don’t personally use.

While this does make the initial setup feel a bit cluttered, most of these apps can be uninstalled or disabled anyway. So, after spending some time removing the stuff we don’t need, the UI becomes cleaner and easier to manage.

Going back to the AI button here on the side. Like I said earlier, it’s a dedicated button for TECNO’s AI chatbot called Ella.

Ella offers several tools such as Ella Voice which is essentially its version of Google Gemini; Ella Briefing provides text summaries; and Ella Smart Touch offers contextual assistance. Beyond Ella, the phone also supports familiar Android features like Circle to Search.

While HiOS isn’t the cleanest Android skin available, it still offers a lot of functionality and flexibility.

Connectivity and Battery Life

In terms of connectivity, the phone gets all the essentials here: dual SIM with 5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, NFC and USB-C with OTG support.

There’s also an IR blaster here which is helpful for convenient universal control for home appliances.

Battery-wise, it packs a 6500mAh unit paired with 45W of charging. The bump in capacity actually translate to solid numbers because in our video loop test, the phone passed 18 hours and 13 minutes of uptime.

Gaming does not drain the battery excessively fast, and with typical usage, the phone can easily last a full day.

Charging doesn’t take long though. The supplied 45W charger refills the battery relatively fast, taking about over an hour.

Conclusion

So, with everything’s said and done, what’s gonna be our verdict about the TECNO CAMON 50 Ultra? Well, it’s certainly looking to be a decent all-rounder that offers a nice balance between overall performance, multimedia experience, and capable cameras.

The Dimensity 7400 Ultimate chip, while not being the fastest, was still able to provide enough processing power for important stuff like gaming, productivity, and everyday use. The multimedia experience is great, and its flexible camera setup makes mobile photography a tad bit easier to do.

With an early bird price of PHP 18,499 (8GB+256GB), the CAMON 50 Ultra seems to be a very compelling option considering the amount of camera hardware you’d get at this price point. It retails for PHP 19,999 for the 8GB+256GB config, PHP 21,999 for the 12GB+256GB, and PHP 25,999 for the maxed out 12GB+512GB version.

Setting aside the price, the CAMON 50 Ultra in its own right, is a good pickup, especially for those looking for a phone that does a ton of photography features without also spending a ton of money.

What we liked:

• Has IP66, IP68, and IP69K ratings
• 144Hz adaptive refresh rate
• More than capable cameras
• Decent battery life

What we didn’t like:

• Very evident bloatware
• Selfie skin smoothens too much

TECNO CAMON 50 Ultra specs:
6.78-inch 1.5K Curved AMOLED display
1208 x 2644 resolution, up to 144Hz refresh rate
MediaTek Dimensity 7400-Ultimate SoC
8GB RAM
256GB storage
Triple rear cameras:
– 50MP main camera, OIS
– 50MP telephoto camera, 3x optical zoom
– 8MP ultrawide
50MP front camera
Dual nano-SIM
5G, 4G LTE
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth
GPS
USB Type-C (supports OTG)
NFC
FM radio
Infrared remote control
Dual stereo speakers
Dolby Atmos
HiOS 16, Android 16
6500mAh battery
45W charging (wired)
162.37 x 76.97 x 7.75 mm (dimensions)
Moonshadow Black, Cypress Green, Nebula Titanium, Luminous Orange, Misty Purple