The phones would also come with a periscope camera. Clearly Transsion knows what they’re doing.
The Camon series is Tecno’s own camera phone lineup. Though, they’re mostly on the upper budget range. Even the name itself sounds like “Canon” which is a camera brand. The logo of the Camon series is also a shutter, further elaborating that it is indeed, intended for photography use.
The next line in the Camon series after the Camon 17 is the Camon 18, which has significant improvements. The most noticeable being the periscopic telephoto camera, similar to the Infinix Zero X series. There are three phones in the Camon 18 series: the base variant, the 18P and 18 Premier
If Infinix releases something significant, Tecno would surely follow. This pattern is also seen on BBK’s Oppo and Vivo. Transsion, the owner of both Infinix and Tecno, is more likely doing the same thing.
As seen from the render above, the phone features a triple camera setup with a familiar pattern. It appears that the center camera has a red ring around it, signifying that it could either be the main or telephoto sensor. One model should feature this periscope telephoto camera, with 60x zoom and Tecno’s own AI tech called AI TAIVOS. This AI tech would probably featured on the Tecno Camon 18 Premier, the highest end of the series.
The Tecno Camon 18 Premier already debuted in Nigeria, one of Tecno’s most prioritised markets. This phone is Tecno’s equivalent of the Infinix Zero X Pro, coming with a 6.7in. FHD+ flat AMOLED panel and 120Hz refresh rate.
For the cameras, this is the phone that comes with the periscope telephoto with 60x zoom and gimbal stabilisation. A very very rare feature for budget phones and even high-end midrangers. The phone has three cameras at the back: a 64mp main camera, the highly-featured 12mp gimbal camera and 8mp periscopic telephoto with 5x optical zoom and a total of 60x digital zoom. Of course, Tecno has camera features for you to take a shot at the moon, they call this “Moon Probe”. The front camera is 32mp
The phone uses the Mediatek Helio G96, which is just a slightly tweaked Helio G95 so the performance shouldn’t be so different to the Infinix Zero X Pro. It has one major difference that sets it apart from the Helio G95, that is, native 120Hz refresh rate support. Coming with the phone is the side-mounted fingerprint sensor despite being AMOLED, NFC and a 3.5mm audio port. The phone uses the proprietary HiOS 8.0 based on Android 11. As Tecno is part of the Android 12 Developer Program, the Camon 18 series might get at least one major update.
As for the battery, it uses a 4750mAh battery with 33W fast charging. Not as fast as Infinix’ 45W charging seen on the Infinix Zero X Pro but this isn’t slow either.
The base variant uses a Mediatek Helio G88 processor and is the more “lite” version of the three. It, in many respects, is similar to the Camon 17. Coming with the typical 6.8in FHD+ IPS LCD with 90Hz refresh rate. This panel is also the same one used for the Infinix Zero X Neo, its counterpart.
The phone comes with a pretty standard 4GB RAM and up to 128GB internal storage. For the battery, it uses a typical 5000mAh battery with 18W fast charging. This is even slower than its siblings. The 18W fast charger comes available in the box.
For the cameras, its the typical Tecno phone, with a 48mp main lens coupled with a filler 2mp depth and macro. The front camera is a typical 16mp camera. There’s a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, like its siblings.
The Camon 18P is the counterpart to the base Infinix Zero X. Like the Camon 18 Premier, it uses a Helio G96 processor, a 6.8in. 120Hz display (though IPS LCD instead of AMOLED, for cost cutting reasons) and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. Like the Camon 18, it uses a 48mp camera instead of a 64mp seen on the Premier.
As mentioned, it has a 48mp camera at the back coupled with two other cameras: a 2mp depth sensor and a 13mp telephoto with 2x optical zoom (not gonna lie, we do miss budget phones having a telephoto sensor). Though, Tecno calls this a “portrait camera”.
Like the Premier, it has 33W fast charging but with a larger 5000mAh battery. The phone supports NFC and FM Radio.
We’re waiting for Philippines availability. It should come anytime soon.
Source: Tecno Camon 18, Camon 18P, Camon 18 Premier