Is this character development?
Another day, another month, another budget phone. Vivo brings the Y17s in the Philippines. That camera island at the back seems a little familiar, almost similar to the Infinix Note 12 5G camera hump. Also, as always, all of Vivo’s budget phones are presented beautifully with a premium-like and metallic aesthetic.
To answer the question in the title and to further avoid clickbaiting and reading through a long article, the phone costs PHP 6,999 and it’s pretty affordable for a Vivo Y-series handset. Most of the time, their phones are priced much higher than the competition so this change is a nice welcome.
Starting with the display. Yes, it’s a dated waterdrop notch you’re seeing. Here, you’re getting a 720p display (1512x720px) and sadly, no high refresh rate but at this price range, that’s asking for a lot. Though, we wish they kept it at 1080p.
It’s a bit strange that Vivo is hiding the chipset they used for the phone, it’s not even bad for the price. It’s a MediaTek Helio G85 with 4GB RAM and 128GB ROM, and the chipset is pretty optimized so you won’t be encountering frequent throttling with it.
The primary camera used is a 50MP sensor and this is complemented by two “useful” 2MP cameras. At the front is the 8MP selfie camera.
It uses the typical 5000mAh battery but it has 15W fast charging. For its price, we’d say this is already okay though it could have been slightly faster as the Realme C51, which is a phone similar to it, has 33W fast charging.
It comes in two lively colours: Glitter Purple and Forest Green. It is now available for purchase, again, for PHP 6,999, through Vivo’s concept stores, third-party retailers, and online via Lazada, TikTok, and Shopee.
While it does have its caveats, Vivo is starting to improve its price range for its budget phones, and we’re hoping to see even better and more aggressive pricing for the Y-series moving forward, with improved or newer features.