This highly anticipated event will showcase a range of AI-driven products, including the flagship smartphone PHANTOM V Fold2 5G, the CAMON 30S, SPARK 30 Series, and the MEGABOOK T16 laptops, together with other cutting-edge devices.

Each of the anticipated devices is crafted to deliver exceptional performance, intuitive AI features, and sleek designs to potentially match the market demands.

At the heart of the launch is TECNO’s commitment to providing more connected, personalized experiences for African consumers. The ecosystem goes beyond smartphones, offering a complete suite of devices that leverage AI to enhance productivity, creativity, and connectivity. From real-time language translation to AI-powered photography, TECNO’s new offerings are designed to meet the unique needs of Africa’s diverse market.

EDITOR’s NOTE: Part of this story is from an official press release shared with the Tech Point Magazine team.

If compared to other TECNO Mobile midrange releases like the Spark 10 series, the TECNO Camon 20 price in Uganda gives the device an edge over variants in the same range. But also, proves an improvement in the TECNO dedication to offering closer to top-tier releases.

By design and specifications, the Camon 20 Premier deserves the high price accolade for its improved features and offers. More so, at 820,000/=, the base Camon 20 model is still in a favorable price range for any midrange customer to consider adding on a purchase list.

The TECNO Camon 20 price in Uganda as per device model

If compared to its predecessor, the TECNO Camon 19, the Camon 20 is priced even higher, but with upgraded functionality offering more value for money and camera quality prowess the series stand for.

More so, 5G is the new mobile network standard, and it as an added feature on the Camon 20 Premier makes the device a must-have to keep up with the network upgrades. As usual, free mtn data is offered to all customers on purchase, and also, you can buy the phone on loan and payback later by visiting any TECNO Mobile VIP Shop in Uganda.

The PHANTOM X2 Series comprises PHANTOM X2 Pro 5G and PHANTOM X2 5G, which marks the brand’s bold entrance into the high-end global smartphone market with a host of groundbreaking features and outstanding performance. 

With a 65mm focal length, 2.5x optical zoom retractable portrait lens, the PHANTOM X2 Pro 5G revolutionizes image-making in the smartphone industry. The innovative lens empowers users to capture portraits comparable to professional camera shots with just a pocket-sized device.

Available in an Eco-Friendly Edition featuring a pioneering microfiber back cover made from recycled plastics, the X2 Pro 5G also raises the bar for sustainable design in the industry. 

A milestone in the brand’s premium product offering, both the PHANTOM X2 Pro 5G and the PHANTOM X2 5G are powered by MediaTek’s Dimensity 9000 4nm 5G chip. The series also features a unique unibody double-curved build and a 3.5D lunar crater design in three mysterious, space-inspired colors, resulting in an eye-catching look and a comfortable feel. 

 Speaking at the official launch of the PHANTOM X2 Series in Kampala, Mr. Timmy Shen, Brand Manager of TECNO said: “TECNO has always been pushing to uncover the latest and best premium 

technologies. As PHANTOM’s new flagship smartphone, the PHANTOM X2 Series brings the PHANTOM brand to the high-end market with a pioneering spirit of innovation, inside and out. 

It also reflects the brand’s solicitude for environmental issues with the eco-friendly edition’s recycled back cover. Following the successes of the original PHANTOM X smartphone, the PHANTOM X2 Series takes premium experience to even greater heights.” 

The PHANTOM X2 series comes with a Special partnership with Airtel Uganda to benefit our customers. All customers of PHANTOM X2 series will enjoy FREE 5GB Airtel data every month for 3 months, and 100% data bonus on all bundles loaded. 

Speaking on behalf of Airtel Uganda, the Head of Data Ms. Joweria Nabakka said “It gives us great pleasure to partner with TECHNO to launch the PHANTOM X2 Pro 5G and PHANTOM X2 5G. It is a quick tool that professionals and businesspeople will love to use on the go to capture good quality pictures for their businesses and lifestyles.

Customers who will purchase a Phantom X2 phone and use the Airtel SIM card in SIM slot 1, will receive 5GB data every month for 3 months.” Partnerships like these increase the uptake and use of Smartphones and access to internet-based solutions. 

According to a 2022 Quarter 2 Uganda Communications Commission market performance report, on a year-on-year comparison, active smartphone usage has grown to 10.9 million gadgets as of June 2022. This represents 30% of the 36.1 million devices connected to the network in Uganda. This is clear growth from 10.1 million devices connected as at end of 2021.

With this growth, smartphones are playing an instrumental role in enabling faster and easier adoption and usage of ICTs in the transformative sectors such as education, health, trade, energy, finance, and agriculture.

EDITOR’s NOTE: Part of this story is from an official press release shared with the Tech Point Magazine team.

Well, we received a Tecno Camon 18 Premier review kit a few weeks ago, and the device looks elegant by first impression with minimal box contents accompanying the single smartphone kit. Inside the box, regular components like the charging brick, USB cable, and headsets are housed in compartments.

Box Contents

• A Camon 18 Premier Unit
• Charging Brick
• USB C cable
• Plastic Cover
• Headsets

First Impressions

Think of a Samsung Galaxy S20 series on a budget, that’s what the TECNO Camon 18 Premier has to offer on purchase, an elegant grand camera entrance, well-bodied design, large screen size all in a single package.

With previous Camon series releases like the Camon 16 and Camon 15, you could easily spot similarities between the two smartphones. But with the Camon 18, this has come to change, the design, features and build are all upgrades and not recaps from any previous version.

Also, the fact that you can identify all rear camera lenses makes the Camon 18 Premier a true mobile photography tool kit you can own with quality confidence. We shall test what the device’s 3 rear cameras accompanied by an under-screen selfie camera have to offer in our review article.

In summary, the Camon 18 Premier is one mid-range entrant that for once has all features a user may need, with the device’s main focus on mobile photography, it further skips the edge to enhanced performance and reliability in a single package as further revealed on the specifications sheet.

Now, the Tecno Spark 7p launches as another midrange smartphone pimped with an attractive specifications sheet to out rule other budget-focused brands like realme, Infinix, iTel, Samsung, and Oppo. As per the company’s brief, the Spark 7p ships a bigger screen and big battery capacity to deliver the best gaming experience for users.

Even though the Spark series is focused on affordability, the trend with screen refresh rates has forced most manufacturers to up their game. To follow the standard, the Spark 7p sports a 6.8 inch screen with a 90Hz refresh rate which puts it on the list of smartphones with great display refresh rates.

Under its fashioned waterdrop notch display design, the device equips a MediaTek Helio G70 Chipset, 4GB RAM, and either 64GB or 128GB of internal storage. With a G70 gaming processor, Android 11 as the Spark7p’s base operating system with HiOS 7.5, its means most app functions are executed with a good performance grade.

More so, the Tecno Spark 7p’s 5000mAh battery can deliver up to 14days of uptime if well utilized with the built-in optimisation tools. To the camera grade, a triple 16MP rear camera setup ships with features like video bokeh, beautify, time-lapse, night mode, and smile snapshot making selfies aboard an 8MP front camera detailed with less image noise as listed on the device specs sheet.

TECNO Spark 7p Specifications

TECNO Spark 7p Price in Kenya

Currently, the Tecno Spark 7p is available in Kenya at KES 15,000 in official Tecno Mobile stores and online on websites like Jumia, Kilimall, Price in Kenya, among others. But based on the current Spark 5, and Spark 6 pricing, the Spark 7p price in Kenya may drop to give customers a window to upgrade to a 2021 version of the Tecno Spark.

At the moment, it’s only in Kenya where Tecno Mobile has launched the Spark 7p. But depending on the current COVID-19 pandemic trend in Africa, we expect to see the smartphone launch in Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, and other active markets by the end of May 2021.

Over the years, the overall Tecno Mobile smartphones suite never exceeds $300 in all African counties where the brand is active, by this, many customers tend to opt for a cheap, yet high specifications release offered by the brand. More so, the unpredicted effects of the COVID19 Pandemic period in 2020 ignited a low-expenditure behaviour amongst customers makign midrange and entry-level smartphones the best choices to consider.

The brand managed to beat Samsung which has over the years been Africa’s top smartphone brand due to a 6.7% Year on Year (YoY) drop in smartphone shipments in 2020. Damage to smartphone shipments is attributed to the COVID19 pandemic which attracted lockdowns in countries like Uganda, Kenya, SouthAfrica, Nigeria, Rwanda, and many others.

The biggest drop in Smartphone shipments was in the first half of 2020 when COVID19 became a talk of the day. Then, manufacturers entered recovery mode in Q2, then restarted shipments in Q3 and Q4 when the African business atmosphere reflected with blue skies attracting a 1.5% YoY gain as opposed to the Q2 27% YoY drop in shipments.

According to Counterpoint Research’s senior Analysts Yang Wang, the change in market dynamics is greatly attributed to uncertainty caused by the COVID19 Pandemic which attracted a saving behaviour in customers as opposed to expenditure due to lockdown effects and preparations for the future.

“Looking at the entire year, the African smartphone market outperformed other regions but was not immune to disruptions caused by the pandemic. Q2 2020 was especially difficult as demand was hammered when most countries entered lockdowns. Smartphone shipments during the quarter saw a YoY drop of 27%.”

Said Yang Wang

On the other hand, mid-range smartphones sell like hot cake in Africa, and over the years, many customers have deviated away from purchasing top tier smartphones by opting for cheap quality. This has made the Transsion holdings trio of Tecno Mobile, Infinix, and Itel Mobile succeed in shipping smartphones at price tags users want to see, and not top tier quality that would hike prices.

As per the Counterpoint Research Market monitor, smartphones priced between $0-$199 were much popular and registered high shipments as opposed to top tier brands that often cost $300 and above. On average, midrange smartphones where Tecno Mobile ranks as a clear leader contributed to over 80% in smartphone shipments of 2020.

This means a change in user behaviour across the African continent, and top tier brands like Samsung have noted the change by introducing budget-friendly yet quality-centric smartphones to the midrange sphere. By standard, Samsung A Series releases rank as the best mid-range smartphones on the market as compared to Tecno Mobile releases.

By this standard, if Huawei Mobile re-opts to ship more midrange smartphones to the continent, then, the competition landscape will change giving manufacturers like Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, Realme, Nokia, to re-imagine their prices and quality to best serve the midrange market. For now, Samsung is no longer Africa’s top smartphone brand – a position it has held for years. Instead, Tecno Mobile is now the leading smartphone brand with its sister brands of iTel and Infinix ranking 3rd and 6th respectively.

Comparatively, we expect the TECNO Camon 17 to come in different models as its predecessor. In 2020, the Camon 16 launched with Camon 16 Premier, Camon 16 Pro, and Camon 16s variants. Likely, the Camon 15 as well came in 3 models, the base Camon 15, Camon 15 Air, and the Camon 15 Premier with a pop-up selfie camera as its key feature.

However, as per leaked information about the Camon 17, the device is expected to be the lowest on specs as compared to its 2020 predecessors. This means, the smartphone may ship upgrades in the Operating system, Chipset, Storage, and other internal features, but may lie behind the Camon 16 Premier which currently rocks as the best performance variant in the series.

Well, leaked specifications point to a punch-hole display with an HD 720 * 1600 pixels resolution, a fingerprint sensor, 3.5mm headphone jack, and a 5000mAh inbuilt battery as features to watch out on the inaugural 2021 Camon series release.

Camon 17 Specs we expect once launched

• The Camon 17 will equip a MediaTek Helio G70 Processor
• 6GB RAM is expected to boost the device with great performance
• A Punch hole display notch will be guided by a 6Inch 720*1600pixels screen
• The Camon 17 will run Android 11 straight out of the box and the first TECNO release to run the operating system
• The device will have a rear-end fingerprint sensor with face unlock support to the front
• An Inbuilt 5000mAh battery will be supported with an 18W fast charging port
• A 3.5mm headphone jack is expected to be present

At the moment, the first Camon 17 renders have not been uploaded, but in comparison with its predecessor – the Camon 16, we don’t expect significant changes in the design since both devices sport the same display and battery capacity.

But with Android 11, the smartphone will be the first TECNO Mobile release to ship the latest version of Android which makes it one to consider adding on a midrange shopping budget. More so, with 6GB RAM, the device could troll new performance levels as revealed through an FCC document and Google Play Console. For now, we expect the Camon17 to launch in April 2021.

As per launchpad insights, Camon 16 brings to play a catalog of new features compared to its predecessors. Having launched the Smartphone in Kenya earlier last Month (September), the Camon 16 will follow a market trend preset by the Camon 15 that launched in Q2 2020.

If compared to its predecessors, the Camon 16 equips new standards headlined by a new notch display. A dual punch hole notch teases the Smartphone’s display levels as multi-camera support raves with a quad rear setup (4 Cameras).

A 64MP main snapper, an 8MP Ultra-wide + 2MP Macro, and 2MP depth sensors make up the quad rear camera setup. To the front, a dual setup consisting of a 48MP + 8MP snappers takes shape under the dual punch hole notch.

What to Expect and how to pre-order the TECNO Camon 16

Apparently, USB C is supported by the Camon 16 straight out of the box. After years in the cold since the Phantom 8 launch, TECNO Mobile had never hinted on bracing USB Type C, instead, clogged on Micro USB for all releases.

But given pressure dynamics from customers, the brand has finally braced Type C as a new standard for latest releases. So, starting with the Camon 16, USB C might be the default port standard for not only the Camon series, but all midrange entrants.

By price, TECNO Mobile has not revealed how much the Smartphone will cost as yet, but pre-orders are currently open for customers at a default price tag of UGX 50,000. So, at only 50,000/= you can book a Camon 16 at any official TECNO outlet with an expected launch date of 12th October 2020.

Much more like a standard, once we receive a Camon 16 review unit from Tecno Mobile, we shall uncover what the Smartphone has to offer against rival midrange releases like the Camon 15 which also launched earlier this year.

For a while now, TECNO Mobile has been on the outskirts of featuring the latest industry features on its Smartphones. In simple terms, cloning high-end releases to a budget-friendly lane with a mid-range recipe.

However, USB-C has not been a top-notch feature on almost all TECNO Smartphones manufactured in the past 2 years. But now, the Phantom 10 is expected to finally usher in the Type C revolution to TECNO Smartphones, a trend which will be swiftly adapted to the Spark and Camon series.

As seen with the TECNO Camon 15 that has a premier version rocking as a superior model with a pop-up selfie camera, we expect TECNO Mobile to gift the Phantom 10 Premier a premium touch as exclaimed, and only differ from the standard version by specifications.

Being 2020, the Phantom 10 could have a quad rear camera setup with a layout similar to that of the TECNO Spark 5 and Camon 15 Smartphones. Likely, the flagship is expected to ship a 5000mAh battery standard as the trend is with major 2020 TECNO Mobile releases.

In a nutshell, the TECNO Phantom 10 is on its way to the launchpad, and it might be one of the best TECNO Flagships ever launched. Once the Smartphone is launched, we shall route what it has to offer, but for now, the Phantom 9 is finally having its successor shine in 2020.

Since TECNO Camon series are known to be camera-centric Smartphones, the Camon 15 top-rated feature is its 48MP quad rear camera that equips new AI optimization Technology as inked during the device’s launch in Uganda.

Now, we received a Camon 15 unit for a 2weeks review period, and here is a tale of our unboxing session.

TECNO Camon 15 Unboxing

Box Contents

• A Single Camon 15 Smartphone
• USB Cable
• Charging Brick
• Headsets
• Transparent Rubber cover
• Plastic Screen protector
• User Manuals

Boxed with light blue all-round coating, the TECNO Camon 15 Box is medium sized, and houses 3 layers with the top section having the Camon 15 device. The 2^nd portion with the device’s manuals, cover and screen guard, then a 3^rd partition with device accessories including the USB Cable, Headsets plus a Charging Brick.

Once unboxed, the TECNO Camon 15 comes with a removable screen sticker that you can replace with the free-in-box Screen guard for basic protection. Impressively, the device’s punch hole notch serves as an early alert for great functionality as listed on the Specifications sheet.

TECNO Camon 15 Specifications

TECNO Camon 15 Price in Uganda and Where to Buy From

Having launched on an MTN X TECNO Mobile Partnership table, the Camon 15 comes with free data on purchase, the offered data pack by MTN Uganda stands at 3GB for the first 3months and 100% bonus on loaded data bundles.

Routing at a retail price of UGX 688,000 in MTN and TECNO Mobile Shops, as well as online on sites like Jumia, Odukar store. By the trendline, the Camon 15 comes at a more attractive price tag as compared to its predecessors.

For the Camon 15 Premier which ships a pop-up selfie camera setup, and improved performance thanks to 6GB RAM, its retail price bezels between UGX 800,000 – UGX 900,000.

By anticipated performance, the TECNO Camon 15 could be the best Camon series release equipping great hardware and features in a year that has seen manufacturers register production lows. However, we shall test how the device best performs in our review and Impressions article soon.