By now you already know that Tecno has two flagship devices out in the market: the Phantom 6 and the Phantom 6 Plus.
Obviously, the latter is larger physically than the former but there is so much more that differentiates them other than one being a bigger version of the other, right?
Design
While both devices have an all-metal build, there are some noticeable differences. The Phantom 6 Plus is all smooth at the back while the Phantom 6 has this brushed look and feel. Also, the front of the Phantom 6 is all black unlike its larger sibling which takes on the device’s colour all round.
Another noticeable thing about the design is that the smaller Phantom 6 does not have antenna bands running all over the place at the back of the device something which sets apart the Phantom 6 Plus.
The smaller Tecno also feels much lighter than its larger sibling.
The branding is also minimal on the Phantom 6. You have to turn over the device in order to get a glimpse of the “Tecno” and “Phantom 6” branding. On the Phantom 6 Plus, however, there’s the Phantom logo on the front in addition to the two others at the back.
For the hawk-eyed, you will notice that the Phantom 6 has a microphone at the top while the Phantom 6 Plus’s other microphone, besides the one at the bottom, is located at the back of the device, just before the camera.
Display
Yes, the Phantom 6 Plus has a 6-inch display that towers over the Phantom 6’s 5.5-inch display but guess what else? I prefer its display over that on the smaller Phantom 6.
The Plus’ display is much warmer and with a more accurate colour representation than the Phantom 6. That may have to do with the decision to go with an LTPS display on the larger Tecno and good ol’ plain AMOLED on the smaller Tecno (because LTPS displays are sometimes used as backpanels for AMOLED displays… more on that here). You actually see this very well when you place the two devices side by side. Don’t mind the pixels since the smaller Phantom has a whole lot of them thanks to its smaller display.
Camera
The Phantom 6 has a dual-camera setup while the Phantom 6 Plus has just one camera lens.
While the Phantom 6 Plus takes pride in being able to capture images with more pixels thanks to its 21-megapixel Super Pixel shooter, the smaller Phantom 6 has a second 5-megapixel camera to add to the main 13-megapixel camera at the back just for more depth of field. While what that is on paper and in the real world are two different things, design-wise it means that the Phantom 6 has to give up some other feature in favour of the added camera…
Fingerprint scanner
The Phantom 6 Plus back has a fingerprint sensor located right below the camera and the dual-tone LED flash. That location is perfect for unlocking the device among other uses one may find for the fingerprint scanner. However, the Phantom 6 does not have a fingerprint sensor since that space has gone towards taking care of the additional camera that makes up its dual-camera set up.
The device itself not being that big and Tecno never having put a fingerprint sensor on the front on any of its devices (like InnJoo which now has), it means that users of the Phantom 6 will have to go the old way (use PINs, passwords etc) or use Tecno’s glorified Eyeprint Identification feature when unlocking their devices. Either way, things are much easier on the larger device thanks to it having a fingerprint scanner but guess what? That’s because it is so large.
Memory
The Phantom 6 has 3GB RAM and 32GB onboard storage. The Phantom 6 Plus, on the other hand, has 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage.
Processors
Just as is the case with the memory configuration on the Phantom 6 and the Phantom 6 Plus, the processors on both devices are different. The Phantom 6 Plus has the deca-core Helio X20 while the Phantom 6 has the octa-core Helio P10. However, based on my usage of the two devices, other than the Phantom 6 Plus’ processor being the superior one on paper, there isn’t any noticeable difference as far as normal performance goes which is what really matters at the end of the day.
Software
Here, things are all the same save for something minor I couldn’t fail to notice: the Phantom 6 has a security app pre-installed, Trustlook Security. This, I am meant to understand, is to keep malware at bay as well as provide an easy way to optimize device performance by clearing junk files and cache. The app is not there on the Phantom 6 Plus and users have to make do with the Hi Manager application (which is also available on the Phantom 6) for performance optimization and fend for themselves on matters security (even though to be real, you are just fine without an anti-virus on your mobile device).
Dual-SIM implementation
Tecno goes with a hybrid SIM setup on the larger Phantom 6 Plus which means one has to choose between having two SIM cards inserted or a microSD card and a single SIM. The smaller Phantom 6 allows for both since it has separate trays for the SIM and the microSD card.
This will not be true, however, for the Phantom 6s which is basically the Phantom 6 minus the extra SIM slot.
