While some might argue that budget Android phones are a dime-a-dozen, we’re still seeing some interesting models that pack a lot more than you’d expect from their asking price. It seems that Vivo is playing to this strategy with the launch of the new Vivo Y39, a wallet-friendly handset that comes with some pretty nifty hardware specifications. Priced at less than 200 EUR (when converted), the Y39 is aimed at competing handsets like the Samsung Galaxy A16 and A36, to name a couple.
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In terms of design, the Vivo Y39 doesn’t attempt to hide its budget origins, especially at first glance – you get sizeable bezels around the display, and a plastic build that surrounds the phone’s display. Available in Purple and Blue variants, the phone’s rear panel features an off-centre camera island which houses a dual-camera setup with a 50MP main sensor, and it looks similar to what we’re seeing on phones like the POCO F7 series and the OnePlus 13 phones. We suppose that the circular camera module gives it a bit of a “premium” look, at least when you’re not looking at those bezels in front.
As for the display itself, the Y39 comes with a large 6.68-inch display that uses an IPS LCD panel, with a peak brightness of 1,000 nits and a respectable 120Hz refresh rate. While some might complain that there’s no OLED technology on here, the entire point of the phone is to cut down on expenses, so having an LCD display isn’t exactly surprising on this one. While it thankfully ditches the water-drop notch (looking at you, Samsung), it lacks an in-display fingerprint sensor, instead opting for a side-mounted scanner.
With all that said, the main highlight of the Vivo Y39 is what’s on the inside – Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 runs things around here, and while it’s a far cry from the likes of the 8 or even 7 Gen series chips, it’s a decent-enough SoC that will get moderate tasks done. Sure, you probably won’t be able to run resource-heavy apps and games like Genshin Impact on here, but people who are looking to do so probably have their sights set on a more expensive Android phone in the first place. It’s also running on Android 15, albeit layered with Vivo’s own Funtouch user interface.
That being said, it helps that phone also comes with 8GB of RAM, a much-welcome feature considering that other devices in this price range still ship with 6GB or even 4GB of RAM. For storage, you are getting a choice of either 128 or 256GB of space, although sadly there’s no room for a micro SD card slot. There’s no 3.5mm headphone jack either, although there is a dual-speaker setup on the phone should you choose to listen to your music and podcasts out loud.
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The phone is likewise meant to be an all-day device, especially since it packs a 6,500 mAh battery which outsizes batteries found on some flagship devices like the Pixel 9 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, for example. It does support 44W wired charging, and while this isn’t particularly fast it does mean that you’ll generally spend less time waiting for your phone to finish topping up. All in all the Vivo Y39 gets the basics right, and users looking to spend less will no doubt want to check out this one.
