TECNO SPARK Slim: Ultra-Thin, Durable, and Stylish—Here's why this budget phone stands out this Christmas

Looking for an affordable yet high-quality smartphone to gift this Christmas? One of the top phones on our mind is the TECNO SPARK Slim.

File photo: TECNO SPARK Slim's back design

For its PHP 9,499 SRP, we think that this phone is a standout. It packs a super-slim and stylish profile, durable build, an amazing display, and capable overall specs for the price.

Read on.

TECNO SPARK Slim: Ultra-Thin, Durable, and Stylish—Here's why this budget phone stands out this Christmas

5.93mm slim profile

1. Super slim, elegant, and futuristic - The primary highlight of the phone is its ultra-thin profile measuring just 5.93mm. This is the thinnest smartphone with a curved display in the world right now.

Sides of the TECNO SPARK Slim

The iPhone Air is still a bit thinner at 5.6mm (and obviously more powerful), but that costs about 8x more.

Moreover, it is extremely lightweight at 155 grams, making it highly comfortable to hold.

TECNO SPARK SLIM Mood Light

The handset also features a touch of futurism with the fun-looking Mood Light effects at the back. As you can see, it's like Baymax is eyes looking at you; it even has an emotional touch that can respond to users' interactions, allowing you to receive alerts, notifications, charging reminders, low battery, voice assistant indicator, and more.

Super-stylish

2. Sleek but Super tough - Despite the thin appearance, TECNO SPARK Slim boasts a 0.36mm aerospace-grade fiberglass back cover providing the phone with 300 percent improved strength and flexibility by 200 percent.

TECNO even added an IP64 dust and water resistance, allowing it to survive dirt and water splashes, and the Gorilla Glass 7i for extra drop and scratch resistance.

Gorgeous display with slim bezels

3. Stunning and smooth display - The device also features a 6.78-inch AMOLED panel with 1.5K 2720 x 1224 resolution at 440 ppi. This makes the screen look sharp and crisp, giving you greater picture quality over the traditional 1080p or even low-quality 720p panels found on other budget phones.

Meanwhile, it also now offers a 144Hz refresh rate, which makes everything look incredibly smooth and fluid, from scrolling apps and beyond.

In comaprison, other phones in the same category are limited to 90Hz or 120Hz in the same category.

AnTuTu and Geekbench scores of TECNO SPARK Slim

4. Capable chip, decent storage, big battery - The TECNO SPARK Slim features the 2.2GHz 6nm MediaTek Helio G200 octa-core chip with Mali-G57 MC2 GPU. It is paired with 8GB LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB UFS 2.2 storage.

It is reasonably responsive and fast. It can run most of the basic social media apps and even some photo and editing tools quite well. This is not a slow phone. Connectivity is also stable, particularly its 4G connection. The downside is that it has no 5G, like many under PHP 10K phones.

Moreover, the phone also packs a 5,160mAh battery, which is large considering how ultra-slim the phone is, unlike other brands that sacrificed the battery for the sake of having a slender look.

In our experience, it can last for a whole work day of 8 hours plus 2 hour commute with about 20-30 percent left in the tank, depending on our usage. It charges via a USB-C 45W power brick.

Casa Batlló by Gaudí shot on TECNO SPARK Slim

5. Surprisingly capable cameras - TECNO consistently makes capable cameras on extra-affordable phones, and the TECNO SPARK Slim is no different.

Indoor shot

Low light Portrait mode

It has a pretty good 50MP f/1.6 bright shooter, which helps the phone to take reasonably decent photos across multiple scenarios.

It is great in daylight, decent in indoor shots, has a usable Portrait mode in the dark, and can take night shots with high dynamic range and minimal noise on non-moving subjects.

1x, 2x in low light

Even the 2x digital zoom is good and has near-lossless image quality, even in some challenging conditions like a few low-light bar shots.

Its cameras are generally great for the price, and you may need to spend several thousand more totally beat what it can do.

TECNO SPARK Slim Specs

Display: 6.78-inch Gorilla Glass 7i protected AMOLED screen w/ 144Hz refresh rate, 1.5K 2720 x 1224 resolution at 440 ppi

CPU: 2.2GHz 6nm MediaTek Helio G200 octa-core processor

GPU: Mali-G57 MC2

RAM: 8GB LPDDR4X

ROM: 256GB UFS 2.2

Back Camera: 50MP f/1.6 w/ AF + 2MP + LED flash

Selfie Camera: 13MP f/2.0 + Dual Flash

Battery: 5,160mAh w/ 45W Super Charging

OS: Android 15 w/ HiOS 15

Connectivity: WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz/5GHz), 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.4, OTG, NFC, GPS, GLONASS, dual SIM (nano)

Sensors: G-sensor, e-compass, gyroscope, light, proximity

Others: In-Display fingerprint sensor, IP64 dust and water resistance, IR Blaster, stereo speakers, Dolby Atmos USB-C, Colors: Slim White, Cool Black

Dimensions: 164.2 x 75.9 x 5.93 mm

Weight: 155 g

Price: PHP 9,499

Quick thoughts

A great gift this season? For me, yes.

The TECNO SPARK Slim is undeniably a standout budget phone this Christmas.

For just PHP 9,499, it delivers an ultra-thin 5.93mm profile, durable aerospace-grade build, IP64 resistance, and Gorilla Glass protection. Its 6.78-inch 1.5K AMOLED display with 144Hz refresh rate is sharp and smooth, while the Helio G200 chip, 8GB RAM, 256GB storage, and 5,160mAh battery ensure solid everyday performance.

Add in a capable 50MP camera, and you've got a stylish, tough, and feature-packed device that punches well above its price in style, display, and camera performance.

What do you guys think?