TECNO Camon 50 Ultra 5G punches way above its price

The word “Ultra” carries a lot of weight in the smartphone world. It usually signals the absolute best a brand has to offer, complete with top-tier silicon, premium materials, and a price tag to match. So when TECNO slapped that label on the Camon 50 Ultra 5G, I was curious and, admittedly, a little skeptical. This is the first time TECNO has ever used the “Ultra” monicker on its Camon series, and while the Camon 50 Ultra 5G does bring some genuinely impressive flagship-grade features to the table, it sits somewhere in between a Pro and a true Premiere-level device. Still, there is a lot here that deserves attention, especially for Filipino content creators and side hustlers who want pro-level output without blowing their budget.

The TECNO Camon 50 Ultra 5G is positioned locally as the best “Image Flagship Phone for Creators” under PhP 20,000. At that price, what you get is a 6.78-inch 1.5K Curved AMOLED display, a MediaTek Dimensity 7400 chipset, a triple-camera system anchored by a 50MP Sony LYT-700C sensor with 100x Super-Zoom, a 6,500mAh battery with 45W fast charging, and IP69K-rated water and dust resistance. On paper, this thing is stacked. Let us dig into whether it actually delivers.

Build and Design

The design of the Camon 50 Ultra 5G is one of the first things that caught my eye, and honestly, one of the first things that raised an eyebrow. TECNO made some real efforts to elevate the aesthetic here, with a glass back cover featuring a high-end, delicate texture and curved sides that sit comfortably in the palm thanks to a wider R-angle design. At 7.75mm thin and weighing just 181g, it is legitimately one of the thinnest and lightest phones in its price segment, slimmer than the HONOR X9D at 7.8mm, the Redmi Note 15 Pro at 8.0mm, and the OPPO A6 Pro also at 8.0mm.

I will be honest with you though: this phone absolutely reminds me of the Galaxy S26 Ultra. The rectangular camera module, the overall silhouette, the squared-off feel — the resemblance is hard to ignore. That is not necessarily a bad thing; if you are going to take inspiration from somewhere, Samsung is not a bad place to start. TECNO also added a red notification light that turns on when you are recording or charging, which is a thoughtful and practical touch.

Color options include Misty Purple, Luminous Orange, Moonshadow Black, and Nebula Titanium, giving buyers a range from understated to bold. The wealth of color options shows how thoughtful TECNO is for their fan base, and it definitely strikes an aura that they are mindful of what they want.

One more thing: the included case is actually pretty solid. It helps dissipate heat during extended use, has a nice design, and adds useful grip without making the phone feel bulky. Little things like that matter, and TECNO got it right here.

Display

The 6.78-inch Curved AMOLED 1.5K display is one of the strongest selling points of the Camon 50 Ultra 5G, and it shows the moment you turn it on. You get a 144Hz refresh rate, 4,500-nit peak brightness, a 100% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage, and an 800Hz touch sampling rate. That refresh rate alone puts it ahead of competing devices at this price range like the HONOR X9D, Redmi Note 15 Pro, and OPPO A6 Pro, all of which top out at 120Hz.

The curved edges give it a premium feel that you do not often see in this price category, and the high brightness makes it very usable under Manila’s harsh outdoor lighting. Whether you are reviewing content you just shot or scrolling through your feeds, the display genuinely impresses. Gorilla Glass protection and SGS Military-Grade shock certification round out the durability package, so you do not have to baby this screen.

Hardware

Under the hood runs the MediaTek Dimensity 7400, built on a 4nm process. It is a capable chip that handles everyday multitasking, content creation workflows, and smooth UI navigation without breaking a sweat. The Camon 50 Ultra 5G comes in configurations of 8GB or 12GB RAM, both paired with 256GB of storage, while a 12GB + 512GB variant is also available.

You can absolutely game on this phone, but be clear-eyed about what “gaming performance” means at this price point. This is a midrange chip delivering midrange gaming performance. Do not expect it to handle the most demanding titles at max settings with buttery smoothness. The benchmarks tell that story clearly, so let us get into the numbers.

Benchmark

The TECNO Camon 50 Ultra 5G posted an AnTuTu 3D score of 972,694. That puts it below the Redmi Note 15 Pro+ 5G at 1,043,315 and the realme 15 Pro 5G at 1,019,769, but still ahead of the Nothing Phone 3a Pro at 805,622. For context, the POCO X8 Pro Max dominates this chart at 2,675,212, though it sits in a different league entirely.

In Geekbench 6, the Camon 50 Ultra 5G scored 910 for single-core and 2,839 for multi-core. Compare that to the OPPO Reno15 5G at 1,234 / 4,078 and the realme 15 Pro 5G at 1,230 / 3,562, and you can see the Camon 50 Ultra 5G underperforms on raw CPU throughput compared to several competitors in the same category. In PCMark 3.0, it scored 14,365, which is a solid result, landing close to the POCO F7 at 14,904 and POCO X8 Pro at 14,695, and decisively ahead of the OPPO Reno15 F 5G at 10,090. For 3D Mark Wild Life Extreme, it registered 1,054, which is lower than the OPPO Reno15 5G’s 2,105 and the realme 15 Pro 5G’s 1,803, reflecting the GPU’s midrange ceiling.

One thing we tested that you do not usually see at this price point: running local LLMs. Using AI Edge Gallery with a Gemma 4-E2B-it model, we benchmarked the Camon 50 Ultra 5G against the iPhone 17 Pro Max and Galaxy S26 Ultra to see how it holds up for on-device AI inference.

The numbers paint a clear picture of where the Camon 50 Ultra 5G stands in the on-device AI conversation. On GPU, it posts a prefill speed of 366.74 tokens/sec, a steep drop from the iPhone 17 Pro Max’s 4,149 tokens/sec and the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s 2,315.88 tokens/sec. Its decode speed of 12.07 tokens/sec on GPU also trails both flagships by a wide margin. The most striking figure is the GPU first init time of 76,593.50 ms, meaning the Camon 50 Ultra 5G takes significantly longer to load the model into memory before processing can even begin, compared to under 4,000 ms for both the iPhone and Galaxy.

On CPU, the Camon 50 Ultra 5G manages 74.88 tokens/sec for prefill and 4.93 tokens/sec for decode, the slowest figures across all three devices in both modes. Its time to first token on CPU is 3.70 seconds, noticeably slower than the iPhone’s 0.36 seconds and the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s 0.71 seconds. That gap is felt in real use: on the Camon 50 Ultra 5G, you are waiting nearly four seconds before the model even begins generating a response on CPU, while the iPhone feels almost instant by comparison.

The honest takeaway is that the Camon 50 Ultra 5G can run local LLMs, and that alone is a remarkable thing for a phone under PhP 20,000. But if you are relying on it for heavy on-device AI workloads, the midrange chip’s limitations will be felt across the board. For cloud-assisted AI tasks through apps like Ella, the experience is a different story entirely. This benchmark is purely for reference, and real-world performance will vary depending on the service and LLM you use.

Software and Other Features

The Camon 50 Ultra 5G ships with HiOS 16 on top of Android, and it is a noticeably more refined experience than previous TECNO software. The UI has improved visual cohesion thanks to what TECNO calls “glow space,” and there are a handful of genuinely useful AI features baked in. The dedicated AI Key is a quick launcher for TECNO’s AI assistant Ella, and features like Flash Memo and MindHub let you capture voice notes or screenshots and have them intelligently summarized and stored for later retrieval.

Ella also handles some quirky but handy tricks: you can ask her to use ultrasonic vibrations to clear dust or water from the speaker grille, she can identify songs playing around you, and there is even an Oral Practice Partner mode for language learning. The software also supports a 3D Photo feature and Live Photos with direct GIF and Instagram sharing export. For social media-heavy Filipino users, that kind of native integration is a nice convenience. TECNO’s Glyph-equivalent here is that red notification LED for charging and recording, a small but distinct personality touch that competitors do not bother with.

Camera

This is where the Camon 50 Ultra 5G earns its keep. TECNO was not cheap about camera hardware here, and it shows in nearly every shot. The main camera pairs a 50MP Sony LYT-700C 1/1.56-inch sensor with OIS, and it is joined by a 50MP 100x Super-Zoom telephoto and an 8MP ultrawide. That 100x zoom capability is a standout spec for this price range, especially when you consider that the Redmi Note 15 tops out at 20x and the HONOR X9D at just 10x. Beyond 20x, TECNO’s AI Ultra-Clear Telephoto algorithm kicks in to sharpen what the optics alone cannot capture.

Portrait shooting on this phone is genuinely impressive. Skin color and texture look accurate and natural, without the over-smoothed or over-saturated look that cheaper portrait modes tend to produce. The background bokeh is configurable even in post, which gives you creative flexibility after the fact. The default bokeh is passable on its own. One gripe: stabilization in portrait mode still needs some work, so you really do need to stay steady when shooting stills.

The FlashSnap 2.0 system is another highlight, now supporting burst capture at 1x through 5x focal lengths, letting you nail fast-moving subjects at various zoom levels. You can also enable a “Twinkle” effect in portrait mode for a little extra flair, and the built-in AI Studio consolidates editing tools like AI Light Master 2.0 and AI Remover in one place. Just know that AI Erase is one area where TECNO has room to grow. Unlike Xiaomi’s or Samsung’s implementations, the Camon 50 Ultra 5G’s AI Erase does not automatically detect people in a frame, which means more manual work on your end. It works, but it is not as seamless as the competition.

For content creators, both the 8GB and 12GB variants of the Camon 50 Ultra 5G get the full camera feature set, no compromises based on RAM tier. That is a fair and consumer-friendly decision that deserves a shoutout.

Audio

The audio situation is, to put it plainly, below mid. The Camon 50 Ultra 5G is not the loudest phone in its class, and the speaker output is functional more than it is impressive. It somewhat does the job for casual media consumption or taking calls on speaker, but it doesn’t strike as something that you would prefer using. If audio quality is a priority for you, this is one area where you will want to use headphones. For the target creator audience, most content production happens with earbuds anyway, so it is an acceptable trade-off in context.

Battery

Battery life is one of the Camon 50 Ultra 5G‘s strongest arguments. The 6,500mAh battery is a powerhouse that held up to around 18 hours of medium usage before dropping to the 20% mark from a full charge. That kind of endurance covers a full workday of shooting content, editing, posting, and scrolling with plenty of room to spare.

The 45W fast charging brings it to 50% in roughly 31 minutes, which means short breaks between shoots can top you up meaningfully. TECNO also includes a Gaming Bypass Charging feature that routes power directly to the board during extended play sessions to reduce heat buildup, which pairs nicely with the heat-dissipating case included in the box.

Verdict

The TECNO Camon 50 Ultra 5G is a phone that earns its price tag through its camera system and battery performance, even if it falls short of the full “Ultra” promise in raw processing power. For Filipino content creators and side hustlers who want a phone that shoots portrait, handles 100x zoom, runs AI editing tools, and lasts all day, all for under PhP 20,000 on the 8GB variant, this is a genuinely compelling option. The benchmarks confirm it is a midrange chip doing midrange things, and the underperformance in CPU-based AI tasks and gaming versus some competitors is real. But when the camera is this capable at this price, it is easy to forgive a lot.

If you are upgrading from a TECNO Camon 40 Pro or even a non-Ultra midrange device, the improvements in camera hardware, display quality, IP rating, and software maturity make the Camon 50 Ultra 5G a smart investment. It is not the most powerful phone you can buy under PhP 20,000, but it may well be the best one for creating content with.

Giancarlo Viterbo

Founder, Chief Editor, and Sales Lead at Gadget Pilipinas | Website

Giancarlo Viterbo is a Filipino Technology Journalist, blogger and Editor of gadgetpilipinas.net, He is also a Geek, Dad and a Husband. He knows a lot about washing the dishes, doing some errands and following instructions from his boss on his day job. Follow him on twitter: @gianviterbo and @gadgetpilipinas.