Oppo A40 review: Absurdly cheap, but for casual users only

Price When Reviewed

Not available in the US

Best Prices Today: Oppo A40

Chinese manufacturer Oppo has released a wide array of mid-range and budget smartphones in recent years, ranging from the powerful Find X8 Pro to the hugely affordable A78 5G. As confusingly named as they sometimes are, they generally offer good specs and features for the money, providing a lower-cost alternative to major brands.

This is the tradition that this year’s A40 aims to continue. Carrying an enticingly low price tag of £129 (under £90 on offer), it brandishes a large 6.67in display with a 90Hz refresh rate, as well as a big 5,100mAh battery, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 6s 4G Gen1 chip, and a 50Mp rear camera. At first glance, this seems like a recipe for success, but just how well does the phone combine its ingredients?

We find out in this review, testing the A40’s performance, cameras, battery and software, while also weighing in on its design and durability.

Design & Build

• Simple design
• Pin-hole selfie camera
• Headphone jack

The Oppo A40 looks good for a £129 smartphone. Its design may not win any awards, but by keeping things to a minimum, it has a tastefulness that many other budget and mid-range phones lack. It features a rectangular plastic chassis with flat edges and curved corners, while a squircle camera module is the only feature on its back, save for a small Oppo logo.

It has a tastefulness that many other budget and mid-range phones lack

Its 6.67-inch display is punctured by a pin-hole selfie camera at top-centre, while the surrounding bezel is relatively thick below and above the screen, at about 5mm. You can find a wake/power button and volume up/down button on the phone’s left-hand side, while the base features a USB-C port, a most welcome headphone jack, and three holes for the single speaker.

In terms of build quality and durability, the plastic rear and aluminium frame belies the phone’s cost, not feeling (or looking) cheap at all. On the other hand, the A40 carries only an IP54 rating, which will protect it against splashes, but not against submersion in water. The device’s screen also lacks the kind of upgraded Gorilla Glass that protects more expensive models (eg the Find X8 Pro), although it does come with a pre-applied screen protector and does carry a MIL-STD-810H rating (implying basic shock resistance).

One plus is that, despite being relatively large, the phone weighs only 186g. This puts it at the lower end of phones of its size, which can often top 200g, and makes it comfortable to hold for extended periods.

Screen & Speakers

• 6.67-inch LCD display
• 90Hz refresh rate
• Max brightness 1000 nits

The A40’s display is the first sign that it isn’t a flagship smartphone. This isn’t to say that the screen is subpar for a phone in its price bracket, but certain differences are noticeable if you’re used to something more capable. For instance, the icons and graphics of its OS are sometimes a little grainy around the edges, while the use of an LCD panel means that colours aren’t as rich or as deep as something with an AMOLED or OLED screen.

The lack of brightness robs the phone of vibrancy and colour

Brightness is also below average, with a max reading of only 1,000 nits. For comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S25 has a max brightness of 2,600 nits, while the cheaper Galaxy A36 has a peak brightness of 1,900 nits. To be fair to the Oppo A40, however, the Galaxy A26 also maxes out at 1,000 nits, and that’s over £100 more expensive than the Oppo model. 

While it does keep up with its budget rivals, you’ll still notice the lack of brightness. You may struggle to see the screen clearly when outside on sunny days, while more generally the lack of brightness robs the phone of vibrancy and colour. 

Despite the occasional dullness, the screen does provide a 90Hz refresh rate. This is arguably very good for a phone priced at only £129, particularly when the standard iPhone 16, for instance, makes do with a 60Hz refresh rate. And while 90Hz isn’t as impressive as 120Hz, you’ll generally appreciate the smoother scrolling and screen updating.

As for audio, the Oppo A40 provides a single speaker at its bottom edge. This is perfectly fine for calls and social media, but anyone expecting to enjoy music or TV may be left disappointed. There’s a lack of depth and clarity to audio when pushed to higher volumes, so you’d be better off connecting the phone to a decent speaker via its Bluetooth 5.0 interface.

Specs & Performance

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 6s 4G Gen1
• 4GB RAM and 128GB storage
• Micro-SD card slot

There’s little doubt that it’s with performance that the low price of the A40 becomes most apparent. The phone is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 6s 4G Gen 1, which despite the impressive name is actually a rebrand of the Snapdragon 662, which was already a lower mid-range chip when it was originally released in 2020. And when coupled with only 4GB of RAM, it means that the A40 suffers from some pretty slow performance.

Apps can be slow to open and load and, while the phone does have a 90Hz refresh rate, it’s often undermined by stuttering

This goes beyond an inability to play more intensive or recent games. Apps can be slow to open and load and, while the phone does have a 90Hz refresh rate, it’s often undermined by stuttering. It can actually make for a frustrating experience, especially if you need to use the device for work, or for anything beyond basic calls and social media.

However, it’s entirely likely that the A40 will end up in the hands of those who want it only as a social media device, so perhaps it’s a bit unfair to expect anything more from a phone that costs only £129. Still, its benchmarks were very bad (even for a budget phone), and it may be something of a culture shock to someone coming from a more powerful device.

By the same token, you could also say that the 128GB of internal storage is not too bad, since you’re unlikely to download lots of games and apps to the device. At the same time, its memory can be doubled via its Micro-SD card slot, so most of its target users will probably have enough to work with.

Oppo A40 benchmarks

Just a note that if you spot that the PCMark battery life test is missing, that’s because the test failed three times. I guess the phone didn’t like it.

Cameras

• 50Mp main rear camera
• 5Mp selfie camera
• 1080p video at 30fps

The A40’s cameras are probably the other big area in which the phone lives down to its low price. It offers a 50Mp main rear lens, as well as a flicker sensor that serves to reduce interference from flickering light sources. There are no other rear lenses, which is perhaps a good thing, since an ultrawide or telephoto lens at this price point would probably be more of a box-ticking exercise than something genuinely useful.

And when it comes to its main 50Mp camera, it does a decent enough job of capturing photos you might want to share on social media. Of course, this depends on the prevailing conditions, as the phone generally needs clear daylight to reach its potential. When it does have good natural light, pictures reveal a good balance of detail, colour and shadow. Processing veers more towards the naturalistic end of the spectrum, while portraits strike a good compromise between faithful and flattering, even with a theoretically underpowered 5Mp selfie lens.

However, if you begin to challenge the main camera, flaws and noise become more apparent. It doesn’t take kindly to movement, with the phone using an open-loop focus motor that underperforms relative to closed-loop equivalents. It also doesn’t cope too well with overly bright lights, despite the flicker sensor, and neither does it fare particularly well when things darken. This is even more obvious with the camera’s night mode, which in all honesty is usable only on well-lit streets. And even then the results aren’t particularly impressive.

Lastly, the phone’s rear lens is capable of capturing 1080p video at 30 frames per second. Again, this isn’t anything to write home about, and you will certainly need a steady hand in taking film, but it can produce usable results if you’re careful enough.

Battery Life & Charging

• 5,100mAh battery
• 45W wired charging

The Oppo A40 fares considerably better in the battery department, packing a 5,100mAh cell that’s more than capable of handling the demands most users will make of the phone. So given that there’s no 120Hz refresh rate, and given that you can’t really play recent games on it, it should be able to last well into a second day.

This was generally my experience. The trick is not to use the device for anything particularly intensive, and to focus primarily on messaging and calling, with some social media. However, if you’re something of a regular or compulsive social media user, then you may find that the phone’s battery is almost flat by the end of a single day.

The Oppo A40 fares considerably better in the battery department, packing a 5,100mAh cell

Indeed, on days when I put the A40 through its paces and watched Netflix, browsed around on YouTube and played some games, its battery did run below 20% or 15% by bedtime. Fortunately, the device is compatible with 45W wired charging, although Oppo doesn’t provide a compatible charger in the box. And in my experience, using an 18W mains adaptor, charging was not particularly speedy (see benchmarks).

Software & Apps

• Android 14 and ColorOS 14
• Two years of core updates, three of security updates
• Some bloatware

The A40 comes out of the box with Android 14 preinstalled, and with Oppo’s ColorOS 14 running on top. With Android 15 already launched and being rolled out for major manufacturers, the A40 is already behind the curve as far as core updates go. That said, Oppo is promising two of these, which will take you to Android 16.

Scrolling within a floating app can often result in stuttering and slowdown

In terms of its design and options, ColorOS is a decent Android skin. It’s easy and familiar to navigate, with the Quick Settings pulldown and the App Tray being the only major screens other than the Home menu. There is some bloatware (eg AliExpress, Booking.com, lots of mini-games), but you can uninstall everything other than native apps, so I didn’t find it too much of a problem. 

There’s also plenty of room for customisation, as well as some helpful (in theory) special features, such as the Smart Sidebar, floating windows and split views. However, where these – and the OS as a whole – fall down is in performance, with the A40’s chipset and RAM often struggling to open apps and operate smoothly. For instance, scrolling within a floating app can often result in stuttering and slowdown, and the same goes for split views.

The phone also offers face recognition, in addition to the sidemounted fingerprint scanner. In general, this feature does work fairly well, although you may find that it takes a few milliseconds longer to work than on more premium models.

Price & Availability

The Oppo A40 is now available in the UK for £129. It’s also for sale in Latin America, China and Asia, albeit under different names (Oppo A3 4G, Oppo A60, Oppo A40m). As with every other Oppo device, it’s not officially sold in the US.

You can buy the phone either from Oppo’s official website or from Amazon, among other third-party retailers. At the time of writing, it’s less than £90 at a number of outlets.

Alternatives to the A40 include the Oppo A60 5G, which for an extra £30 adds 5G compatibility. You could also consider the Samsung Galaxy A16 5G (at £199), the Nokia G22 (at £149), and the Motorola Moto G04 (£89). All of these are arguably better than the Oppo A40. Otherwise, take a look at our round-up of the best budget phones for our top recommendations.

Should you buy the Oppo A40?

The Oppo A40 is a solid budget phone. For a very low price of £129, it provides strong battery life, decent looks, and a usable main camera. But while its software is easy to use, the device is let down by its underpowered chip and RAM, which can often make things slow and laggy.

Ultimately, this means that gamers should certainly stay away, as should anyone who needs a robust, responsive phone for work. Instead, it’s a decent budget model that would appeal to casual phone users. So if you’re someone who uses their phone mainly to do a bit of shopping, messaging/calling and social media, it would be a good buy, especially at its current, discounted price.

Specs

• 6.67inLCD (1604×720) 20:9, 90Hz;
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 6s 4G Gen1
• 4GB LPDDR4X RAM
• 128GB RAM UFS 4.0 internal storage;
• Cameras:
• 50Mp main/wide sensor
• 5Mp front facing
• Side-button fingerprint scanner
• Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 2.4GHz+5GHz, VHT80
• Dual SIM (Nano-SIM)
• Bluetooth 5.0
• 5,100mAh battery
• 45W wired charging
• 165.7 x 76.1 x 7.7 mm
• 186g