Infinix NOTE 40 Pro+ 5G Review (2024)

The Infinix Note series is one of the most popular budget line in the market. But this time around, Infinix has introduced a Pro+ variant, and we have that one today to test, the Infinix NOTE 40 Pro+ 5G.

We’ll check out the innovations Infinix has brought on this device, how it fairs with the competition, and if Infinix addressed some of the issues we had on their previous devices. Let’s find the answers to those questions in our Infinix NOTE 40 Pro+ 5G review.

Infinix Note 40 Pro Plus Specs

• Android 14, XOS 14
• Dual SIM, Dual standby
• 6.78-inch FHD+ AMOLED curved display, 2436 x 1080 pixel resolution, ~393ppi
• 120Hz refresh rate, 1500 touch sampling
• 1300-nits peak brightness, 10-bit
• Corning Gorilla Glass
• 2.2GHz MediaTek Dimensity 7020 octa-core processor
• 3,753mm2 vapor chamber
• Cheetah X1 power management chip
• 12GB RAM
• IMG BXM8256 GPU
• 256GB UFS 2.2 internal storage
• 32-megapixel front camera, dual-LED flash
• 108-megapixel (f/1.8, PDAF, OIS) + 2-megapixel + 2-megapixel rear cameras, quad-LED flash
• IP54 dust and splash resistant
• Rear RGB light
• JBL-tuned stereo speakers
• No headphone jack
• Under-display fingerprint scanner, Face unlock
• HSPA+, 4G LTE, 5G
• WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band
• Bluetooth
• GPS, A-GPS
• NFC, IR blaster
• FM radio
• Dimensions: 164.3 x 74.5 x 8.1mm
• Weight: 190g/196g
• Colors: Obsidian Black, Vintage Green
• 4.600mAh non-removable battery, 100W wired, 20W MagKit wireless, reverse wired and wireless charging

Design and Build Quality

Most Infinix phones before have pretty over-the-top, shiny, multi-color gradient rear panels. While they look eye-catching, they usually feel a bit too much. Fortunately, the Infinix NOTE 40 Pro+ now has a simpler and elegant vegan leather option.

Vintage Green is a new colorway that has a leather-like look and feel. It stays clean most of the time, but you will notice some fingerprint marks if you look closely.

The green leather color really gives it an sophisticated look without begging for attention. The nature color is complimented by the gold accents on the large camera island, the Infinix logo, and the frame on the sides. Well, nothing says “elegance” more than gold, right?

Besides the leather panel, another main character is the large camera island. It occupies about 30% of the surface area. It has two textures: a shiny surface for the two lenses, while the other half where the tertiary camera, ring flash, and the RGB light, has a brushed metal look.

Both sides of the device are curved, from the front and back. This made the Note 40 Pro+ feel extra thinner and lighter in the hands despite its usual 8.1mm of thickness and 190g of weight.

The metal frame feels sturdy enough. However, when we did a few light bend tests, we heard some creaking, which sounded like glue cracking. The frame was also a bit wobbly compared to other phones we’ve tested. But unless you’re intentionally trying to break it in half, you’d be fine.

For extra protection, it’s best to use the free case in the box. It only snaps on the top and bottom of the frame, so you can still appreciate the curved sides. The case is also thick enough to protect the screen in case the user accidentally drops it face first.

To match the device, the rear of the case also has a vegan leather texture. Plus, it has one of the new key innovations of the device: the MagKit, which we’ll talk about more later.

The Note 40 Pro+ also has an IP54 rating for being dust and splash-resistant. It also has a Corning Gorilla Glass protection, albeit the exact version was not mentioned. Infinix has also included a tempered glass on the package with an installation kit for extra protection.

Taking a tour, we have the said curved 6.78-inch AMOLED screen on the front, with a punch-hole for the selfie camera and ultra-thin bezels, resulting in an impressive 93.6% screen-to-body ratio.

At the bottom, you can spot the primary loudspeaker, USB-C port, microphone, and SIM tray, which can only house two nano SIMs. No space for a microSD card here.

On top, we have the IR blaster, the main microphone, the secondary speaker, and a logo that boasts one of the device’s bragging rights — “Sound by JBL.”

The left side is clean, while the right has the volume controls and the lock/power switch. The physical buttons are tactile and satisfying to press, but they do wobble a little. Nothing too concerning, though.

Overall, the Infinix NOTE 40 Pro+ is a stylish and comfortable smartphone that’s easy on the eyes and the hands. It doesn’t have the best build quality around, but you can’t have it all at its price point.

Display and Sound Quality

The Infinix NOTE 40 Pro+ has a 6.78-inch FHD+ curved AMOLED display with a 2436 x 1080 pixel resolution, ~393ppi, 120Hz refresh rate, 1500 touch sampling for extra sensitivity in games, 2160Hz PWM dimming, TUV Rheinland Low Blue Light certification, 1300-nits peak brightness, 10-bit color, and Corning Gorilla Glass.

You can customize screen color styles in the settings. Plus, there’s an option to set the screen refresh rate to Auto-switch, 120Hz, or stick with 60Hz for longer battery life.

Display quality has been satisfactory. Colors pop without being overly saturated and the contrast is deep. HD streaming on platforms like Netflix is possible, albeit no HDR playback. Sharpness is also ample. Screen brightness is good enough, so it’s easier to use outdoors even if it’s very sunny.

For audio, the JBL-tuned stereo speakers offer loud volume and with nice balance between the treble and bass. Stereo separation is also audible. Overall, the sound quality of these speakers has been great.

Hardware and Performance

The Infinix NOTE 40 Pro Plus comes with a MediaTek Dimensity 7020 octa-core processor — the same chip found on the non-Plus model. It’s joined by IMG BXM8256graphics, flagship-grade 12GB of RAM, and 256GB of non-expandable UFS 2.2 storage.

Infinix NOTE 40 Pro Plus Benchmark Scores

Its performance for day-to-day tasks has been really snappy. Opening and switching between apps are seamless, social media and web browsing are smooth, and taking pictures are quick with little to no lag. Editing photos and videos for Instagram and TikTok are also possible with no issues.

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For gaming, Genshin Impact’s graphics are set to Low by default, but the game is still really smooth under Medium. Call of Duty Mobile was buttery and beautiful under the highest available settings. PUBG Mobile was smooth under HD and High, giving you plenty of room to up the graphics quality if you want to.

Mobile Legends looked incredibly sharp and extra smooth under the highest available settings while Asphalt 9 had no problem running under High Quality. But like previous budget phones we’ve tested, the NOTE 40 Pro+ did struggle on Farlight84. Even under Balanced quality, we were still noticing lags here and there.

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Software and User Interface

One of the things users often dislike about Infinix phones is the software. Now, it has gotten better with the latest XOS 14 UI based on the Android 14 operating system. Plus, Infinix has also improved its after-sales support by promising to seed 2 years of major Android upgrades and three years of security patches for the Infinix NOTE 40 Pro Plus.

One of its key interface features is seen on the hardware. The Active Halo Lighting, an RGB light in the middle of the ring flash, lights up whenever you receive calls or notifications, when charging, playing select games, music, during startup, and using the voice assistant.

The light was pretty responsive. It’s useful, say, you’re in a meeting and your phone is upside down. You can still be notified if someone is trying to reach you. It can also customize the lighting effects and colors in the settings.

Another cool feature we saw is the built-in AI Wallpaper Generator. Simply type the image you want to generate, wait for a few seconds, and voila. The one we were able to generate looked pretty cool.

Thanks to the OLED screen, Always-On Display (AOD) is supported, with a bunch of wallpapers to choose and customize from.

The app drawer looked impressively clean. All your apps are laid out in alphabetical order, with your four recent apps on top, and the search bar easily accessible so you can get to your app faster.

Infinix’s Dynamic Island-like feature called Magic Ring is also here. It shows an animation around the punch-hole when showing charging status, face unlock, voice recording, and while on-calls.

Other Special Functions include floating windows for multitasking, Smart Panel that houses apps that can be launched in floating mode, Smart Hub for copy-pasting content across different apps, XClone for managing different accounts on the same social media app, and Kids Mode.

Out of the 256GB of physical storage, our review unit only managed to occupy 40% of the space. That’s already with six triple-A games installed and plenty of photos taken. That’s still plenty of room for more photos, videos, and apps.

MemFusion, a virtual RAM expansion technology, is also here, in case the 12GB physical RAM is still not enough. By default, it borrows 6GB of space from the storage to turn into memory, but it can be adjusted to 9GB and 12GB.

The camera app looks clean and straightforward, which has been greatly improved since the past Infinix phones we’ve reviewed.

Infinix uses Emoji Keyboard by default on the NOTE 40 Pro+. We personally prefer Google Keyboard, which we immediately switched to, but the default one is not bad.

Cameras

The Infinix NOTE 40 Pro Plus has a sharp 108-megapixel main camera with optical image stabilization (OIS). Unfortunately, it didn’t get to have an ultra-wide lens. Instead, we only have two extra 2-megapixel sensors.

On the front, there’s a 32-megapixel selfie camera, which comes with its own LED flash that you can use as an always-on fill-light.

Daytime shots from the main camera looked great. Details are sharp, colors are consistent with the real world, and the dynamic range is handled well.

Thanks to the large sensor, the camera app lets you tap the 3x button for a lossless zoom that’s great for portraits and close-up shots. Pair it with the depth sensor and you get a professional-looking image with a subtle but distinct background blur.

The Infinix NOTE 40 Pro+ also has good low-light performance. Shots remain relatively detailed with the right amount of colors. However, you’re prone to getting a blurry image if you don’t take your time taking the photo.

Selfies from the 32-megapixel front camera looked well-detailed with a surprisingly acceptable dynamic range. While there’s a substantial drop in quality under challenging lighting scenarios, the shots are still usable.

Battery and Charging

The Infinix NOTE 40 Pro+ 5G has a 4,600mAh battery, which is smaller than the usual 5,000mAh capacity we see in most devices we’ve seen today. The good news is we still got good battery life in our tests.

It lasted 12 hours and 15 minutes in PCMark’s battery loop test. It’s a loop of synthetic workload that lasts until the battery drops to 20%. We don’t always get to review 4,600mAh phones, but comparing it to the average score of 14 hours we get on 5,000mAh devices, we can say the NOTE 40 Pro+’s performance is fairly good.

We also looped a 1080p YouTube video until the 100% battery goes completely dead. In this test, the battery was able to last for 14 hours. Bottomline is, the NOTE 40 Pro+ can still last you for a day if you’re a light to moderate user.

But if you’re a hardcore gamer or binge shows a lot, then you might need the charger before the day runs out. Thankfully, the Infinix NOTE 40 Pro+ comes with a whopping, flagship-grade 100W wired charger. In our test, a 15-minute charge already provided 51% juice. See the full test results below:

• 15mins: 0-51%
• 25mins: 77%
• 34mins: FULL

Of course, we also have one of the key innovations found on the Infinix NOTE 40 Pro Plus. The new MagKit technology works like iPhones’ MagSafe. The case it comes with has a magnetic area on the back that lets you use a lot of magnetic chargers available in the market — even those made for iPhones.

Infinix has also introduced official MagKit accessories that works with the NOTE 40 Pro Plus. There’s the MagPower — a magnetic power bank that’s sadly not available in the Philippines — and the MagPad, which looks like your typical wireless charging puck but attaches magnetically for convenience.

The MagPad has a USB-C port and a light indicator. Even without the magnetic case for the smartphone, you can still use it as a regular wireless charger with the same speed of 20W. This method is only useful for convenience, but if speed is a priority, don’t count on it.

We tested the 20W MagKit with the included 100W charger and a full charge took about four hours. See our test results below:

• 15mins: 0-16%
• 30mins: 23%
• 1hr: 35%
• 2hrs: 56%
• 3hrs: 79%
• 3hrs 50mins: FULL

Reverse wired and wireless charging is also available, which is handy in charging your earphones or a friend’s phone. We were also able to use the MagKit to securely wireless charge an iPhone 15 Pro Max using the case’s magnets. It’s definitely not the fastest but should be enough to juice up a phone when needed.

Verdict

Infinix has a strong contender with the new NOTE 40 Pro+. Not only did they address some of the software issues we’ve had for years, they also introduced an all-new feature called MagKit, which makes charging even more convenient.

That’s on top of the device’s already impressive features like a flagship-grade and ultra-fast 100W wired charging. Plus, it comes with reliable performance not just for day-to-day tasks but also gaming. Buyers will also be treated to a sleek design that’s now more elegant thanks to vegan leather. In addition. there’s the smooth 120Hz refresh rate in a vibrant AMOLED panel.

But there are a few things we wish Infinix had done better here. For one, putting an ultra-wide instead of two less useful camera sensors would’ve been better. We also don’t mind having a slightly thicker body in exchange of a slightly bigger battery.

At this price point, we can’t really have it all. The small compromises are not really an issue. Clearly, the pros outweighs the cons, which makes the Infinix NOTE 40 Pro+ one of the best phones in its price range.

Infinix NOTE 40 Pro+ pricing and availability

The Infinix NOTE 40 Pro+ 5G has an SRP of Php13,999 in the Philippines. You can get it at physical stores nationwide and through Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop.

Pros

• Sleek, elegant vegan leather curved design
• Smooth and vibrant 120Hz AMOLED screen
• Reliable day-to-day and gaming performance
• Good primary and selfie cameras
• Fast 100W wired charging
• Convenient MagKit charging

Cons

• No ultra-wide
• Relatively small battery
• Sub-par build quality