TECNO Mobile has launched the follow-up to the POVA 4 series, with the Transsion Holdings brand announcing the TECNO POVA 5 Free Fire Special Edition for the global market.

(Update: We now have the TECNO POVA 5’s prices!)

(Update, July 27: The TECNO POVA 5 is arriving in the Philippines on this date!)

The phone has been co-designed with the battle-royale mobile game Free Fire in mind, but you probably can’t tell without looking at the retail box, which features Free Fire character Kelly prominently. She also appears in the sticker sheet that can be found inside the box, as well as on the custom wallpaper that ships with the device.

And like the vanilla POVA 4 before it, the TECNO POVA 5 Free Fire Special Edition will also arrive in the Philippines, albeit at a still-undisclosed date and price tag. Last year’s POVA 4 was sold for P7,999 (around $145 converted) at launch.

TECNO says the POVA 5 Free Fire Special Edition will be available in other countries in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America as well. The company also reveals the POVA 5 series comprises the POVA 5 Free Fire Special Edition, POVA 5 Pro 5G, and POVA 5.

Specs-wise, the Free Fire-themed variant boasts a 6.78-inch FHD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate, a nice improvement from last year’s 90Hz panel. It’s still powered by a 6,000mAh battery, but this time around, the charging speed goes up to 45 watts — from 18 watts on the previous generation — using the included charging cable and power brick. TECNO says the smartphone can be fully charged in about an hour, which is pretty fast given its high battery capacity.

The latest POVA phone is also equipped with a 50-megapixel main camera coupled with an AI sensor for portrait shots, just like the previous model. The processor is another holdover from the regular POVA 4, meaning a MediaTek Helio G99 4G chip is responsible for the device’s computing prowess.

TECNO POVA 5 Free Fire Special Edition/TECNO POVA 5 specs

• 6.78-inch IPS display, FHD+ resolution, 120Hz refresh rate
• 6nm MediaTek Helio G99 4G octa-core processor
• Mali-G57 MC2 GPU
• 8GB RAM
• 256GB storage
• Dual 50-megapixel main, AI rear cameras
• 8-megapixel front camera
• 6,000mAh battery with 45-watt charging
• HiOS based on Android 13
• Color option: Gold, blue, and black

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Ramon Lopez

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Reviews editor: Ramon "Monch" Lopez has 16 years of professional experience creating and editing content for print and digital publications such as Yahoo. He headed the gadgets-merchandising division of one of the Philippines’ largest retail operators somewhere in between.