Tecno has been expanding its reach outside of the budget realm for some time now, and it announced a strategic partnership with Italian luxury lifestyle brand Tonino Lamborghini at MWC. The name is not a coincidence as Tonino Lamborghini was founded and named after Ferruccio Lamborghini’s son, though it’s not actually associated with Lamborghini sports cars, despite the logo resemblance.
The first smartphone to come from the budding collaboration is the Tecno Pova Metal Tonino Lamborghini Edition, and we got to go hands-on with it shortly after its announcement.
From the vibrant red colorway to the aggressive back design featuring the triangular camera bump and pulse light running down the center, Pova Metal Tonino Lamborghini certainly stands out. Tecno also has white and black color variants of the phone, though the red version is more eye-catching.
Pova Metal Tonino Lamborghini is a stunner in its vibrant red colorway
And that extends to the build quality. This is one of the rare few phones that feature a metal unibody design. Tecno proudly claims this is the “first ever full-metal unibody 5G phone” and we have to say it’s a refreshing take in a world of predominantly glass and metal sandwich phones.
It has a nice heft and subtle curve around the back, which makes it quite comfortable to hold. Tecno did not reveal a whole lot of specs for the device, but we do know it’s running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip. The camera island houses a tiny Status Light display, which is quite similar to Nothing Phone (3)’s own Glyph Matrix. Like the Nothing Phone, it can be personalized to show dynamic visuals, notifications and is made from 241 independent LEDs.
The Status Light in action
It also works in harmony with the pulse LED light strip running down the back. On the software front, the phone boots Tecno’s HiOS 16 based on Android 16 with a custom Tonino Lamborghini theme and icon pack. That’s all we can share about the device for now. Hopefully, Tecno will reveal more specs as well as pricing and availability details soon.
