Tecno Camon 50

The Tecno Camon 50 is available at City Hub Electronics, Nairobi. It pairs a 50MP Sony LYT700C main sensor with optical stabilisation and a 6.78-inch 144Hz AMOLED, and it carries an IP68 and IP69K rating that is genuinely unusual at this price. It is a photography phone first, and the video section below explains exactly where that distinction matters.

Camera

The main camera is a 50MP wide at f/1.8 and 23mm built on Sony LYT700C sensor at 1/1.56 inch with 1.0 micron pixels, with phase detection autofocus and optical image stabilisation. A 1/1.56 inch sensor with OIS at this price point is the headline: it is the same sensor class Tecno uses further up the Camon range.

Optical stabilisation on the main lens is what separates this from most phones in its bracket. It buys roughly two to three stops in low light, which is the difference between a usable handheld frame at dusk and a blurred one.

The second lens is an 8MP ultrawide at f/2.2 and 14mm covering a 112 degree field, with autofocus. The autofocus is worth noting because it makes the ultrawide usable for close macro work as well as wide scenes, which is not standard at this level.

There is no telephoto lens on the standard Camon 50. Any reach past the wide lens is digital crop. The Camon 50 Pro adds a 50MP 3x optical telephoto, and that is the main reason to step up.

A 32MP f/2.5 selfie camera sits under the flat display, alongside an under-display optical fingerprint sensor. Dual-LED flash, HDR and panorama round out the camera app, which runs Tecno AI imaging suite.

Video Recording

Resolutions and Frame Rates

Video capture tops out at 1080p at 30fps on both the rear and the front cameras. There is no 4K mode and no 60fps option.

This needs stating plainly rather than buried, because the Camon name implies a camera phone and the stills hardware genuinely is strong. For video creators, 1080p30 is a real ceiling: it rules out delivering 4K, it rules out 60fps for smooth motion or for conforming to slow motion in post, and it leaves no resolution headroom for reframing a shot during editing.

If your work is photography, social stills, product shots or portraits, none of that matters and the sensor here is excellent value. If you shoot video as your primary output, the Infinix Note 60 Pro at a similar level records 4K at 30fps, and within the Tecno range the Camon 50 Pro 5G steps up to 4K. Recommend accordingly.

Stabilisation

Optical image stabilisation on the 50MP main lens carries handheld 1080p footage well, and within the resolution limit the results are steady. The 8MP ultrawide is not optically stabilised.

Because the capture resolution is fixed at 1080p, there is no crop headroom for aggressive electronic stabilisation in post. Framing needs to be right in camera, or supported by a gimbal.

Colour and Dynamic Range

The 6.78-inch AMOLED carries HDR image support for playback and review, and the panel runs at 144Hz, which makes reviewing footage and scrubbing a timeline noticeably smoother than on a 60Hz screen.

Recording is a conventional 8-bit pipeline. There is no 10-bit or log capture at this tier, so grading latitude is limited and it is best to get exposure and white balance right at capture.

Power

A 6,150 mAh battery is the standout practical specification on this phone. It is substantially larger than the cells in flagships costing several times as much, and for a creator shooting all day away from power it is the specification that actually determines whether you finish the job.

Wired charging runs at 45W over USB-C. There is no wireless charging at this tier, which is the expected trade.

Combined with the efficient 6 nm Helio G200 Ultimate and a 1080p capture ceiling that draws far less power than 4K, this is a phone that comfortably clears a full shooting day on one charge.

Storage

Three configurations are offered: 128GB with 8GB of RAM, 256GB with 8GB of RAM, and 256GB with 12GB of RAM.

Because capture is capped at 1080p, storage pressure is far lower than on a 4K or 8K device. 128GB is workable for casual use and 256GB is comfortable for a creator shooting daily.

Note that GSMArena lists the card slot as unspecified rather than confirming expandable storage. Confirm with the supplier whether the units landing here carry a microSD slot before promising it in the listing.

Editing

The phone runs HiOS 16 on Android 16, with up to three major Android upgrades. That is a shorter support window than the seven years Google and Samsung now offer at the top of the market, and it is worth being straight with customers about the useful life of the device.

Tecno AI suite ships on board, covering AI-assisted photo editing, subject removal and enhancement directly on the phone.

The 144Hz AMOLED at 1208 x 2644 and roughly 429 ppi is a genuinely good editing surface for the money. Reviewing, cropping and colour work on stills is comfortable on this panel.

Audio

Stereo speakers handle playback, and the phone supports 24-bit 192kHz Hi-Res audio, which is unusual at this level and matters if you monitor with wired headphones through a USB-C DAC.

There is no 3.5mm jack. External microphones connect over USB-C 2.0 with OTG support. Note that the port is USB-C 2.0 rather than 3.x, so data transfer to a computer is slower than on higher-tier phones.

An FM radio and an infrared port are both included, which are practical inclusions that have largely disappeared from flagship phones.

Design and Build

The Camon 50 measures 162.4 x 77.2 x 7.5 mm with a flat display, distinguishing it from the curved panel on the Pro model. At 7.5mm it is slim for a phone carrying a 6,150 mAh battery.

Ingress protection is the real story in the build. The phone is rated IP68 and IP69K, dust tight and resistant to high pressure water jets, and immersible up to 2 metres for 30 minutes. IP69K in particular is a rating usually seen on industrial equipment rather than consumer phones.

It is also MIL-STD-810 compliant, though Tecno notes this does not guarantee ruggedness in extreme conditions. For creators shooting outdoors, at coastal locations, in dusty conditions or around water, this combination is more protective than most flagships in the catalogue.

The display is a 6.78-inch AMOLED at 1208 x 2644 in a 19.5:9 ratio, roughly 429 ppi, running at 144Hz with HDR image support. GSMArena lists the cover glass protection as unspecified, so a screen protector is a sensible attach.

Colour options are Moonlight Black, Malachite Green, Nebula Titanium, Fir Green, Lavender Mist and Mint Cream.

Specifications

Buy the Tecno Camon 50 at City Hub Electronics.