vivo put the Y31t 5G on sale in India on 27 August 2026 with a 7,200mAh battery, IP68 and IP69 water and dust ratings, and a starting price of INR 25,999. That is about KES 35,100. The 6GB and 128GB version costs about KES 40,500 and the 6GB and 256GB version costs about KES 47,200 .
vivo is a Chinese phone maker, one of the BBK Electronics brands alongside OPPO, OnePlus and realme. Its Y series is the cheap end of the range, below the V series that vivo sells in Kenya and far below the X series flagships. We covered the V70 when it went on sale here at KES 84,999 and the V70 FE that followed it.
What is in it
The battery is the headline. vivo uses a silicon-carbon cell to fit 7,200mAh into a body 8.4mm thick weighing 219g. Silicon-carbon anodes hold more charge in the same space than the graphite cells phones have used for years, which is why 7,000mAh batteries started showing up in ordinary phones this year. Charging is 44W wired, and the phone can also charge other devices over its USB-C port.
The screen is a 6.75-inch LCD at 1608 by 720, running up to 120Hz, and vivo’s listing puts its high brightness mode at 1,250 nits. There is a 50MP main camera with autofocus, a 2MP depth sensor and an 8MP front camera. Video tops out at 1080p at 30fps on both. You also get stereo speakers, a side-mounted fingerprint reader, an infrared blaster for TVs and air conditioners, and dual SIM slots with no microSD card.
The IP69 rating is worth explaining. IP68 covers immersion in still water. IP69 covers high-pressure, high-temperature water jets, the kind used to hose down industrial equipment. vivo says the phone survives 1.5 metres of water for 30 minutes and can shoot photos underwater. It runs Android 16 under vivo’s OriginOS 6 skin, in Crimson Red, Seashore Green and Golden Mist.
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The chip is the problem
The Y31t 5G runs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 Gen 2. Qualcomm announced that chip in June 2023. It has two Cortex-A78 cores at 2.2GHz, six Cortex-A55 cores at 1.95GHz and an Adreno 613 graphics chip. It was an entry-level part three years ago and it is an entry-level part now.
Pairing it with a 720p screen and 4GB of RAM at that price is a lot to ask.
Is it coming to Kenya?
vivo has not announced the Y31t 5G for Kenya. What it sells here in the same family costs much less: Kenyan retail listings put the vivo Y19s between KES 17,000 to KES 19,000 and the Y29 5G at about KES 23,000. At KES 35,100 the Y31t 5G would sit beside phones with much better processors, so if it does arrive, we’ll be taking a keen interest on the price.
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