The Vivo X300 Pro will be launched with an ultra-rival camera

Vivo has announced the X300 and X300 Pro, its latest flagship phones, and they look closer to the company’s even more premium Ultra handsets than ever. On paper, the Pro’s camera setup looks every bit as good as the X200 Ultra’s, especially thanks to offering support for the same extra telephoto extender lens that was introduced with that phone when it launched in April this yeara few months after the first X200 handsets.

Cameras are clearly Vivo’s focus on both new X300 phones, each of which features a new 200-megapixel HPB image sensor designed in collaboration with Samsung. The X300 Pro uses that sensor for its 85mm equivalent telephoto camera, which offers similar specs to the class-leading telephoto on the Maybe even the main camera better that of the Ultra, using the Sony LYT-828, the successor to the sensor in that phone, with a wider aperture.

Only the ultrawide is clearly a step down from the X200 Ultra, as it uses a smaller sensor that’s unlikely to deliver the same image quality, especially in low light. All three rear cameras also support 4K, 120 fps, 10-bit Log video recording. It’s enough to make the X300 Pro feel like a statement phone from Vivo, allowing the praise it receives for its Ultra models to be channeled into the next price cut.

The regular X300 should also impress. Here, that 200-megapixel Samsung sensor is used for the main camera, combined with a fast f/1.68 aperture. It’s joined by a 50-megapixel telephoto and the same 50-megapixel ultra-wide-angle and selfie lenses as the Pro.

Both phones support the Telephoto Extender, a 2.35x lens that attaches to the phone’s existing telephoto lenses via a special phone case and holder. Combined with the X200 Ultra it allowed me to take some pretty extraordinary long-distance photos that no other phone would be capable of, and I’m just surprised to see Vivo bringing support to its other flagships so quickly, rather than holding it back as an Ultra-only feature. It is still sold together with a larger photography kit, including the mounting case and a camera grip with a built-in battery pack.

Both phones are powered by MediaTek’s flagship Dimensity 9500 chipset, a rival to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. A few other specs are also shared: 90W wired and 40W wireless charging, IP68 and 69 durability ratings, and ultrasonic fingerprint sensors.

The biggest difference, aside from the camera specs, is the size: while the Pro is a big phone, with a 6.78-inch screen, the regular X300 has a relatively compact 6.31-inch screen. Both phones are slim, less than 8mm thick, although the X300’s 7.95mm is a hair’s breadth thinner. The batteries also vary, although Vivo has made some interesting claims here: it suggests that thanks to efficiency optimizations the 6,510 mAh and 6,040 mAh silicon-carbon batteries in the two phones are comparable in lifespan to 7,500 mAh and 7,000 mAh cells in other hardware – hopefully we’ll get a chance to put that claim to the test ourselves.

Both the X300 and X300 Pro are now available to order in China, with the new OriginOS 6Vivo’s version of Android. The The telephoto lens is sold separately for ¥1,299 (about $180), or ¥1,499 (about $210) for the complete photography kit.

The company hasn’t confirmed any wider release plans, but its flagship models normally launch elsewhere in Asia, along with some European markets – and for the first time it’s confirmed that the new OriginOS will do just that, eventually replacing the awful Funtouch OS software that Vivo has been using outside China for years. An X300 Ultra will also likely be launched in early 2026, although Vivo will have to pull out all the stops to find space to differentiate it from the