Once upon a time, smartphone and camera makers like Samsung, Polaroid, Sony, and Nikon tried to make an Android camera. Well, if they could travel into the future, they would have seen there’s no need for that. These days, smartphone makers are turning their flagship phones into pro-grade cameras. Case in point, the Vivo X200 Ultra.
With ZEISS imaging tech, and an aesthetic inspired by actual cameras, plus an accessory that turns it into a legit snapper complete with a shutter button, the Vivo X200 Ultra is truly a phone that identifies as a camera. Wait, or was it the other way around?
This beast comes with a 6.82-inch (17.3 cm) LTPO AMOLED display that practically melts your eyeballs with its 4500 nits peak brightness. It’s got a resolution of 1440 x 3168 and a buttery 120Hz refresh rate. Toss in Dolby Vision and HDR Vivid, and you’ve basically got a portable IMAX screen in your hand. And yes, it’s wrapped in Armor Glass, because Vivo doesn’t trust you not to drop it.
Under the hood, it’s rocking a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset with up to 16GB of RAM and storage options going all the way up to 1 TB. If that’s not enough, it’s backed by a 6000mAh battery with 90W wired and 40W wireless charging. In other words, your phone will be ready before you are.
But let’s be real—the main event here is the camera setup. A 50MP wide lens with gimbal OIS, a 200MP periscope telephoto with 3.7x optical zoom, and a 50MP ultrawide lens with dual-pixel PDAF. It even shoots 8K video with Dolby Vision HDR and HDR10+, making your TikToks look like Oscar submissions. Oh, and there’s a special Photographer Edition that comes with a grip, a shutter button, and a zoom lens adapter. At this point, Vivo might as well start calling it the X200 DSLR.
The Vivo X200 Ultra has officially launched in China with a starting price of 6,499 yuan [CH] (approximately US$890). It comes in three configurations: 12GB + 256GB, 16GB + 512GB, and 16GB + 1TB. But if you think the 1TB version is the pinnacle, think again.
There’s also the 16GB + 1TB Photographer Edition—and it isn’t just a namesake; it arrives in special packaging and includes a custom case, a camera grip with a shutter button, and even a zoom lens with an adapter. Basically, it’s a smartphone that decided regular phones were too mainstream and went full DSLR. And for that extra flair, it commands a cool 9,699 yuan [CH] (approximately US$1,329).
Images: Vivo [CH].
