vivo’s latest flagship is a monster of a phone. It is packed with some of the best hardware in the world of smartphones and delivers a great user experience. But all of that pales in comparison to just how good the cameras are.
Let me put it this way — I have tested some excellent smartphones with great cameras in 2024, such as the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra; the X200 Pro’s predecessor, the X100 Pro; the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL; the realme GT 7 Pro; and vivo’s own photography-focused V40 Pro. But the X200 Pro’s camera setup blows all competition out of the water.
Simply put, the X200 Pro is the best camera smartphone available to Indian buyers, right now.
But first, let’s get the specifications out of the way: The vivo X200 Pro comes in two colour variants — Cosmos Black and Titanium Grey — and a single RAM/storage variant of 16+512 GB. You can increase RAM virtually by 16 GB with a finger tap and you suddenly have 32 GB of RAM. Yes, yes, I know expandable RAM has been a thing in Android smartphones for a couple of years now, but I still find it hard to wrap my head around the fact that something that fits in my pocket has four times the RAM as my laptop.
The X200 Pro is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 9400 chipset and packs a 6,000mAh battery with 90W fast-charging support.
Also read: iQOO 13 Review: Ticks all boxes without hurting your pocket
The review unit vivo sent me clocked an AnTuTu benchmark score of nearly 2.45 million. While I don’t put too much stock in benchmark scores, they are a fair indicator of how the device performs. According to AnTuTu rankings, the vivo X200 Pro is the second most powerful smartphone in the world, topped only by vivo’s subbrand iQOO with the iQOO 13, which is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset.
Suffice it to say this is an incredibly powerful device that can take anything you throw at it and more. The battery life is super impressive, carrying on into a third day of heavy usage. Sure, this might change as the smartphone ages, but don’t expect it to be on its last legs for a few years, at least. vivo promises four years of major OS updates and five years of security updates for the X200 Pro.
Design
The vivo X200 Pro sports a premium design that blends aesthetics with functionality. Featuring a matte glass back, a brushed aluminium frame, and a humungous circular camera module, it balances sophistication, durability, and comfort.
The ergonomics are excellent — there is a subtle curve to the edges of the display and back panel that settles nicely into the flat sides, making it very comfortable to hold.
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The 2K display is absolutely stunning, with rich colours popping off the screen. It gets plenty bright too, at 4,500 nits of peak brightness. The high refresh rate makes the user experience buttery smooth. Funtouch OS still has minor quirks, but nothing that significantly affected my experience.
Enough waffling about the X200 Pro’s design and hardware. Let’s get to the meat and potatoes — the cameras.
Cameras
The camera system of the vivo X200 Pro is undoubtedly its pièce de résistance. If the absolutely titanic camera bump doesn’t give you a hint, your first snap with it will undoubtedly show you that this is the smartphone camera to beat going into 2025. Just as the X100 Pro did before it, the X200 Pro sets a new benchmark.
I approached the X200 Pro with high expectations on this front — and I’m pleased to say that it not only met, but often exceeded them.
At the heart of the X200 Pro’s camera system is a new 50MP main sensor. While it may seem like a step down in resolution from some competitors, the quality of this sensor is truly exceptional. Developed in collaboration with Sony, this custom LYT-818 sensor boasts a large 1/1.28-inch size, allowing for excellent light-gathering capabilities.
In practice, this translates to images with stunning detail, natural colours, and impressive dynamic range. Even in challenging lighting conditions, the main camera consistently delivered shots that were not just good for a smartphone, but genuinely impressive by any photographic standard.
The level of detail captured is remarkable, with textures and fine elements rendered with clarity that rivals dedicated compact cameras.
Colour reproduction is another strong point, with the X200 Pro producing images that are vibrant without being oversaturated, striking a pleasing balance between accuracy and visual appeal.
Perhaps the most exciting addition to the X200 Pro’s camera array is the 200MP telephoto lens. This periscope-style lens offers a 3.7x optical zoom, but it’s capable of much more. The high resolution of the sensor allows for high-quality digital zoom well beyond the optical range, with usable results up to 10x zoom.
What truly sets this telephoto lens apart is its performance in portrait photography. The combination of the high-resolution sensor and vivo’s image processing results in portraits with stunning detail, accurate edge detection for bokeh effects, and a natural depth of field that rivals professional camera setups.
Take the following images as an example. In the first shot, the cat was sitting at least 15 feet away from me. This was shot at 10x on the telephoto lens. The second image is a crop of the original and shows just how well it captures fine detail and separates the whiskers from the background.
The versatility of this lens is further enhanced by its ability to capture macro shots. This dual functionality eliminates the need for a dedicated macro lens, streamlining the camera system while still offering exceptional close-up capabilities.
Completing the trio is a 50MP ultrawide camera. While it may not have received the same level of upgrade as the main and telephoto lenses, it still performs admirably. The ultrawide shots maintain good colour consistency with the main camera, and distortion at the edges is well-controlled.
vivo’s collaboration with Zeiss continues to bear fruit in the X200 Pro. The Zeiss T* lens coating is applied to all rear cameras, effectively reducing lens flare and ghosting. This is particularly noticeable in challenging lighting conditions, where the X200 Pro maintains impressive clarity and contrast.
The X200 Pro’s night mode capabilities are nothing short of impressive. Utilising the large sensors and advanced image processing, the phone can capture stunning low-light images with minimal noise and excellent detail retention.
The camera system of the Vivo X200 Pro is, without doubt, one of the most capable and versatile setups I’ve tested in a smartphone. It excels not just in one area, but across various photographic scenarios – from wide landscapes to detailed macro shots, from bright daylight to challenging low-light conditions.
For mobile photography enthusiasts or anyone who values high-quality image capture in a smartphone, the Vivo X200 Pro sets a new benchmark that competitors will be hard-pressed to match.
In conclusion
At ₹94,999, the vivo X200 Pro is undoubtedly an expensive smartphone, but the cameras alone make it worth the asking price. The gorgeous display, elegant design and a battery that won’t just quit make it an excellent smartphone. But the cameras elevate it to true greatness.
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