The vivo company has proven more than once that it is worth taking into account when it comes to mobile photography. In the case of the vivo X200 Ultra, the manufacturer has already directly stated that the main thing in this smartphone is the camera. But this does not mean that it has nothing else to offer. Let’s figure out what the Chinese ultra-flagship turned out to be.
A puck for all pucks
With the smartphone, you get everything you need right away: a protective film on the screen, a soft matte silicone case, a 90W power adapter, and a charging cable. The latter, according to Chinese tradition, has USB-C on one side and USB-A on the other. You can also buy a photo case with 67-mm filters, an external 200-mm telephoto lens, a grip, a 2300 mAh battery, and camera control buttons.
Taking into account the experience with the vivo X100 Ultra, they abandoned the curved screen on the sides. As in other Chinese flagships, the display is slightly rounded on all sides and protrudes slightly from the body. Durable Gorilla Armor Glass is used on the front and back, and the frame is made of aluminum.
Although everyone has already gotten used to large camera blocks in smartphones, the vivo X200 Ultra has distinguished itself here too. The huge 61-mm round module protrudes by as much as 7 mm. This is more than the thickness of the Galaxy S25 Edge case (5.8 mm). You can even grab this block and hold the smartphone, although it is better not to do this, so as not to accidentally drop it. There is also a clear imbalance in the upper part of the case, which is why you need to hold the device more firmly.
Like the latest iPhone models, there is a camera control button. Double-tapping quickly launches the camera app, half-pressing locks focus and exposure, and a regular click takes a photo or starts/stops video recording. In addition, the button is touch-sensitive, so you can control the zoom and exposure with swipes. If desired, you can easily disable additional functions in the settings. Unlike the iPhone, the vivo X200 Ultra has a button closer to the bottom edge, making it more convenient to use in horizontal orientation.
No more waterfall screen
Source: Vopmart
The display in the vivo X200 Ultra is almost reference. It is a large 6.82-inch LTPO AMOLED matrix with a resolution of 3168×1440 pixels and 10-bit color depth, which means the ability to display over a billion shades.
The minimum brightness is 1.9 nits, while other flagships have 1. But even in the dark, this does not prevent you from using the device comfortably. The maximum brightness at 20% screen coverage reaches 2526 nits, and at 100% – 1749. For comparison, the Galaxy S25 Ultra has these values at 2373 and 1284 nits, respectively. However, the Samsung model has an anti-glare coating, while vivo does not.
Thanks to LTPO technology, the smartphone can adjust the screen refresh rate from 1 to 120 Hz. You can also enable a constant 60 Hz limit in the settings.
The smartphone is compatible with the Android Ultra HDR standard for photos. Therefore, in the native gallery, in Google Photos, and in Chrome, HDR images are displayed with an extended dynamic range.
The screen has an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner built in. It works very fast, but the main thing is that it is at the optimal height – a rarity for Chinese devices.
The main camera is now ultra-wide-angle
The situation with the cameras in the vivo X200 Ultra is extremely interesting and even unique. The ultra-wide and main modules use the same 50-megapixel Sony LYT-818 sensors (1/1.28”) with optical stabilization — for the first time, it appeared in the ultra-wide. The telephoto camera is a 200-megapixel Samsung HP9 sensor with 3.7x optical zoom, like in the vivo X200 Pro, but with higher-aperture optics (f/2.27 instead of f/2.67).
There are two color modes: Saturated makes the pictures brighter, and Zeiss makes them more natural. Instead of the usual 23-24 mm for the main module, a 35 mm lens is used here – it is ideal for portraits and street photography, but for everyday tasks, it may be too “zoomed in.” Therefore, the role of the main module is played by the ultra-wide lens.
Daytime photos on the ultra-wide (14 mm) are the best among all smartphones. Sharpness is excellent, small details are worked out, noise is almost absent, even indoors. Colors are vivid, and the dynamic range is wide. Only at 2x zoom (28 mm), a decrease in detail and sharpness is still noticeable. It will do for social networks, but if you look closely, the “softness” of the picture is noticeable.
The main module (35 mm) pleases not only with quality, but also with excellent separation of the plane even without using the portrait mode. Sharpness, dynamic range, and color – everything here is at the flagship level. At 50 and 70 mm, the quality drops a little – signs of processing and slight grain appear, but overall the result is still decent.
The telephoto camera is not inferior to the other two. Details are excellent, colors are rich, the dynamic range is also fine. But due to the wide aperture, you can accidentally miss the focus even in landscapes. Otherwise, it is an excellent portrait camera, with realistic proportions and a powerful bokeh effect even without software processing. With further zoom (135-230 mm), the quality is preserved, especially at 135 mm. Even at maximum zoom, the shots remain usable.
At night, the ultra-wide does not disappoint: the colors are bright, the white balance is accurate, there are many details, and the light sources are well-designed. When shooting at 28 mm, the situation is the same as during the day – a noticeable drop in sharpness. The main 35 mm module also shoots at an expectedly high level. At 50 and 70 mm, sharpness decreases, and there is a little more noise, but the result is still better than at 28 mm. The telephoto lens is not inferior to the other two cameras in low light and even at high zoom provides excellent quality.
All three rear cameras can record in 4K at 120 fps, and the ultra-wide-angle one even supports 8K at 30 fps. There is a LOG mode, Dolby Vision recording up to 4K at 60 fps, a choice of codecs (H.264/H.265), and high bitrates (up to 150 Mbps) in Pro mode. The front camera is limited to 4K at 60 fps. Built-in electronic stabilization works everywhere except 4K at 120 fps, where only OIS remains, but even in this mode the picture looks very smooth. There is also an Ultra stabilization mode (up to 2.8K at 60 fps), if you need maximum smoothness, like with a manual stabilizer.
There are some nuances with the image quality. On the one hand, we get rich colors, accurate white balance, and a wide dynamic range. However, the detail in 4K is not the standard. In addition, in terms of sound and noise reduction, the vivo device clearly falls behind the Galaxy S25 Ultra and iPhone 16 Pro. However, this is partially solved by the support of external microphones.
There is enough power for everything
The smartphone has a base version of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor with a maximum frequency of 4.32 GHz. In games and benchmarks, the vivo X200 Ultra is about 10% more productive than the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which has an overclocked version of the chip with a frequency of 4.47 GHz. But in practice, you will hardly notice the difference.
The system uses a number of technologies to predict user actions and optimize for the tasks being performed, but with such powerful hardware it is very difficult to notice.
Four major OS updates have been announced for the vivo X200 Ultra. In the future, it should receive Android 16, 17, 18, and 19.
No problems with autonomy
The vivo X200 Ultra is powered by a 6000 mAh silicon-carbon battery. Autonomy directly depends on the activity of use. For example, without games and frequent shooting, you can count on one and a half or even two days of full-fledged work. Although with such shooting capabilities, it would be strange not to use them. Therefore, in reality, we get a stable day, but with a reserve.
The included 90W adapter charges the smartphone to about 65% in half an hour, and it takes about 50 minutes to fully recharge. By default, the super-fast charging function is disabled in the settings.
To extend the battery life, you can set the charging limit to 80%, 85%, 90%, or 95%. There is also a bypass charging function, where power is supplied directly to the motherboard, which is convenient during gaming.
Technical specifications
- DISPLAY
- 6.82″, AMOLED, LTPO, resolution 3168×1440, refresh rate 1-120 Hz, brightness up to 4500 nits
- CHIPSET
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite, 4.32 GHz
- MEMORY
- RAM – 12/16 GB, LPDDR5X Ultra
ROM – 256/512/1024 GB, UFS 4.1 - BATTERY
- 6000 mAh, wired charging 90 W, wireless 40 W
- CAMERAS
- wide-angle — 50 MP, 1/1.28″ Sony LYT-818 sensor, 35 mm focal length, f/1.7 aperture, optical stabilization (OIS)
telephoto — 200 MP, 1/1.4″ ISOCELL HP9, 85 mm, f/2.3, 3.7x zoom, macro, OIS
ultra-wide-angle — 50 MP, 1/1.28″ Sony LYT-818, 14 mm, f/2.0, 116˚ viewing angle, OIS
front — 50 MP, 1/2.76″ ISOCELL JN1, 24 mm, f/2.5, 4K@60fps video - CONNECTION
- 5G, 4G (including B7 and B20) Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, GPS (L1+L5), NFC, USB Type-C (USB 3.2 Gen1)
- PECULIARITIES
- Ultrasonic fingerprint scanner in the screen, stereo speakers, IP69 water protection,
- DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT
- 163.14 x 76.76 x 8.69 mm
229 g