Smartphone makers have been leaning heavily on the quality of their cameras to sell their products. In the past few years, bigger sensors, periscope lenses, colour science partnerships, and even camera accessories have no longer been niche experiments. With the new launch of the vivo X300 Ultra, Vivo is making it clear that it wants to sit right at the edge of this movement.
We had already seen hints of this direction earlier in the year when the phone, alongside its telephoto extender and camera cage, made an appearance at MWC. But now, with the device officially launched in China, the full picture is finally here.
At the heart of the X300 Ultra is a camera system built around three deliberate focal lengths: 14mm ultra-wide, 35mm main, and 85mm periscope telephoto. The standout is the new 35mm main camera with a massive 1/1.12-inch, 200MP Sony LYTIA 901 sensor, a significant jump from the previous generation. That sensor size, combined with a refined lens coating and high-grade stabilisation, gives photographers more light, more detail, and more room to crop without losing quality.
Then there’s the 85mm telephoto, powered by the 200MP Samsung ISOCELL HP0. Vivo pairs it with what it calls “gimbal-grade” stabilisation and faster autofocus tracking, turning zoom shots into something far more usable in motion. Add in optional teleconverters that stretch the lens to 200mm and even 400mm, and this starts to feel less like a phone camera and more like a modular photography system you can carry in your pocket.
The phone backs all this up with serious hardware: a 6.82-inch 2K LTPO AMOLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, up to 16GB RAM and 1TB storage, and a 6,600mAh battery with fast wired and wireless charging. Vivo is also introducing a revamped photography app with 3D LUT support and ACES-compatible log video, clearly aiming at creators who care about post-production flexibility.
In China, pricing starts around CNY 6,999 ($1000) and goes up to CNY 8,999 ($1300) depending on configuration, placing it firmly in ultra-premium territory alongside rivals like the OPPO Find X9 Ultra. Vivo has confirmed this is the first Ultra model planned for a global release, which could finally put its most ambitious cameraphone in more hands.
Emmanuel Umahi
