Vivo has expanded its Y-series lineup in China with the addition of the Vivo Y500i today, 12 January 2026. The Vivo Y500i is a new budget smartphone built around a familiar idea: bigger batteries are the norm.
The Y500i joins the existing Y500 family, sitting alongside models like the Y500 and Y500 Pro, and doubles down on endurance rather than premium features.
Here are some of its standout features:
Battery-First Phone, by Design
The headline feature of the Vivo Y500i is the 7,200mAh battery, placing the Y500i among the largest-battery smartphones in its price class. Vivo complements the capacity with 44W fast charging, which should help offset the longer charging times that typically come with oversized batteries.
However, Vivo Y500i ss not the biggest battery Vivo has shipped, the standard Y500 goes even larger, but the Y500i reinforces the company’s direction that battery life is now a core selling point for budget devices.
Display and Everyday Performance
Up front, the Y500i features a 6.75-inch LCD display with HD+ resolution (720 × 1570) and a 120Hz refresh rate. This makes it feel smooth during scrolling and general navigation.
Under the hood, the phone is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 4 Gen 2, an entry-level 5G chipset aimed at everyday use: messaging, social media, video streaming, and light multitasking. Vivo offers multiple memory configurations, with up to 12GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage available depending on the variant.
Software-wise, the Y500i runs OriginOS 6 based on Android 16 out of the box.
Cameras and Build Quality
The Y500i camera hardware is kept simple, with a 50MP rear camera and a 5MP front-facing shooter. It’s a functional setup that aligns with the phone’s broader focus on reliability rather than photography.
Where the Y500i stands out is in durability. The device comes with IP68 and IP69 dust and water resistance ratings, a feature still relatively rare in the budget segment, along with a side-mounted fingerprint sensor for biometric security.
Availability
The Vivo Y500i is currently available in China in colours such as Galaxy Silver, Obsidian Black, and Phoenix Gold, with multiple RAM and storage options. The pricing breaks down as follows:
- 8GB + 128GB: CNY 1,499 (about $215)
- 8GB + 256GB: CNY 1,799 (about $255)
- 8GB + 512GB: CNY 1,999 (about $285)
- 12GB + 256GB: CNY 1,999 (about $285)
- 12GB + 512GB: CNY 2,199 (about $315)
Vivo has not yet shared details of the global rollout.
The Y500i is another signal that big batteries are becoming table stakes, not luxury features. As chip efficiency improves and users demand longer screen-on time, manufacturers like Vivo are increasingly willing to trade thin designs for endurance, even in budget phones.
For markets where power access isn’t always reliable, this phone will appeal to them far more than incremental camera or performance upgrades.
David Adubiina
