Vivo X200 Ultra

 Do I love tech? Yes. Do I love photography? Yes, I do. Do I hate lugging around my camera with me everywhere? Definitely! Is there a solution? Of course there is, but to many its blasphemous, and that’s finding a phone with camera specs that are almost on par with a handheld camera.

To many of photographer friends it is actually blasphemous because nothing beats a camera, regardless oh how good you camera phone is. Even though in recent years some phone companies have been working with camera companies to enhance the quality of the cameras on their phones. From the sensors, to the processing to even the coloring. Companies like OnePlus and Oppo are working with Hasselblad, Xiaomi has been working with Leica, and Vivo are working with Zeiss.

Each company has been putting out phones for the past couple of years targeting the niche marketing of camera oriented users and battling each other on who can put out the best phone camera on the market. For a while I had the OnePlus 13 and the OnePlus Open, and loved the Hasselblad. I tried the Xiaomi 15 Ultra in my last visit to China, but I had an issue with the camera focusing on the wrong thing no matter how many times I tried to get it to focus on my watch, which is my go to way of testing the camera due to the fact I take way too many wrist shots and can see the difference in quality between phone cameras. Then I got my hands on the Vivo X200 Ultra, and it just felt right.

Lets get this out right away, the Vivo X200 Ultra has only released in China with no news about it being released worldwide, and yes Google Services work on the phone. You can either purchase the phone solely and get the phone, USB C cable and a case, or purchase it with the photographer’s bundle which adds goodies like another case that has an aluminum and leather like feel with a built in kickstand, a camera like grip with a shutter button, aperture dial and record button for videography, an adapter to add ND Filters to the camera, another adapter that adds the glorious 200mm lens.

Vivo X200 Ultra with accessories

Vivo X200 Ultra Case

Vivo X200 Ultra Photography Grip

The phone is about 10 grams heavier than an iPhone 16 Pro Max, but with a camera set up like this, you would expect the phone to be a bit on the heavy side. Most phones will have a camera bump, but most phones that focus solely on their cameras have more of a coaster than a camera bump. All three of the phones I mentioned have that.

Lets talk about the cameras as they are the main appeal to this phone. The main camera is a 50MP f/1.7 camera that shoots at 35mm, which is key! Most phones on the market are shooting at a 24mm which if you don’t realize it distorts the image a bit, but the 35mm is more of what we see with our eyes. The Periscope lens is a 200MP f/2.3 85mm lens, with a little extra kick if you purchase the photography bundle getting the 200mm on top of that. The third camera on the back is the ultrawide camera 50MP 14mm f/2.0. Those are just the back camera’s on the front is another 50MP 24mm f/2.5 camera. You can shoot 4K at 120fps on all three of the back cameras, it also utilizes Dolby Vision HDR. What differentiates the Vivo X200 Ultra from the rest of its competitors is its color spectrum sensor that makes the images look more natural to what we see with our eyes, also its Laser AF makes it easier for me to take shots and not worry about anything being out of focus. With the Zeiss optics and lens coating , the cameras on the Vivo prevail over its competitors.

Just look at how these pictures look and you decide!

Breakfast Shot on Vivo X200 Ultra

Sneaker Shelf Shot on Vivo X200 Ultra

Mosque at night Shot on Vivo X200 Ultra

Old Dhow Shot on Vivo X200 Ultra

Ship at Night at 85mm Shot on Vivo X200 Ultra

Tudor BB58 Shot on Vivo X200 Ultra

On to the other specs that stand out on this phone. The phone has a 6000mAh Silicon Carbide battery that can be charged with up to 90W wired or 45W wirelessly. With the top of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite powering the phone, with a maximum of 1TB storage and 16GB of Ram. The 6.82in LTPO AMOLED screen is extremely clear even in direct sunlight with the brightness of the screen going up to 4500 nits. Under this beautiful screen lies an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor.

Since the phone is sold strictly in China, the phone runs the Chinese version of Vivo’s Origin OS. It comes bloated with a lot of preinstalled apps, and Google has to be installed, but unlike Huawei it isn’t through APKs but straight out of the Vivo Appstore. Somethings that I had gotten used to on most android phones is different when it comes to a phone made for the Chinese Market, such as the Google News page not being there and that Gemini isn’t the digital assistant on the phone. Luckily Android Auto works normally.

When it comes to my first statement of dropping your camera and purchasing a phone made for photographers, I make that claim based on your use. For me it makes life easier because I can shoot, open Lightroom on my phone and edit the shots, and post them directly to my social media feed. Does it compare to the quality you can get from your DSLR or Mirrorless camera? Maybe it all depends on how you set up the phone, and which one you choose. For me it’s a no brainer, but would you drop your camera and chose a phone instead?