Vivo X200 Ultra review: more camera than phone

Since the Vivo X200 Pro launched in late 2024, I've been convinced that it's probably the best camera phone for photography. As a result, whenever I'm not actively testing a phone for review, it's the one I choose to keep in my pocket.

It's only recently that I began to question the X200 Pro's status as the king of smartphone photography. We've just seen the launch of the wildly impressive Xiaomi 15 Ultra, followed by the Oppo Find X8 Ultra, but now it's Vivo's turn.

The X200 Ultra goes all out on the camera specifications, with three massive sensors on the rear and a new 35 mm-equivalent main camera. All signs point toward a new camera champ, but unfortunately, this one's only launching in China.

Still, with specs like these, I just had to know what it's like to shoot with - and of course, I needed to put the outlandish Photography Kit and Zeiss teleconverter to the test, too.

So, is this really the best camera phone on the market, or has the hype gotten out of hand? After living with it as my main device for the past week, here's everything I learned.

Vivo X200 Ultra: Specifications

Vivo X200 Ultra: Price

The Vivo X200 Ultra has only officially launched in China, so you won't find it through local retailers in the rest of the world. That said, if you're determined enough, there are various websites that will allow you to import the Chinese model.

At present, there are no indications that Vivo plans to launch the X200 Ultra outside of China, and the same was true of the X100 Ultra – and with the current situtation with tariffs, good luck getting one into the US. In the UK, Importers like WondaMobile and TradingShenzhen have prices starting from around £850 (~$1,200). The Photography Kit will set you back around £150 (~$200) without the teleconverter lens, or about £300 (~$400) for the whole kit.

Keep in mind, though, that imports may incur duties or other customs fees. There are other downsides to owning an imported Chinese phone, too, some of which we'll explore in this review. For instance, the Google Play Store needs to be downloaded manually, you might have issues setting up contactless payments or Wear OS watches, and Android Auto can be troublesome.

Vivo X200 Ultra: Design & Handling

The Vivo X200 Ultra has similar styling to the X200 Pro that launched in late 2024, however, there's one big difference: The camera bump is even larger. Given the size of the Vivo X200 Pro's camera module, that's really saying something. Personally, I think a bulging pocket is a worthy tradeoff for excellent camera performance, so I'm not too fazed.

The display still has quad micro-curves at the edges, and the rear has matching curves. The side rails are mostly flat, and the buttons are in their usual position. If it wasn't for the sharp, angular edge of the camera unit, I could easily mistake the Ultra for my X200 Pro, which has lived in my pocket for the last six months.

I have the Silver version in for testing. It looks almost white in some lighting, and it has a ribbed texture running down the majority of the back panel. However, despite the looks, the back panel is actually flat, with a smooth velvety texture across the whole thing. There's also a deep red colourway, as well as a more subtle black model.

This is the first Vivo phone to feature an iPhone-like camera control button, and while it's not the most original idea, I think Vivo's implementation might be the best yet. The main reason for this is the positioning; it's much closer to the corner, so it's easier to reach when the phone is held in landscape mode.

Then, there's the fact that you can half-press the button to lock your focus and exposure. This ability was recently added to iPhones, too, but you have to hold and press for longer on the iPhone to make it lock on. Vivo's implementation feels more natural, and I use it more often as a result.

Of course, it also has similar swipe controls, and you can adjust your EV compensation, zoom or switch lenses with it. It's not quite as comprehensive as Apple's selection, and I would have liked to see swipable picture profiles, but thankfully, the most-used options are covered.

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My review unit came with the optional Photography Kit, designed in partnership with PGYTech, and the Zeiss-made teleconverter. It's a really impressive package, a lot like the one for the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, and it's comprised of a case, a hand grip, a lanyard and the lens.

The case is a little more plasticky-feeling than I was expecting, but it looks good and it fits the phone well. There's also a built-in kickstand, which is always handy.

It has a bayonet-style mount that surrounds the camera housing, and it comes with two decorative plastic bezels as well as a metal adapter with threading for 67mm filters. It's perfect if you want to experiment with ND filters or maybe add some diffusion.

The hand grip connects to the phone over USB-C, and it clips securely onto the end of the case. It's a deeper grip than most similar products that I've tried, and it instantly makes it feel like you're holding a camera, rather than a phone.

The grip has a built-in 2300 mAh battery to keep the phone topped up while you're shooting, and it also adds a shutter button, zoom rocker and a video record button. The shutter has a nice feel to it, and it's two-stage, so you can half-press to focus.

It's all quality stuff, and it really does elevate the shooting experience, but we've seen basically the same thing from Xiaomi. Where Vivo differentiates itself, though, is with the optional Zeiss teleconverter. This external lens connects over the top of the built-in telephoto to add an extra 3.25x magnification, giving you an effective 200 mm focal length.

The teleconverter itself is about the size of a cigar, and it's much heavier than I was expecting. The housing is all made from metal, and it feels extremely high quality. It looks a bit bonkers when it's attached to the phone, but the quality produced makes it well worth the added bulk - we'll talk more about the images later on.

The photography kit and lens are a fairly pricey add-on, and they'll set you back at least £300 (~$400) when imported, but in my opinion, they're worth every penny. This phone is all about an uncompromising approach to smartphone photography, and I think it makes sense to complete the package.

Vivo X200 Ultra: Camera Performance

For me, the most exciting thing about the Vivo X200 Ultra is its unique arrangement of rear cameras. Rather than throwing the best specs and the primary camera and having less impressive auxiliary lenses, all three rear cameras have comparable specs.

Both the ultrawide and the primary camera use the same Sony LYT-818 1/1.28-inch 50 MP sensor with OIS, while the telephoto uses the tried and tested 1/1.4-inch 200 MP Samsung HP9. That's the same telephoto sensor as the X200 Pro and Xiaomi 15 Ultra, so we already know how impressive it is.

In essence, this means that you can always choose the best focal length for your shot, regardless of the lighting conditions. Each camera has a pretty huge sensor, so you'll never be left compromising just to gather enough light.

The other really interesting thing about this system is that the primary camera has a 35 mm-equivalent focal length (or 1.5x in smartphone terms), rather than the typical 23-24 mm. I'm a huge fan of this move; it produces images with far less distortion and makes composing a pleasing frame much easier. It also creates more compression, so close-up shots have a smooth creamy bokeh that you wouldn't expect from a smartphone.

Of course, sometimes you need a wider FOV, and for those times, the newly upgraded ultrawide steps up to fill the gap. It's a 14 mm equivalent lens, but you can digitally zoom to a 24/28 mm-equivalent view without a noticeable drop in quality. Of course, a native 24 mm lens might look better, but Vivo is betting you'll prefer to shoot at 35 mm most of the time, and for me, that's 100% true.

As an added benefit, you undoubtedly get the best ultrawide camera of any phone. I've never used a smartphone that has such a large sensor on its ultrawide camera, not to mention OIS. I like to shoot wide, but I often feel limited by poor low-light performance, and that's certainly not the case here.

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As for the telephoto, it's essentially the same as the one on the Vivo X200 Pro, just with a slightly wider aperture. I've been using the X200 Pro as my primary phone for about six months now, and I've been addicted to this 85 mm-equivalent telephoto the entire time, so I have no complaints about seeing it here, too. It's a great lens for candid street snaps, and it has excellent macro capabilities, too.

This telephoto might not have class-leading reach; it's only 3.7x, while the iPhone 16 Pro and S25 Ultra have 5x telephotos, but it can digitally zoom further than most. This is thanks to a combination of the high-resolution 200 MP sensor and some very clever image processing. Shots up to around 10x look incredible, and you'll even get usable images when you push it to 20 or 30x.

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Of course, you can boost the telephoto capabilities further with the 2.35x Zeiss teleconverter. I was expecting this to be a bit of a party trick, having tried low-cost smartphone lens adapters in the past, but this adapter is in an entirely different league.

At 200 mm, the external lens captures significantly more detail than the native telephoto, but the biggest difference might be the compression. Getting even remotely close to your subject creates a very shallow depth of field, and easily the most subject separation I have seen from a smartphone. It's super impressive, and photos taken with this lens attached could easily be mistaken for mid-range mirrorless camera snaps.

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It's just as impressive in low light. I had feared the external lens would be impossible to stabilise in such conditions, but somehow Vivo has managed it. Comparing 200 mm shots with and without the adapter, the teleconverter has far less noise, as it's using the whole sensor, rather than cropping in.

The big challenge with this teleconverter is focusing. The phone will still autofocus with the lens attached, but it's not as quick or reliable. It makes shooting moving subjects quite challenging, and frustratingly, there's no manual focus option in the camera app's "Telephoto Extender" mode. Hopefully, we'll see some improvements as the software matures.

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Around the front, the Vivo X200 Ultra has a 50 MP punch-hole selfie camera. I was really pleased to see that it has autofocus capabilities, as that was missing on the X200 Pro, but unsurprisingly, it's the least impressive camera on this phone.

It takes very decent selfies, and Vivo's excellent image processing helps to make the most of this lens, but don't expect to be astonished by the results. Low-light shots often suffer from motion blur, and video from the front camera has pretty disappointing stabilisation.

Speaking of video performance, the Vivo X200 Ultra is no slouch. It offers LOG recording, as well as up to 4K 120fps recording on all of the rear lenses. Stabilisation is great on all of the rear cameras, and having such a large sensor on the ultrawide makes it great for vlog-style shots. It's really only the microphones that let it down. They're not awful, but they're noticeably worse than the S25 Ultra and iPhone 16 Pro. At least the native camera app has good support for external mics.

Vivo X200 Ultra: Phone Performance

The Vivo X200 Ultra is powered by Qualcomm's top-performing chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite. My sample came with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, but it's also available with 15GB of RAM and 256GB or 512GB of storage.

With specs like this, it's no surprise that the X200 Ultra is a powerhouse. It feels extremely snappy, no matter what you're doing, and it'll run any Android game without breaking a sweat. All this power is great for video editing and image manipulation, too.

The phone has a massive 6000 mAh battery, and it comes with a speedy 90W charger in the box. It also supports wireless charging at up to 40W, if you have a compatible charging pad. I've been using the camera quite heavily since the phone arrived, which is always hard on the battery, but it has still been exceeding my expectations.

On average, I'm getting about a day and a half of use per charge. If I'm not so trigger-happy with the camera, two days on a charge is quite easy to achieve. I wasn't expecting it to last as long as my Vivo X200 Pro, as the Snapdragon 8 Elite is notoriously power-hungry, but so far, it seems just as good.

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It runs Origin OS, Vivo's custom flavour of Android 15 for the Chinese market. Despite testing dozens of Vivo phones, it's my first time using Origin OS, as the international versions run FunTouch OS instead. I definitely prefer the aesthetics of Origin OS, and it's absolutely packed with features, but there are a few downsides when it comes to using this phone outside of China.

There's no Play Store or Google services by default, but it's very easy to get it up and running. You can download the Play Store directly from Vivo's App Store and get everything configured within a matter of minutes. Once you do, you'll be able to access all of your usual apps, but not everything works as you'd expect it to.

For instance, you can install Google Wallet and log into it, but I wasn't able to add a payment card. If you try to use Android Auto or a Wear OS watch, you might not have much success, either. There's also no native support for Circle to Search and Gemini, and there's no eSIM.

The most annoying thing for me, though, is the delayed notifications. Vivo's battery optimisations are extremely aggressive, so I had to spend a good half an hour turning off as many as possible. Even after doing all that, my WhatsApp messages rarely appear without me opening the app manually. It's very frustrating.

Of course, these problems are all caused by using the phone outside of its intended region. Vivo's international flagships don't have the same problems, and I'm sure using the phone with Chinese apps like WeChat would be much more seamless.

With enough determination, you could absolutely use this phone as a daily driver in the UK (as I have been), but it'll take some tinkering, and it's worth being aware of the limitations before taking the plunge.

Vivo X200 Ultra: Verdict

After living with the X200 Pro for the past six months, I had extremely high expectations for the Vivo X200 Ultra. That's usually a good way to set yourself up for disappointment, but that's not what happened here. In fact, at least in the photography department, the X200 Ultra exceeded my expectations.

I underestimated how much I would appreciate having such a well-specced ultrawide camera, and shooting with a 35mm primary lens made a bigger difference than I anticipated, too. Not to mention the photography kit and the excellent Zeiss teleconverter, which blew me away with its compression and sharp detail.

While the cameras are the big draw, the phone is great elsewhere. The performance is top-notch, the battery lasts for ages, it charges quickly, and the screen is lovely.

Of course, no phone is perfect. The selfie camera is good, but it's not the best, and it could really use some extra stabilisation for video shooting. The microphones are pretty mediocre too, they'll need some work to beat the likes of Apple.

Other than that, most of my complaints are related to the Chinese software. I can't really hold any of that against Vivo, as it's not designed to be used by European customers. Still, it's worth keeping in mind if you decide to import.

This could well be the best camera phone ever made, and it's a crying shame that it's not launching internationally. I sincerely hope Vivo expands the availability when the next Ultra rolls around.

Alternatives

Xiaomi 15 Ultra
If you're looking for an uncompromising camera-focused flagship, but you don't want to import, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra could be the one for you. It's available in most regions(except the US), offers similarly impressive camera performance, and it even has its own Photography Kit.

Oppo Find X8 Ultra
The Oppo Find X8 Ultra is another heavy hitter in hot contention for best camera phone. This one comes with a much slimmer camera unit, which is significantly easier to fit in your pocket. Despite that, the results are just as impressive - but it's another model that's only officially sold in China.