Vivo's new flagship is less of a smartphone and more of a complete pocket-sized camera system!

I’ve long been a fan of Vivo’s phones for their Zeiss co-engineered cameras, so the launch of the Vivo X300 Ultra has me very excited. This is the first time Vivo has given one of its Ultra-series imaging flagships a proper international debut, even if “global” still, frustratingly, stops short of the US.

As you’d expect from an Ultra phone, the X300 Ultra puts photography front and center. Vivo is calling its camera system the Zeiss Master Lenses Collection, built around a triple-prime setup with 85mm, 35mm, and 14mm equivalent focal lengths. Which immediately makes this phone feel a little different from rivals, as instead of the usual 24mm-first approach, Vivo is leaning into focal lengths that will look more familiar to photographers.

The standout for me is the 35mm Zeiss Documentary Camera. That is a noticeably narrower field of view than the 24mm-equivalent main cameras found on most flagship phones, but 35mm is one of photography’s most loved focal lengths for street, travel, and documentary work. Vivo says it is designed to offer a more natural, human-eye-like perspective, and it pairs that lens with Sony’s LYTIA 901 sensor in a large 1/1.12-inch format, with support for 200MP direct output. It still does not quite match the sheer sensor size of some 1-inch rivals, but on paper, it looks like one of the most interesting main cameras on any phone right now.

The 85mm Zeiss Gimbal-Grade APO Telephoto Camera also sounds incredible. It uses a 200MP sensor, with Zeiss APO standards, and adds a Zeiss T* coating plus Super Blue Glass to reduce flare and ghosting. Vivo is also promising 3-degree gimbal-level OIS and up to 60fps AF tracking in Snapshot mode, which could make this one of the most capable telephoto cameras on a phone yet for shooting fast-moving subjects like wildlife, sports, or concerts.

Rounding out the rear cameras is a 14mm Zeiss ultra-wide, which Vivo describes as an “industry-leading main-camera-grade ultra wide-angle” camera. I am not usually the biggest ultra-wide shooter, but this is one area where phone makers still too often ask users to accept obvious compromises in image quality. Vivo is clearly pitching this as something more serious.

And, as we’ve started to see from a few recent Chinese launches, Vivo isn’t stopping with the cameras built into the phone. The X300 Ultra supports two optional telephoto adapters: a new 400mm equivalent Vivo Zeiss Telephoto Extender Gen 2 Ultra and a lighter second-generation 200mm equivalent extender. The 400mm option is the more eye-catching of the two, with Vivo calling it a breakthrough in magnification, optical performance, stabilization, and structure. It is co-engineered with Zeiss, uses a Kepler-inspired optical design, and supports 200MP optical output. Meanwhile, the 200mm extender has slimmed down from 210g to 153g, which at least makes the whole idea a little more practical.

These external lenses still sound slightly wild, but they are also one of the few genuinely fresh ideas in smartphone photography at the moment. After seeing more brands experiment with modular long-lens add-ons, I am increasingly convinced they are more than a gimmick.

The X300 Ultra is also pitching itself as a video powerhouse. The X300 Ultra supports 4K 120p 10-bit Log video and 4K 120p Dolby Vision video across all rear cameras, which is the sort of spec sheet that will immediately catch the attention of serious creators. There is also a new Pro Video mode, support for custom 3D LUT monitoring while shooting in Log, and compatibility with ACES workflows, which makes the X300 Ultra feel more deliberately aimed at professional video users than most phones.

Vivo has gone even further with an optional SmallRig Pro Video Rig Kit, which includes an expandable cage, cold shoe mounts, quick-release ports, dual-hand grips, physical shutter and zoom controls, plus a cooling fan for longer recording sessions. It is undeniably niche, but it shows Vivo is thinking about building a broader ecosystem around the phone for people who actually want to shoot seriously with it.

Vivo is also introducing an all-new color science system, built around a 5MP multispectral sensor with 12 color channels and an upgraded flicker sensor. The company claims this helps it deliver more accurate color and tonal rendering, while also offering film-inspired color styles and deeper manual control for both stills and video.

Away from the cameras, the rest of the phone reads like a flagship. The X300 Ultra is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, alongside Vivo’s VS1+ imaging chip, and backed by a substantial 6600mAh battery with 100W wired and 40W wireless charging. It also gets a 6.82-inch 2K ZEISS Master Color display with up to 4,500 nits local peak brightness, plus IP68 and IP69 durability.

The Vivo X300 Ultra will be available in 16GB/512GB and 16GB/1TB configurations, and comes in black and a two-tone white mabled or soft green finish. On paper, at least, this looks like one of the most ambitious camera phones of the year, and one that should be on the wishlist of any serious phoneographer.