Vivo X200 Pro Review: A superb all rounder with excellent specs – but where can you buy it?

Initially available in China only, the Vivo X200 Pro saw a “global release” in December 2024. It comes with an appealing set of specifications for photographers, most notably its co-engineered lenses with Zeiss, sitting in front of three high-resolution sensors, one of which is larger than averagely-sized. Can it make it on to the list of the best phones for photography?

Vivo is one of the many Chinese smartphone brands that have made fairly big waves in recent years, bringing high-end optics to the market at a more affordable price.

That said, although this has been touted as a global launch, I’ve not found many places that the X200 Pro is actually on sale in the UK or US, it certainly doesn’t have the widespread availability of other models from the likes of Apple, Samsung, Google or even other Chinese operators such as OnePlus and Oppo. There are a number of grey market import sites which appear to sell it, but I would always exercise extreme caution when purchasing anything from such sites.

I have asked Vivo for information on when the X200 Pro might be available in the UK, US and EU more widely, but I have yet to hear back. I will update this review accordingly if/when we find out more.

Still, if you do manage to find it for sale where you are, on paper at least, the specs look pretty intriguing.

Vivo X200 Pro at a glance

• 50MP main camera, 23mm equiv, f/1.6, PDAF, OIS (1/1.28” sensor)
• 50MP ultra-wide, 15mm equiv, f/2.0, AF (1/2.76” sensor)
• 200MP periscope 3.7x zoom, 85mm equiv, f/2.7, PDAF, OIS, macro (1/1.4” sensor)
• 32MP f/2.0 20mm equiv selfie camera
• 8K 30fps / 4K 120fps video recording
• 6.78-inch, 120Hz, 4500 nits peak brightness, Armor Glass LTPO AMOLED screen
• 6000mAh battery, 90W fast charging, wireless charging
• Mediatek Dimensity 9400 processor
• 12/16GB RAM
• Android 15

Vivo X200 Pro: Features

The triple lens setup of the X200 Pro includes as its headline camera a Sony LYT-818 sensor, which is a 1/1.28-inch type. That makes it larger than the average smartphone sensor, and although there are a handful of models out there which go even larger with a one-inch device, it’s still pretty rare.

It’s joined by a 200MP 3.7x telephoto camera, and a 50MP ultra wide-angle camera. All three cameras feature Zeiss lenses. With the 200MP telephoto camera, Vivo includes six “telephoto capabilities”, to include Telephoto HyperZoom, Telephoto Macro, Telephoto Portrait, Telephoto Nightscapes and Telephoto Sunset.

Other photographic features include the ability to record 4K at 120fps, or even 8K at 30fps. 8K video recording in smartphones is still a relative rarity, albeit unlikely to be needed by the average person.

Elsewhere, specs of note include a 6000 mAh battery, a 6.78-inch display and availability in five different colours, including Titanium, Black, Green, White and Blue.

Vivo X200 Pro: Handling and Design

The 6.78-inch screen is on the large side, being close in size to other flagship models, including the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL and OnePlus 13. It’s arguably a little bit cumbersome, but it really shows off your pictures and videos to the best possible effect. That’s especially true when you consider that the maximum brightness is 4500 nits, which is pretty high by smartphone standards.

Vivo has opted for a curved type display, which has fallen out of favour with many of the other manufacturers, such as Google, Apple and Samsung. It arguably makes the phone look a little bit outdated (if you want to call something from say 2020/21 outdated), but the curved body does have quite a sleek appearance.

The camera unit on the back protrudes pretty far from the back of the phone, taking up pretty much the entire of the top half. However, being as it spans the whole width of the phone, it means that the phone doesn’t wobble or sit unbalanced when it’s on a table or desk, so that’s good news.

A case for protecting the phone comes in the box. It’s not very exciting – just being a clear plastic case – but it’s good for free, and at the very least protects your phone while you’re thinking about potentially buying another one. The screen has been reinforced with Armor Glass, promising 11x greater drop protection compared to the X100 Pro.

Vivo X200 Pro: Native camera app

Vivo phones have very comprehensive native camera apps, offering lots of different shooting modes to choose between. Luckily, there’s plenty of straightforward options for those of us that just want to get on with taking pictures.

For example, the default shooting option is Photo, where you can access all three of the lenses, as well as quick access to 2x and 10x, as well as pinching out to zoom to 100x. Similarly to the iPhone 16 Pro latest app, you can also tap the 1x lens option to access 1.2x and 1.5x options, a nice touch which gives you the experience of choosing between 23mm, 28mm and 35mm lenses. 

Similarly, if you tap on the 3x lens option, you can quickly jump to 7.4x, taking you from 85mm up to 170mm. Tap the 10x option and you can quickly jump to 15x, 20x, 30x and 50x – but you still have to pinch to reach the full 100x.

Along the top of the screen, there are some options to choose from including switching the flash on/off, accessing “super-macro”, and a route to further settings you can change. There’s also three different colour options, with a default “Vivid” also joined by “Textured” and “Zeiss Natural” – the last option of the three is the most muted.

In this mode, if light is low, the night mode should automatically activate. Similarly, if you move the phone close to a subject, macro should automatically switch on too. Night is available as a separate selectable mode, while the super macro option gives you access to the superior telephoto macro shooting capability.

Other shooting modes include Portrait, Landscape and Snapshot. Portrait enables the creation of shallow depth of field effects, and aims to recreate the look of shooting with Zeiss lenses. You can choose between 23mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm and 135mm options, as well as select different aperture and bokeh shape simulations. There’s also a “Portrait Lens Kit” which gives you options such as “23mm Landscape Portrait”, and “50mm Classic Portrait”. It’s worth having a good experiment with all the different portrait options presented here, as it’s one of the most comprehensive available on a smartphone.

Landscape mode is new for the X200 series. It combines Night, Supermoon, Long Exposure, Astro, Landscape and Architecture, Panorama and Time-lapse modes into one feature. For example, in low light situations, you can use long exposures, or specifically tell it you’re shooting something like traffic trails or night graffiti. There’s also something called “Zeiss Perspective Correction”, which occasionally comes in handy for shooting architectural scenes. Snapshot is essentially a very simplified/basic shooting app, just giving you the option to choose between the different lenses and very little else.

For Video, there’s a standard Video mode, as well as a Portrait Video mode for creating shallow depth of field effects in video. You can also find a set of extra shooting modes under a “More” tab, too.

Perhaps most of interest to us here, is the “Pro” option, where you can adjust settings such as ISO, shutter speed, white balance and so on. You can also shoot in raw format, and choose one of the three colour options also found in the standard Photo mode. Another potentially useful mode is High Resolution, which gives you the option to shoot at 50MP with either the ultra wide or the standard lens, or as high as 200MP with the zoom lens.

A slightly hidden feature is the “Street Photography” mode, which you can access by swiping upwards from the main screen. In fact, I only found it by accident. This mode is styled to look like an old-fashioned camera, and gives you the option to change a number of different shooting parameters such as shutter speed, exposure compensation and (simulated) aperture. You can also switch the bokeh effects as seen in portrait mode on or off, as well as shoot in the different colour modes – plus a fourth black and white mode. You can also select between focal lengths as displayed in classic lens options, comprising 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm and 135mm.

Vivo X200 Pro: Image Quality and Performance

As I expected it would be, the general image quality from the X200 Pro is excellent, across a wide variety of conditions.

Detail is great, and colours are nicely bright and punchy without being unrealistic – something which can be a big problem for several of the lesser-known brands. Working with Zeiss has clearly worked well to produce high-quality overall images.

The best results come from the main sensor, but the others do very well too. The ultrawide contains plenty of detail, but perhaps more impressively, we’ve got a zoom lens that is not only very usable at its full optical length, but also produces excellent crops thanks to its 200MP resolution. Shooting at 10x (230mm equivalent), for example, reveals some excellent results that I’d be happy to use without the usual caveats of having to be super keen to include a record shot.

Even more pleasingly, the colours between each of the lenses is very well matched, too.

In low light, the main sensor does a fantastic job. In the pictures above, where I was standing is very, very dark. I couldn’t see the detail myself with my eyes, yet the phone has picked out lots of it, without going overboard with the sharpening, nor giving an overly smudgy result. Things are a little less impressive with the other sensors, as is to be expected, with some noticeable loss of detail present with the wideangle and the telephoto, but overall it’s a very commendable performance.

As discussed, there are two options for close-ups. You can either bring the phone close to the subject and the automatic macro mode will activate, or you can switch on super macro. The first option switches to the ultrawide lens and crops. It sometimes produces OK results, but you get much better results from the super macro option. In fact, they’re so good I’d even say the Vivo X200 Pro is one of the best smartphones for macro out there.

The various portrait options are worth experimenting with, and produce some excellent results. The shallow depth of field effects are natural, with great drop off.

Similarly, the selfie camera also produces some good results. I would switch off the automatic smoothing effect, personally, as you end up with a doll-like appearance, but if you like that kind of thing, no judgement from me.

Vivo X200 Pro: Value for Money

At £1099 RRP for the 512GB storage/16GB RAM option of the X200 Pro, this is not a cheap phone, however it compares very well with plenty of other flagships currently on the market.

For example, the iPhone 16 Pro Max 512GB would set you back £1399, while a Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra 512GB has an RRP of £1,349. So, there’s a significant saving to be had.

That said, actually finding an X200 Pro for sale in many territories around the world seems to be a challenge. In the UK where I am for example, there are sites listing it, but these seem to be grey imports from China, which I would never recommend.

It’s also worth remembering that if you want to resell your phone in the future, it’s likely you’ll get less back for a Vivo than you would for either an iPhone or a Samsung, potentially making it even less value for money.

Verdict

On the whole, the Vivo X200 Pro is an excellent performer, which produces fantastic results across a wide variety of scenarios. It excels at macro and portraiture, and does very well in low light. The zoom lens is one of the best on the market, leaving you with very usable results, unlike some models which are often more about marketing than quality.

The native camera app is very well-featured. Arguably, the wide range of options is a little overwhelming, but I’d rather have too many options than not enough. And you can always ignore most of the options and stick with the general Photo mode if you prefer.

All of the different Portrait options are fun to experiment with, and if you’ve got people in your life you often like to take pictures off, then it’s a great option for that reason.

Now of course for the bad news. At the time of writing this review, I can find very few places in the UK that actually sell the Vivo X200 Pro, despite it having a global launch. The same is true for other non-Chinese markets. I have asked Vivo to comment on pricing and available in other markets, but so far have not had a response.

I’ve been able to find the phone on a couple of grey market import sites. It’s a route to explore, but I would never wholeheartedly recommend using such an avenue, since it’s more difficult to do something about it if something were to go wrong.

I really hope that Vivo does indeed bring this phone to mainstream retailers across the globe as it’s one of the best smartphones for photographers out there, and really shows off what it’s possible to do with smartphone photography right now.

It’s not quite the best smartphone available right now – I’d still give that to the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, but it comes pretty close. If only you can buy it, it’d be nigh-on perfect.

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