The vivo X300 Pro is the most overqualified camera phone most of you still won’t be able to buy.
Between a 200MP periscope, a massive 6,510 mAh battery, and MediaTek’s new Dimensity 9500, vivo clearly wants the specs crown. But once you get past the headline numbers, this looks a lot more like incremental tuning than the big leap their marketing implies.
Specs Check: Dimensity 9500 and a Battery That Finally Matches the Cameras
Let’s start with the core hardware. Both the vivo X300 Pro and the smaller X300 run MediaTek’s new Dimensity 9500. On Geekbench, the X300 Pro (model V2514) posts around 3,177 in single-core and 9,701 in multi-core, with a Vulkan GPU score of 22,566. That’s only a minor bump over the Dimensity 9400—solid, but not exactly a new performance era.
The X300 Pro pairs that chip with up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, while the X300 matches those top configs but in a smaller chassis. Both phones ship with Android 16-based OriginOS 6 out of the box, which is very on-brand for vivo: bleeding-edge software version, but locked to China for now.
Battery is where vivo finally stopped pretending 5,000 mAh is enough for a camera-first flagship. The X300 Pro packs a 6,510 mAh cell, a full 500 mAh more than the X200 Pro and well above what most mainstream flagships are shipping. The smaller X300 still manages 6,040 mAh, which is big by compact-phone standards.
The problem: charging hasn’t moved. The X300 Pro sticks to 90W wired charging, the same spec we already saw before, plus 40W wireless. That’s not slow, but for a Chinese flagship that’s pushing every other spec, it feels lazy. You don’t increase capacity that much and then just shrug on charging speeds.
Display and Design: Flat, Fast, and Actually Practical
On the front, vivo finally leans fully into flat displays. The X300 Pro uses a 6.78-inch 8T LTPO panel with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 1260 x 2800 resolution. You get HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner—none of that bargain-bin optical stuff. The smaller X300 goes with a 6.31-inch 8T LTPO, still 120Hz, at 1216 x 2640.
The Pro weighs 226g and is 7.99mm thick. So yes, you’re getting a big battery, big cameras, and big weight. At least the chassis isn’t a brick: sub‑8mm with IP68/IP69 is decent engineering. The X300 trims that down to 190g and 7.95mm, which will appeal to anyone tired of two-hand flagships.
Colors are the usual vivo fashion parade. The X300 Pro comes in Black, Brown, Blue, and White, with earlier teasers labeling them Wild Brown, Simple White, Free Blue, and Pure Black. IP68/IP69 on both phones is a rare bit of no-nonsense overkill – they’re built to survive more than just a sink drop.
Camera Hardware: 200MP Zoom vs 200MP Main
This series is really about the cameras. On the X300 Pro, vivo flipped the usual formula: instead of a 200MP main, the 200MP sensor is on the telephoto.
The Pro’s rear setup:
– 50MP Sony LYT-828 main, 1/1.28-inch, f/1.57, gimbal OIS
– 50MP Samsung JN1 ultrawide
– 200MP Samsung HPB periscope telephoto, 1/1.4-inch, OIS
The front camera is also 50MP JN1. That’s a serious stack of resolution, though the reliance on JN1 for both ultrawide and selfie isn’t exactly inspiring—this sensor shows up everywhere because it’s small and cheap to integrate.
The regular X300 flips the priorities:
– 200MP Samsung HPB main, 1/1.4-inch, f/1.68
– 50MP Sony LYT-602 APO telephoto (1/1.95-inch)
– 50MP Samsung JN1 ultrawide
– 50MP JN1 front camera
So if you want the best main camera, oddly, you look at the X300. If you care more about telephoto reach and periscope flexibility, the Pro is the one.
vivo is also pushing its custom V3+ imaging chip, with claims of “cinematic” 4K 60 fps and cleaner low light. No bitrate numbers, no rolling-shutter examples—just big claims. On paper, dedicated ISP silicon is good news, but the company’s leaning hard on AI-style image processing, and that’s where things get messy.
Real-World Zoom: Impressive Reach, Questionable Processing
vivo showed off the X300 Pro’s zoom at the Changchun Air Show, with samples across focal lengths: 24mm main, a 50mm shot likely from the main, then 85mm (periscope), 136mm, 400mm, 600mm, and up to 728mm (about 30x).
The 24mm and 50mm examples look as you’d expect from a large sensor and bright lens: lots of detail, strong subject separation. Things get weirder at 85mm: the cockpit of a plane in the background looks warped and “off”—the kind of artifact you see when aggressive computational sharpening and AI detail reconstruction start hallucinating geometry.
As you crank the zoom higher, you can clearly see upscaling and noise smoothing, especially around edges and fine patterns. To vivo’s credit, the 728mm shot doesn’t repeat the cockpit disaster, but the whole stack confirms what a commenter called out: some of these planes look like AI-assisted recreations more than optically honest images.
There’s also a Zeiss 2.35x teleconverter kit coming for both X300 and X300 Pro, with support for snapshot and portrait modes. It’s an interesting idea—optical add-ons for phones rarely get first-party support. But without global availability, it’s going to be a niche accessory for a niche market.
Connectivity, Software, and the Usual China-Only Wall
Connectivity is mostly up to 2024 flagship standards: Wi‑Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC (on the X300), dual stereo speakers, and a USB‑C 3.2 Gen 1 port on the Pro. vivo is also offering a version of the X300 Pro with BeiDou satellite messaging, but that’s firmly targeted at the Chinese ecosystem.
Both phones ship with Android 16-based OriginOS 6. For users in China, that’s a plus—new platform, latest APIs, and vivo’s usual heavy customization. For everyone else, it’s the same story as always: these specs are effectively locked behind import headaches, missing bands, and software that’s not tuned for global users.
Pricing: Aggressive on Paper, Limited in Reality
The vivo X300 Pro starts at CNY 5,299 (around $745) for 12GB/256GB and goes up to CNY 6,699 (about $945) for 16GB/1TB. The regular X300 starts at CNY 4,399 (~$620) and stretches to CNY 5,999 (~$845) for 16GB/1TB.
For China, those prices are aggressive considering you’re getting:
– Dimensity 9500
– Massive batteries (6,510 mAh / 6,040 mAh)
– 8T LTPO 120Hz panels
– IP68/IP69
– 200MP class camera hardware
The disappointment is less about value and more about ambition. Charging is recycled. Performance uplift is incremental. Camera hardware is bold, but processing is already throwing up AI artifacts in official samples. And unless vivo suddenly flips its global strategy, most Android enthusiasts will only see these phones in camera threads and import forums.
vivo isn’t phoning it in with the X300 series, but for a phone that looks this wild on a spec sheet, the actual moves feel surprisingly conservative.
Stay tuned to IntoDroid for more Android updates.