I’ve always enjoyed using Vivo’s X series devices, but it wasn’t until the X90 Pro that the brand really started showcasing what it can do on the imaging side of things. Vivo turned that up a notch earlier this year with the X100 Pro; the phone continues to have one of the best camera packages around, and it’s only bested by the China-exclusive X100 Ultra — no small feat.
While the X100 Ultra is the best phone camera I’ve ever used, the fact that it isn’t available globally makes it a non-starter. Thankfully, Vivo is addressing that with the introduction of the X200 Pro. The phone has the same 200MP telephoto lens as the Ultra, and it also takes magnificent portrait shots. You get a new 50MP main camera, and while it doesn’t have a 1-inch sensor like the X100 Pro or Ultra, it takes standout photos and videos in challenging scenarios.
Honestly, that’s all you need to know about the X200 Pro — it brings the best features of the X100 Ultra to a global audience, and takes photos of the same caliber. That alone makes the phone immediately worthy of consideration, and you get plenty of other extras, including a new design, brighter AMOLED panel, more efficient MediaTek hardware, a much bigger 6000mAh silicon battery, and IP69 ingress protection.
I used the global model of the X200 Pro for a week, and here’s why I think this is the camera phone to beat in 2025.
Vivo X200 Pro: Pricing and availability
Vivo unveiled the X200, X200 Pro, and X200 Pro mini in China in October 2024, and the phones made their global debut on December 12 in India. Vivo isn’t bringing the X200 Pro mini outside China, but the X200 and X200 Pro are available in global markets, starting with select regions in Asia over the coming weeks.
I got used to the 1TB model of the X100 Ultra, but Vivo isn’t bringing that storage variant to global markets; the X200 Pro is instead sold in a single 16GB/512GB configuration outside China. This 16GB/512GB variant is now available in India for ₹94,999 ($1,120). The standard X200 is also on sale in the country at ₹65,999 ($778) for the 12GB/256GB configuration, and Vivo has an additional 16GB/512GB model that costs ₹71,999 ($849).
Vivo X200 Pro: Design
Most Android manufacturers have switched to iPhone-esque designs, and Vivo isn’t immune to the trend either. The X200 Pro has a distinctly boxier design with flat sides, and it doesn’t look as elegant as the X100 Pro. While I still prefer devices with smooth curves, I will admit that Vivo did a good job with the design; the phone is much more comfortable to hold than the iPhone 16 Pro Max or Pixel 9 Pro XL.
Predictably, the camera island dominates attention at the back; Vivo has steadily increased the size of the housing over the last three years as it slotted in bigger camera sensors, and the module on the X200 Pro stretches nearly across the width of the device. I would have liked the interior of the housing to have the same color as the back — like the OnePlus 12 — but Vivo went with a standard black design. That said, the ring encircling the camera housing differentiates the design a little bit.
I got the Titanium variant of the device, and it feels great to hold and use. The dull grey sheen makes the device look understated, and the back glass has a satin texture that’s much better than the usual glossy finishes, and it minimizes smudges. The sides are made out of aluminum, with Vivo mimicking the feel of titanium.
The design is cleaner than previous years, with Vivo eschewing the various taglines and metal-etched accouterments it added on the X90 Pro and X100 Pro. The overall aesthetic feels mature, and while the grey model doesn’t attract attention as much, the blue option is the way to go if you want a color that stands out.
Thankfully, Vivo put the ultrasound fingerprint module higher up this time around, and I didn’t run into any issues accessing it. While I prefer optical modules, Vivo is using a Goodix sensor that’s among the best around; it’s fast to authenticate, and doesn’t have any problems with oily or wet fingers.
Coming in at 228g, the X200 Pro is one of the heaviest phones I used recently, as well as the biggest; that said, Vivo did a great job with the weight distribution, and even though it has massive cameras at the back, it doesn’t feel unwieldy in the least. I now put cases on phones that have flat sides as I don’t like the in-hand feel, but I didn’t have to do so on the X200 Pro; although it has a flatter design, the beveled edges and subtle curves at the back where it meets the mid-frame make it much easier to hold and use.
The power and volume buttons have better tactility than the Pixel 9 Pro XL and Find X8 Pro, and the rest of the ports are standard: you get a dual-SIM tray, IR blaster, and dual stereo sound. The X200 Pro picks up IP68 and IP69 ingress protection, giving it added resilience against water jets. While I didn’t test that yet, the phone fell into a bowl of chutney and came away unscathed, and that’s good enough for my use case (I eat a lot of chutney).
Vivo X200 Pro: Display
The X200 Pro retains the 6.78-inch size as its predecessor, and you get the same 2800 x 1260 resolution. What’s different this time is the brightness; it manages to hit 4500 nits in HDR content, and there’s an easily noticeable difference in daily use as well.
What’s particularly great is that the X200 Pro got just as bright as the X100 Ultra in outdoor use, and in my testing, only the Pixel 9 Pro XL managed to outmatch the device. It does a much better job in this area than the X100 Pro, and it’s evident when using the phones next to each other. You get the usual LTPO tech, and the phone gets 2160Hz PWM dimming at all brightness levels, giving it a distinct edge over Google and Samsung phones.
While it doesn’t have anywhere close to the same curvature as previous models, the panel has a very subtle curve around the sides that makes it a little better to use. Colors and contrast levels are excellent out of the box, and like all high-end phones, you get a great range of customizability in tweaking the color balance. Vivo has useful eye protection features as well, including an anti-fatigue mode and automatic blue light filter.
There’s a decent selection of always-on styles too, and the phone has a smooth transition from the lock screen to the home screen, which is something you’ll see on ColorOS as well. I didn’t have any issues streaming HDR content on the phone, and after a dozen hours of gaming, there were no problems in this regard either. The onboard sound is better than the X100 Pro, and you get a good stereo effect.
The only issue with the panel is that the oleophobic coating is starting to wear out after just a week of use; my daily usage hasn’t differed, but the top edge has a visible line where there’s no coating, and that’s troublesome. By contrast, the X100 Pro has been in regular use throughout 2024, and it doesn’t have any issues with the coating. I saw a similar occurrence on the Find X8 Pro too, and I’ll provide an update once either brand confirms what the problem might be — it could just be the coating that was used on these two devices.
Vivo X200 Pro: Performance
While the X100 Ultra switched to Qualcomm hardware, Vivo is clearly intent on using MediaTek’s Dimensity on the rest of the X100 series, and that’s a good decision. The X200 Pro uses the Dimensity 9400 — same as the Find X8 Pro — and it is fantastic in daily use. I didn’t see any slowdowns or lag, and it handled gaming without breaking a sweat.
The phone tends to get a little hotter than the Find X8 Pro, but just by two degrees Celsius. The stability score of 49% in 3DMark’s Steel Nomad Light test is on the lower end of the scale, but thankfully, you won’t see any jitter even in demanding games, and while it throttles in extended gaming sessions, it still delivers steady framerates. With 16GB of RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage onboard, you don’t have to worry about multitasking or storage issues.
| Category | Pixel 9 Pro XL | Vivo X200 Pro | iQOO 13 |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCMark Work 3.0 (Overall) | 13028 | 15731 | 16043 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 (Web Browsing) | 10322 | 13716 | 16307 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 (Video Editing) | 7606 | 5823 | 6899 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 (Writing) | 15582 | 24744 | 20445 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 (Photo Editing) | 19293 | 13582 | 39044 |
| Geekbench 6 (single-core) | 1895 | 2381 | 2954 |
| Geekbench 6 (multi-core) | 4111 | 7175 | 6650 |
| Geekbench AI (Quantized Score) | 2620 | 2436 | 3915 |
| 3DMark Wild Life Extreme (score) | 2483 | 6070 | 4514 |
| 3DMark Wild Life Extreme (FPS) | 14.865 | 36.35 | 27.025 |
| 3DMark Solar Bay (score) | NA | 11021 | 7287 |
| 3DMark Solar Bay (FPS) | NA | 41.91 | 27.695 |
Given that the iQOO 13 also runs Funtouch OS and is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite instead, we can see how the two devices differ. Obviously, there’s no difference between the two in regular use, but the iQOO 13 holds up a little better in gaming — it doesn’t throttle as early. Other than that, you get a similar level of performance.
I didn’t see any issues with cellular connectivity, but calls were garbled at times; I’m not sure if this was down to where I was at the time or the cellular signal, but I don’t usually run into this problem, so thought to highlight it. There’s the usual LDAC and LHDC codecs in addition to AptX HD, and you get dual-band GPS, NFC, and a USB-C port based on the USB 3.2 standard.
The new vibration motor has exquisite feedback, and it makes using the device that much more engaging. Overall, there isn’t much amiss with the X200 Pro in this area, and it is has one of the best hardware packages around.
Vivo X200 Pro: Battery life
Like most other 2025 flagships, the X200 Pro picks up a huge battery, with Vivo slotting in a 6000mAh unit inside the device. It also uses silicon-carbon tech to deliver better density, and the increased size along with better efficiency allows it to last two days. Even with heavy use, I only had to charge the phone every other day, and it’s liberating.
There’s no battery anxiety whatsoever with the device, and when you need to plug it in, the X200 Pro uses Vivo’s 90W charging standard, and the requisite charger is bundled in the package. It takes just under 50 minutes to charge the battery, and it’s on par with the best phones in this area.
Vivo X200 Pro: Cameras
The X200 Pro gets a new 50MP Sony Lytia-818 imaging sensor with a 1/1.28-inch sensor, and while it isn’t as big as the 1-inch sensor on the X100 Pro, it does a great job in its own right. The highlight is the inclusion of the 200MP Samsung HP9 telephoto lens, which is the same one used in the X100 Ultra to great effect. The wide-angle lens is a 50MP Samsung JN1, which is unchanged from last year, as is the 32MP front module.
Vivo uses a custom V3+ imaging module in conjunction with the Dimensity 9400, and this allows the brand to eke out better detail with HDR video. The X200 Pro has 4K60 Dolby Vision video out of all the sensors and focal lengths at the back, and the phone does a standout job with video in general. There’s portrait video, 10-bit LOG, and a street mode that adds a noticeable vignette to resultant shots.
The camera interface itself hasn’t changed, and you get a decent number of shooting modes and filters. Vivo’s collaboration with Zeiss is evident in the portrait shots and tonal balance of the photos, and you can pick between three styles: Vivid, Textured, and Zeiss Natural. The Vivid mode has the best colors, and that’s the one I used as default when testing the X200 Pro.
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As you’d imagine, there are no issues with photos taken in daylight conditions. The X200 Pro does a great job preserving detail, and you get vibrant colors with excellent dynamic range and white balance. While the sensor itself isn’t as large as last year, tweaks to the tuning allows the X200 Pro to deliver a similar caliber of photos.
The main camera does an incredible job in low-light conditions as well, delivering accurate colors and details. Honestly, I don’t have anything to fault with the main camera, and the X200 Pro delivers everything I need — photo quality is always consistent, it does a good job with fast-moving objects, and there’s no shutter lag whatsoever.
The biggest change this time is the 200MP telephoto lens; it goes up to 3.7x via optical zoom and has OIS, and while the increased focal length is obviously useful, where the lens truly shines is at portrait shots. The X200 Pro takes delightful portrait shots, with class-leading segmentation and bokeh. The best part about the mode is that you get to choose between five focal lengths, giving you plenty of options to frame a subject.
Although the wide-angle lens is an older sensor, it does a decent enough job most of the time. It’s only in demanding low-light scenarios that you can make out its limitations, but in all other shooting conditions, it delivers usable photos. The only quibble I have in this area is that the selfie lens isn’t quite up to scratch. It’s still a decent module and takes good photos, but it doesn’t have the same quality as the Pixel 9 Pro XL, and Vivo should have switched to a newer sensor.
Outside of that, the X200 Pro has what is arguably one of the strongest camera packages, and the combination of the 50MP main lens and versatile zoom lens gives it a distinct advantage. I’m intrigued to see what Vivo does with the X200 Ultra, because barring that, I don’t see any other device outmatching the X200 Pro in 2025.
Vivo X200 Pro: Software
I like what Vivo is doing on the software side of things. The X200 Pro runs Funtouch OS 15 based on Android 15, and it is different enough to ColorOS 15 and its derivatives that you don’t feel like you’re using the same UI. The interface is clean and optimized incredibly well to take advantage of the hardware, and I now prefer it to ColorOS or MIUI — a big deal considering its iOS-esque heritage.
I don’t have any negatives in this area; I didn’t see any problems with push notifications or errant crashes, and the UI was fluid in the week I used the device. That’s just with this device; as mentioned earlier, I used the X100 Pro as a secondary phone for much of 2024, and didn’t run into any issues there either.
Like every other interface, you get a decent amount of AI-backed utilities, including Circle to Search, AI note summarization, transcribing, and translation. Whether they’re actually usable is down to your needs; I don’t see the point of most AI tools in their current state, and the only one I use with any regularity is the transcribe feature that lets me convert audio to text.
Vivo does a good job with software updates, and the X100 Pro picked up consistent updates over the course of the year. The X200 Pro will receive four Android OS updates along with six years of security updates, and while that’s not on par with Google and Samsung, it is in line with what other Chinese manufacturers are doing.
Vivo X200 Pro: The competition
The Find X8 Pro is the closest rival to the X200 Pro, with both phones featuring the same MediaTek Dimensity platform and delivering standout cameras. With the X200 Pro confined to Asian markets, the Find X8 Pro is a viable choice if you need a device with versatile cameras. While Vivo’s phone has the edge at portrait shots and zoom, the Find X8 Pro does a great job on its own. I like Vivo’s color tuning better, and Funtouch OS is better to use than the most recent iteration of ColorOS, so the X200 Pro wins out.
Vivo X200 Pro: Should you buy it?
You should buy this if:
- You need one of the best camera packages available today
- You want a fantastic telephoto lens
- You need a phone that takes stunning portrait shots
- You want class-leading battery life
- You need the latest hardware
You shouldn’t buy this if:
- You need the best selfie camera
- You want long-term updates similar to the Pixel 9 Pro XL
- You need a device that’s sold in the U.S. or U.K.
Vivo didn’t need to change too many things with the X100 Pro, and thankfully, the brand retained the best features from the device. The X200 Pro has one of the best camera packages you’ll find today, and the addition of the 200MP telephoto lens gives it a distinct advantage. The portrait shots you get out of the phone are truly incredible, and while the X100 Ultra still has a slender edge, it isn’t much.
I like everything else about the phone. The AMOLED panel is among the best I’ve used, the hardware is on par with the best from Qualcomm, and the battery lasts two days between charges. The software is great to use as well, and Funtouch OS 15 delivers a good balance between a fluid UI and plenty of customizability.
The only point of contention is that the selfie camera isn’t quite on the same level as other flagships. And with the phone limited to Asian countries, there’s no reliable way to get a hold of it in the U.S. or U.K., and that’s a real shame. But if you’re in a country where the device is sold by Vivo, you should consider picking it up.
Having used the iPhone 16 Pro Max, Pixel 9 Pro XL, and Find X8 Pro in the last three months, I’m convinced that the X200 Pro has the best cameras of the lot, and my SIM is staying put in this device long after the review is done.