Category: vivo

With heady upgrades and outstanding battery life, the iQOO 13 is proof that you don’t need to shell out ridiculous amounts of money to get a terrific phone.

Verdict
The iQOO 13 has considerable upgrades: you get a larger AMOLED panel, and it gets noticeably brighter. It has the latest Qualcomm hardware, and it is a gaming powerhouse. And then there’s the battery; the massive 6,150mAh unit lasts two days between charges, and you get 120W charging. The cameras are much better than previous years as well, and you get four Android OS updates. Where’s the catch, you ask? There isn’t one. Sure, the cameras may not be on par with the best phones, but that’s about the only limitation.

Pros

• +Standout performance
• +Much better AMOLED panel with QHD resolution
• +Unbelievable battery life with 120W charging
• +Terrific cameras
• +Long-term software updates
• +IP68/IP69 ingress protection

Cons

• -Cameras not on par with other flagships
• -Limited global availability
• -Misses out on 3x zoom

Most brands are starting to roll out their flagships earlier this year; the Find X8 Pro is now available globally, the Vivo X200 is set to make its debut shortly, and other phones aren’t far behind. Vivo sub-brand iQOO is also getting in on the action, launching the iQOO 13 a month early.

The iQOO 13 retains a similar design as its predecessor, but it comes with a bigger 6.82-inch panel — the same size as theOnePlus 13, incidentally — and you get all-new cameras at the back alongside the latest Qualcomm hardware, and a massive 6,150mAh battery with silicon-carbon tech.

Clearly, iQOO is making a habit out of delivering significant upgrades on a yearly basis, and while I used the iQOO 12 extensively throughout the course of 2024, the iQOO 13 is considerably better in key areas. Thankfully, what hasn’t changed is the brand’s value-focused positioning — the iQOO 13 is the most affordable phone powered by Qualcomm’s new silicon, and that alone makes it worthy of consideration.

>>>>>BA17 Battery for Vivo iQOO 12 Pro

iQOO 13: Pricing and availability

The iQOO 13 was unveiled in China on October 30, and the phone made its global debut on November 28. It is now available in Indonesia, and will be making its way to India on December 3. The global variant is available in 12GB/256GB and 16GB/512GB editions, and both models feature LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage.
I’ll have details of Indian pricing shortly, but in Indonesia, the iQOO 13 costs 9,999,000 IDR for the 12GB/256GB version, and 11,999,000 IDR for the 16GB/512GB edition.

iQOO 13: Design

The iQOO 13 is virtually indistinguishable to its predecessor in terms of the design. Both phones share the same overall aesthetic, and you even get the same camera island, albeit with a few minor differences. The biggest change at the back is that the LED flash module now sits within the camera island, creating a cleaner overall look.

Other than that, the iQOO branding and the brand’s tagline — Fascination Meets Innovation — alongside the BMW M livery is now positioned on the left. Outside of these two changes, the design is identical. The camera island is marginally bigger on the iQOO 13, but you’ll only notice that if you’re using it alongside the iQOO 12.

I don’t mind that iQOO retained the same design this time; the iQOO 13 looks just as elegant as its predecessor, and the white color variant (it’s called Legend) is striking. While the phone still has flat sides, it has subtle bevels where it meets the back, and that makes using the phone much more comfortable. It’s a small thing, but you easily notice the difference when switching between the iQOO 12 and 13.

The sides are made out of aluminum, and the glossy coat isn’t to my liking. Thankfully, the glass back has a matte texture that feels great, and it doesn’t pick up smudges. The phone itself is a smidgen wider than the iQOO 12, and that’s because it has a larger 6.82-inch panel. Considering the increase in size, it’s good to see iQOO retaining similar dimensions.

But the most impressive achievement is that the phone is 0.4mm thinner while still featuring a massive 6,150mAh battery — 1,150mAh more than the iQOO 12. It is 10g heavier, and while you notice the added heft, it isn’t unwieldy, and it’s still 8g lighter than the Pixel 9 Pro XL while giving you a much bigger battery.

The power and volume buttons are on the right, and you get the USB-C port and SIM card tray at the bottom. The iQOO 13 has stereo sound, and you get a dedicated channel up top that makes a considerable difference. The IR blaster is also located at the top, and it holds up just as well as other Vivo and iQOO phones I used.

Interestingly, iQOO went with an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor this time around, and unlike the module on Samsung phones, it is actually usable and fast. It’s using a Goodix sensor — like Vivo phones — and I didn’t see any issues with authentication. Notably, it is positioned just right to access one-handed, unlike several devices I tested this year (looking at you,Find X8 Pro).

Another area where the iQOO 13 has a considerable advantage is ingress protection; the device has IP68/IP69 dust and water resistance as standard, and that’s on par with thebest Android phones.On the whole, the iQOO 13 is one of the better-looking devices around, and while you don’t get a brand-new design, the device is still stylish.

>>>>B-F9 Battery for Vivo iQOO 12G

iQOO 13: Display

Although the design itself hasn’t changed, an area where the iQOO 13 has a considerable upgrade is the screen. You now get a bigger 6.82-inch AMOLED panel, and the refresh rate is increased to 144Hz, but that’s in select use cases — most of the time, it’s down to the standard 120Hz. The panel is noticeably brighter than last year — going up to 1800 nits in HBM mode — and while it doesn’t quite match the Pixel 9 Pro XL in this regard, there are zero issues using it under harsh sunlight.

What’s great about this generation is that the bezels are even thinner, and that is easily noticeable when viewing the iQOO 13 next to its predecessor. The razor-thin bezels make gaming and streaming content that much more immersive, and on that note, I didn’t see any issues with HDR content in Netflix or YouTube.

There’s stereo sound as well, and it gets loud and detailed enough that I didn’t see any issues in regular use. Color vibrancy is decent out of the box, although the hues on my unit tended to skew a little cooler. Thankfully, you get the ability to manually adjust color warmth, and switch to Bright or Professional modes. You even get the ability to dynamically adjust colors based on ambient light.

The panel has QHD resolution this time (3168 x 1440), and the increased pixel density makes a difference in daily use — you get two additional lines of text while browsing. Another trait I like is the suite of eye protection features iQOO is rolling out with this generation; the iQOO 13 has 2592Hz PWM dimming at all brightness levels, making it a great choice if you’re sensitive to DC dimming. It also has something called anti-fatigue brightness adjustment, which basically tweaks brightness levels over time to reduce strain.

There’s also a circular polarized tech, which claims to reduce dry eyes and fatigue by decreasing the glare coming from the panel. As is the case with all phones in this category, you get LTPO as standard, and the panel is able to go down to 1Hz when viewing images or in always-on mode. On that subject, you get always-on styles similar to most Vivo phones running Funtouch OS, but there are a few unique to iQOO.

>>>>>B-F9 Battery for Vivo iQOO 12G

iQOO 13: Performance and battery

Obviously, a big selling point of the iQOO 13 is that it comes with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite. Although most phones powered by the silicon cost upwards of $1,000, the iQOO 13 has the distinction of being the most affordable of the lot, coming in at the equivalent of $630.

Without burying the lede too much, what I can tell you right now is that the iQOO 13 is a performance beast. It blazes through daily use cases without breaking a sweat, and it handles demanding games just as well. I didn’t see any issues with overheating, and while the phone is on the conservative side with thermals, it doesn’t throttle anywhere as early as its predecessor.

Category	OPPO Find X8 Pro	iQOO 13
PCMark Work 3.0 (Overall)	16435	16043
PCMark Work 3.0 (Web Browsing)	19410	16307
PCMark Work 3.0 (Video Editing)	6834	6899
PCMark Work 3.0 (Writing)	14464	20445
PCMark Work 3.0 (Photo Editing)	31693	39044
Geekbench 6 (single-core)	2747	2954
Geekbench 6 (multi-core)	8404	6650
Geekbench AI (Quantized Score)	1946	3915
3DMark Wild Life Extreme (score)	6176	4514
3DMark Wild Life Extreme (FPS)	36.985	27.025
3DMark Solar Bay (score)	9308	7287
3DMark Solar Bay (FPS)	35.395	27.695

The iQOO 13 scored significantly higher than the Dimensity 9400-based Find X8 Pro in Geekbench 6’s single and multi-core tests, and it was twice as fast in Geekbench AI. While it doesn’t quite measure up in 3DMark tests, it managed a better stability score of 75.9% in the demanding Steel Nomad Light stress test, and didn’t go beyond 42 degrees Celsius.  

While most games are still locked to 60fps, there are select titles that go up to 90fps and beyond. Interestingly, iQOO uses a custom Q2 chip to upscale games and boost framerates, and it does a great job in this regard. What I like the most is that it reduces jitter by maintaining a steady framerate, with the feature similar to what NVIDIA and AMD offer with G-Sync and FreeSync.

I’m using the 16GB/512GB model of the iQOO 13, and I didn’t run into any issues with the storage or memory. Multitasking is handled effortlessly, and the software is stable and optimized to take advantage of the silicon. You get the entire suite of AptX codecs, and there’s Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC, and dual-band GPS.

The vibration motor has been overhauled, and it delivers much better feedback this time around. You can adjust the intensity of the feedback, and while the Find X8 Pro and Vivo X100 Ultra still have an edge in this area, there is a noticeable difference over the iQOO 12.

The iQOO 13 comes with a huge 6,150mAh battery, although the Indian variant has a slightly smaller 6,000mAh battery. The increased battery size along with the efficiency gains of Qualcomm’s latest silicon means you get a huge uptick in battery life, and I got at least two days of use between charges. Even with heavy use, I didn’t have to charge the iQOO 13 within the two-day window; it is one of the best devices I used in this regard.

The increase in battery size is attributed to the switch to asilicon-carbon anode. Going this route allows brands to increase battery density, and that’s why most Chinese-branded phones in 2025 have heady gains in this area. The limitation is that there’s a single cell, but as the iQOO 13 uses Vivo’s 120W charging tech, it takes just 34 minutes to fully charge the device.

It went up to the 50% mark in just 14 minutes, taking another 20 minutes to get the rest of the way. Honestly, if you need two-day battery life and the best charging tech currently available, the iQOO 13 is hard to beat.

iQOO 13: Cameras

The iQOO 13 gets a trio of 50MP cameras at the back, including a 50MP Sony IMX921 with 1/1.56-inch sensor and OIS, 50MP Samsung JN1 wide-angle lens with autofocus, and a 50MP Sony IMX816 telephoto with 2x optical zoom and OIS. If that sounds familiar, it’s because the cameras are identical to the Vivo V40 Pro — and the V30 Pro. The front camera is different, and it’s using a 32MP module.

The camera interface itself is identical to last year; you get the shooting modes in a grid at the bottom, and you can easily switch between the various lenses. The phone has a Humanistic street mode that boosts the contrast and adds a heavy vignette to the shots, resulting in images that look very different to what you get from the regular modes.

When it comes to videos, all the lenses at the back can shoot 4K60, and that’s good to see. There’s decent stabilization, and while the resultant footage isn’t quite on the same level as other flagships I used, it is better than the iQOO 12.

The iQOO 13 takes fantastic photos in daylight scenarios, producing shots with great dynamic range and color accuracy. Just like the V40 Pro, foliage doesn’t have the best definition, but outside of that, I don’t have any issues with the camera as such. The phone does just as well in low-light shots, and while you don’t get quite the same color vibrancy as theVivo X100 Ultra,X100 Pro, Find X8 Pro, or other flagships, it delivers usable photos.

The wide-angle lens also does a great job in its own right, as does the 2x lens. Obviously, having a 3x zoom lens would be ideal, but you miss out on that, and while I got usable shots at up to 5x, it isn’t the same as having a dedicated optical zoom lens with a greater zoom factor. The auxiliary lenses don’t quite measure up at low-light, and this is where you see the biggest difference to the likes of the X100 Pro.

Ultimately, the iQOO 13 posts a strong showing, and while I put the phone one tier below other flagships, it does a much better job than its predecessor, and it is one of the best in this category. Yes, you’ll get better photos out of the Vivo X100 Pro or the Find X8 Pro, but you’ll also need to shell out much more cash.

>>>>BA06 Battery for VIVO X100 V2308 V2309A

iQOO 13: Software

There isn’t much to talk about on the software front. The iQOO 13 runs Vivo’s Funtouch OS 15 based on Android 15 out of the box, and while it is technically new, the UI is visually unchanged to last year. You get the same notification pane, similar styling throughout, and the same customizability.

That said, the interface is fluid, and notably, it doesn’t feel quite as iOS-esque as ColorOS 15, and that’s an ironic turnaround considering the software’s roots. Anyway, what you need to know is that the styling isn’t cumbersome, and you get useful extras, including floating windows, a smart sidebar, and easy multitasking.

Interestingly, there’s an RGB LED ring around the rear camera island dubbed Monster Halo, and it can be used for anything from notification and call alerts to battery notifications, and an atmospheric mode that cycles lighting effects. Look, I’m all-in on RGB lighting, but I didn’t use this feature as much as it involves putting the phone face-down on a table, and I don’t do that. But I’ll have to admit that it is very cool, and you can customize colors and effects by going into the settings — it’s called Dynamic light.

The only annoyance I ran into is that Funtouch is still a bit aggressive with memory management, so you’ll need to go into the settings to disable optimization to get timely push notifications. Outside of that, I didn’t see many problems. As is the case with every phone, you get a suite of AI-enabled features, and these mostly involve image editing — similar to Magic Eraser on the Pixels.

There’s good news on the update side of things as well, with iQOO guaranteeing four Android OS updates alongside five years of security updates to the iQOO 13. That’s one platform update more than what the iQOO 12 will pick up, and it’s good to see iQOO matching Vivo in this regard. The phone picked up two software updates with stability tweaks and the latest security update, and it’s good to see iQOO’s phones getting the same level of attention as their Vivo siblings.

iQOO 13: The competition

The 2025 launch cycle is about to heat up, and the iQOO 13 is going up against the OnePlus 13. That device also has a massive battery and 6.82-inch AMOLED panel, and it should take better photos. It comes down to what it costs in countries like India, but it is unlikely to deliver the same value as the iQOO 13.

Although the X100 Pro is considerably more costly, it has one of the best camera packages of the year. If that’s a key consideration, I’d recommend getting the X100 Pro instead; otherwise, the iQOO 13 is the better bargain by a long shot.

iQOO 13: Should you buy it?

You should buy this if:

• You need the latest Qualcomm hardware
• You need the best battery life
• You want a phone for gaming
• You need a big AMOLED panel that’s eye-friendly
• You want good cameras

You shouldn’t buy this if:

• You need the best telephoto lenses
• You want the best low-light photos

Ultimately, the iQOO 13 reinforces the fact that you don’t need to spend north of $1,000 to get flagship-tier quality. The phone has the latest Qualcomm hardware, a high-quality AMOLED display with useful features, fluid software, and it will pick up long-term software updates.

The phone does a brilliant job at gaming, and it isn’t hard to see why — iQOO is clearly targeting a younger audience with the device, and the unique additions allow you get stable framerates without worrying about overheating. On that note, the battery life is the best of any device I used this year, and you’ll only need to charge the phone every two days on average.

There are decent upgrades with the cameras as well, and while the iQOO 13 doesn’t quite measure up to the Find X8 Pro or Vivo X100 Ultra, it is much better than its predecessor in this regard, and that’s an achievement in and of itself. Overall, if you need the best hardware but don’t want to shell out quite as much cash, the iQOO 13 is the best choice.

 

 

iQOO 13 will launch on October 30 in China (Image source: iQOO)

Qualcomm has just made the Snapdragon 8 Elite official, and it seems that the iQOO 13 will be the first gaming-focused flagship smartphone to feature it. The company has announced that the phone will be released on October 30 in China.
iQOO has announced the launch date of its new flagship gaming phone, the iQOO 13. Powered by the newly announced Snapdragon 8 Elite, the smartphone will be fully unveiled on October 30 in China. The company has also officially revealed the device’s color options.

related:BA17 Battery for Vivo iQOO 12 Pro

This new gaming smartphone will launch in four color options: white, black, gray, and green. They all come with the RGB halo light that leaked a couple of days ago. This light surrounds the rear camera island of the iQOO 13, and it’s a unique design element of the device.

Previously, iQOO confirmed that the gaming phone will come with a 6.82-inch OLED display with 144 Hz refresh rate. It’s a BOE Q10 display, and it will feature an under-display ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, something that the OnePlus 13 is also expected to feature.

The company has also confirmed that the iQOO 13 will pair the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset with an in-house Q2 gaming chipset. This combination is said to offer PC-level super-resolution and allow the smartphone to deliver native-level 144 FPS gameplay.

While the official pictures confirm a triple-camera setup on the back, the company has yet to detail the sensors. However, past reports suggested that the iQOO 13 will feature the same primary camera as the other Vivo flagships. iQOO hasn’t shared the pricing details either. The good thing is that the launch is about a week away, so you don’t have to wait long to find out all about this gaming phone.

related:B-X9 Battery for Vivo iQOO 11 Pro

iQOO 13 white (Image source: iQOO)

iQOO 13 grey (Image source: iQOO)

iQOO 13 black (Image source: iQOO)

iQOO 13 green (Image source: iQOO)

Vivo launched their flagship product Vivo X200 series in China at Beijing’s famous Water Cube, also known as the National Aquatics Center. We got our hands on the device a few days in advance, so our team had some time to play and test it before going into in-depth review.

In case you were wondering how the phone feels in real life, here’s a quick first impression of the Vivo X200 Pro.

related：BA15 Battery for Vivo X100 Pro

The Vivo X200 Pro is Sleek but Chunky
The X200 Pro feels premium right out of the box. With its flat edges and metal frame, it gives us some serious flagship vibes. We’ve got the Blue Sapphire model, which mimics the ocean waves under light. I’m not sure if everyone would love this, but it definitely stands out.

The almost-flat display is a refreshing change from the curved screens we’ve been seeing everywhere. It’s got a nice heft to it, striking a balance between solid and comfortable—that is, until you get to the camera bump.

So let’s address the elephant in the room: that camera island is huge if we still take it as a Pro model. It’s big enough to be called an “ultra,” dominating the back of the phone, especially when we learned that the camera also inherited quite a lot from the X100 Ultra. While it houses a triple-lens setup, there’s an extra ‘lens-like’ circle up top that’s more for show than function. It balances out the look, but don’t be fooled — it’s not a fourth camera.

>>>>BA06 Battery for VIVO X100 V2308 V2309A

Camera App goes all in on AI
The camera app on the X200 Pro has gotten a serious glow-up. Vivo has added a bunch of AI features that make shooting a breeze. But note that almost all the fantastic custom features were developed for domestic users with various Chinese applications. For overseas markets, the brand has to work with Google’s Gemini. But there’s no doubt that OriginOS 5 intrigues me significantly more.

What if add some AI features to portrait mode? The X200 series gives you the answer. There’re four-season styles plus a Chinese style for auto post-modification. It makes the camera look fun, but only if you wait a minute or two.

Auto mode & AI visual ON in Portrait mode
The portrait mode is smarter than ever, and the landscape mode? It’s like they took the best bits of all the modes related to non-figure photography such as super night mode, pano mode, and star trails mode, and mashed them together. The software manager’s logic I guess is that they want to differentiate the custom modes into two categories, one for portrait and one for landscape. They’re like two folders, with the benefit of being easy to tell apart. The downside is that you have to ‘open’ them first (switch to them) – a step that may already be difficult for average users. One of my favorite features among the upgrades is the Zeiss Perspective Correction. When you look up a bit to shoot certain scenes, especially like architecture, you’ll always be annoyed by the perspective. On the X200 series, it would automatically crop and generate a horizontal perspective for users in real-time. It can instantly enhance the look and composition of your photos.

Further, video capabilities have taken a giant leap forward, especially in dark environments. We’re talking 4K at 120fps and even 8K at 30fps, which are all working well for dark scenarios. And for all you vloggers out there, there’s a new portrait video mode that’s bound to up your game. Initial quality of the videos was quite impressive but we want to test out the camera in detail for our final verdict. More importantly, it has a lot of fun that we couldn’t experience all in a moment.

The main camera is shifted to a brand-new sensor, SONY LTY818, sized at 1/1.28″. It’s claimed to have even better video-shooting capabilities. The 3.7x (85mm focus length & F/2.67) telephoto lens comes with the same setup as the vivo X100 Ultra’s – the impressive Zeiss 200MP APO telephoto lens.

Under the Hood: Dimensity 9400 Powerhouse
Powering all this goodness is the latest MTK Dimensity 9400 chip. We’re still running some benchmarks (Antutu Benchmark: the first mobile chipset exceeds 3,000,000), so stay tuned for the nitty-gritty performance details. But so far, the phone has been very smooth, we can expect the chip to deliver.

One of the coolest features we’ve played with on the phone is the BlueLM AI large model. You can actually download the local algorithm package for offline use, such as Image Stylization and Document Summarization, which is pretty neat. We’ve been having a fun time with image generation, text recognition, and instant translation. Another new software feature that caught my interest is ‘Circle to Search’. Just circle any objects or items on the display to search for their information. It can be triggered in any app while just holding two fingers on the screen for a few seconds. The results? Surprisingly accurate most of the time.

If you missed our X200 launch article, let me remind you that there’s a Pro Mini model as well. It has a very unique placement (compact in size), which is a refreshing change from all the Ultras and the Pro Maxes we’ve been seeing. We also have a detailed article explaining the entire Vivo X200 series, which will be out very soon.

In addition, Vivo and MediaTek have jointly developed and globally premiered the kilometer-level network-less communication technology, which realizes point-to-point and long-distance communication through Bluetooth connection in a network-less and signal-less environment. Supports SOS text broadcasting, one-to-one voice/text intercom, map location display, etc. Within a certain distance, you can form a local network of communication with other Vivo users by turning your phone into a walkie-talkie.

To sum up, the Vivo X200 Pro is shaping up to be a serious contender in the high-end smartphone market. With its focus on photography, powerful chip, and AI capabilities, it’s clear Vivo is gunning for the top spot. Sure, that camera bump is huge and might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you’re all about that photo and video life, this is definitely a phone to check out.

As for the battery, I would draw my conclusion first here – it feels like the premium phone with the longest battery life I’ve ever used. More details will be revealed in our in-depth review.

Please stay tuned for our full review, where we’ll dive deeper into the benchmarks, battery life, and how it holds up in day-to-day use.

In the meantime, what feature of the X200 Pro are you most excited about?

The Vivo X200 series finally went official in China this week. While the X200 Pro had my attention, the X200 Pro Mini swept me off the floor. Now, its name might be quite the mouthful but the phone isn’t. Launched for CNY 4,699 , this mini phone features everything you can ask for from a compact flagship. Not to mention, this is also the very first phone in the world to feature the MediaTek Dimensity 9400. With that said, here’s all that Vivo’s small wonder boy entices you with, at least it has me in a trance!

Just the Right Amount of Screen

Vivo X200 Pro Mini flaunts a 6.3-inch LTPO OLED display with 1.5K resolution (2640 × 1216 pixels). While it’s not as small as the ASUS Zenfone 10’s 5.9-inch, iPhone 16’s 6.1-inch, or the Galaxy S24’s 6.2-inch panel, it’s still a good amount of display without feeling too much. It’s all the better to see such an offering from a brand that’s just not in the habit of launching compact phones.

>>>>EB-BS928ABY Battery for Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

The X200 Pro Mini’s panel boasts a 120Hz refresh rate. However, the real kicker is that it is BOE’s LTPO panel, which can now drop as low as just 0.1Hz as compared to the usual 1Hz. So, you are getting not just a small and fast display, but also one that will save you more battery juice. Vivo also claims a peak brightness of 4,500 nits, which is impressive.

This is also a flat display, by the way, which is the norm for compact phones. Making things handier, this compact phone measures 150.83 × 71.76 × 8.15mm and weighs just 187 grams. Moreover, it has an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance.

Battery Life for Days!
However, the small body and compact display are not the only special things about this phone. This is where I take my hat off for Vivo. The Vivo X200 Pro Mini packs a massive 5,700mAh BlueVolt battery, which is more than what even the top flagships offer.

For reference, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has a 5,000mAh battery, the Pixel 9 Pro XL packs a 5,060mAh battery, and the OnePlus 12 brings 5,400mAh capacity to the table.

The Vivo X Fold 3 Pro (first impressions) has a similar capacity, and despite being a foldable phone, it impressed me with its battery performance, big time. So, one can only imagine the kind of backup this smaller monster can potentially deliver. Thanks to 90W wired charging and 30W wireless charging support, the device won’t take much time to charge fully.

>>>BA15 Battery for Vivo X100 Pro

Uncompromised Performance

And then, there’s also the MediaTek Dimensity 9400 chipset under the hood. MediaTek’s latest and greatest chipset based on a 3nm fabrication process. Yes, this is that chipset that was reportedly hitting over and beyond 3 million points on AnTuTu. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, on the other hand, maxes out at somewhere around 2 million, which is almost 40% less.

While that may change with the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 launch, which is also said to rack up a similar amount of points, it is about who did it first. Meanwhile, Samsung’s Exynos 2400 doesn’t even hit 2 million, in comparison.

Besides, accompanying the chipset, you also get to see a super-fast storage configuration of up to 16GB of LPDDR5X Ultra Pro RAM. There’s also up to UFS 4.0 Flash Storage of up to 1TB to enjoy.

Solid Set of Cameras
Vivo X200 Pro Mini doesn’t disappoint in the camera front either. There’s a ZEISS-backed 50MP Sony LYT818 primary sensor coupled with a 50MP ISOCELL JN1 ultra-wide camera. However, the highlight of this setup is the addition of a 1/2″ 50MP periscope telephoto sensor, capable of 3x optical zoom and 100x digital zoom. Yep, you heard that right.

Even the latest iPhone 16 and Pixel 9 don’t offer a telephoto sensor, let alone a periscope camera. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S24 features a 1/4″ telephoto with 3x optical zoom. Then, there’s also the Vivo V2 imaging chipset, which brings that extra bit of enhancement to the shots.

However, Vivo has reused the same 32MP selfie shooter as the last set of phones, which could have been improved. Keeping that aside, there’s nothing but gold here.

The No-Compromise Compact Phone I’ve Always Wanted

Every corner I look at, the Vivo X200 Pro Mini just seems all too perfect. Moreover, Origin OS 5.0, with its seemingly incredible animations and improvements, looks incredible. Although the rest of the world will be getting the bland Android 15-based Funtouch OS 15 instead, it’s still not half bad.

While this compact phone may not launch globally, I can’t help but wish it does, somewhere down the line. The compact phone market has too many opportunities, and I’d love to see OEMs crowding this space and giving us more such stellar options.
Not too long ago, I also tested out the Moto Edge 50 Neo (first impressions), which is also a phone with a 6.3-inch screen, but a significantly cheaper mid-ranger instead. And there’s just a different kind of unexplainable appeal to such phones.

Especially so, when they’re as commendably priced as the X200 Pro Mini. I also like that you can choose from either the classic Plain White and Simple Black color options or go Light Pink and Titanium Green.

The other two phones in the lineup, the Vivo X200 and X200 Pro are impressive as well, and from the looks of it, the X200 Pro Mini is the middle ground.

But the X200 Pro Mini is giving my reviewer hands an unstoppable itch, and I can’t wait to take it out for a spin! You know where to find me when that happens. Meanwhile, what do you think of Vivo’s latest compact phone? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!

The vivo X100 Pro (review) is among the best camera phones we’ve tested. Whether it is our detailed review of the smartphone or the blind camera test where we bid the phone against the Galaxy S24 Ultra (review) and the iPhone 15 Pro Max, the Vivo X100 Pro proved its mettle, especially when it comes to smartphone photography.

Now, it’s time to bid the smartphone against its successor — the vivo X200 Pro — and see whether the phone comes with enough upgrades to set the bar even higher. Powered by the Dimensity 9400 SoC, the X200 Pro sure promises significant upgrades in terms of performance. But what about the other aspects like display, cameras, battery life, and charging speeds? Let’s find out.

>>>BA06 Battery for VIVO X100 V2308 V2309A

vivo X200 Pro Vs. X100 Pro: Design

In terms of design, the vivo X200 Pro is not drastically different from its predecessor. On the front, the phone offers a punch-hole screen with thinner side bezels (symmetrical). Further, the X200 Pro now features a quad-curved display, implying that it is curved on all sides.

While the front and back are made of glass, the side consists of aluminum frames. This year, the frames aren’t entirely flat; they curve slightly toward the edges, giving the phone a somewhat different in-hand feel. Beyond that, the phone retains all the other physical elements, such as the volume and power buttons on the right frame, antenna bands, USB-C ports, speaker grills, etc.

• vivo X200 Pro dimensions: 162.36 × 75.95 × 8.49 mm (or 8.20 mm for the Carbon Black finish); the phone weighs 228 grams (223 grams in the Carbon Black variant).
• vivo X100 Pro dimensions: 164.05 x 75.28 x 8.91 mm (or 9.05 mm for the Sunset Orange variant); the phone weighs 225 grams (or 221 grams for the Sunset Orange variant).

Like the X100 Pro, the X200 Pro retains the gigantic circular camera module on its back (with a metallic ring on the side). Though the island features three sensors (and one design element that looks like a sensor), they’re placed parallelly instead of the X-like formation on the X100 Pro. The flash module retains its position outside the camera island toward the top right corner of the back panel.

vivo’s latest flagship is available in four colors: Carbon Black and Moonlight White with a matte back, and Titanium Gray and Sapphire Blue with a glossy back. The X100 Pro, on the other hand, was available in three finishes: Startrail Blue and Asteroid Black with a glass back and Sunset Orange with a vegan leather back. Last but not least, the vivo X200 Pro sports an IP69 dust and water resistance rating for withstanding hot water jets.

>>>BA15 Battery for Vivo X100 Pro

vivo X200 Pro Vs. X100 Pro: Display

Out of the box, the vivo X200 Pro ships with a 6.78-inch LTPO AMOLED screen built on a 20:9 aspect ratio. Thanks to the thinner bezels, the phone has been able to retain the screen size despite being slightly shorter than its predecessor. The panel has a resolution of 452 ppi (similar to its predecessor) and supports a 0.1 – 120Hz refresh rate (an improvement over the 1Hz minimum refresh rate on the X100 Pro).

Other display features include a peak brightness of 4,500 nits (up from 3,000 nits on the predecessor), support for the P3 color gamut, Dolby Vision, and HDR10+ content. Unlike last year, the screen is tuned by Zeiss Master Color. Moreover, the X200 Pro’s screen is brighter and more efficient than the X100 Pro’s screen.

vivo X200 Pro Vs. X100 Pro: Processor
The vivo X200 Pro is powered by the Dimensity 9400 (3nm) SoC with one prime core clocked at 3.63GHz, three performance cores at 3.3GHz, and four efficient cores at 2.4GHz. With the capable processor, the handset also features a custom V3+ imaging chip, the Immortalis G925 GPU, up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM, and up to 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage.

In comparison, the X100 Pro features the Dimensity 9300 (4nm) SoC with a 3.25GHz prime core, three 2.85GHz performance cores, and four 2.0GHz efficient cores. While the type of RAM and storage remains the same on both smartphones, the Dimensity 9400 SoC provides around 35% faster single-core and 28% faster multi-core performance.

Thanks to the new fabrication technology, which is about 40% more power efficient, the X200 Pro should last longer on a single charge. Even for gaming, the X200 Pro should be the better handset with 41% faster peak GPU performance and up to 40% faster raytracing performance. 

While the software support duration for the X200 Pro isn’t clear at the moment, the X100 Pro will get operating system updates until Android 17 and security updates for another year after that. Out of the box, the X200 Pro runs on OriginOS 5 based on Android 15, which should also roll out for the X100 Pro later in October 2024.

vivo X200 Pro Vs. X100 Pro: Camera

Both the vivo X200 Pro and the X100 Pro feature a triple camera setup. However, the sensors on the newer model are slightly better. For instance, the 50MP Sony LYT-818 primary camera on the X200 Pro, has a bigger aperture (f/1.57) than the 50MP (f/1.75) camera on the X100 Pro.

For some odd reason, the company decided to swap the 1/0.98-inch sensor on the older smartphone with a 1/1.28-inch sensor on the newer model. The X200 Pro features another 50MP ISOCELL JN1 (f/2.0) for capturing ultrawide landscapes, which, at least on paper, is similar to the one on the predecessor.

The telephoto camera happens to be the main highlight of X200 Pro’s optics arrangement. Featuring a 200MP (f/2.67) ISOCELL HP9 periscope sensor, the smartphone provides 3.7x optical zoom, up to 100x digital zoom, and tele-macro abilities. Although the optical zoom range is slightly less than the Vivo X100 Pro (50MP, 4.3x), the new sensor should click much more detailed pictures, especially at higher focal lengths.

While the primary and the telephoto cameras are improvements, the X200 Pro seems to have retained the32MP (f/2.0) selfie shooter from the X100 Pro. Anyway, the phone also supports 8K video recording at 30 fps (same as last year), 4K recording at up to 120fps (upgrade from 60 fps on X100 Pro), 85mm and 135mm HD Portraits, Pro Sports Mode, and 4K HDR Cinematic Portrait Mode. The front camera can only record 4K videos at up to 60 fps.

vivo X200 Pro Vs. X100 Pro: Battery

The X200 Pro packs in a significant upgrade with its massive 6,000 mAh battery. The single-cell pack also supports 90W wired charging and 30W wireless charging rates, which is slower than what the X100 Pro supports.

In contrast, the Vivo X100 Pro featured a dual-cell battery with a total capacity of5,400 mAh. Surprisingly, the smartphone supports higher charging speeds than its successor. We’re talking about100W wired chargingand50W wireless charging.

vivo X200 Pro Vs. X100 Pro: Connectivity & Software

As far as connectivity is concerned, both smartphones support 5G (sub-6GHz), Wi-Fi 7, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth v5.4, NFC, OTG, GPS and a Type-C port.

Out of the box, the X200 Pro runs on the OriginOS 15 based on Android 15. However, when the phone arrives outside of China, it could ship with Funtouch OS 15. Announced a couple of days ago, the new operating system has features like AI Image Lab, S-Capture, Ultra Game Mode, Immersive Wallpapers, new UI animations, etc. The latest operating system also improves the app startup speed by 15% and memory compression by 40% for better performance.

vivo X200 Pro Vs. X100 Pro: Price & Conclusion

For the market, there are indeed some products of the same type on the market, but either the product is released too early to keep up with The Times, or the experience is not so Pro, not worthy of the flagship identity, which makes many consumers discouraged.

In contrast, the vivo X200 Pro mini is unique in that it not only meets the user’s pursuit of a small-size flagship, but also realizes a Pro-level leap in performance, image and design, redefining the ultimate experience of a small-screen flagship.

For consumers who pursue quality, vivo X200 Pro mini is undoubtedly a choice worth looking forward to, it is not only a small straight screen flagship, but also a brave exploration of the future mini model design and technological innovation and a new attempt.

However, if you already have the X100 Pro, it might make sense to hold off for another year or so before upgrading.

Vivo has just announced three new smartphones, and the smallest of them is the Vivo X200 Pro mini. All three phones belong under the same Vivo X200 series, but only two are ‘Pro’ phones, and this is one of them. In this article, we’ll focus on that phone alone. The Vivo X200 and Vivo X200 Pro will be covered separately.

related:BA06 Battery for VIVO X100 V2308 V2309A

The Vivo X200 Pro mini is a compact flagship smartphone from the company
Vivo’s X200 Pro mini comes as a semi-surprise. It’s not a full surprise as we’ve known about its existence for a couple of weeks now. On the other hand, it’s quite surprising as Vivo does not have a habit of releasing compact flagship smartphones.

When it comes to design, it’s very similar to its siblings. The main differentiating point is the alignment of its camera sensors on the back. They have a rhombus shape, compared to two-by-two setup on its larger sibling.

The phone is made out of metal and glass, while it has flat sides. Its front and back sides are also flat, and as part of that a ‘Quad Curved Display’ is included. That is basically a flat display that has a 90-degree curve on all of its sides. It’s also known as a micro-curved display. A centered display camera hole is included too, and the bezels around the display are very thin, and uniform.

>>>>BA15 Battery for Vivo X100 Pro

It has the same ZEISS-backed camera setup as its larger sibling
A camera oreo on the back is included, along with ZEISS optics. That camera oreo does protrude on the back, though it could make for a nice anchor for your finger. We’ll have to wait and see.

This smartphone features a 6.31-inch 1.5K display. This is an LTPO AMOLED display, by the way, and it has a resolution of 2640 x 1216 pixels. The MediaTek Dimensity 9400 SoC fuels this phone, the company’s brand new chip.

A 50-megapixel main camera (Sony’s LYT-818 sensor, 1/1.28-inch sensor, f/1.57 aperture) sits on the back. It is backed by a 50-megapixel ultrawide unit (ISOCELL JN1 sensor, f/2.0 aperture), and a 50-megapixel periscope tele-macro camera (f/2.57 aperture, 3x optical zoom, 100x digital zoom). The Vivo V3+ imaging chip is also included here.

A 5,700mAh battery is included, along with up to 16GB of RAM
A 5,700mAh battery is also included in the package. The phone supports 90W wired and 30W wireless charging. It also utilizes 12GB or 16GB of RAM (LPDDR5X Ultra Pro RAM) and 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of UFS 4.0 flash storage, while it is IP68 certified for water and dust resistance.

OriginOS 5 comes pre-installed on the device in China, but if it launches globally, it will ship with Funtouch 15 OS, based on Android 15. The Vivo X200 Pro mini comes in Light Pink, Plain White, Simple Black, and Titanium Green colors. The Vivo X200 Pro measures 150.83 x 71.76 x 8.15mm, and weighs 187 grams.
The 12GB RAM model of the Vivo X200 Pro mini with 256GB of storage costs CNY4,699. Its 16GB RAM model is available in both 512GB and 1TB variants, and those are priced at CNY5,299  and CNY5,799 in China. The price tags will be different globally, of course.

There was once a time when the Sony Xperia Z Compact carried the bastion of pocketable powerhouses. But as consumer priorities shifted, especially here in the East, smaller phones quickly ran out of favor. Remember how quickly the iPhone “mini” vanished to pave the way for the Plus?

One might argue functional limitations are to blame. You need a large battery. The next-gen camera stack needs space. Yet, every so often, some brand pulls a rabbit out of the proverbial hat. This time, it’s the Chinese smartphone powerhouse Vivo.

Earlier today, the company introduced its X200 series phones, and once again, cameras take center stage. But the biggest surprise of the event was a new “mini” member of the series — the Vivo X200 Pro mini. And it looks superb.

Related:BA06 Battery for VIVO X100 V2308 V2309A

A mean mini flagship

Make no mistake. Unlike your typical Galaxy or Pixel, this one doesn’t make concessions. On the contrary, this “mini” seems like an absolute beast — and one with an unbelievable price tag that puts the competition in serious jeopardy.

Like the iPhone 16 Pro, the Vivo X200 Pro mini has a 6.3-inch OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 2640 x 1216 resolution. Yet, the peak brightness is an astounding 4,500 nits, nearly double that of the Apple flagship.

Running the show inside is MediaTek’s Dimensity 9400 chip, a top-tier silicon that goes all-big on the core architecture, omitting Arm’s efficiency cores in its entirety. The results are quite impressive, and according to media presentations, they even outclass Apple’s mighty A18 Pro, at least on synthetic benchmarks.
But it’s almost astounding how much tech Vivo has packed inside its phone. The X200 Pro mini is just a hair taller than the iPhone 16 Pro but narrower, thinner, and lighter than its Apple rival. But wait until you see what’s underneath that glass and metal chassis.

Somehow, Vivo managed to fit a massive 5,700mAh battery inside this phone. For comparison, regulatory filings put the iPhone 16 Pro’s battery capacity at 3,582 mAh. But let’s not merely look at the numbers.

Vivo has also delivered 90W wired charging, double that of Apple’s latest and greatest. You also get support for 30W wireless charging, which itself is quite impressive, though not as fast as OnePlus flagships.

>>>>BA15 Battery for Vivo X100 Pro

A no-holds-barred hardware package

The most impressive part, however, is the camera hardware. At the back, you get a trio of cameras, each backed by a 50-megapixel sensor. One of them is a periscope-style zoom snapper that relies on a tunnel-based folded lens system.

This telephoto camera is actually quite impressive, as it opens the doors for long-distance portrait capture and macro photography. Moreover, all three rear cameras, as well as the 32MP front camera, are backed by autofocus, which is a neat convenience.

Those might sound like figures solely directed at bragging rights. But I’ve used Vivo’s flagships over the past few years, and if there’s one aspect that these phones excel at, it’s the camera output. The video capture capabilities, in particular, are neck and neck with the iPhones and Galaxies out there.

On the software side, there are a bunch of AI tricks that mirror what the Galaxy AI or Apple Intelligence stack has to offer. To handle all that workload, the MediaTek silicon gets support from a minimum of 12GB RAM, though the higher-end version goes up to 16GB, paired with up to 1TB of storage.
Unlike Apple’s stingy approach, the minimum storage capacity starts at 256GB. We are talking about the fast UFS 4.0 storage modules here, but there’s more to the picture.

The Vivo X200 Pro mini’s build is IP69-certified, a rare feat for smartphones. For comparison, the iPhone 16 Pro only comes with an IP68 clearance. The final shocker, however, is the asking price.

An impossibly alluring mini phone

All that smartphone goodness is crammed inside a package that starts at CNY 4,699, which roughly translates to around NZ $1,087based on the current conversion rates. That’s lower than the cheapest mainline iPhone this year and nearly a third of the iPhone 16 Pro’s sticker price.

So far, the phone has only been launched in China, but given Vivo’s history, the X200 Pro mini could soon appear in other markets across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Market availability aside, Vivo’s compact flagship once again proves that small phones can be mighty — and that they can go toe-to-toe against the large-screen flagships without making any compromises.

It’s just a cherry on top that while doing it, they can dramatically undercut the Pro iPhones on the price scale while surpassing them at practically meaningful parameters like battery capacity, sensor resolution, and build resilience.

Take some lessons, Samsung and Google!

The Good

Using the Vivo Nex’s full, no-notch screen is an unparalleled experience and performance is as smooth as butter. The pop-up camera works pretty well, too.

The Bad

Its copycat iPhone X gestures are unwieldy and hard to use. It feels heavy.

>>>B-E6 Battery for Vivo NEX

The Bottom Line

The Vivo Nex’s clever engineering and fantastic notch-free screen serve as a model for other phones. 

Vivo’s Nex demonstrates everything a phone of the future can be. It starts with a bezel-less 6.59-inch Super AMOLED display featuring a full HD+ resolution of 2,136×1,080 pixels. There’s no front speaker grill, which gives it a clean, nothing-but-screen look. The fingerprint reader is integrated into the screen, and a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor powers the phone.

The Nex is amazing to look at, and it’s the perfect conversation starter. I’ve had plenty of people marvel at the pop-up camera, though the first question is usually almost always, “Will it break?” The answer is no, it won’t, but more on that later.

>>>VY20N576 Battery for VIVO NEX NEX2

The Vivo Nex’s cutting-edge design is also clever

Companies that make “all-screen” phones have a problem: where do you put the front-facing camera, speaker grill and other sensors you need to make a phone work?

Vivo’s solution is to strip them out entirely, which makes for a phone face that’s over 91 percent screen.

The highlight of the phone, the 8-megapixel selfie camera lives inside the phone body and pops up when you take a selfie. The mechanism is sturdy and likely unlikely to break. I tested it carefully at first before applying more force, and I’m confident that it’s anything but flimsy. The eject mechanism is also pretty strong too, enough to keep pushing away my finger, which was purposely blocking it, with some strength. When you switch from the rear dual cameras to the front pop-up selfie, the switching speed is only slower by about half a second at most compared to the iPhone X.

Another cool piece of engineering is the underscreen fingerprint sensor. Another Vivo phone, the Vivo X21 , has this, too, and honestly, I wasn’t too impressed. It was slower than an actual physical scanner, and was sometimes frustrating to use. The Nex features the third-generation Synaptics scanner, however, which registers my prints almost immediately, a definite improvement.

While the X21 had face unlocking to help with the fingerprint unlock, the option isn’t available on the Nex, since the selfie camera is hidden away. But the in-screen fingerprint reader is fast enough.

To really cement the all-screen experience, Vivo also took away the Nex’s front-firing speakers. Instead, it uses the screen as a speaker when you’re taking calls through the use of a linear vibrator, which basically transmits the sound to the frame of the phone that’s relayed through the screen. This tech is similar to Xiaomi ‘s Mi Mix 2 , but plays out better on the Vivo Nex. Unlike the Mi Mix 2, the Nex doesn’t broadcast your audio to everyone within hearing range. Regular music and video playback use a bottom-firing speaker instead.

Vivo Nex camera, battery life and speed

The Nex’s AI-powered dual-rear cameras are pretty good. It uses a 12- and 5-megapixel setup that lets you take portrait mode shots, though there’s no optical zoom. Low-light performance is decent, but can be too sharpened at times. Performance is very similar to the Vivo X21, but that’s no surprise, because both phones share the same setup.

Packing a 4,000-mAh battery, the Vivo Nex easily lasted a day of use. It lasted 21 hours, 50 minutes in our video loop tests. Performance from its Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor easily matched up to other flagship phones with a similar processor, such as the Samsung Galaxy S9 , the Sony Xperia XZ2 and the LG G7 ThinQ . In real-world use, the phone is buttery smooth, apps load fast and games such as Asphalt 7 deliver fluid performance even at the highest graphical settings.

Check out the benchmark scores below to see how the Nex performed.

• 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited
• Vivo Nex63,324Samsung Galaxy S958,157LG G7 ThinQ56,714Huawei P20 Pro30,781
• Note: Longer bars indicate better performance
• GeekBench v4.0 single-core
• Vivo Nex2,449Samsung Galaxy S92,180LG G7 ThinQ2,436Huawei P20 Pro1,918
• Note: Longer bars indicate better performance
• GeekBench v4.0 multicore
• Vivo Nex9,145Samsung Galaxy S98,302LG G7 ThinQ8,742Huawei P20 Pro6,751
• Note: Longer bars indicate better performance

Score Breakdown

Design           9✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Features        8✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Performance   8✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Camera          8✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Battery          10✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨