The 200-megapixel telephoto race is officially on. vivo has taken the wraps off its X500 series — the X500, X500 Pro, and X500 Pro Max — unveiled in Shanghai on September 21, 2026, and now rolling out to global markets. The trio pushes vivo's partnership with ZEISS to new heights, headlined by a 200MP periscope telephoto on the Pro Max and one of the largest batteries ever stuffed into a flagship phone.
The Pro Max is the undisputed star. It pairs a 6.85-inch 2K OLED display (3168 x 1440, 144Hz, BOE Q11 panel, up to 4,500 nits peak) with MediaTek's 2nm Dimensity 9600 Pro chipset — cutting-edge flagship silicon — plus up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. On the camera front, vivo worked with ZEISS on a custom 50MP main sensor (the Sony LYTIA L910, 1/1.28-inch, f/1.57 with OIS) rated for a staggering 17 EV of dynamic range, joined by a 50MP ultrawide and a 200MP ZEISS APO telephoto with a 400mm-equivalent reach. Around front sits a 50MP selfie camera, and video goes all-in: 4K at up to 240fps slow motion, 8K Native Live, and pro-grade 17 EV TrueDynamic Log recording with 10-bit 4:2:2 encoding.
Battery life should be a non-story in the best way: an 8,000mAh silicon-carbon BlueVolt cell — among the biggest in any flagship — supports 90W wired and 40W wireless charging. The phone carries IP68 and IP69 ratings, an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner, and runs OriginOS 7 on Android 17, with vivo promising five major OS updates.
The standard X500 and compact X500 Pro (6.36-inch) keep most of the imaging magic, including the ZEISS partnership and OriginOS 7. The X500 carries a 7,500mAh battery and a Dimensity 9600M chip, while the X500 Pro steps up to the 2nm Dimensity 9600 Pro with a 6,510mAh cell and a 64MP telephoto.
China pricing starts at CNY 5,499 for the X500, CNY 6,499 for the Pro, and CNY 6,999 for the Pro Max. The global rollout is underway — Malaysia is expected this month and the Philippines is confirmed — arriving just in time to spar with OPPO's Find X10 series and Samsung's Galaxy flagships in the camera-phone arena. If mobile photography is your thing, this is the phone war to watch.