Vivo flagships are known for their portrait camera capabilities, and that’s why I bought the Vivo X100 Pro after my review unit went back. However, they’ve always fallen short in one or two key areas, such as battery life and software. It’s taken a while, but Vivo has addressed every issue with the Vivo X200 Pro. It’s no longer just a camera-centric smartphone but one of the most complete flagships you can buy right now. As we head into the new year, I believe this is the phone to beat in 2025.
The Best Camera Setup On A Smartphone
We’ve got to start with the cameras when you have a 50MP + 200MP + 50MP setup. The Vivo X200 Pro opts for a 50MP 1/1.28” Sony LYT818 sensor, replacing my much-beloved 1” type sensor. It’s not a major downgrade per se, but a larger sensor allows for a more natural bokeh without the Portrait mode.
Vivo claims there’s not much of a difference, and in my usage, I’ve found myself on the telephoto camera more often than the main lens, so it’s fine. I’d prefer more upgrades in the zooming system, and that’s precisely what we have here.
The Vivo X200 Pro sports a new 200MP periscope telephoto camera with macro capabilities. It’s also a larger sensor and brings down the optical zoom from 4.3x to 3.7x, which feels more natural. It is accompanied by an unchanged 50MP ultrawide-angle camera. The cameras are equipped with a Zeiss T* Coating to reduce lens flare (hello, iPhone?).
All three cameras click excellent shots in daylight. You get good dynamic range across lenses with great details and accurate auto white balance. The photos captured on the primary and telephoto cameras look pleasing to the eye, thanks to colors that pop without being oversaturated.
The telephoto camera is mighty and delivers excellent details. I love the color tone of the pictures as well as the skin tone of the human subjects. You get good background separation but switch to the portrait mode and you’ll notice improved edge detection. It effectively detects strands of hair without blending them into the background.
Portrait mode also offers a 135mm focal length, which isn’t directly available in the Photo mode. While I’ve enjoyed clicking portraits at 50mm and 85mm focal lengths, the 35mm has also been improved in terms of details and clarity.
Playing around with Zeiss bokeh effects and filters is always enjoyable, with the Vintage effect being my favorite. The Vivo X200 Pro delivers excellent shots up to 7.4x zoom, which is impressive for a phone with just one telephoto camera. While 10x zoom photos may lack finer details, they are still very good.
Switch to Macro mode and you get new perspectives with great details, amazing background blur, and excellent tone.
In night mode, the Vivo X200 Pro outperforms mainstream flagships. Both the main camera and the 3.7x zoom deliver the signature Vivo look—vibrant, sharp, and detailed shots. However, under warm artificial lighting, the output tends to look warmer than expected. Plus, the photos are soft in indoor warm lighting.
The camera UI has a plethora of features without feeling cluttered. Vivo has also added a new Street photography mode that has a more contrasty look and feel. You can spend days on the X200 Pro discovering new features to enhance your shots.
All three cameras support 4K30 and 4K60 video recording, with the primary camera supporting up to 8K30 at 1x and 2x. The main and telephoto cameras can shoot at 4K120, while ultra stabilization supports 2.8K at 30fps or 60fps across 1x, 2x, and 3.7x. If you shoot a lot of videos, you’ll need to find the best combination across lenses for yourself. As for quality, the stabilization is surprisingly good, while the footage is sharp and vibrant.
The selfie camera remains unchanged. You get a 32MP shooter that performs well in daylight but is average in low light.
If I had to pick a camera system from the iPhone, Galaxy, Pixel, and Vivo, I’’d pick the Vivo X200 Pro for being so complete. None of those phones compete in portraits, while the iPhone also trails in lowlight.
Fixing Isuues Of The Past
Having used the Vivo X100 Pro for more than nine months, I’ve had consistent problems with the phone being slippery, the display being too curved, and a battery that couldn’t last a day. The new Vivo flagship has addressed all of these concerns.
The Vivo X200 Pro offers a better in-hand feel, with a design that is wider and shorter rather than tall and narrow. At 228 grams, it isn’t the lightest phone, but it feels premium rather than bulky. I don’t mind the large camera module either; I’d rather have this design with superior capabilities than a minimized module with compromises.
On the front, you get a 6.78-inch UHD AMOLED display that offers a 120Hz dynamic refresh rate. It’s an improvement over the X100 Pro, with reduced side curves for better usability. It can go up to 4,500nits for supported HDR content (supports HDR10+ and Dolby Vision). For high brightness too, it’s legible in direct sunlight. The screen offers a vivid look, which I’ve enjoyed using for media consumption. You also get reduced screen flicker for less eye strain with 2160Hz PWM dimming.
The display is protected by Vivo’s Armor Glass, claimed to offer 11x greater drop resistance. From my experience, it holds up better than the Vivo X100 Pro, which remains the only phone I’ve broken with an accidental drop. The X200 Pro is also IP68-rated for dust and water resistance, along with IP69 certification for pressurized water resistance.
Coming to my third issue from the past, the battery now lasts all day. The Vivo X200 Pro packs a 6,000mAh carbon silicon battery with support for 90W fast charging and 30W fast wireless charging. I’ve been happy charging my phone just once in the morning and going through the day worry-free.
Powerful Performance and Improved UI
The Vivo X200 Pro is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 9400 SoC, which rivals the Snapdragon 8 Elite in performance. It is paired with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. In everyday usage, I experienced no lags or stutters, and multitasking was seamless. BGMI ran at max settings without issues.
The new ultrasonic fingerprint scanner worked 10 out of 10 times, too. It’s snappy and you can customize the animations to your liking.
The Android 15-based FunTouch OS 15 has a more polished look, though its animations feel slower compared to Oppo’s ColorOS. You still get notifications from the Browser app but I like the overall cleaner interface. However, there’s still room for improvement with better widgets and faster animations.
Vivo offers a bunch of AI features like AI transcript assist, AI Note Assist, AI-enhanced signal boost, AI screen translation, Circle to Search and more. But like every other AI feature on every other smartphone, these need more polish to be reliable. For instance, you’ll need a human input for auto transcript. That being said, having it on my phone undoubtedly makes work easier.
Vivo is promising four years’ worth of Android OS upgrades and five years of security updates. It’s a promising look for the new flagship and I trust them with timely updates because the Vivo X100 Pro was one of the first phones to get the Android 15 update.
Vivo X200 Pro Review: Verdict
Priced at INR 94,999 (approx. USD 1,110), the Vivo X200 Pro is more affordable than mainstream flagships like the iPhone 16 Pro, Galaxy S24 Ultra, or Pixel 9 Pro XL. Its closest competitor, the Oppo Find X8 Pro (INR 99,999), offers a better software experience but struggles with unreliable Hasselblad color tuning.
The Vivo X200 Pro builds on its predecessor’s strengths while addressing key weaknesses. With the best camera system on the market, a sharp display, strong performance, reliable battery life, and excellent ergonomics, it’s the most complete Vivo smartphone yet—and one of the best all-around flagships you can buy. For me, it’s the best value-for-money flagship of the year.
Pros:
- Good in-hand feel
- Top-notch camera quality
- Most versatile camera system on the market
- Bright and vibrant display
- Reliable battery life
Cons:
- Selfie camera could be better
