TL;DR
- Vivo has confirmed that its upcoming X100 Ultra smartphone will launch on May 13.
- The phone will apparently rival Apple for video quality, while also offering a 200MP camera.
- An executive has also claimed that the periscope camera will offer improved image quality during concerts.
The vivo X100 Pro is one of our top camera phones of 2024, largely due to its great zoom quality. We’ve previously heard about the upcoming vivo X100 Ultra too, purportedly code-named Thanos. Now, the company has confirmed a launch date, while an executive has revealed more about the phone’s zoom capabilities.
Vivo confirmed a May 13 launch date for the X100 Ultra in China, while also giving us a few glimpses at the phone. The accompanying video shows a large, circular camera hump complete with three rear cameras. Check out the clip below.
Company executive Jia Jingdong also posted a lengthy message about the X100 Ultra’s camera capabilities on Weibo. The executive confirmed via machine translation that the phone had a 200MP APO periscope camera (Samsung HP9), which is a new high for telephoto camera resolution. Resolution isn’t the be-all-and-end-all of telephoto cameras, though, as the HONOR Magic 6 Pro showed with its disappointing 180MP tele lens.
The executive added that the vivo camera is the “world’s strongest chromatic aberration correction periscope telephoto lens,” and that image output is indeed at 200MP. This can apparently enable you to take portrait shots that can be printed in the size of an advertisement poster.
Jingdong revealed more details about the other rear cameras, namely a 50MP LYT-900 main camera (featuring improved stabilization) and a 50MP ultrawide lens. He added that these cameras, in conjunction with the V3+ imaging chip, will produce video performance “comparable to Apple.”
The ultimate concert phone?
The executive also explained that the device was indeed code-named Thanos, after the Marvel villain, and that the company wanted to solve six extreme telephoto camera challenges with the new phone. Yes, the six challenges mirror the six Infinity Stones.
Jingdong noted that five of these telephoto challenges were generally addressed by the time of the X100 Pro’s release. These were high-speed capture, low-light portraits, astrophotography and polar photography, macro photography, and capturing the sun (the X100 series features optimizations for shooting the sun).
It turns out that the sixth, unresolved challenge for the vivo X100 Ultra is taking photos of concerts with the telephoto camera. The executive claimed that many X100 Pro users praised the device for its live gig shots. But he added that vivo wanted to up the ante and create an “unprecedented” and “unique” concert phone.
Jingdong pointed to numerous difficulties associated with getting great shots during concerts. These hurdles included the distance from the stage if you’ve got cheap seats, the low light given that most concerts take place at night, dynamic stage lighting, and the artist’s unpredictable movement.
Either way, it sounds like the vivo X100 Ultra could be one of the most impressive camera phones of 2024. And an Android phone that could rival Apple for video quality would be a big deal, especially in light of our own Pixel versus iPhone photo/video comparison.
