Vivo just unveiled the X500 Pro Max at an event in Shanghai, China, and there's a lot to like with the phone. The X500 Pro Max is the clear highlight, but there's also a standard X500, and the X500 Pro. With the Pro Max, Vivo is delivering a bigger phone with a huge 6.85-inch AMOLED panel, and an 8,000mAh battery — the largest on one of its devices yet.
It's the cameras that are the main highlight of these phones, so let's start with what the X500 Pro Max has to offer. It uses a 1/1.28-inch 50MP main camera that uses Sony's new Lytia 910 sensor, and it's joined by a 200MP telephoto lens with 3.5x optical zoom — the same as the X300 Ultra — and a 50MP wide-angle module.
Elsewhere, the X500 Pro Max is powered by MediaTek's latest 2nm Dimensity 9600 Pro platform, and it is a clear powerhouse. The switch to 2nm brings huge gains in efficiency, and with the phone having an 8,000mAh battery, it should easily last three days without any issues. There's also a bigger 6.85-inch AMOLED panel with higher resolution than last year (3168 x 1440), and the latest connectivity.
Just like the X300 Ultra earlier this year, the X500 Pro Max focuses on video, with Vivo bringing most of the features over to Pro models. Vivo says it has achieved vertical integration through what it calls the BlueImage Dynamic Imaging Technology Stack, with the brand working closely with Sony (who made the camera modules), MediaTek (to customize the Dimensity 9600 Pro), and ZEISS (to deliver gimbal-level stability).
The X500 Pro and Pro Max can shoot 4K240 cinematic video as well as 8K footage, and they use Vivo's custom V3 and VS1 imaging silicon to boost fidelity of images and videos. There's a lot to like on the software side as well, with the phones running OriginOS 7 based on Android 17 out of the box.
The X500 Pro is largely the same as the Pro Max, but it doesn't have the tele lens, and the standard X500 is based on the Dimensity 9600M, doesn't have cameras that are quite as good as the Pro models, but the 7,500mAh battery is great to see. The X500 Pro Max starts out at the equivalent of $1,045 (CNY 6,999), with the Pro at $970, and the standard X500 at $830. Obviously, they'll cost a lot more once they start selling outside China, and as of now, there's no telling when that will be — or what they'll eventually cost. That said, given just how good the X300 Pro was, I'm excited to take a look at the X500 Pro Max and see just how it differs.
