vivo is launching the X500, X500 Pro and X500 Pro Max in China today at 19:00 Beijing time. When we covered the range, vivo had confirmed the camera hardware and said nothing about prices. Tonight we find out what they cost. Every figure we are seeing on leaks point to higher prices than last year.
vivo already signaled the price hikes. On 18 September the company raised the price of the X300 Ultra across every configuration, a phone that has been on sale for months. The 12GB and 256GB version went from CNY6,999 to CNY7,499. The 16GB and 512GB version went from CNY7,999 to CNY8,999. The photographer’s kit version went from CNY11,999 to CNY13,999, a rise of CNY2,000. A company that puts up the price of existing stock three days before a launch event is not about to undercut itself.
The leaked X500 numbers are messier. Chinese accounts put the standard X500 anywhere from CNY5,299 to CNY6,499, the X500 Pro from CNY6,299 to CNY7,499, and the Pro Max from CNY6,999 to CNY8,499.
The direction is clear enough. vivo announced the X300 at CNY4,399 and the X300 Pro at CNY5,299 in October 2025. Every leaked X500 starting price sits above both. Are people ready for those new crazy prices.
Memory is now the most expensive part in a flagship
DRAM contract prices have risen more than 340% across 2026, with NAND flash up more than 320%. The memory and storage for a 12GB and 256GB handset cost around CNY500 to buy a year ago and around CNY2,200 now. That is roughly CNY1,500 of extra cost per phone before anyone has paid for a screen, a camera or a processor. Memory and storage account for between 30% and 43% of what a flagship costs to build. DRAM is now the single most expensive component in the device.
vivo is not the only one dealing with this. On 1 September, Huawei, Xiaomi and Honor raised prices across their ranges by CNY200 to CNY1,000. Qualcomm put up its chip prices by a double-digit percentage in the same month. IDC expects global smartphone shipments to fall 16.7% in 2026, the largest annual drop it has on record.
X500 Series: 3 devices
Processors
The X500 Pro and X500 Pro Max run MediaTek’s Dimensity 9600 Pro, the first phone chip built on TSMC’s 2nm process. The standard X500 runs a Dimensity 9600M at 4.21GHz, a different and slower part despite the shared X500 badge.
Cameras?
- The Pro Max has a 200MP Samsung ISOCELL HP0 periscope telephoto on a 1/1.4-inch sensor, with ZEISS APO certification, CIPA 7.0 stabilisation and support for a 400mm teleconverter. Its main camera is a Sony LYT-910 on a 1/1.28-inch sensor that physically tilts through 3 degrees, alongside a 50MP Samsung ISOCELL JNX ultrawide.
- The X500 Pro gets a 64MP Sony LYT-610 telephoto starting at 85mm and no gimbal.
- The standard X500 inherits the X300 Pro’s main camera, a Sony LYT-828 on a 1/1.28-inch sensor, rated CIPA 5.5.
Batteries?
Leaked specification point to the standard X500 having a 7,500mAh with 90W wired and 40W wireless charging. Leaks disagree on the Pro and Pro Max with claims of an 8,000mAh battery with 90W wired charging.
In Kenya, the X300 Pro launched at KES 169,999 in December 2025, for 16GB of memory and 512GB of storage. That same configuration cost CNY5,999 in China. The X500 Pro’s lowest leaked Chinese starting price, CNY6,299, is already higher. And that is for the smaller 12GB and 256GB version.
The X300 Pro took about two months to get from its Chinese launch to a Kenyan one. On the same timing and the same markup, expect a Kenyan X500 Pro at about KES 200,000 by December 2026.
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