vivo launches the X500, X500 Pro and X500 Pro Max

vivo launched the X500 series in China yesterday. The range is the successor to last year’s X300 series and has three phones: the X500, the X500 Pro and a new model on top, the X500 Pro Max. vivo skipped the X400 name because in Mandarin and Cantonese the word for four sounds like the word for death, as we explained when vivo confirmed the range in August.

For now this is a China-only launch. The phones on sale run the Chinese build of OriginOS 7, vivo’s own software on top of Android 17. That build is set up for Chinese services: vivo’s product pages list Didi ride-hailing integration, vivo’s Blue Heart assistant and satellite messaging that works only through China Mobile. vivo has not announced international models, prices or dates.

We can estimate the global launch however. For the X300 series, the China only launch was on 13 October 2025. It went on sale in Europe on 30 October, in India on 2 December, and reached Kenya on 19 December. So earliest we can see the device here officially is December.

What each phone costs

vivo’s recommended prices for China are as follows:

X500

X500 Pro

X500 Pro Max

Pre-orders opened in China after the event. The X500 and X500 Pro Max go on sale on 24 September, and the X500 Pro follows on 29 September.

Every starting price is higher than last year. The X300 started at CNY 4,399 and the X300 Pro at CNY 5,299 in October 2025. The X500 now starts CNY 1,100 higher. The Pro Max, which takes over the X300 Pro’s job as the big-screen phone with the 200MP zoom camera, starts CNY 1,700 above the X300 Pro. Memory is the main reason, as we explained yesterday morning: the RAM and storage in a phone like this cost several times what they did a year ago. Every X500 model now starts at 12GB of RAM, and only two Pro Max versions offer 16GB.

The cameras

The X500 Pro and X500 Pro Max share a new 50MP main camera on a 1/1.28-inch sensor. vivo calls it the Blueprint Guangyu 900 and says it built the sensor jointly with Sony. vivo claims 17 stops of dynamic range from it when recording in Log, its flat video mode meant for colour grading. Each stop is a doubling of light, so 17 stops means the camera can hold detail across a brightness range of about 130,000 to one. Both Pro phones also record 4K video at 240 frames per second for slow motion!

The Pro Max has the longest zoom. Its telephoto camera is a 200MP Samsung HP0 sensor measuring 1/1.4 inches, behind an 85mm-equivalent lens, the same hardware as the X300 Ultra. Its main camera has a stabiliser that vivo says tilts up to 3 degrees. CIPA, a Japanese camera industry body, rates stabilisation in stops of hand shake cancelled, and vivo rates both the Pro Max’s main and telephoto cameras at CIPA 7.0. It is also the only X500 that vivo lists for its 400mm-equivalent ZEISS extender, a lens that clips onto the phone.

The X500 Pro uses a smaller 64MP Sony LYT-610 telephoto, also at 85mm. The standard X500 keeps the X300 Pro’s 50MP Sony LYT-828 main camera and the same 64MP telephoto, set at 72mm, with CIPA 5.5 stabilisation. All three accept a smaller 200mm-equivalent extender. vivo sells every extender, grip and its new clip-on 3.92-inch rear monitor separately. The 200mm extender costs CNY 999, the 400mm version CNY 1,999 and the monitor CNY 699.

Screens, chips and batteries