Vivo has announced the X300 and X300 Pro, its latest flagship phones, and they look closer to the company’s even more premium Ultra handsets than ever. On paper, the Pro’s camera setup looks just as good as the X200 Ultra’s, especially thanks to offering support for the same add-on telephoto extender lens introduced with that phone when it launched in April this year, a few months after the initial X200 handsets.

Cameras are clearly Vivo’s focus on both new X300 phones, which each feature a new 200-megapixel HPB imaging sensor designed in collaboration with Samsung. The X300 Pro uses that sensor for its 85mm-equivalent telephoto camera, which offers similar specs to the industry-leading telephoto on the X200 Ultra, apart from a slightly slower f/2.67 aperture. The main camera might even better that of the Ultra, using the Sony LYT-828, the successor to the sensor found in that phone, with a faster aperture.

It’s only the ultrawide that’s clearly a step down from the X200 Ultra’s, using a smaller sensor that’s unlikely to deliver the same image quality, especially in low light. All three rear cameras also support 4K, 120fps, 10-bit Log video recording. It’s enough to make the X300 Pro feel like a statement phone from Vivo, channeling the acclaim it’s received for its Ultra models towards the next step down in price.

The regular X300 should impress too. Here, that 200-megapixel Samsung sensor is used for the main camera, paired with a fast f/1.68 aperture. It’s joined by a 50-megapixel telephoto, and the same 50-megapixel ultrawide and selfie lenses as the Pro.

Both phones support the telephoto extender, a 2.35x lens that attaches to the phones’ existing telephoto lenses via a dedicated phone case and mount. Paired with the X200 Ultra it enabled me to take some pretty extraordinary long-range shots that no other phone would be capable of, and I’m only surprised to see Vivo rolling support out to its other flagships so soon, rather than holding it back as an Ultra-only feature. It’s still sold together with a larger Photography Kit, including the mounting case and a camera grip with a battery pack built in.

Both phones are powered by MediaTek’s flagship Dimensity 9500 chipset, a rival to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. A few other specs are shared too: 90W wired and 40W wireless charging, IP68 and 69 durability ratings, and ultrasonic fingerprint sensors.

The biggest difference, beyond the camera specs, is the size: while the Pro is a big phone, with a 6.78-inch display, the regular X300 has a relatively compact 6.31-inch screen. Both phones are slim, coming below 8mm thick, though the X300’s 7.95mm is a hair’s width thinner. The batteries vary too, though Vivo has made some interesting claims here: it suggests that thanks to efficiency optimizations, the 6,510mAh and 6,040mAh silicon-carbon batteries in the two phones are comparable in longevity to 7,500mAh and 7,000mAh cells in other hardware — hopefully we’ll get the chance to put that claim to the test ourselves.

Both the X300 and X300 Pro are available to order in China now, running the new OriginOS 6, Vivo’s take on Android. The X300 starts from ¥4,399 (around $620), with the Pro at ¥5,299 (around $745). The telephoto lens is sold separately for ¥1,299 (around $180), or ¥1,499 (around $210) for the full photography kit.

The company hasn’t confirmed wider release plans, but its flagship models normally launch elsewhere in Asia along with some European markets — and for the first time it’s confirmed that the new OriginOS will too, finally replacing the dreadful Funtouch OS software Vivo has used outside of China for years. An X300 Ultra is also likely to launch in early 2026, though Vivo will have to pull out all the stops to find room to differentiate it from the X300 Pro.