Vivo X200 Ultra PhoneArena camera score: A photographer's "Yes!", a videographer's "Maybe"

Phone Arena

2 days ago

That's a scenario that's definitely true of the recent Vivo X200 Ultra super cameraphone, which easily aims to sit on the same bench as the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, Oppo Find X8 Ultra, and the Galaxy S25 Ultra with pretty promising claims in the photography department.
And just like the
Xiaomi 15 Ultra, it even delivers in terms of excessive but oh-so-interesting accessories, allowing users to turn it into a proper point and shoot camera by attaching the available camera grip, case, and super-long periscope lens to the back. Now that's some commitment to mobile photography!
But what makes the Vivo X200 Ultra so interesting? Aside from the cool optional accessories, it's the powerful Zeiss-powered hardware that excites.
Despite the lack of a dedicated periscope, which is a common sight on most Ultra flagships out there, the Vivo X200 Ultra still boasts some impressive hardware. We get dual 50MP cameras responsible for the wide and ultrawide angles, and both employ the rather capable Sony LYTIA-818 sensor, with large 1/1.28" size and pixels.
What's fascinating here is that the main camera uses a 35mm equivalent lens, which is slightly more zoomed-in as compared to pretty much all other phones out there that adopt a wider 23mm-25mm main camera. A 35mm camera like the one on this Vivo phone is excellent for street photography, but you might be forced to take a step back to capture the same scene in comparison with another phone. This makes the ultrawide camera on this phone that much more useful, as it will cover that wider field-of-view.
The telephoto is a 200MP one here, and it has some pretty impressive telemacro capabilities thanks to its super-close focus point of 14cm. This means you can get super-tight and detailed shots of any flora and fauna that would sit still.
Oh, and there's also a capacitive camera button that lets you interact with the camera by swiping, clicking, and tapping. Useful!
Is this enough to beat the rest of the Ultra flagships released this year, like the
Xiaomi 15 Ultra,
Galaxy S25 Ultra , and the Oppo Find X8 Ultra?
vivo X200 Ultra
PhoneArena Camera Score
BEST 158
153
PhoneArena Photo Score
BEST 165
164
Main (wide)
BEST 87
85
Zoom
BEST 29
28
Ultra-wide
BEST 26
26
Selfie
BEST 30
24
PhoneArena Video Score
BEST 155
143
Main (wide)
BEST 83
71
Zoom
BEST 27
26
Ultra-wide
BEST 24
22
Selfie
BEST 28
24
Vivo X200 Ultra compared to its rivals
Photo
Video Phone Camera
Score Photo
Score Main
(wide) Ultra
Wide Selfie Zoom vivo X200 Ultra 153 164 85 26 24 28 Xiaomi 15 Ultra 158 165 85 26 26 29 OPPO Find X8 Ultra 157 160 82 23 28 27 Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra 158 165 87 23 27 28 Phone Camera
Score Video
Score Main
(wide) Ultra
Wide Selfie Zoom vivo X200 Ultra 153 143 71 22 24 26 Xiaomi 15 Ultra 158 150 78 21 25 26 OPPO Find X8 Ultra 157 155 83 22 25 26 Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra 158 150 75 21 28 26
Find out more details about photo and video scores for all phones we have tested on our PhoneArena Camera Score page
Well, despite the strong hardware, this Vivo's rivals come up on top, mostly due to slightly stronger performance in the front-facing camera and video-recording capabilities.
If we only look at the main cameras, the Vivo X200 Ultra performs very well, achieving a pretty high score that puts on par with the rest of its rivals. It's on par with the
Xiaomi 15 Ultra and just slightly worse than the
Galaxy S25 Ultra ; the Oppo Find X8 Ultra is soundly beat.
The ultrawide camera on the Vivo X200 Ultra, however, is among the best we've seen. It's on par with the
Xiaomi 15 Ultra, but is arguably more capable thanks to its exceptional image quality.
The zoom capabilities of the device are mostly fine, but it loses to the
Xiaomi 15 Ultra, which simply boasts hardware that's better at zooming.
Pros One of the best ultrawides we've seen
One of the best ultrawides we've seen Excellent detail with no oversharpening
Excellent detail with no oversharpening Great colors and superb dynamic range Cons Video quality is good, but way less impressive than still photography
Video quality is good, but way less impressive than still photography The camera setup is a bit peculiar and requires some getting used to
The camera setup is a bit peculiar and requires some getting used to A proper periscope would have been better
The selfie camera drags down the overall score, as it's just good, but not exceptional.
Main camera
All things considered, the main camera could easily pass as a short telephoto. It's a bit more zoomed-in than what we're used to, but that's not a weakness. Considering all other properties of this camera, it's pretty much perfect in most areas, giving us wonderful detail with no oversharpening or artifacts present. We'd have loved slightly better overall exposure here as the phone tends to overexpose the image slightly, but apart from that, it's excellent.
Zoom Quality
Now, the zoom camera is very capable, it even beats the one on the Oppo Find X8 Ultra in our tests. With no oversharpening and detail that just looks great, this camera impresses despite lacking very impressive hardware.
Ultrawide camera
14mm mode
In standard ultrawide mode, this camera performs very well. You get lovely colors, lots of detail, great dynamic range, and no distortion. That's what every ultrawide should strive to be!
28mm mode
Now that's the mode we are all most familiar with, and here, surprisingly, the Vivo performs pretty much indistinguishable from a standard wide-angle camera. Thanks to the in-sensor 2X crop, you get superb images, with exceptional detail, no oversharpening, exceptional dynamic range, and lovely colors.
Front-facing camera
Xiaomi 15 Ultra, and the Oppo Find X8 Ultra.
Selfies are splendid. Great dynamic range, great colors, and excellent exposure. The only downside here is that the sharpness is lacking, especially when compared to such exceptional camera phones as the Galaxy,Ultra, and the Oppo Find X8 Ultra.
Video quality
When it comes to video, the Vivo sadly disappoints a bit. Detail is lacking, and the dynamic range isn't great, often resulting in under- or over-exposed portions of the scene. Colors are vivid, even a bit too vivid for our liking, and the stabilization could have been better. Audio capture has some issues, too. Overall, the video capabilities of the phone are slightly less impressive than its still photography prowess.
Conclusion
Overall, the Vivo X200 Ultra is a very impressive cameraphone with many strengths, but you will only like it if you focus on still photography.
Sadly, the overall video capabilities, while good, aren't up to speed with regular still images you might take, which could be slightly disappointing.
The phone excels at stills, with superb detail uninterrupted by oversharpening or artifacts, lovely dynamic range that's seemingly always on point, and colors that could be either vivid or realistic depending on which Zeiss mode you go for.
There's a lot to love here, making the Vivo X200 Ultra a worthy peer of the
Galaxy S25 Ultra ,
Xiaomi 15 Ultra, and the Oppo Find X8 Ultra!
You just know it that when a phone has the "Ultra" sobriquet, it's simply destined to be a super-capable camera phone.