Vivo X500 Leaks With a Completely Different Camera Design

Vivo has finally shown us the Vivo X500, and the standard flagship is taking a different design path from its more expensive brothers. Instead of using the huge centered camera circle found on the X500 Pro models, Vivo has moved the cameras to the upper-left corner.

It's a design that reminds me a little of the older Vivo X90. More importantly, it gives the standard X500 its own identity in a flagship family that is becoming quite large.

The official images show a wide rectangular camera area across the upper part of the phone. Inside it sits a large circular section on the left, with the ZEISS logo and three cameras.

Another camera sits outside that circle, while the LED flash is placed next to it. It's quite different from the huge centered camera modules Vivo has been using on many of its recent flagship phones.

I actually like this approach. The giant camera circles on modern flagships can look impressive, but they are starting to make a lot of phones look the same. The X500 feels a little cleaner and less aggressive.

Vivo will offer the phone in white, grey, pink and black, with the lighter colors doing a good job of showing off the new design.

The standard Vivo X500 should also be one of the smaller phones in the family.

It's expected to feature a 6.59-inch 1.5K OLED display, which is a nice middle ground for a modern flagship. You still get plenty of screen space without moving into the huge 6.8-inch territory of phones like the X500 Pro Max.

The display should also offer a high refresh rate, while the flat design and slim bezels give the phone a more modern look from the front.

Interestingly, the X500 Pro is expected to be even smaller at around 6.37 inches. The Pro Max will sit at the other end of the range with its much larger 6.85-inch display.

The standard model won't get the crazy 200MP periscope camera of the X500 Pro Max, but its camera hardware still looks very strong.

Vivo has confirmed a 50MP main camera using the Sony LYT-828, with a large 1/1.28-inch sensor. That's the same sensor used by the previous X300 Pro, so Vivo is basically bringing last generation's Pro-level main camera down to the standard X500.

The phone will also feature a 64MP Sony LYT-610 telephoto camera with CIPA 5.5 stabilization. Vivo says it can record 4K slow-motion video at 120fps, and the X500 will support an optional 200mm telephoto converter.

That's probably the most interesting part of the phone for me. Instead of making the standard X500 feel like the model you buy because you can't afford the Pro, Vivo seems to be giving it a serious camera setup of its own.

There should be another important difference between the X500 and the Pro models.

Current information points to a 3nm MediaTek Dimensity 9500-series chip inside the standard X500. The X500 Pro and Pro Max are expected to move to the newer 2nm Dimensity 9600 Pro.

That still puts the X500 firmly in flagship territory.

Battery life could be even more impressive. The phone is expected to pack a 7,500mAh battery, despite its relatively compact 6.59-inch display. Charging should reach 90W over a cable, with 40W wireless charging also expected.

A 7,500mAh battery in a phone this size sounds much more useful to me than chasing another tiny performance gain. If Vivo can keep the weight under control, the X500 could have one of the better size-to-battery combinations we've seen this year.

Vivo will launch the X500, X500 Pro and X500 Pro Max in China on September 21. The company hasn't announced global availability yet.

The Pro Max will obviously grab most of the attention with its huge camera hardware and 200MP telephoto sensor. But I wouldn't ignore the standard X500.

A 6.59-inch display, 7,500mAh battery, Sony LYT-828 main camera and 64MP telephoto already make it sound like a proper flagship. And with its completely different camera design, the X500 no longer looks like a cheaper copy of the Pro models either.