Introduction
The Vivo X50 series of flagship smartphones have been officially announced in China, boasting powerful specs and the title of the world's thinnest 5G phone. Consisting of a trio of new phones - the Vivo X50, X50 Pro, and X50 Pro Plus - the focus is very much on the photography experience. There is a range of camera modes including Super Night, Astro, Super Wide-Angle, and Super Macro, plus a 60x Hyper Zoom similar to the zoom capabilities of the Huawei P40 Pro (50x), Samsung Galaxy S20 (30x) and Galaxy S20 Plus (30x). Vivo says "modelled after a full-size professional gimbal, X50 Pro's built-in gimbal module moves in the opposite direction of shaking motions, providing increased stability for the main camera. This system also widens the rotation angle and anti-shake area compared to popular stabilization methods, resulting in super clear images." Other features of the X50 series include support for HDR10+ and screen refresh rates of 90Hz and 120Hz, plus there's frosted glass finish on the rear.
Price and availability
The vanilla Vivo X50 is available in 8GB/128GB version for CNY3,498 ($490) and 8GB/256GB at CNY3,898 ($550). Its sales begin on June 6 and available colors are Black, Pink, and Blue. The Vivo X50 Pro is offered in Black and Blue with the same two memory options - 8GB/128GB for CNY4,298 ($600) and 8GB/256GB costing CNY4,698 ($660). Sales for that one start on June 12. The pricier Vivo X50 Pro+, on the other hand, has an additional 12GB/256GB variant selling for CNY 5,998 ($840) while the 128GB and the 256GB will set you back for CNY 4,998($700) and CNY 5,498($770), respectively. Vivo says the flagship will be released in July.
Design and display
The design of Vivo's X50 series draws from natural elements and futuristic aesthetics, aiming to complement the active lifestyles of consumers. The Vivo X50 and X50 Pro both come with a 6.56-inch AMOLED screen with a resolution of 2376 x 1080p. The screen has support for 90Hz refresh rate and equally has an under-screen fingerprint sensor for authentication. The X50 weighs only 173 grams and has a thickness of 7.49mm.
According to the Chinese manufacturer, “the Vivo X50 is the thinnest 5G phone around, measuring just 7.49mm thick.” To compare that with other 5G handsets, the Huawei P40 Pro is 9mm, the OnePlus 8 Pro is 8.5mm and the Galaxy S20 is 7.9mm thick. On the other hand, the X50 Pro weighs 181.5 grams and is 8.04mm thick. Finally, the Pro Plus high-end model also features a 6.56-inch AMOLED screen with a resolution of 2376 x 1080p, but it has a 120Hz display. The X50 Pro+ uses a 0.5mm plain leather material which feels better and lighter in weight. Vivo’s logo is embossed on the leather.
Front and rear cameras
On the camera aspect, Vivo X50, X50 Pro, and X50 Pro Plus trio pack a 32MP front-facing camera that supports night view, portrait, photo, video, panorama, dynamic photo, slow motion, short video, AR cute shoot, and others. At the rear side, the Vivo X50 and X50 Pro feature an AI quad-camera setup with a 48MP Sony IMX598 primary sensor, a 13MP Samsung S5K3L6 lens, an 8MP OmniVision OV08A10 telephoto lens, and an 8-megapixel Hynix Hi846 ultra-wide-angle lens. On the other hand, the X50 Pro Plus also comes with a more powerful quad-camera setup that includes a 50MP Samsung GN1 sensor primary sensor, an 8MP telephoto lens with 60x hybrid zoom, a 13MP wide-angle lens, and an 8MP macro lens.
One spectacular feature of the X50 Pro camera is the presence of a gimbal camera system. The gimbal moves the camera module in the direction opposite to that of the shake, increasing the stability of the main camera. The gimbal system widens the rotation angle and the anti-shake area. The camera UI is also tweaked to reflect the movement of the gimbal and show when the sensor is stable. The X50 Pro+ misses out on this feature, perhaps due to the presence of a large sensor onboard already. It uses ordinary OIS.
Processor, battery, and software
The trio of devices runs Funtouch 10.0 based on Android 10 operating system. In terms of hardware, both the X50 and X50 Pro pack Snapdragon 765G processor with 8GB LPDDR4X RAM. While the X50 uses UFS 2.0 flash memory, X50 Pro has UFS 2.1 flash memory. Both models also have different battery capacities and fast charge. The X50 crams a 4200mAh battery, while the X50 Pro is powered by a 4315mAh battery, and both support 33W flash charging. As for the sound quality, Vivo’s X series has always performed well in HiFi. The X50 supports three microphones and Hi-Res certification while the X50 Pro adds an AK4377A sound quality chip, which also supports Hi-Res certification.
On the other hand, the Vivo X50 Pro Plus is powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 865 flagship SoC. In addition, the X50 Pro+ supports dual-mode SA/NSA 5G as well as LPDDR4X flash storage. It packs 4,315 mAh battery that supports up to 44W fast charging. In terms of the sound output, the Vivo X50 Pro Plus has the HiFi CS43131 chip with high-performance independent DAC decoding, sampling rate up to 384kHz, 32-bit accuracy, dynamic range up to 130dB, total harmonic distortion + noise as low as -115dB.