Vivo X200 Review: is the small one the one to get?
Vivo X200 Intro
Vivo launched a couple of top-tier phones for the global market at the tailend of 2024 — the premium Vivo X200 Pro and the almost-identical Vivo X200. Both of them are equipped with flagship-grade specs and top-tier cameras, but the Pro has a little extra "oomph" in the zoom department.
Well, it's supposed to be a "global" model, but it's a bit hard to hunt down and find. From what we could discover internationally, with some currency conversion and estimation guesswork, we'd say the Vivo X200 will have an estimated price of around €1,000-€1,100 when and if it hits Europe.
That's about €200-€300 less than the MSRP of the Vivo X200 Pro, which are considerable savings. What you are trading for them is the 200 MP zoom camera. But to be exact — you still get a 3x zoom telephoto camera, just with a 50 MP sensor. Is that a huge sacrifice? Is the Vivo X200 actually the better deal?
Here at PhoneArena, we rate phones via a series of objective tests, scoring them in the full range between 1 and 10. Our system is meant to combat "ratings inflation" and subjective author bias and give phones as fair a score as possible. To help orient you in how a specific phone sits next to its peers, we also have the "price class average" to show you where others are. While the Vivo X200's score of 7 is in no way bad, it is slightly behind other similarly-priced phones. Mostly due to its lack of wireless charging and slightly weaker speakers.
Table of Contents:
Vivo X200 Specs
Same as big brother, minus the camera
Here are the specs of the Vivo X200 and just for good measure — let's compare them to the X200 Pro
| Vivo X200 | Vivo X200 Pro |
|---|---|
| Size and Weight 6.31 x 2.94 x 0.31 inches (160.3 x 74.8 x 8 mm) 6.95 oz (197.0 g) | Size and Weight 6.39 x 2.99 x 0.32 inches (162.4 x 76 x 8.2 mm) 7.87 oz (223.0 g) |
| Display 6.7", 20:9 ratio, 1260 x 2800 AMOLED, 120 Hz, 4,500 nits peak | Display 6.8", 20:9 ratio, 1260 x 2800 AMOLED, 120 Hz, 4,500 nits peak |
| Processor Mediatek Dimensity 9400 Octa-core, 3.63 GHz, 3 nm | Processor Mediatek Dimensity 9400 Octa-core, 3.63 GHz, 3 nm |
| Software Funtouch OS 15 | Android 15 | Software Funtouch OS 15 | Android 15 |
| Cameras 50 MP main, F1.6 50 MP 3x telephoto, F2.6 50 MP ultra-wide, F2.0 | Cameras 50 MP main, F1.6 200 MP 3.7x telephoto, F2.7 50 MP ultra-wide, F2.0 |
| Battery Size 5,800 mAh | Battery Size 6,000 mAh |
| Charging Speeds 90 W wired | Charging Speeds 90 W wired 30 W wireless |
Vivo X200 Design and Display
Birds of a camera lens
Unsurprisingly, the Vivo X200 looks a lot like the X200 Pro, down to the extra-large camera module, the matte glass back, and the slighly curved front glass panel. The screen itself is fully flat, though, the glass curves in at the very edge, just like on the X200 Pro.
The one thing we like about the "regular" Vivo X200 is that it's certainly lighter — by a full 26 grams. Coupled with a very slightly smaller size, it makes for a phone that feels easier to wield. Even though it's as slippery as the Pro, we felt more confident in holding the Vivo X200 without its case
The volume and power buttons on the side feel just a tad stiffer than on the X200 Pro, and therefore a pinch less pleasing to operate. Not a huge problem, just comparing 1 to 1 here.
The box of the Vivo X200 contains a nice case to put it in, the USB C cable, and a 90 W charger to take advantage of its quick-charge capabilities. The X200 does not support wireless charging, which is one of the downgrades to live with, but should otherwise juice up on the wire quite fast.
The 6.7-inch screen on the front is an AMOLED panel with a 120 Hz refresh rate and 4,500 nits peak brightness. The resolution is 2800 x 1260 pixels, making for the quite dense 460 pixels-per-inch.
A few color calibration options and a blue light filter make sure that you can optimize it for your comfort. The panel is bright, sharp, and pretty to look at.
Measuring for 20% APL (simulation a more real-life scenario), the Vivo X200 gave us 1,500 nits, which is not excellent but still plenty enough for comfortable viewing in most scenarios. Maybe during a day at the beach, you will be squinting a bit more. The minimum brightness is 1.7 nits, which is again — not ideal for lights-out nighttime viewing.
But the color charts show us some pretty good color accuracy, pretty much the same as other contemporary flagships on the market.
The fingerprint scanner hidden under the display is of the optical variety — not ultrasonic, like on the Vivo X200 Pro. This one is reliable and quick to act, but a bit more discriminative if your finger or the glass is a bit smudged up. Ultrasonic tech is typically less picky and slightly more secure, but we've yet to have any real trouble with optical scanners.
Vivo X200 Camera
The three 50 MP musketeers
Despite having the same main camera as the X200 Pro — on paper, at least — the Vivo X200 gave us more oversharpening artifacts and less clarity in fine details, which is why its score dropped below its sibling's.
Those words sound big and way too judgemental. In reality, the photos from the Vivo X200 are pretty good — just not as good as the other top-tier flagships out there, and we need a way to quantify what's missing. Which is why our PhoneArena camera benchmark test takes phone cameras through multiple subjective tests before we draw up any conclusions.
Those words sound big and way too judgemental. In reality, the photos from the Vivo X200 are pretty good — just not as good as the other top-tier flagships out there, and we need a way to quantify what's missing. Which is why our PhoneArena camera benchmark test takes phone cameras through multiple subjective tests before we draw up any conclusions.
That said, let's go ahead and check out actual real-world photos from the Vivo X200:
Taking the Vivo X200 our for a stroll in the real world — the camera quality is pretty good. A nice, wide dynamic range, and colors pretty close to reality — you can take great memorabilia with this camera. The ultrawide snapper's color calibration is a bit off, a bit more neon-looking, and you can tell it's a different camera, but oh well.
The zoom camera has a slightly narrower dynamic range and it does change its mind about color calibration every time you step up on that zoom slider. But all said and done, it's an OK zoom camera. No excessive oversharpening is visible, and details do get preserved quite well so long as you are modest with your zoom-in levels (it caps off at x100).
Taking the Vivo X200 our for a stroll in the real world — the camera quality is pretty good. A nice, wide dynamic range, and colors pretty close to reality — you can take great memorabilia with this camera. The ultrawide snapper's color calibration is a bit off, a bit more neon-looking, and you can tell it's a different camera, but oh well.
The zoom camera has a slightly narrower dynamic range and it does change its mind about color calibration every time you step up on that zoom slider. But all said and done, it's an OK zoom camera. No excessive oversharpening is visible, and details do get preserved quite well so long as you are modest with your zoom-in levels (it caps off at x100).
Vivo X200 Performance & Benchmarks
MediaTek's new silicon is here!
The Vivo X200 family comes with the brand-new MediaTek Dimensity 9400. It's the first 3 nm chip from the company, an answer to Qualcomm's Snapdragon and Apple's A17 Pro. The 9000 series is the top-tier of MediaTek and we've had good experiences with them before. How does the new Dimensity 9400 perform?
Performance Benchmarks:
Despite having the very same chip as the Vivo X200 Pro inside, the X200 gave us slightly different results. A bit less score in the CPU test but, surprisingly, a bit more points in the 3DMark stress test. More importantly, it throttled less than the Pro. Maybe that smaller and lighter body dissipates heat faster?
The Vivo X200 comes in storage varients of 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 16GB RAM, 1TB 16GB RAM.
Vivo X200 Software
Funtouch OS might have a quirky name, but it's not really a joke — it looks pretty, polished, and it's packed with features. It strikes a balance between iOS-inspired elements and modern Android skin trends. Smooth animations and transparent design features give it a contemporary feel, while multitasking tools like a side drawer and split-screen gestures make it practical. The software feels complete — there’s nothing significant missing and no frustrating quirks, making it intuitive and easy to use.
Running on top of Android 15, Funtouch OS 15 in the global version includes the full Google app suite, including Gemini. Despite its unique styling, it remains unmistakably Android at its core.
With the Vivo X200, users are promised 4 years of major Android updates and 5 years of security patches. While this doesn’t match the 7-year commitments from Google and Samsung, it’s still a solid support period. By the end of 4 years, chances are you'll likely be considering a new phone anyway.
Running on top of Android 15, Funtouch OS 15 in the global version includes the full Google app suite, including Gemini. Despite its unique styling, it remains unmistakably Android at its core.
With the Vivo X200, users are promised 4 years of major Android updates and 5 years of security patches. While this doesn’t match the 7-year commitments from Google and Samsung, it’s still a solid support period. By the end of 4 years, chances are you'll likely be considering a new phone anyway.
Vivo X200 Battery
That's still above-average!
The Vivo X200 comes with a 5,800 mAh battery — a bit smaller than the X200 Pro, but still quite a bit bigger than the 5,000 mAh, which other Android phones have sat comfortably at for some years now.
So, how does that rather hefty cell perform with the powerful hardware insde?
Again, some surprises here. While the X200 Pro only has 200 mAh more in its tank, it lasts noticeably more while web-browsing and video-binging. But, again, the Vivo X200 does better while gaming, in the battery endurance department, too! All that said, it's worth noting that 10+ hours of endurance in all of these categories is nothing short of excellent. No doubt, the Vivo X200 can last you two days (maybe more?) with just casual smartphone use.
The bad news is that the regular Vivo X200 does not support wireless charging. The good news is that it does have the same 90 W charger as the X200 Pro and charges to full in less than 40 minutes.
Vivo X200 Audio Quality and Haptics
The speakers of the Vivo X200 sound quite nice and spatious, with a good amount of volume to them. They lack a good bass and can be a bit barky in the highs, but not to an unpleasant extent. They are kind of OK for listening to music, but won't be your go-to option. They work absolutely great for binge-watching YouTube videos, though.
Haptics are clicky, clacky, responsive, and pleasing — no surprises there.
Should you buy it?
The Vivo X200 is a bit of a mystery. For one, it's so good that we don't see many reasons to go for the more expensive X200 Pro instead of this one. Secondly, we are having a hard time figuring out where you should buy one from. Maybe this "global" phone will be limited to some markets only?
In any case, with a 4-year software update promise, and pretty good performance, camera, and display, we can't argue against grabbing this phone. It's a bit of a riskier move — Vivo isn't as established in the west as Samsung, who is now launching a Galaxy S25. So, when concerned about warranty, support, and over-time performance, it's a bit of a scary choice. But, if you are feeling adventurous — you just may become one of Vivo's dedicated fans (the group is growing, judging by Reddit).
In any case, with a 4-year software update promise, and pretty good performance, camera, and display, we can't argue against grabbing this phone. It's a bit of a riskier move — Vivo isn't as established in the west as Samsung, who is now launching a Galaxy S25. So, when concerned about warranty, support, and over-time performance, it's a bit of a scary choice. But, if you are feeling adventurous — you just may become one of Vivo's dedicated fans (the group is growing, judging by Reddit).
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