5 Reasons why the Vivo X100 Pro Should be your Next Ultra-Premium Smartphone!

When it comes to flagship smartphones, Indian customers are spoilt for choices. Whether you have a budget of Rs 50,000 or Rs 150,000, there is no shortage of options, with brands like Apple, Samsung, Google, OnePlus, and Xiaomi, among others, all looking to make their mark in the country.

However, we'd like to focus on Vivo, more precisely, the Vivo X100 Pro. The Vivo X100 Pro is one such smartphone that fits the ultra-premium segment in India.

Cameras

We start with the most important reason, which is cameras. Camera performance is inarguably the primary driving factor for those fishing for phones in the ultra-premium segment. It is also the one aspect that is highlighted the most by OEMs in this range. And the Vivo X100 Pro does not disappoint in that respect.

At the helm of this camera setup is a 1-inch type 50 MP Sony IMX989 primary sensor with Laser AF and OIS support. The main camera is paired with a new Zeiss APO floating periscope telephoto lens with a 64 MP OV64B sensor that supports OIS and 4.3x optical zoom. Lastly, there is a 50 MP Samsung JN1 ultrawide lens.

We would give the Vivo X100 Pro full marks for consistency. Despite the lighting, the Vivo X100 Pro maintains consistent colors and prominent levels of detail across all three sensors, which makes switching between the lenses to take shots more convenient than ever. The cameras also perform exceptionally across all lighting scenarios.

While Samsung's Galaxy Ultra smartphones reign supreme in the zoom department, the Vivo X100 Pro is not far behind. On the Vivo X100 Pro, the levels of detail and sharpness in shots are maintained until 10x magnification. Moreover, 20x magnification also outputs usable results in daylight.

And then there's the phone's stability, which enables capturing zoom shots without any blurring. The Vivo X100 Pro does reproduce more vibrant shots, although you can effortlessly switch to natural-looking images by changing the shooting mode to Textured or Natural. This provides incredible flexibility when shooting in serene environments.

Finally, to the best part of the Vivo X100 Pro's camera system, "Portrait Mode". The Vivo X100 Pro offers five different focal lengths for taking portrait shots. Then there's the various portrait modes like Black & White, Vintage, Crisp, etc.

However, the DSLR effect produced by the Vivo X100 Pro is second to none. The Vivo X100 Pro enables quality portraits with minimal effort. All the portrait photos here were simple 'point-and-click' jobs. There was no time and effort spent on focusing or making any other adjustments, which is one of the reasons we crowned this the king of street photography.

Performance

Don't be fooled by the MediaTek Dimensity 9300 SoC as it keeps pace with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip in terms of raw performance. You can throw just about anything from gaming to video editing at the Vivo X100 Pro and it handles it with ease. The Vivo X100 Pro also comes with 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM by default.

In our Geekbench testing, the MediaTek chip fared better than its Qualcomm counterpart. However, Qualcomm puts more of an emphasis on AI performance and peak sustained performance. GPU benchmarks saw the Snapdragon chip perform slightly better.

While most of the statistics do fall in Qualcomm's favor, in real-world scenarios, the margins are slim. The Vivo X100 Pro delivered on its promise of performance, there wasn't a scenario where the phone felt slow. It also delivered a lag-free gaming experience. And let's not forget that Vivo gives you 512GB of fast UFS 4.0 storage as default.

Battery

The Vivo X100 Pro packs a massive 5,400 mAh battery, which delivers some of the best battery life we've seen on a smartphone to date. The PC Mark battery test saw the Vivo X100 Pro manage close to 17 hours, which is quite commendable. In our experience, the phone could deliver up to 9 hours of screen on-time under moderate use.

Moving on to the charging speed, which is no slouch either, with Vivo offering 100W wired and 50W wireless fast charging support. We weren't able to test the 50W wireless charging, but you can fully power up the phone in around 30 minutes. We're talking 0 to 75 percent in under 20 minutes. Vivo also promises four years of battery durability with improved heat dissipation.

Price

The Vivo X100 Pro is by no means cheap or affordable for that matter. But there is a reason we have listed price as a reason to buy this handset. The Vivo X100 Pro is actually the most affordable 'Pro' flagship in India.

Just look at the Vivo X100 Pro's primary competition - the iPhone 15 Pro Max, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, the Pixel 8 Pro, and the Galaxy S24 Plus. All these phones cost Rs 100,000 or more.

However, the Vivo X100 Pro comes in at Rs 89,999 (16GB/512GB), while still being able to match, and in some instances, surpass its competitors. The price is a minor factor, especially for those looking at phones in the ultra-premium segment.

What's in the Box

If price was a minor factor, then this last one will fall lower down the list of reasons. However, we believe it is still another reason to get the Vivo X100 Pro over its competitors. Unlike the iPhone 15 series, Samsung Galaxy S24 series, and Google Pixel 8 series, the Vivo X100 Pro gets a case and charging adapter in the box.

The adapter in the box allows you to take full advantage of the phone's 100W wired fast charging support. Brands like Samsung, Apple, and Google will charge you a premium for a compatible adapter as third-party or older chargers won't be able to deliver the same charging speed supported on these phones.

Then there's the case, which isn't some cheap transparent TPU cover. Not only does the included case allow you to grip the phone better, but it also offers an additional layer of protection. Our model came out unscathed after a few accidental drops thanks to the included cover.

Conclusion

The Vivo X100 Pro also boasts an excellent display, an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, loud and balanced audio, solid software support, and a snappy fingerprint reader. However, considering these are staples for all ultra-premium flagships, they didn't make the list of reasons.

So we've given you all the main reasons you should buy the Vivo X100 Pro but what about the reasons you shouldn't buy it? You can read our full review for a complete breakdown of those.

But the short and sweet answer is the phone's sub-par selfie camera and lack of refinement in the software department. However, those are easy to overlook considering what's on offer. So, will the Vivo X100 Pro be your next ultra-premium smartphone?