Vivo’s New Phone Doubles the iPhone’s Longest Zoom

Vivo’s most ambitious camera phone is finally heading to India. The X300 Ultra debuts there on May 6, more than a month after its China launch in late March and a few weeks behind its global rollout that started in mid-April. For Indian buyers, this is the first time an “Ultra” model from Vivo has landed in the market directly.

Price: ₹1,59,999 (About $1,680)
Where to Buy: Vivo

The headline feature isn’t actually built into the phone. It’s the optional pair of Zeiss telephoto extenders that clip onto the back and push the X300 Ultra’s reach out to 200mm or even 400mm. These aren’t software tricks or digital zoom. They’re real Kepler-structure glass elements that mount over the existing telephoto camera, and they’re the reason photography people have been watching this phone closely.

What’s Confirmed for the India Launch

Vivo has set May 6 as the official India debut for both the X300 Ultra and the smaller X300 FE. Expected pricing for the X300 Ultra in India sits around ₹1,59,999 for the 16GB/512GB variant, against a leaked box MRP of ₹1,99,999, though Vivo hasn’t formally confirmed the numbers yet. Vivo India’s pre-launch registration page is already live for buyers who want early access to launch-day offers.

This is also the first time an Ultra-tier phone from Vivo has reached India directly. Previous Ultra models stayed China-exclusive, which made tracking down review units a hassle and put the actual hardware out of reach for most readers outside that market. The May 6 launch closes that gap.

A 400mm Telephoto That Lives in a Bag

This is the part worth slowing down for. The X300 Ultra ships with three rear cameras built into the body, but Vivo also sells two add-on lenses called the Zeiss Telephoto Extender Gen 2 and Gen 2 Ultra. The Gen 2 adds 2.35x magnification for an effective 200mm reach. The Gen 2 Ultra goes further with 4.7x magnification and a CIPA 4.5 stabilization rating, hitting 400mm equivalent. Both use 14 or 15 lens elements in a Kepler optical structure with Zeiss coatings, and the Ultra version weighs 248 grams on its own.

The appeal is straightforward. Most phone telephotos top out around 5x to 10x and lean heavily on computational zoom past that. An actual 400mm optical setup, even a clip-on one, gives you wildlife, sports, and concert reach that hasn’t really been possible before in this form factor.

For context, the iPhone 17 Pro Max tops out at 200mm of optical-quality zoom from its tetraprism telephoto. With the Gen 2 Ultra extender clipped on, the X300 Ultra reaches a true 400mm, doubling Apple’s longest end.

There are tradeoffs. You’re carrying a phone, plus a separate lens, plus, ideally, the Vivo photography grip with its physical shutter button. It’s closer to a small camera kit than a pocket setup. For the right person, that’s the point. For everyone else, the three cameras already on the phone do plenty of work.

The Three Cameras That Are Always With You

Even without the add-on lenses, the X300 Ultra has serious hardware. The main camera is a 200MP sensor at a 35mm equivalent focal length with an f/1.9 aperture, gimbal-style optical stabilization, and a 1/1.12-inch Sony LYT-901 sensor. Sitting next to it is a 200MP periscope telephoto at an 85mm equivalent, f/2.7, with 3.7x optical zoom and macro support. The third lens is a 50MP ultrawide at 14mm with a 116-degree field of view and a sensor large enough to capture detail most ultrawides give up on.

Selfie duties go to a 50MP front camera at f/2.5 with autofocus. Video maxes out at 8K at 30fps on the rear, with 4K at up to 120fps including 10-bit Log and Dolby Vision HDR.

What’s Powering the Whole Thing

Inside, the X300 Ultra runs Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 on a 3nm process, paired with either 12GB or 16GB of LPDDR5X Ultra RAM. Storage options are 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB, and there’s no card slot.

The display is a 6.82-inch LTPO OLED panel running at 1440 by 3168 resolution with a 144Hz refresh rate. Battery capacity comes in at 6,600mAh globally (6,400mAh in Europe), with 100W wired charging and 40W wireless. Vivo lists 100W FlashCharge as the headline charging spec.

Software is Android 16 with OriginOS 6, the same OriginOS version Vivo introduced on its global X300 lineup. The phone weighs around 232 to 237 grams and measures 8.2mm thick.

Pricing and Positioning

The X300 Ultra is positioned firmly at the top of Vivo’s lineup, and the expected ₹1,59,999 figure puts it in direct competition with the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and the iPhone 17 Pro Max in India. Vivo says the photography kit with both Zeiss extenders is sold separately, which makes sense given the audience for those lenses is a smaller subset of buyers. In Europe, the photography kit lists at €599 with a 50% off pre-order bundle for X300 Ultra accessory buyers. India bundle pricing hasn’t been announced yet.

What to Watch on Launch Day

A few things are still loose. Final India pricing is the big one. Color availability is largely settled, with both Victory Green and Eclipse Black confirmed for India. Pre-order incentives, trade-in programs, and carrier partnerships will likely come together on launch day along with the actual on-stage announcement.

The bigger question is how Vivo positions this phone for buyers who aren’t full-time camera obsessives. The hardware is photographer-first by design, and at this price tier in India, the sales pitch needs to land for both the phone-as-phone audience and the people who genuinely want a 400mm clip-on lens.

Price: ₹1,59,999 (About $1,680)
Where to Buy: Vivo

May 6 is a Wednesday. Expect a livestream, confirmed India pricing in a press release, and a wave of hands-on coverage from Indian tech outlets the same evening. Vivo’s pre-launch page is already live for anyone who wants to register for updates.