In one fell swoop, vivo unveiled the first phone with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset and the first phones with the Dimension 9200 SoC. We’re talking about the vivo X90 series, of course, which will go on sale in China over the next few weeks.
And while seeing the new chipsets in action is exciting, the main goal of the X90 series is to be the best camera phones on the market. The two Pros feature the 1-inch Sony IMX989 sensor with bright f/1.75 apertures and OIS, not to mention all the work Zeiss has done on the lenses.
Of course, only one can be the best and this honor goes to the vivo X90 Pro+. This is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 phone we’ve been talking about, but it also has a unique periscope and ultrawide modules. The ultrawide camera doesn’t have the widest field of view (114°), but its lens is designed for low distortion, meaning less digital perspective correction is required.
As for the periscope lens, it has a focal length of 90mm which means an optical magnification of 3.5x and a digital zoom of up to 100x. The high-resolution 64MP sensor helps get extra detail. There’s another telephoto lens on board, a 50mm vertical camera with a 50MP sensor and a bright f/1.6 aperture.
The vivo X90 Pro has the same main and vertical cameras, but loses the periscope and the ultrawide module is downgraded to a 12MP sensor and a 108° lens.
The vanilla vivo X90 takes another step back: it loses the IMX989 main sensor, instead gaining a 1/1.49″ 50MP sensor. Also, the 50mm camera switches to a 12MP sensor. However, it has a powerful chipset, and the vivo V2 ISP help to do image processing, just like the other two.
There are a few more reasons to choose Pro+ over the others. All three have 6.78-inch 120Hz AMOLED displays, but only the Pro+ has an LTPO4 panel with a resolution of 1,440 x 3,200px. The other two skip LTPO and down to 1,260 x 2,800 px resolution. And they use the Dimension 9200 chipset, if it wasn’t clear, but we haven’t tested it against the Snapdragon yet (we’ve only seen leaked benchmarks so far).
There are also differences in reloading. Battery capacities are about the same, but the X90 Pro has the fastest charging support: 120W wired (0-50% in 8 minutes) and 50W wireless. The Pro+ is slower at 80W wired (and still 50W wireless) charging. The vanilla model stands out in the wired run with 120W support but lacks wireless charging (the USB-C port also drops to v2.0, in case video output is important to you).
One last thing: the price. vivo has only announced plans to launch in China for now, so these are the prices we need to work with. The vivo X90 and X90 Pro are now and pre-orderable at CNY 3,700 ($515/€500/₹42,000) and CNY 5,000 ($700/€675/₹57,000) respectively. They will be available from December 6th.
The vivo X90 Pro+ will start at CNY 6,500 ($905 / €880 / ₹74,000) once it goes pre-ordered on the 28th (it’s also scheduled for release on December 26).
Prices of the vivo X90 series for China
These three are without competition thanks to being the first with their chipsets. More Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and Dimensity 9200 phones are on the way, we should see some before the end of the year. However, we can only speculate on their prices and have only rumors, so we’ll keep that for now.
We will only mention the Xiaomi 12S Ultra – it features the same 1-inch IMX989 sensor, as well as a 48MP 120mm periscope and a 48MP 128° ultrawide camera. However, it uses the older Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset and the 6.73″ QHD+ display is LTPO2 “only” (always 120Hz). The 12/256GB version costs CNY 6,500, like the X90 Pro+ (there is a slightly cheaper 8/256GB model for CNY 6,000).
Xiaomi 12S Ultra
Note: We know about the Sharp Aquos R7 and Leica Leitz Phone 2, but these are boutique devices, impossible to buy outside of Japan.
Assuming it goes international, will you buy the vivo X90 Pro+? The leaks suggest that the 1-inch IMX989 will be used in even more phones. Would you rather wait for them? Or is the camera not an important factor for you? Vote below or using this page. All of this assuming Pro+ will be available near you, of course.
What about the vivo X90 Pro? It’s not great for zooming in, but it could prove to be better value for money – vote below if you’re interested (or use this page if it doesn’t work).
Finally, the vivo X90 – any takers? Vote below or using this page.
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