Vivo X500 Series Lands in Singapore — and the Pro Max Basically Wants to Be Your Camera

A 200MP periscope, a clip-on 400mm extender, a 7,800mAh battery and AirDrop-friendly sharing. Vivo isn't playing it safe this year.

Every year we say phone cameras can't really get much better, and every year someone makes us eat those words. This time it's Vivo. Cars&TechSG was at the Singapore launch event on 20 October, where the company officially took the wraps off the X500 and X500 Pro Max. After seeing them in person and going through the details, it's clear where Vivo has put its chips: telephoto, telephoto, and more telephoto.

Pre-orders are already open, with retail availability kicking off on 31 October. Here's what you need to know before you hit that order button.

The Pro Max: zoom first, everything else second

The headline act is the X500 Pro Max's 200MP ZEISS APO telephoto camera. It sits behind an 85mm-equivalent lens and uses a fairly chunky 1/1.4-inch sensor — big by periscope standards, which should help when the light starts to dip. Vivo is also claiming CIPA 7.0-rated stabilisation, which in plain English means you can hold slower shutter speeds handheld without everything turning to mush.

Then there's the party trick. The Pro Max works with the Vivo ZEISS Telephoto Extender Gen 2 Ultra, a clip-on lens that stretches your reach to a 400mm equivalent. It plays nicely with over ten shooting modes, including Stage, Snapshot and Pro. If you've ever stood at the back of the Indoor Stadium squinting at a dot that's supposedly your favourite artist, you'll see the appeal immediately.

Fast action is the other focus. Vivo's new X-Track Engine handles subject tracking in both photo and video, with AF tracking at up to 60fps in Snapshot mode and a 30x Long-Range Motion Snapshot feature for catching moving subjects from far away. Lock-On Subject Tracking is meant to keep focus on someone even when they briefly leave the frame — though note the fine print: it only works on humans for now, so your dog is on its own.

Video gets serious too

On the video side, the Pro Max's ZEISS TrueDynamic main camera does native 4K at 240fps for proper slow-mo, alongside 4K 120fps tracking video, a Log profile for people who actually colour-grade, and a new 4K Dolby Vision Portrait Video mode. There's also 3° gimbal-grade OIS to keep things steady.

Vivo is quoting a 17 EV dynamic range figure, which sounds amazing on paper. Read the footnotes, though: that number only applies in Video mode with specific colour styles selected, not in regular photos. Not a dealbreaker, just worth knowing before you quote it to your friends.

For the casual crowd, both phones share the fun stuff — a Film Style mode with a 2.4:1 cinematic crop plus simulated grain, halation and motion blur; film-inspired colour looks like Golden Hour and Pastel; and Stage Mode 3.0 for concert-goers, which can record you and the stage at the same time.

The "regular" X500 isn't a pushover

If the Pro Max sounds like overkill, the standard X500 is pitched as the everyday creative option. You still get a ZEISS APO telephoto, this time at 72mm equivalent, paired with a 50MP 1/1.28-inch main sensor — the same size used on last year's X300 Pro. Portrait fans get a new Cinematic Portrait mode that adapts lighting for daylight, dusk and indoor shots, plus a Color Palette tool to tweak tone, glow and grain to taste.

Batteries the size of small power banks

This is where both phones quietly flex. The Pro Max packs a 7,800mAh cell and the X500 gets 7,500mAh — the biggest Vivo has ever put in an X-series phone, thanks to its second-gen semi-solid-state battery tech. Both charge at 90W wired and 40W wireless, and there's bypass charging so the phone stays cooler while you game plugged in.

One heads-up for existing Vivo users: if you own the first-gen 50W vertical wireless charger, it won't work with the X500 series. You'll need the Gen 2 version to hit those 40W wireless speeds.

Under the hood, the Pro Max runs MediaTek's 2nm Dimensity 9600 Pro, while the X500 uses the Dimensity 9600M. Both get ZEISS Master Color displays peaking at 2,000 nits, with the Pro Max going up to a 2K, 6.85-inch flat panel — Vivo's largest flat screen yet.

OriginOS 7 finally plays nice with Apple

Here's a surprise: OriginOS 7 leans hard into Apple compatibility. You can pair AirPods and an Apple Watch, connect to iCloud, and Quick Share now works with AirDrop. For households with a mix of iPhones and Androids — which is basically every Singapore family group chat — that's a genuinely useful change. There's also better Mac integration through Vivo Office Kit.

The usual AI suite is here too: an AI Recorder that transcribes, identifies speakers and summarises meetings or lectures, Snap & Go for pulling info out of screenshots, and AI Next Up for turning detected schedules into reminders. Rounding things off are IP68/IP69 water and dust resistance, an ultrasonic fingerprint reader, USB 3.2 and — for the remote-control nostalgics — an IR blaster.

Singapore pricing and launch deals

Pre-orders run from 20 to 30 October at Vivo Experience Stores, Shopee, Lazada, TikTok, and retailers including Challenger, Best Denki, Courts, Harvey Norman and Gain City. Singtel pre-orders open slightly later, from 23 October. Full retail launch is 31 October.

The launch bundle is fairly generous. Buy either model and you get:

• S$200 off if you pre-order by 30 October
• A free 200mm Telephoto Extender with case (worth S$399, while stocks last)
• 3 months of Google AI Pro with 5TB cloud storage
• 2-year international warranty
• 3 months of screen protection coverage

Buy in person at the 313@somerset or Jurong Point Vivo stores and you also get a Jay Chou gift box, 0% instalments with DBS/POSB cards, and an extra S$50 trade-in bonus throughout November.