Following a Chinese launch in April and an Indian launch in May, the Vivo X80 Pro is now available to buy in the UK – but it will cost you £1,199 (around $1,430 / AU$2,100), which makes it slightly more expensive than the base model of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.
That phone starts at $1,199.99 / £1,149 / AU$1,849, so the Vivo is £50 more. You do however get 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage with the Vivo X80 Pro for that money, which in the equivalent S22 Ultra would cost you $1,299,99 / £1,249 / AU$1,999.
So like for like the Vivo X80 Pro is £50 cheaper, but however you look at it, this is a very expensive phone, and from a company which – in the UK at any rate – has much less brand name appeal than Samsung.
Vivo generally doesn’t sell its phones in the US, so don’t expect a launch there, but we could see it land in Australia in the near future.
You certainly get a lot of phone for the money, as beyond its RAM and storage the Vivo X80 Pro has a 6.78-inch 1440 x 3200 AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, a 4,700mAh battery, and both 80W wired charging and 50W wireless charging.
As for the camera, that’s a quad-lens one that’s been co-engineered with camera lens brand Zeiss. This includes a 50MP f/1.6 main sensor, a 48MP f/2.2 ultra-wide one, a 12MP f/1.9 telephoto one (with 2x optical zoom), and an 8MP f/3.4 periscope one (with 5x optical zoom).
There’s also a 32MP camera on the front, an under-display fingerprint sensor, and an expensive-looking design.
Analysis: how does this compare to the Galaxy S22 Ultra?
Given the similar price you might be wondering whether to buy the Vivo X80 Pro or the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. We can’t answer that definitely until we’ve reviewed the Vivo X80 Pro, but we can compare the specs.
On that front, the Vivo has an advantage in a few areas, with a slightly faster chipset than the UK version of the S22 Ultra (though the same one as US models), plus faster charging whether wired or wireless.
However, it lacks the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra’s S Pen stylus, its battery is a bit smaller, and its camera can’t zoom as far, with the Galaxy S22 Ultra offering 3x and 10x optical zoom.
In most other ways the two phones sound fairly similar on paper, so the Vivo X80 Pro does actually stack up fairly well. If its cameras deliver, you don’t feel the need for 10x zoom, and you can live without a stylus, then it might actually be worth considering.
But with such similar pricing it’s unlikely the average buyer will look twice when given the choice of a relatively little-known brand or a massive name like Samsung. That’s a shame, as from the specs list this has a shot at being one of the best camera phones, and maybe even one of the best smartphones.
