Vivo X500 Ultra may get 10x optical zoom without a teleconverter

Vivo’s next Ultra flagship is being tipped for a major camera shift: the Vivo X500 Ultra may use a 10x optical telephoto lens without relying on a teleconverter, while the broader X500 family is expected to support add-on teleconverters. That would push Vivo deeper into the zoom race against rivals that are already treating long-range photography as a headline feature rather than a niche extra.

The leak also suggests Vivo is not content with the X300 Ultra’s current approach. That phone uses a single 200-megapixel periscope camera with roughly 3.7x optical zoom, which is respectable but no longer the class leader. Oppo’s Find X9 Ultra, for example, is said to pair a 200-megapixel telephoto camera with 3x zoom and a separate 50-megapixel periscope camera with 10x zoom, giving it a cleaner answer for distant subjects.

Vivo X500 Ultra camera formula is getting more aggressive

Vivo has spent years leaning on mobile photography as a differentiator, helped by its partnership with Zeiss. The rumored X500 Ultra setup fits that pattern: instead of making users buy a clip-on accessory to get serious reach, Vivo may be baking the capability into the phone itself, which is the sort of move that sounds obvious only after a rival does it first.

That matters because the premium phone camera market has quietly turned into a zoom arms race. Samsung, Oppo, and others have all pushed harder on periscope hardware, and once one brand shows cleaner long-range shots, everyone else has to explain why their flagship costs the same but reaches less far.

What the leak says about the X500 lineup

• X500 Ultra: tipped to get a 10x optical telephoto camera.
• X500 series: expected to support additional teleconverters.
• X300 Ultra: currently uses a 200-megapixel periscope camera with about 3.7x optical zoom.

The source of the leak, Smart Pikachu, has a decent track record with advance Xiaomi information, which gives the report a bit more weight than the usual wishful thinking. Still, the interesting part is not just the number 10x; it’s whether Vivo can deliver that reach without making the camera bump look like a tax on physics.

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The real test will be image quality, not the spec sheet

A 10x optical lens sounds impressive on paper, but the hard part is keeping it useful in real life, where stabilization, low-light performance, and autofocus decide whether a feature gets used or ignored. If Vivo pulls this off, the X500 Ultra could become one of the more interesting camera phones of the next cycle; if not, it will join the long list of flagships that looked amazing in a presentation and merely fine in a pocket.