The upcoming Vivo phone will be launched with a professional camera

Vivo rarely has a presence at MWC, but it bucked the trend in a big way this year, with the unveiling of its next flagship phone, the X300 Ultra, alongside an expanded telephoto lens and a professional camera cage. The company isn’t ready to launch the phone yet – or even reveal many of its specifications – but it has confirmed that when it arrives, it will be the first Ultra phone to go on sale outside China.

The only concrete detail about the X300 Ultra itself that Vivo confirms is that it will feature a 200MP telephoto camera. This was true for last year’s X200 Ultra too, so we’re still waiting to see what upgrades Vivo has in store for the camera of my favorite phone of last year.

The 200-megapixel sensor will apparently be fully utilized by the new Telephoto Extender Gen2 Ultra, an optional lens that will be attached to the back of the phone. Telephoto extenders have proven popular with manufacturers ever since Vivo introduced one with the X200 Ultraalso supported on X300 and X300 Prowith the imitators launched by both OPPO And honor. Now Vivo is upping the ante by jumping from 200mm to 400mm equivalent focal length in a lens co-designed with long-term camera partner Zeiss.

It’s obviously thicker and heavier than the first generation extender, but otherwise looks similar. It’s joined by a redesigned camera grip holster that appears to have captured some additional buttons and controls. Look closely and you’ll also notice that the case no longer has a cutout for the touch-sensitive shutter button on the side of the X200 Ultra – has additional camera control been cut from the phone?

The telephoto will be attached to a brand new accessory, a “professional” camera cage, in collaboration with the phone SmallRig Photography Accessories Manufacturer. In a press release, Vivo says the cage will include “an array of cold shoe mounts and quick-release ports,” along with physical buttons for shutter and zoom control, and a dedicated cooling fan for shooting intense video. It’s a sign that Vivo is ready to pitch the X300 Ultra not just as a device for photography enthusiasts, but as a real productivity tool for professional photographers and videographers.

While previous Vivo Ultra phones were exclusive to China, the X300 Ultra has been promised to be released in global markets later this year. It remains to be seen how widespread this release really will be, as it almost certainly won’t include the US, and Vivo’s patchy history of European releases makes that a question mark as well.