Hadlee Simons / Android Authority
The vivo X200 Ultra is a great camera phone in its own right (if you’re willing to import it), in no small part due to its impressive 200MP 3.7x periscope camera. However, the company switches things up by offering an optional external lens for even better zoom.
The X200 Ultra’s 2.35x telephoto converter lens effectively turns the phone’s 200MP periscope camera into an ~8.6x shooter. I thought it would be a good idea to compare this lens to the Galaxy S23 Ultra, which was the last of Samsung’s flagships with a dedicated 10x camera (10MP). I wasn’t expecting the S23 Ultra to hold up very well, but here’s how it went.
vivo X200 Ultra’s external lens vs Galaxy S23 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra 10x Vivo X200 Ultra lens 200mm Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra 30x Vivo X200 Ultra lens 800mm
Is it any surprise that I think the vivo X200 Ultra and its external lens handily beat the two-year-old Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 10x camera in the comparisons above? Absolutely not, I’m comparing a 2023 flagship to a brand-new flagship phone with a bulky lens. Samsung’s 10x and 30x images are washed out and lack detail compared to the vivo pictures.
You can see this disparity most clearly in the second set of images, as I can make out the “1919” on the mini-lighthouse in the vivo picture. I also quite like the sea in the second vivo picture, which looks like a painting in the Samsung image. Samsung’s 10x picture also contains plenty of noise in the dark parts of the scene. vivo’s images are a little overly contrasted for my tastes, though, so it’s not a complete win here.
You can take a closer look at the difference in definition via the comparison below. I can actually see the cable car inside the station with the vivo as opposed to a blob with the Galaxy. In saying so, the X200 Ultra’s heavy-handed image processing at long range is apparent. The phone’s AI-driven processing seems to struggle with complex scenery, resulting in these over-sharpened, almost striated textures on the mountain. I would like to see the company take a step back with this aggressive image processing in more situations.
What about people, though? Well, the good news is that the X200 Ultra’s lens offers a shallow depth-of-field effect without needing to switch to the portrait mode. This gives the scene a good level of depth owing to the blurred background, while the S23 Ultra’s rendition appears flatter by comparison. This is also apparent when zooming in to 30x and 800mm.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra 10x vivo X200 Ultra lens 200mm Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra 30x vivo X200 Ultra lens 800mm
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