vivo enters Europe, announces four phones across six countries

Six years after making its first steps on the international scene, vivo has officially entered the European market. The Chinese maker is now doing business in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Its first phones on the Old Continent are led by the vivo X51 5G which is a rebranded X50 Pro.

In addition, vivo is also bringing its Y70 and Y20s midrangers, which have been available in other markets for a while. We also have the all-new vivo Y11s which is an entry-level device powered by the Snapdragon 460 chipset, 5,000 mAh battery and 6.51” HD+ LCD.

vivo Y11s

Currently, vivo operates in over 30 markets and the second leading smartphone vendor in China and India. It also commands a 9% share of global smartphone sales.

Back to the star of the show the X51 5G is up for grabs starting today for £749 in the UK in the single 8GB/256GB trim. Sales in other parts of Europe will begin soon though there are no specifics on pricing and availability. There are talks with carriers and retailers across Europe to bring vivo phones to more consumers and the brand will bring its other smart products soon.

The X51 5G sports a 6.56-inch AMOLED panel with a 90Hz refresh rate and a built-in fingerprint. It’s powered by the Snapdragon 765G and comes with a 4,315 mAh battery with 33W fast wired charging. It boots Android 10 though an Android 11 update will arrive shortly.

Its key selling point is around the back where it boats one of the more impressive camera in the market. There’s a 48MP (f/1.6) main lens with an unprecedented four-axis OIS - micro gimbal stabilization. We also have a 13MP (f/2.46) portrait lens, 8MP ultrawide snapper and an 8MP telephoto module with 5x optical zoom and OIS.

In our review we found the gimbal stabilization quite impressive though not as groundbreaking as advertised. The device performed very well in daylight and produced among the best low-light shots we’ve seen.

vivo also unveiled its partnership with UEFA for the Euro 2020 Championship (to be held June 11- July 11, 2021) as well as the subsequent Euro 2024 tournament. There are also plans to update the company’s Funtouch interface closer to stock Android to suit European user’s needs.