vivo X60 Pro+ review

Quad-camera setup, gimbal-mounted ultrawide

The vivo X60 Pro+ has four cameras on its back covering four separate focal lengths covering an effective zoom range of 14mm to 125mm in 35mm camera terms. And because vivo is a fan of gimbals, this year the Pro+ gets one as well.

A bit unusually, it's the ultrawide that gets the gimbal as opposed to the primary cam, which was the case on the X50 Pro and the X60 Pro. It uses a 48MP IMX598 sensor, a 1/2" Quad Bayer unit Sony developed to vivo's spec and pairs it with an f/2.2 aperture lens. This camera has autofocus too, further adding to its versatility.

For the primary camera, vivo has used a Samsung S5KGN1 sensor. Nominally a 50MP imager, it has a 1/1.31" optical format and 1.2µm pixels. Samsung calls it Dual Tetrapixel - the 'Tetrapixel' alludes to the 4-in-1 color filter array, while the 'Dual' bit signifies it has dual pixel autofocus. The EXIF data reports a 23mm focal length and an f/1.57 aperture for the lens, which is stabilized, even if lacking a gimbal.

The short telephoto employs a 1/2.8" Samsung S5KGD1 sensor, another Tetrapixel unit with 0.8µm pixels. This one has a 50mm lens with an f/2.08 aperture, stabilized too.

Then there's the 5x tele. A stabilized f/3.4 periscope lens assembly with a 125mm focal length bends light into an 8MP OmniVision OV08A10 sensor.

Over on the front, there's a 32MP selfie camera, same as on the X60 Pro. It's based on the Samsung S5KGD1 Tetrapixel sensor (1/2.8", 0.8µm). This one reports its focal length at 24mm while the aperture is f/2.45.

The camera app we see on the X60 Pro+ is, understandably, the same as on the X60 Pro. That's a much improved and more straightforward version of the one we had on the V20 - the confusing lens icon for access to the ultrawide is now gone, and switching all three focal lengths is done with the classic 'x'-based selector, here with four buttons.

The chief modes are switched with side swipes as on most other phones, and the 'More' tab lets you access less common modes. From there, you can also customize the modes you have available in the viewfinder.

There's a Pro mode that lets you tweak photographic parameters yourself, and it works with all four rear cameras. You get to select ISO (50-3200), shutter speed (1/12000s-32s), white balance (presets and a temperature slider), focus distance (no focus peaking), and exposure compensation (-3/+3EV in 0.1EV increments), with easily accessible auto buttons on all and a global 'restore' button to revert everything to auto. A live histogram and a level are also at your disposal.

Camera UI

Daylight image quality

Unsurprisingly, given the hardware, the X60 Pro+ delivers very appealing images, well worthy of its flagship stature. As we came to expect from our experience with the previous vivo, we're getting really vivid colors out of the X60 Pro+ in its default state. Whether we got used to them, or the Pro+ is ever so slightly more conservative with saturation, we're finding it hard to complain about the way this one renders color. Dynamic range, too, is excellent, easily on par with the best in class.

There's hardly a spec of noise in the main camera's photos, not in the sky, and not in the shadows either. Detail is as good as from any other 12-ish megapixel camera - it can't resolve the balcony blinds in the second sample as the 108MP-to-27MP Mi 11 could, but the vivo is up there with virtually every other high-end phone.

Daylight samples, main cam (1x)

The short tele maintains that positive impression and gives us likeable 8MP images at 2x zoom. Detail is very good, noise is minimal, and dynamic range is wide, if not quite as great in the shadows as on the main cam.

Daylight samples, tele cam (2x)

Then there's the periscope 5x zoom camera. In broad daylight, it captures detailed stills, again with little to no noise. Dynamic range is slightly narrower still but perfectly acceptable when the trade-off is extra reach.

Daylight samples, tele cam (5x)

Moving on to the ultrawide, we're once again seeing very appealing shots. Sharpness and detail are excellent, either class-leading or thereabout. There's some fine grain in the sky if you're particularly motivated to go looking for it, but generally, noise is a non-issue in daylight. Dynamic range is on par with the main cam, which is quite the achievement, and it's better than most ultrawides.

We're seeing a faint warm cast to greenery when examining the ultrawide shots against the ones from the primary camera. We don't necessarily mind the look in isolation, but we'd probably prefer better color matching between the separate cameras. Having said that, it could be related to the AI picking a different scene mode based on the different things that fit in the frame as the coverage changes.

Daylight samples, ultrawide cam (0.6x)

We're getting to the High resolution mode. Three of the four cameras have large high-res sensors with Quad Bayer color filters and can shoot at their nominal resolutions - only the periscope is 8MP. The main camera's 50MP mode can resolve finer detail under the right circumstances - plenty of light, nearby subjects, fine diagonal patterns. You'd also be getting a significant increase in noise and less saturated colors, plus the obvious large file sizes. For general picture-taking, it wouldn't be our first choice.

Daylight samples, main cam, 50MP

There's an even higher resolution mode that goes beyond the native 50MP and outputs 100MP photos. The negative aspects of the 50MP photos are amplified here (noise, file sizes), and if there are benefits in detail, we're not seeing them.

Daylight samples, main cam, 100MP

We wouldn't say there's such a significant hike in noise on the 2x tele cam when shooting in full resolution. Another good thing is that we're more easily seeing the extra detail in these when looking at side-by-side comparisons - it's not heaps of it, but it's there. The much bigger file sizes remain a strong argument not to shoot this way.

Daylight samples, tele cam (2x), 32MP

The ultrawide camera's full-res mode comes with a substantial drop in dynamic range, a lot more so than on the other two. There's a notable desaturation to go with it as well. Add to those the questionable benefit in terms of detail, and there seems to be no reason to shoot 48MP ultrawide photos.

Daylight samples, ultrawide cam (0.6x), 48MP

There's plenty of reason to shoot ultrawide close-ups, on the other hand. The module's ability to lock focus on very close subjects means you can get very good magnification with tiny subject matter. Naturally, the fact that you can be less than 3cm from what you're photographing will result in throwing a shadow over it with the phone in most cases, and such shooting distances aren't ideal for living beings either.

Close-up samples

Low-light image quality

The vivo X60 Pro+ applies some Night mode processing by default in regular Photo mode, a behavior we observed on the non-plus as well. It's quick and unobtrusive, and we didn't find it to cause any issues.

On the contrary, we got the flagship-grade photos we expected. Dynamic range is excellent, colors are vivid, and there's a lot of fine detail without any real noise.

Low-light samples, main cam (1x)

Night mode improves things just a tiny bit by opening up the shadows ever so slightly, but it's hardly a dramatic difference. There aren't significant benefits to shooting in Night mode on the main camera compared to just the regular Photo mode, but there aren't drawbacks either, really - it doesn't take much longer to shoot, and it doesn't hurt fine detail for the most part.

Low-light samples, main cam (1x), Night mode

The above words apply pretty much directly to the ultrawide camera's output as well. Dynamic range is wide already in Photo mode, with a minor nudge in the shadows in some scenes coming from Night mode. Detail changes very little between the modes and is pretty good, noise reduction is competent too, while colors see no desaturation at high sensitivities.

Low-light samples, ultrawide cam (0.6x)

Low-light samples, ultrawide cam (0.6x), Night mode

The 2x zoom level is handled by the dedicated short tele in almost all scenes, with the choice to switch to the main cam not entirely being up to the phone - of the samples below, only the fourth didn't come from the 2x camera.

Dynamic range remains respectable, and there's only a small bit of well-lit wall blown out around point light sources instead of big blobs of white. A point could be made that the phone prioritizes saving the highlights and exposes a little too dark, but that's not an objectionable approach really. Colors maintain the usual level of pop.

Low-light samples, tele cam (2x)

Switch to Night mode, and now the bulk of scenes get outsourced to the main camera (but not all of them, so there's still a threshold somewhere). We're seeing more significant tonal development benefits at both ends, so that's good. However, if Photo mode used the 2x cam, and Night mode used the main cam for 2x zoom, there will be a notable detail penalty to be paid, even if we're looking at 8MP Photo vs. 12MP Night shots. Basically, for a fairly less demanding street scene with a building facade, one that isn't too dark or contrasty, you'd be better off in Photo mode.

Low-light samples, tele cam (2x), Night mode

Zooming in further to 5x, we're seeing fairly underexposed images with less than ideal dynamic range. However, these are almost always captured with the actual 5x camera, and sharpness remains relatively good, there's a lot of detail and noise is kept low.

Low-light samples, tele cam (5x)

In our scenes, none of the 5x zoom samples in Night mode came out of the 5x camera, with some taken on the main one, others on the 2x. The ones coming from the main cam look rough even at fit-to-screen level, let alone when viewed at 1:1. Those sourced from the 2x module do look decent at fit to screen, but closer examination isn't advised.

The phone does lift up the shadows, and the thumbnails can have you fooled those are better pictures than ones taken in Photo mode, but we'd rather shoot at 5x in Photo mode and bump the shadows in post.

Low-light samples, tele cam (5x), Night mode

Once you're done with the real-world samples, head over to our Photo compare tool to see how the vivo X60 Pro+ stacks up against the competition.

vivo X60 Pro+ against the Galaxy S21+ and the OnePlus 9 Pro in our Photo compare tool

Portrait mode

The X60 Pro+ has three zoom levels available in its portrait mode, but the 5x level only gets you the beauty effects and filters, and some of the styles, but not the faux bokeh. Essentially, it gets you access to the 5x zoom camera with some tailoring for people photos. Here's a handful, with no effects applied.

Portrait samples, 5x

The other two zoom levels are each sourced from the respective camera and deliver excellent results. Detail is great in most light conditions, and even if the main camera (1x zoom) does slightly better in dimmer settings, the 2x camera is no slouch either. Subject isolation is generally good, though the 2x module was slightly more prone to the occasional mishap. The tele has a slight tendency for warmer, more reddish skin tones, which is noticeable against the main cam's more neutral look. In isolation, you'll likely not mind either approach. Dynamic range is super wide in either mode, so back-lit portraits shouldn't be an issue.

Portrait samples, 1x

Portrait samples, 2x

The promo materials mention the Zeiss Biotar simulation mode for recreating the characteristic swirly bokeh look of that particular lens lineup of the German optics company. It takes a specific background for the effect to be most visible - specular highlights or general busy backgrounds work best and the effect is a lot more pronounced on the 2x camera. Here are a few samples.

Portrait samples, 1x, Biotar style

Portrait samples, 2x, Biotar style

Selfies

The X60 Pro+ captures essentially the same selfies as the non-plus, which is to be expected given the shared hardware. Those are always saved at 32MP, and you get your MP's worth of detail in scenes with balanced lighting, though more challenging conditions (higher contrast scenes, less light) do rob you of absolute detail. In any case, however, those would make excellently detailed 12MP selfies. Dynamic range is plenty wide, colors are accurate - that's to say, not as lively as on the rear cameras.

Selfie samples

We had another run-in with the iffy selfie portrait implementation on the X60 Pro+, just as we observed on the non-plus. We only got actual blurry background portraits in some of the scenes, even though the viewfinder would show a live preview of the effect for all of them. For what it's worth, the Pro+ had fewer failed attempts than the Pro, but it remains unreliable for this particular task.

Subject detection was perhaps a fraction better on this phone, though this does tend to vary wildly with different hair, clothes and background. We've found that taking several shots usually results in getting at least one good one.

Selfie samples, Portrait mode