vivo X80 Pro review

Introduction

A plus may have disappeared from the name, but don't let that fool you - the vivo X80 Pro is the spiritual successor to the X70 Pro+. In essence, it's the company's ultimate cameraphone and we're getting hardware and software advancements in the imaging department on top of what was already a hugely capable setup.

An all-round flagship, of course, the X80 Pro is also packing a high-end chipset and a top-quality display as well as some extra battery capacity this year, all in a striking looking body. And, very importantly, it's going further than the X70 Pro+ - all the way to Europe now.

vivo phones are seldom easy for us as there are often differences between versions sold in China and ones for outside markets - such is the case here as well. The proprietary software layer on top of Android is one of those (Origin in China, Funtouch elsewhere), but this year there are also two different chipsets - one's the Dimensity 9000, the other is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Materials and available colorways will vary from region to region, too. We're reviewing a global variant of the X80 Pro with a Snapdragon/Funtouch combo.

With that distinction hopefully cleared up, let's outline what's new. The main camera is using an exclusive Samsung sensor, albeit based on the familiar 1/1.3" one in previous generations. The shorter of the two telephoto cameras, meanwhile, has gained a gimbal - a signature vivo touch. On the flipside, the ultrawide has been denied that extra stability now - perhaps the tele has better use for it anyway. The an 8MP stabilized periscope camera remains unchanged, as does the 32MP selfie unit.

In true top-tier fashion, the OLED display of the X80 Pro features QHD resolution and supports variable refresh rate up to 120Hz (but also as low as 1Hz). It's gently curved too, for better or for worse. A new development underneath it is the huge ultrasonic fingerprint reader, same one we already saw (and loved) on the iQOO 9 Pro earlier this year. We also get a minor but still welcome increase in battery capacity to 4,700mAh (up from 4,500mAh) and a bump in charging power capability to 80W (66W on the old model).

And that appears to be it, at least as far as the specsheets are concerned.

vivo X80 Pro specs at a glance:

• Body: 164.6x75.3x9.1mm, 215g; Glass front (Schott Xensation Up), glass back, aluminum frame; IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 mins).
• Display: 6.78" LTPO3 AMOLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1500 nits (peak), 1440x3200px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 517ppi.
• Chipset: Qualcomm SM8450 Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 (4 nm): Octa-core (1x3.00 GHz Cortex-X2 & 3x2.40 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4x1.70 GHz Cortex-A510); Adreno 730.
• Memory: 256GB 12GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
• OS/Software: Android 12, Funtouch 12 (Global).
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.6, 1/1.3", PDAF, Laser AF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 48 MP, f/2.2, 114˚, 1/2.0", AF; Telephoto: 12 MP, f/1.9, 50mm, 1/2.93", 1.22µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, 2x optical zoom, gimbal OIS; Telephoto: 8 MP, f/3.4, 1/4.4", 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS, 5x optical zoom.
• Front camera: 32 MP, f/2.5, 26mm (wide), 1/2.8", 0.8µm.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 8K, 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60fps, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps.
• Battery: 4700mAh; Fast charging 80W, 100% in 38 min (advertised), Fast wireless charging 50W, 100% in 50 min (advertised), Reverse charging.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, ultrasonic); NFC; Infrared port.

vivo X80 Pro unboxing

The X80 Pro's presentation follows the tradition established by previous premium vivo phones. The phone arrives in a large squarish box made of thick textured cardboard. It's a different shade of hard-to-name gray-navy - last year's models leaned a bit more towards gray, this one is bluer. The shiny blue Zeiss badge is still the same shiny Zeiss blue hue. While not remotely resembling other flagships' small (and mostly devoid of contents) boxes, the X80 Pro's package has gotten nearly a centimeter thinner than last year's models, so that should help logistics.

Inside, the phone is lying face down in the left side of the tray, but you can now see all of it - the X70 Pro+ had another layer of cardboard on top with a window cutout just for the camera island. It's not like there's any chance you'd be missing the X80 Pro's camera island so perhaps further accenting it through packaging shenanigans was indeed unnecessary.

Two additional boxes underneath the tray hold the accessories, and there's a good deal of them. An 80W charger promises speedy top-ups, which we appreciate, but we do tend to frown upon USB-A-to-C connections in 2022 and that's the case here. It's hard to complain about the nice pair of in-ear buds that you get in the box, though.

The faux leather case with thick plastic bits for the top and bottom of the phone (corners too) is also welcome. It likely won't be offering much protection for the camera cluster, but keeping that safe and maintaining any semblance of good looks does seem impossible. And it's made to be looked at, the vivo X80 Pro.