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Vivo X500 Pro Max Set for September 21 China Launch With Halo-Tier Camera Hardware
Vivo has locked in a launch date for its next generation flagship lineup, confirming that the X500 series will debut in China on September 21. The announcement came during the company’s Creator Festival event, where vivo also gave the clearest look yet at what the X500 Pro Max, the headline model in the new lineup, will actually look like and what it’s bringing to the table on the camera front.
Vivo product vice president Huang Tao posted the first official images of the X500 Pro Max on Weibo, showing the phone in silver and a bold orange finish, both built around a dual-tone back panel. The design centers on a large circular camera island housing three sensors with Zeiss branding, a partnership vivo has leaned on heavily across its X series for several years now, along with an LED flash tucked into the top left corner and an action button built into the frame. Anyone familiar with last year’s X300 Ultra will recognize the overall silhouette immediately, and that resemblance appears to be intentional rather than coincidental.
That’s because vivo appears to be taking the same approach Oppo has taken with its own Find X10 lineup this year, folding what would have previously been reserved for a separate, top-tier Ultra model into the Pro Max badge instead. Multiple reports indicate vivo does not plan to release a standalone X500 Ultra this generation, which would make the Pro Max the best camera hardware the company offers in its next flagship cycle rather than a step below a more premium sibling.
On the camera side, vivo’s own product manager Han Boxiao has already confirmed several specifics directly on Weibo, ahead of the full launch event. The X500 Pro Max will carry a 200-megapixel Zeiss APO super telephoto camera, pairing a 1/1.4-inch BluePrint sensor design with a Samsung HPO sensor, the exact same combination vivo used in last year’s X300 Ultra. The phone also supports the same Zeiss 400mm teleconverter accessory that shipped with the X300 Ultra, a clip-on lens that extends the phone’s native 85mm periscope reach out to roughly 16.6x without the quality loss typically associated with pure digital zoom.
Stabilization is getting a real upgrade too. According to Han, the main camera now uses a gimbal-level stabilization system supporting up to three degrees of physical movement correction, carrying the same CIPA 7.0 stabilization rating that was previously reserved for the X300 Ultra’s periscope lens, now applied to the main sensor instead. Vivo says that stabilization range is roughly double what last year’s model offered, and the benefit extends beyond just smoother video. Better physical stabilization allows the camera to maintain slower shutter speeds while still letting in sufficient light, which in practice should mean cleaner, less noisy photos in dim conditions without the blur or smearing that can come from a shaky handheld shot. The main sensor itself is reportedly a 50-megapixel, 1/1.28-inch chip developed by vivo’s Blueprint imaging team in collaboration with Sony, capable of up to 17EV of dynamic range, alongside support for 4K video at up to 240 frames per second for slow motion and 4K HDR recording at 120 frames per second.
Beyond the confirmed camera details, a fair amount of the X500 Pro Max’s remaining specifications are still coming from leaks and industry tipsters rather than official vivo statements, so they’re worth treating with some caution until the September 21 event. Reports point to a 6.85-inch display, a MediaTek Dimensity 9600 Pro chipset built on a 3-nanometer process, a battery capacity above 7,000mAh, and support for around 100W wired charging. The phone is also expected to ship running Android 17 with vivo’s own OriginOS 7 layered on top.
Vivo has not yet announced pricing for the X500 Pro Max or the rest of the series, with the company confirming that cost and full availability details will be revealed alongside the official unveiling on September 21. Pre-reservations have already opened through vivo’s Chinese website ahead of that date. International buyers will likely need to wait a bit longer, with an India launch expected sometime in October based on vivo’s typical release cadence for its X series flagships, and a European debut expected to follow at some point after that, though vivo hasn’t confirmed specific dates for markets outside China yet.
Alongside the three new phones, vivo is also expected to introduce a new pair of ear-clip style headphones and the vivo Watch 6 at the same event, rounding out what’s shaping up to be one of the company’s broadest hardware launches of the year. For now, the September 21 event is the date to watch, since it should finally settle the remaining open questions around pricing, full specifications, and exactly how the X500 Pro Max stacks up against rivals like Oppo’s Find X10 Pro Max, which is following a strikingly similar strategy of its own this year.
