Oppo and Xiaomi reportedly postponed their Ultra, but the vivo X500 Ultra will arrive as planned in spring 2027

Fans of Chinese camera phones have been getting bad news for the past few weeks, as Xiaomi supposedly canceled the 18 Ultra model and Oppo, according to a well-known tipster, paused development of Find X10 Ultra. Many were therefore afraid that the Ultra line would also end for vivo, but according to the latest report, they shouldn’t worry, because the vivo X500 Ultra is still being prepared for next spring.

The tipster confirmed the timeline, revealed by vivo’s vice president

The Chinese tipster Digital Chat Station wrote on Weibo that the vivo X500 Ultra model is being fine-tuned normally and they want to unveil it in March or April next year. As noted by GSMArena, the same timeline was mentioned to journalists back in September after the X500 lineup was presented by Huang Tao, who is in charge of products as vivo’s vice president. The manufacturers’ plans can change, but for now there’s nothing suggesting vivo would back away from the Ultra model.

According to the tipster, the X500 Ultra could be the only phone in its class with such a large camera setup. In a reply to a comment under the post, they also revealed the phone will be powered by Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6. The predecessor, the vivo X300 Ultra, was introduced in China on March 30, so the successor would arrive almost exactly a year later.

A bigger lead over the X500 Pro Max

In September, Huang Tao promised that the difference in camera specs between the Ultra and vivo X500 Pro Max will be bigger than ever before. Leaks suggest how vivo plans to achieve it. A 200 MP periscope telephoto lens is said to get a 1/1.2″ sensor instead of 1/1.4″ on the predecessor, and the main camera with a 35 mm focal length is rumored to move to a 50 MP sensor with improved stabilization. According to earlier reports, vivo has tested three different 200 MP sensors for the telephoto lens.

According to the leaks, the phone should feature a flat 6.85″ LTPO AMOLED display from BOE with a 2K resolution and a 144 Hz refresh rate, and under the display there will be an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint reader. The battery should be 7,000 to 8,000 mAh, which is noticeably more than the 6,600 mAh in the X300 Ultra.

Why competition with Ultra models is being held back

Neither Oppo nor Xiaomi announced the reasons, and both cancellation reports come from leaks, not official statements. However, GSMArena notes for Oppo that memory prices are rising sharply, which would push a photo phone with expensive sensors into a price tier where it would be hard to sell. Xiaomi 18 Ultra was supposed to have its own Xring O3 chip, according to Digital Chat Station, while Oppo tested a version with Dimensity 9600 Pro alongside Snapdragon.

If the reports are confirmed, vivo won’t have almost any direct rival in China in spring 2027, because the best camera phones from Oppo and Xiaomi would remain Find X10 Pro Max and 18 Pro Max. Not long ago, we compared three Chinese Ultra models, but this showdown could now be paused for a year.

Will it make it to Europe too?

The X500 Ultra also shouldn’t stay China-only. The global version labeled V2660 has already appeared in a Turkish IMEI database, and it’s also being prepared for Brazil under the Jovi brand. The X300 Ultra was the first vivo Ultra model to reach the market outside China, and worldwide it started selling in April, less than a month after the Chinese launch.

We had the X300 Ultra in the editorial office, and in our review it impressed us especially with its camera and build quality. If vivo repeats this year’s approach, the global X500 Ultra could reach us as early as the second quarter of 2027.

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