This Ultra flagship could be a telephoto beast with a 200MP periscope camera

Different smartphones take different approaches to photography, but Android’s Ultra flagships usually try to pack in every possible upgrade to try and become the best camera flagship. With primary camera upgrades plateauing after a point, we’re seeing more and more companies focus on telephoto cameras as the next big upgrade. Samsung opts to include two telephoto cameras on its Galaxy S24 Ultra flagship for two different optical zoom setups, while other companies are using periscope zoom on a higher megapixel sensor, opting for hybrid zoom instead of just optical or digital. This upcoming Ultra flagship on the block could take it to the next level, pairing a 200MP sensor with a periscope zoom lens for the best telephoto zoom experience.

The vivo X100 Ultra flagship is slated for its home market this May, and renders of the device have just emerged on Weibo.

The device pictured on the left is said to be the vivo X100 Ultra, while the phone on the right is expected to be the vivo X100S. Rumors floating on Weibo indicate that the X100 Ultra is coming with a titanium build, though it could also be that the phone has a titanium color and finish.

The top variant of the X100 Ultra is also expected to have satellite messaging features, as Digital Chat Station mentions on Weibo, but the functionality will likely be limited to China.

Leaker Ice Universe mentions that the vivo X100 Ultra could be the “absolutely telephoto camera king” for this year. The device is said to come with an 85mm telephoto camera capable of 3.7x optical zoom, paired with a 1/1.4-inch 200MP sensor with an f/2.67 aperture. Shaky rumors on Weibo indicate that it could achieve 200x digital zoom, which is wild to even think about.

Doing some back-of-the-hand calculations on our end, it seems the telephoto camera should be capable of outputting 50MP ~7.4x hybrid zoom photos, possibly going as far out as 12.5MP ~14.8x hybrid zoom photos. It would be wild to have that output, so there’s a higher probability that vivo opts for pixel binning to improve the quality at more sane zoom ranges. But no matter how you cut it, the phone could be the telephoto king to beat this year.

Other leaked specifications of the vivo X100 Ultra include a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC, a 50MP Samsung ISOCELL JN1 sensor for the front camera, a 50MP Sony LYT900 primary camera, ZEISS lenses, vivo’s “Blueprint” AI tech for images, a 5,500mAh battery and 80W wired charging.

Are you excited for the vivo X100 Ultra? Let us know in the comments below!