Even in my article full of speculations about the next Xiaomi flagship, whether it is called Xiaomi 13 or Xiaomi 14, I recently assumed that it must be the first smartphone with a fresh Qualcomm chip. After all, the Chinese group has paid great price to stay at the top of the Snapdragon front in recent years.
The first of the Xiaomi 13 (or Xiaomi 14?) should have been the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 that was unveiled a few days ago to keep up the tradition. Unsurprisingly, a competitor has now arrived first.
Vivo X90: Installed the latest chips from Qualcomm and MediaTek
Vivo has unveiled the first Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 device, the Vivo X90 Pro+, which tops the X90 trio comprising the X90, X90 Pro and X90 Pro+. Others are also at the forefront of adapting other high-end chips.
The Vivo X90 and X90 Pro come with the MediaTek Dimensity 9200, which may not be on par with the new Snapdragon in terms of performance, but it’s not far behind either.
In all three cases, the manufacturer combines these chips with a 6.78-inch AMOLED screen with a resolution of 2800 x 1260 pixels or 3200 x 1440 pixels (on the Pro+). Depending on the version, the battery capacity ranges from 4,700 to 4,870 mAh and depending on the model, there is 8 or 12 GB of RAM and 128 or 256 GB of space for data.
Camera with 1 inch sensor
The camera should be especially exciting for enthusiasts. For the Pro models, Vivo opted for a 1-inch sensor with 50 MP (Sony IMX989), which is also used in the Xiaomi 12S Ultra, for example.
On the X90 Pro+, Vivo has paired it with a 48MP ultra-wide angle, 50MP portrait lens and a 64MP periscope lens with 3.5x magnification. Vivo is apparently continuing to work with German company Zeiss for the lenses, as can be inferred from a prominent branding on the back.
So far, the launch is only valid for the home country of China, but given the expansion to Europe, a global market launch can be assumed. How much Vivo’s X90 smartphones will eventually cost in this country cannot be guessed from Chinese prices. But we can expect a four-digit price point.