are you ready to pay 79,999 for a phone? are you ready to pay 79,999 for an Android phone? are you ready to pay 79,999 for an Android phone that isn’t from Samsung? are you ready to pay 79,999 for Vivo phones? Can you ignore the iPhone 13 which costs almost the same as Vivo’s phone? Are you so disappointed with the iPhone? are you happy to invest 79,999 on the Chinese smartphone brand?
These questions mainly form my analysis of newly launched luxury, premium and flagship smartphones from Vivo Vivo X80 Pro today. Co-developed with ZEISS Optics, Vivo X80 Pro basically boasts of optical advancement in its segment. Chinese smartphone brand Vivo introduced Vivo X80 Pro here 79,999 with 12GB RAM and 256GB internal storage. Along with the X80 Pro, Vivo also launched the base model, the X80, which debuted 54,999 for 8GB RAM and 128GB internal space. But, what is Vivo trying to achieve here?
Vivo already knew that these questions would come after the launch of the X80 series, but the smartphone brand might have other ideas that we don’t know here. The company claims that the main attraction of Vivo X80 Pro is its cameras. The smartphone comes with four rear lenses which are placed on a camera island. The phone packs a 50MP main camera with optical image stabilization (OIS), a 48MP wide-angle camera, a 12MP gimbal portrait camera, an 8MP periscope camera, and a 32MP front camera.
To prove its photography and videography capabilities, Vivo incorporated a separate image processing chip called the V1+. Vivo claims that this chip helps in achieving the right amount of exposure and sharpness in video and still images at the same time. We cannot dispute that claim as we have not tested it.
Vivo packs the X80 Pro with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, which is usually found in premium smartphones starting from the top 45,000 in India. Vivo’s own sister brands, Realme and iQOO, have phones with the same chipset but under a reasonable price bracket. For example, realme GT 2 Pro price starts 49,999 for the same chipset. Similarly, iQOO 9 Pro Same SoC but its price starts from 64,990.
even if we compare oneplus 10 pro Pricing with Vivo X80 Pro, 10 Pro price starts 66,999 for the 8GB variant with the same processor while the 12GB model retails for 71,999. Vivo has gone beyond that price and launched the X80 Pro 79,999 without any other version. Like Vivo’s association with ZEISS for the X80 Pro, OnePlus also extended its Hasselblad tie with the OnePlus 10 Pro to the second generation. Hasselblad is also known for its high precision lenses such as jesus,
So far we have only compared the Vivo X80 Pro with its partner brands under the BBK clan, but when it is pitted against the South Korean electronics major, Samsung, the competition becomes even tougher for the former. Samsung has a wide portfolio of premium, luxury and flagship smartphones to make it tough for the X80 Pro. Samsung’s latest Galaxy S22 series has similar features to the X80 Pro but the brand value comes in handy here. The Samsung Galaxy S22 series has also claimed to improve low light photography and shooting, which was launched in February this year.
Vivo’s journey in the luxury segment is not an easy task even in the absence of Huawei, HTC and Sony smartphones. Over the years people have defined brands on their pricing; Xiaomi/Redmi were preferred in the entry and budget segment, Vivo/Oppo were the favorites in the mid-segment, OnePlus was the only option in the 30s and Samsung was preferred among Android smartphones. 50k price segment. Meanwhile, Apple reinvented itself and brought its iPhones in comparison to premium Android smartphones thus creating tremendous sales and demand from users in India.
In contrast, Chinese smartphone companies, mainly smartphone brands owned by BBK, pushed them into the luxury segment, but did not see any success here. Apple’s reverse engineering made them yellow in that segment.
Vivo is looking to strengthen iQOO in the mid-premium segment here with its luxury segment approach. The segment which was once dominated by OnePlus. Meanwhile, OnePlus started bringing mid-segment phones in the form of Nord to expand its portfolio.
The Vivo X80 Pro may be its pilot in the luxury segment, but being over-ambitious here may hamper its real plans to cater to the mid-segment and premium buyers. And I would be happy to meet or know about people who want Vivo phones 79,999 or unless gifted by something. ZEISS Association, as we all know, is not new to the Indian smartphone industry. The preceding Nokia phones were famous for their ZEISS lens but that too didn’t work for it in the long run. Vivo X80 Pro might be a good phone but in the luxury segment brand value and perception play a vital role when investing. And simply, you cannot ignore the iPhone 13 which costs the same as the Vivo X80 Pro!