vivo is going all out for a "breakthrough in the high-end market"
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Author | Huang Yu
Against the backdrop of Huawei’s strong comeback and intensifying industry competition, vivo is attempting to make further breakthroughs in the high-end market by relying deeply on technology and ramping up product features.
On October 13th, vivo officially launched its annual high-end flagship smartphone series, the vivo X300 Series. At the launch event, vivo continued its strategy from the past two years, further strengthening its “tech-savvy” image and opening with a major focus on “Blue Technology.”
Huang Tao, vivo’s Vice President of Products, stated that the vivo X300 Series brings four major upgrades in Blue Technology — BlueCore chipset tech stack, Blueprint Imaging, BlueSea Battery System, and BlueRiver Operating System.
Blueprint Imaging is undoubtedly the key technical strength that vivo wants to highlight this time. Blueprint Imaging represents vivo’s understanding and accumulation of imaging in key scenarios and is a combination of vivo’s self-developed sensor technology, algorithms, imaging chips, and other imaging technologies.
The vivo X300 Series is equipped with the BlueCore×Dimensity 9500 flagship chip, jointly developed by vivo and MediaTek, and is also equipped with vivo’s self-developed Blueprint Imaging chip V3+, achieving highly efficient dual-chip synergy.
Chipsets have always been the core element of competition among high-end smartphones and play a decisive role in a phone’s performance. Apple, Samsung, and Huawei, all of which hold key positions in the high-end smartphone market, have their own self-developed application processor chips.
Facing the high barriers of self-developed chips but still wanting to forge unique competitive advantages, vivo in recent years has chosen to co-define system-on-chips with chip vendors.
Of course, further unlocking the chip’s potential also requires an outstanding operating system. The vivo X300 Series comes fully equipped with the restructured OriginOS 6, built on BlueRiver Smooth Engine technology. With foundational innovations in ultra-core computing, dual rendering architecture, and photon storage, the system offers even greater smoothness and has creatively achieved ecosystem connectivity with Apple’s suite of devices.
Returning to imaging capabilities, in order to further boost the product strength of its high-end flagships, vivo has positioned the X300 Series as the “Zeiss 200MP Dual Imaging Flagship.” At the same time, the entire X300 series is compatible with the Zeiss 2.35x telephoto extender and a photographer’s kit.
Huang Tao pointed out that, unlike before, the standard X300 is positioned internally as an iteration of the X200 Pro mini, thus it and the X300 Pro are not simply high/low-tier configurations in the traditional sense.
Therefore, while maintaining its mini size (6.31 inches), the vivo X300 is also equipped with a Zeiss 200MP super main camera. In terms of price, the vivo X300 is 100 yuan more expensive than the vivo X200, starting at 4,399 yuan, but it is 300 yuan cheaper than the vivo X200 Pro mini, highlighting vivo’s determination to further grab market share in the high-end segment.
As the “king” of vivo imaging, the vivo X300 Pro brings another breakthrough with the Zeiss APO 200MP super telephoto capabilities. According to reports, the X300 Pro’s new 85mm Zeiss 200MP APO super telephoto employs a fully-integrated professional telephoto system covering sensor, optics, and stabilization.
With continuous improvements in performance and product strength, vivo’s goal is clear: to further open up the high-end smartphone market.
At the beginning of 2023, vivo CEO Shen Wei once said, “The next three to five years will be quite tough.” For this, the direction he set for vivo is: “Elevate the brand to the high end to escape the low-margin trap; break through innovation bottlenecks with core foundational technologies; use innovation to create value.”
In fact, faced with the fierce competition in the smartphone market, pursuing breakthroughs in the high-end market has become a shared goal among many domestic phone brands.
According to Counterpoint data, in the first half of 2025, global sales of high-end smartphones (>$600) increased 8% year-on-year, setting a new first-half record. Meanwhile, Chinese brands are expected to continue gaining a greater share of the market above $600.
In the Chinese market, vivo has ranked number one in market share for four consecutive years. Additionally, according to latest data from authoritative agencies, as of September 28, 2025, vivo once again ranked first in China’s smartphone market with over 17% market share.
At the same time, Counterpoint noted that between January and July 2025, Apple’s share in the 4,000-6,000 yuan price range was squeezed by domestic brands, dropping from 23.4% to 17%, while vivo’s market share rose from 8.8% to 14%. Excluding Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi, and vivo occupy the top three spots, with a combined share exceeding three-quarters. Among them, vivo is the only brand to have increased its share in this price segment.
In the quest for the high-end market, Huawei, Xiaomi, and vivo each display their strengths.
Huawei insists on full-stack in-house development, with the Kirin chip and HarmonyOS ecosystem jointly forming the technical foundation for continuous innovation in Huawei’s consumer business; Xiaomi focuses on integrating global supply chain resources and innovatively building the full-scenario “Human-Car-Home” ecosystem; while vivo drives itself forward through both in-house and co-developed technology, constantly pushing the upper limits of mobile photography.
At present, although vivo still lags behind Huawei and Apple in high-end market share, its achievements in certain price segments demonstrate that its years of persistence in the high-end market are paying off. The newly released vivo X300 Series will undoubtedly become the core growth engine in its next phase.
This battle for high-end breakthrough continues, and only those participants who maintain competitiveness in technology and product innovation at all times have a chance to become one of the ultimate winners.
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