Vivo’s new flagship Phone line has arrived on the heels of the company’s biggest Android rival. The Chinese phone maker announced the new X90 and X90 Pro on Friday, just days after Samsung Galaxy S23 launched. The main features of the X90 Pro are its 120 watt charger and the 1-inch Sony IMX 989 sensor, which is used in the main camera.

I had the chance to test the Vivo X90 Pro for a short time before launch, where I focused my attention on testing the camera. In my limited time with the phone, I found it offered a versatile range of shots with clarity day and night, and had a nice depth of field. Sometimes though, the photos didn’t turn out as bright as expected even during the day, which surprised me as this phone has a 1-inch Sony IMX 989 sensor. Larger sensors are designed to let in more light and are therefore intended to enable the production of brighter and clearer images.

Apart from the camera, the Vivo X90 Pro has all the hallmark features of a high-end flagship in 2023. There’s a 6.78-inch AMOLED display, a trio of cameras with two 50 megapixels, a large battery and a zippy 120- watt load. Xiaomi’s 12T Pro also has 120 watt fast charging and that was my favorite feature on this phone despite it also having a 200 megapixel camera.

It’s worth pointing out that the Vivo X90 Pro runs on the Mediatek Dimensity 9200 chip. This is a departure from Samsung’s latest line of Galaxy S23 phones, which run on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. There is also only one variant with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal storage.

Pricing information was not available at the time of this writing. But expect an international release in parts of Europe and Asia for the X90 series. There is no US release planned at this time.

X90 Pro’s odd design choice on the rear

For a phone in 2023, the design of the X90 Pro appears relatively plain from the front. The rectangular display has curved edges and features a punch-hole cutout in the center housing the selfie camera. But flip it over and you’ll see a narrow bar across the width of the chassis (underneath the camera module). No, it’s not a camera bar as seen on Google’s Pixel 7 lineup. But simply a dish emblazoned with the words “Xtreme Imagination” on the back of the phone. Frankly, it makes for an odd choice that undermines the overall design of an otherwise sleek phone. Above that confusing bar is the circular camera bump housing three lenses. There’s also a bold vivo branding at the bottom, which I don’t particularly like, but I can see why it’s there.

Zeiss lenses of the X90 Pro

Vivo has positioned this phone as the one that gives you a professional photography experience in your pocket. That’s why it makes sense that the company has flexed its partnership with Zeiss, a 176-year-old company considered a pioneer in optical photography. There are three cameras on the X90 Pro in the form of a 50-megapixel main camera, a 50-megapixel portrait camera and a 12-megapixel wide lens. In general, the photos were respectable and I like how the portrait photos come out with a dramatic bokeh effect. However, as I said earlier, some photos turned out darker than I expected given the size of the sensor. You can see the cameras in action below.