Introduction

Vivo’s flagship crop is the weirdest bunch we’ve ever seen – each new generation is different from the last, with features mixed in, different Camera types and tweaked screen resolutions. The only things we still expect to see are camera technology upgrades and chipset improvements. And that describes the new vivo X90 Pro.

The latest high-end X90 range again consists of three smartphones – the cutting-edge X90 Pro+, the standard X90 Pro and the toned-down X90. Today we’re going to explore the vivo X90 Pro – the first smartphone we’ve come across powered by the new Dimensity 9200 chipset and among the few to feature a 1-inch camera sensor.

The innovations start with the design – the vivo X90 Pro now has an even larger camera housing with a perfectly round shape. The back panel is covered in black vegan leather, and there’s no other color option, at least not in international markets anyway.

Beneath this screen, the X90 Pro hides MediaTek’s flagship SoC – the Dimensity 9200 with modern CPU cores, X3 included, an 11-core GPU and more than enough RAM and storage. There’s also a massive heatsink, probably one of the largest fitted in a phone, and it should help deliver better sustained performance.

The charging capabilities of this new vivo X90 Pro are also very impressive – it supports 120W fast wired charging (50% in 8 minutes according to official specs) and 50W fast wired charging.

The X-series has always been all about cameras and the vivo X90 Pro has some impressive kit on the back. There’s a 50MP main camera with 1″ sensor, the same Sony IMX 979 used on the Xiaomi 12S Ultra. There’s also a 50MP 2x telephoto lens, followed by a 12MP ultrawide camera with focus capabilities. The entire imaging system is based on the latest version of vivo’s X2 image processing chip and Zeiss lenses.

This year, none of the X90 models have gimbal stabilization, a feature several vivo phones previously offered on their primary, telephoto, or ultra-wide cameras. Instead, the main and portrait cameras rely on traditional OIS systems.

We talked about mixed features, and the display was one of those features that we just can’t predict. This year, the vivo X90 Pro uses a 6.78-inch AMOLED with 1260p resolution, 10-bit color depth, 120Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ certification. For comparison, the X80 Pro had a 1440p display, while the X70 Pro relied on a smaller 1080p OLED.

The vivo X90 Pro runs Android 13 with Funtouch 13 UI, while the Chinese version runs on Origin OS 3.

Features of vivo X90 Pro at a glance:

• Body: 164.1 x 74.5 x 9.3mm, 215g; glass front, vegan leather back, aluminum frame; IP68 dust and water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 minutes).
• Display: 6.78″ AMOLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1300 nits (peak), 1260x2800px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 453ppi.
• Chipset: Mediatek Dimensity 9200 (4nm): Octa-core (1×3.05GHz Cortex-X3 & 3×2.85GHz Cortex-A715 & 4×1.80GHz Cortex-A510); Arm Immortalis-G715.
• Memory: 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM; UFS 4.0.
• Operating System/Software: Android 13, Funtouch 13 (Global), Origin OS 3 (China).
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50.3 MP, f/1.8, 23mm, 1.0″ type, 1.6µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, Laser AF, OIS; Telephoto: 50 MP, f/1.6, 50mm, 1/2.4″, 0.7µm, AF, 2x optical zoom, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 12 MP, f/2.0, 108˚, AF.
• Front camera: 32 MP, f/2.5, 24mm (wide), 1/2.8″, 0.8µm.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 8K, 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60fps, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps.
• Battery: 4870mAh; 120W wired, 50% in 8 min (advertised), 50W wireless, Reverse wired.
• Various : Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); NFC; Infrared port; stereo speakers.

The vivo X90 Pro lacks little in terms of modern features. The phone is IP68 rated, designed for global markets, it uses flagship display, cameras, chipset and charging solutions. Maybe a little longer telephoto, say 2.5x or 3x would have been better, but vivo markets this camera as a portrait, so a 50mm lens is sort of standard for the course.

And now here is the vivo X90 Pro unboxed.

Unboxing the vivo X90 Pro

The vivo X90 Pro arrives in a large black box, something we’ve come to love and expect from this manufacturer. Inside you’ll find the X90 Pro, along with a chunky 120W charger and a 6A USB-C to C cable.

That’s not all, of course. The box also contains a transparent silicone cover, while the phone comes with a thin protective film that was applied at the end of the manufacturing process. It’s not the worst quality we’ve seen, but far from the best either (meaning it’s still a burr magnet).