Seven years is a long time to sit out a market. vivo last sold an S series phone in India back in August 2019, the S1, a budget handset aimed at whoever wanted something decent under twenty grand. The S2 that landed today is not that. Starting price is INR 39,999, roughly $455, which parks it in upper mid-range territory, well above where the S1 ever sat and close enough to the X series to raise questions about who exactly it’s for.
The pitch is design and battery. You get a 6.83-inch 3D curved AMOLED running 2,800×1,260 at 120Hz, peaking at 3,000 nits, with HDR10+ and an optical fingerprint reader underneath. The battery is the headline number though: 7,050mAh with 44W wired charging, bypass charging, and reverse wired charging. That’s a lot of cell for a phone this shape.
Running it is MediaTek’s 4nm Dimensity 7360-Turbo with 8GB of LPDDR4X and up to 256GB of UFS 3.1, no microSD slot, though you can borrow another 8GB of virtual RAM if you want. vivo quotes an AnTuTu score around 970,000 and has stuck a 3,800mm2 vapor chamber inside to keep it from throttling. Software is OriginOS 6 on Android 16, with three OS upgrades and five years of security patches promised.
Cameras are where the spec sheet gets thin. The 50MP Sony IMX852 main sensor has OIS and does the heavy lifting, the 32MP selfie camera shoots 4K, and the second rear sensor is a 2MP depth unit doing very little. No telephoto, no ultrawide. At this price that omission stands out, though the Aura Light ring flash and the portrait modes built around it are clearly meant to carry the imaging story instead.
Durability is the quieter selling point and probably the more convincing one. IP68 plus IP69, MIL-STD-810H, underwater shooting support, and a screen that still responds with wet or greasy hands. Colors are Sapphire Blue, Regal Bronze and Silk White, with the white version slightly thicker and two grams heavier than the other two.
On pricing, note that reports differ on the 256GB variant: some outlets list it at INR 44,999 (about $510), others at INR 49,999 (about $570). Sales open August 11 through vivo’s site, Amazon, Flipkart and retail partners, with bank card discounts up to INR 4,500 and no-cost EMI on offer at launch.
