Vivo has been drip-feeding the X500 series for a week now. Today it posted official images of the X500 Pro Max in every finish it will sell, ahead of the launch event in China. The Pro Max comes in grey, white, black and orange, and the Pro shares the same four. The standard X500 swaps orange for a pink shade called dawn.
That orange is not a coincidence. Chinese brands have been chasing it since the iPhone 17 Pro sold well in the colour last year, so half the flagship field has since arrived wearing it.
The Pro Max has a button the other models do not
Look at the left edge in the new images and there’s an extra key on the Pro Max alone. vivo hasn’t said what it does. A dedicated camera control is the obvious guess, given what the rest of this phone is about.
Launch is 21 September at 7pm in China
The X500, X500 Pro and X500 Pro Max all arrive that evening, with a global rollout expected around November. Vivo Watch 6 and Buds Clip are tipped for the same event.
On specs, the Pro Max is expected to run MediaTek’s Dimensity 9600 Pro, which MediaTek only announces on 15 September, six days before vivo puts it in a phone. The main camera uses a custom Sony sensor rated at 17EV of dynamic range, and the 200MP periscope telephoto is the same unit from the X300 Ultra. The 400mm Zeiss extender lens is back too, pushing zoom to roughly 17x for anyone willing to carry it.
