Budget phones can now offer a "partial" flagship experience.

Last year, when vivo announced it would add a "Pro" model to the Y300 series, many were puzzled. Most users believed the Y series, targeting the 1-2K price range, had little room for improvement. However, the vivo Y300 Pro adopted a clever market positioning: aligning its design and screen quality with flagships while upgrading the main camera to a higher standard, offering a well-balanced experience in the 2K price range. Its successor, the Y500 Pro, continues this strategy, particularly with the main camera, which now features a 200MP sensor—a rare sight in this price segment.

(Image source: Leitech)

Priced at 1,799 yuan for the 8+128GB variant, the vivo Y500 Pro maintains its predecessor's pricing. Leitech has spent some time with this sub-2,000 yuan device. How does it stack up against flagships compared to its predecessor? How does the first 200MP main camera in a mid-range phone perform? Let's dive in.

Comprehensively improved feel and texture (Comprehensive Upgrade in Feel and Quality)

The first impression of the vivo Y500 Pro is that it's more compact and refined. While the Y300 Pro had a 6.77-inch screen, the Y500 Pro reduces it to 6.67 inches, making it more comfortable to hold. The switch to a flat display also enhances the front visual appeal.

The vivo Y500 Pro comes in four colors: Auspicious Cloud Gold, Light Green, Soft Pink, and Titanium Black. Our review unit is in Auspicious Cloud Gold, featuring a textured back inspired by the rising sun and dawn light, with gold and white intertwining for a striking visual effect.

(Image source: Leitech)

This generation's back glass uses the same satin AG matte finish as the vivo X200s, offering a smooth touch and resistance to fingerprints. The vivo logo is etched, providing a tactile increase in friction when swiped.

The rear Deco design mirrors the X200s, featuring a centered large circle. However, the Y500 Pro's camera module includes only the main and depth lenses, with the other two spots occupied by an infrared emitter and a decorative element. Without a periscope module, the protrusion is more reasonable, minimizing discomfort during horizontal use, especially when watching videos or gaming.

(Image source: Leitech)

The front screen also boasts several highlights. As mentioned, the flat display and 1.37mm ultra-narrow bezels reduce the phone's width, improving grip. The screen maintains a flagship-grade 1.5K resolution and peaks at 1,600 nits brightness. Flagship features like 3840Hz ultra-high-frequency dimming, AI eye protection, and anti-fatigue brightness curves are also included.

(Image source: Leitech)

Unfortunately, the vivo Y500 Pro still uses a short-focus fingerprint sensor, requiring an awkward grip adjustment to unlock. The plastic frame also feels sticky, especially for users with sweaty hands. However, these compromises are typical for mid-range phones in the 1-2K price range, as vivo prioritizes cost allocation to the screen, back, and imaging.

200 million pixel main camera ， Individual combat is also possible (200MP Main Camera: Capable on Its Own)

The vivo Y500 Pro features two cameras: a 200MP Samsung HP5 main sensor and a 2MP depth lens.

The Samsung HP5, released this year, is a large 1/1.56-inch sensor with 200MP resolution, supporting enhanced Smart ISO Pro and staggered HDR, making it the most technologically advanced 200MP sensor on the market.

vivo offers four quick zoom options (1x, 2x, 3x, 5x) corresponding to 23mm, 46mm, 69mm, and 115mm focal lengths. Additionally, tapping the 5x zoom again enables 10x zoom (230mm), with vivo's AI Super Resolution enhancing image quality.

(Image source: Leitech)

In 200MP Ultra HD mode, the Y500 Pro is limited to the 23mm focal length and requires a brief wait for pixel binning after capture.

(Image source: Leitech)

How does the first mid-range phone with a 200MP camera perform? Let's examine the samples.

(Image source: Leitech)

In normal 23mm mode, the Y500 Pro delivers excellent results, with natural highlight handling, even in complex scenes with mixed clouds and sunset light.

(Image source: Leitech)

In 200MP Ultra HD mode, photos retain more detail, capturing every note in a sheet music sculpture. However, imaging speed is slower, taking about 3 seconds to zoom in, which is a drawback.

(Image source: Leitech)

Thanks to 2x lossless zoom, the 46mm focal length delivers sharp images with ample detail, almost functioning as a standalone lens.

(Image source: Leitech)

At 3x (69mm), the Y500 Pro relies more on algorithmic enhancements, but clarity suffers slightly in cloudy conditions, and sharpness isn't as pronounced as at 1x or 2x.

(Image source: Leitech)

At 5x, clarity drops significantly, with text on warning signs becoming unreadable. However, color accuracy remains decent, and for a single-camera phone relying on 5x cropping, the results are generally satisfactory.

(Image source: Leitech)

In low-light conditions, the Y500 Pro maintains vivo's traditional strong performance, particularly in highlight suppression, handling distant signs and store logos effectively.

(Image source: Leitech)

The Y500 Pro also offers AI Super Resolution processing, manually activatable at 10x zoom. The left image shows the result without AI, while the right image demonstrates the significant improvement with AI enhancement.

(Image source: Leitech)

vivo has also brought the S series' "One-Tap" mode to the Y series, offering various film filters and exclusive watermarks for enhanced playability.

In summary, the vivo Y500 Pro's imaging performance is impressive for a mid-range device with a single primary sensor. The 23mm and 46mm focal lengths are highly usable, with good clarity and natural imaging styles. While 69mm and 115mm performance is slightly weaker, the results remain acceptable.

extra-large battery + Tianji chip ， Dual focus on battery life performance (Massive Battery + Dimensity Chip: Balancing Battery Life and Performance)

As a "Pro" model, vivo doesn't hesitate to equip its phones with large batteries, a defining trait of the Y series—long battery life and durability.

The vivo Y500 Pro features a 7,000mAh ultra-thin Blue Ocean battery, 500mAh larger than its predecessor, while keeping weight under 200g. It also supports 90W wired fast charging, maintaining reasonable charge speeds despite the increased capacity.

In a 4-hour endurance test consisting of 1 hour of Bilibili streaming, 1 hour of Weibo, 1 hour of Douyin, and 1 hour of "League of Legends: Wild Rift," the Y500 Pro retained 73% battery. For most users, this ensures sufficient power from work to home.

(Image source: Leitech)

Performance-wise, the Y500 Pro is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7400 mobile platform. This SoC sits between the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 and Snapdragon 7 Gen 2, a common mid-range chip for this price range. Antutu benchmark scores place the Y500 Pro around 1.03 million, easily handling daily apps and casual gaming.

(Image source: Leitech)

In "League of Legends: Wild Rift's" demanding ARAM mode, the Y500 Pro occasionally drops frames during large team fights but quickly recovers to 60fps. In standard 5v5 matches, performance remains consistently smooth. The Dimensity 7400, tuned by vivo, delivers outstanding results.

(Image source: Leitech)

The Y500 Pro ships with OriginOS 6, offering the latest AI features, such as the enhanced Little V Circle Search 2.0, which improves screen content recognition efficiency and clarity in execution paths.

Overall, the vivo Y500 Pro excels in battery life, performance, and system fluidity for its price range. However, it falls short in areas like battery capacity (smaller than the Y300 Pro+) and performance (slightly inferior to the Y300 GT). If longer battery life or stronger performance is needed, consider waiting for other Y500 series releases.

Summary: A Durable Marvel with a Focus on Imaging

The Y series has always been known for its 'durability' in the mass market, and the Y500 Pro is indeed a model that stands out in terms of imaging performance while remaining 'durable'. For this niche market, this is actually a strategic move to achieve unexpected success.

Following convention (customary practice), let's briefly summarize the pros and cons of the vivo Y500 Pro:

Pros:

1. Exceptional imaging capabilities

2. Lightweight and offers a good hand feel

3. Excellent battery life

Cons:

1. Plastic mid-frame

2. Short-focus fingerprint sensor

3. Lacks an ultra-wide-angle lens

(Image source: Shot by Lei Technology)

As mentioned earlier, the vivo Y500 Pro is a fairly standard mid-range model in the 2K price range. Although its performance is not particularly outstanding, it does not affect its smoothness; it comes equipped with all the essential features such as battery life, fast charging, and a 1.5K eye-care screen. If you do not have high demands for performance but enjoy taking photos, then the Y500 Pro may be a good choice at this price point.

Source: Lei Technology

The images in this article are from: 123RF Royalty-Free Image Library. Source: Lei Technology