Apple brought long-overdue upgrades to the iPhone 17 this year: a ProMotion 120Hz display, slimmer bezels, camera tweaks, and better durability were just a few of the improvements that made it arguably the best-value iPhone ever.
The iPhone 17 is undoubtedly one of the best compact phones of 2025, and I thought it couldn’t be surpassed – that is, until I started using the Vivo X300 as my primary phone.
The Vivo X300 is the size of an iPhone 17. However, it's built for those of us who don’t want a big and heavy phone but need flagship cameras and multi-day battery life. At the time of writing, it's not available in the US, UK, or Australia, but the Vivo X300 nonetheless proves that small and non-Pro phones don't have to compromise in the areas that really matter. Allow me to explain.
The Vivo X300 is the no-compromise compact phone I’ve been waiting for
Like the Apple iPhone 17, the Vivo X300 has a 6.3-inch AMOLED display with support for a 120Hz refresh rate and the same 460ppi pixel density. It's sharp, vivid, legible in bright daylight, and immersive, thanks to the slim bezels and minimal punch-hole selfie camera cutout. You also get 2160Hz PWM dimming, so the screen is gentle on your eyes, even during late-night reading sessions.
The phone is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 9500 chipset, paired with up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.1 storage. And for the first time, it runs OriginOS outisde of China. You won’t notice any stutters, lags, or hangs in day-to-day use while using the Vivo X300 Pro, and it also handles demanding games, Lightroom Mobile photo editing, and more power-hungry tasks with ease.
On the software front, I love the new look, sleeker animations, and overall more intuitive user interface. OriginOS 6 has a few iOS-inspired features, like the Origin Island: a pill-shaped floating element, which can also be used to share on-screen items with other apps via drag and drop. It shows live updates on food delivery apps and contextual actions, but it remains a work in progress right now.
Vivo’s new compact phone houses three ZEISS-backed cameras on the rear. That trio is headlined by a 200MP HP5 primary camera with OIS and a large 1/1.4‑inch sensor. It's accompanied by a 50MP OIS Sony LYT‑602 periscope camera with 3x optical zoom, and a 50MP JN1 ultra-wide lens with a 119-degree field-of-view. On the front, you get the same 50MP JN1 shooter with autofocus support for your selfie needs.
This is impressive camera hardware for a phone of this size and weight. The Vivo X300 outputs good-looking photos with rich details, decent contrast, good dynamic range, and a pleasing bokeh in portrait shots. I love the processing in most scenarios, except for when it brightens the skin tones even when the beauty mode is turned off. There are plenty of ZEISS filters to play around with and more features like Street mode, Supermoon mode, etc.
As for battery life, the Vivo X300 packs a 6,040mAh silicone-anode cell (5,360mAh in EU markets) with support for 90W wired charging (charger included in the box) and 40W wireless charging. That isn’t as big as the 7,000mAh+ batteries powering the OnePlus 15 or Oppo Find X9 Pro, but it is plenty big enough for a phone of this size, and will last you an entire day – even with heavy use.
And the best part is, all of this is packed inside a 190g phone; the 200MP main camera, 3x periscope telephoto sensor, 6,040mAh battery, durable design (IP68, IP69 rating), and bright display are stuffed into a device that weighs 16g less than the 206g iPhone 17 Pro (which also uses a 6.3-inch display).
I also love the fact that Vivo stuck to its signature circular camera module and retained the personality of the device, especially at a time when several phone manufacturers are shifting from their unique looks.
So, the X300 proves that you don’t need to compromise on high-end features to get a compact, lightweight phone. It's refreshing to use a device that’s comfortable to hold and has flagship-level durability, optics, screen, and battery life.
We've already talked about how Vivo's pricier X300 Pro rivals the iPhone 17 Pro, but I actually think the regular X300 is the more impressive phone.
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