Vivo and Zeiss unveil a strange new smartphone with a telephoto lens

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Vivo has launched its new X300 and X300 Pro in Shanghai. Both are interesting and capable flagship devices, but the real kicker is the “Photographer’s Kit” — a bundle of accessories that lets users turn their phone into a camera-like device. The kit includes a USB-C grip with a shutter button, an attachable 2.35x telephoto lens developed by Zeiss, and rings for attaching filters in front of the camera. The lens attaches to a 200MP Samsung Hynix sensor. On the X300, that sensor sits below the main camera, while on the X300 Pro it corresponds to the 3.5x zoom module. This means that on the X300 Pro, users can take advantage of a 200MP optical zoom with 8.9x magnification, equivalent to a 200mm lens.

What the average user might need this for is still up for debate, especially since the whole setup turns the phone into a rather bulky and somewhat imbalanced compact camera. Vivo suggests that focusing on distant details is the main use case, but in our experience testing a preview unit of the X300 Pro with the Photographer’s Kit, portraits are the real highlight for the Zeiss lens. The photos come out very sharp, and the experience is quite similar to shooting professional portraits with a 135mm lens on a full-frame camera. While both the X300 and X300 Pro will arrive in Europe in November, outside China the Photographer’s Kit will only be available for the more expensive Pro model. The kit reminds of Sony experiments from the last decade, when the Japanese launched a series of accessories to mount the Sony Alpha lenses on its Xperia smartphones, and is spearheading a trend among Chinese manufacturers. 
Vivo’s competitor Oppo has already teased a similar accessory kit with a Hasselblad lens for its upcoming flagship, the Find X8 Pro.