Vivo's X50 series with gimbal-style camera launches internationally
The company says the gimbal system has a 300% increase in performance over more traditional stabilization technology.
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Vivo announced three phones with 5G capabilities Thursday as part of its X50 series, kicking off the international launch of the Chinese company's first flagship handsets for the year.
Positioning the handset line as a "professional photography flagship," Vivo introduced a gimbal camera system to the series. The company says the system has a 300% increase in performance over more traditional stabilization technology, thanks in part to a "double ball structure to achieve triple axis rotation."
The launch comes as global smartphone shipments have suffered record declines amid the coronavirus, which has now infected more than 13 million people, ravaged the global economy and disrupted supply chains.
The X50, X50 Pro and X50 Pro+ are set to be released in Asia, including India and Indonesia, the Middle East, Africa and eastern Europe. Vivo says it doesn't have plans for a release in the United States at this time but that it hasn't ruled out the US either. As for pricing, details haven't been shared yet, but the cost will vary based on country. In China the X50 Pro starts at 4,298 yuan, which converts to roughly $610.
Read more: Vivo X50 Pro hands on: a slick phone with 60x zoom and a gimbal
Vivo's X50 series will feature displays with refresh rates of up to 120Hz.
Though the three phones all come with 5G capabilities, only the middle-end model comes with a gimbal-style camera embedded in the primary camera. The highest end model, the X50 Pro+, instead features Samsung's new 50-megapixel sensor in its main camera, along with a more advanced processor, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 865.
The gimbal-style camera first appeared in the the Apex 2020 in late February. That's a Vivo concept phone that wasn't released for production, but concept phones typically give a glimpse of which features could appear in the Chinese company's future mass-produced phones. In 2017, Vivo's original Apex concept phone introduced the in-screen fingerprint scanner to the world, beating both Apple and Samsung to the punch. It was a trendsetting feature that Vivo company later built into its phones and eventually appeared on the handsets of its competitors.
Vivo is one of world's largest phone suppliers, with massive user bases in China and India, the two largest smartphone markets in the world. The Chinese phone maker has its sights set on winning over more shoppers globally through its quality handsets with futuristic features. According to Vivo, the international release of the X50 series marks the first time phones from the X family are bound for shelves overseas.