Vivo X200 FE Review: Vivo serves up a small(ish) wonder!

Compact phones seem to be back in the spotlight in 2025. While the likes of Apple and Samsung have been releasing compact flagship variants for a while now, this year has seen other brands join the small-ish phone party. OnePlus released the OnePlus 13s in early June, highlighting its compact design, and now Vivo has come out with the Vivo X200 FE. It has a compact frame and packs in some top of the line hardware, but will it find takers in a world that seems to like its smartphones large?

Vivo X200 FE design and appearance: Classily compact

The first thing that will strike many about the Vivo X200 FE is its size. As in the case of the OnePlus 13s, this is not a ‘small’ phone, but is a relatively compact one with a height of 150.8 mm (the iPhone 16 and Galaxy S25 are slightly shorter, and the Pixel 9 is a bit taller), and is impressively slim at 8 mm. At 186 grams, it is on the lighter side as well. It is a phone that you can use with some ease with one hand, which is a rarity in this large phone era.

In design terms, the Vivo X200 FE sticks to broadly conventional lines. You get the flat back, flat display with tiny bezels and straight sides that are seen in many devices these days. The back has a protruding, horizontal pill-shaped camera unit, with an additional camera and a flash next to it. The phone is available in three colors – a dark-almost-black Luxe Grey, Frost Blue and Amber Yellow. Of these, the Amber Yellow is the one most likely to stand out in a crowd, as it hits the middle ground between a bright yellow and shiny gold, and settles on a pastel shade that is a very pleasant one, with the jet black camera unit and sides making a striking contrast.

We got the Luxe Grey variant, whose smooth finish and understated elegance gave it a very premium look. It is tough too – the display comes with Schott Xensation Core glass, the frame is aluminum and the phone comes with IP68/69 rating, which means it can easily survive a fall in the water. While it is slim, it has a very solid feel to it. If you do not get the Amber Yellow variant, the Vivo X200 FE will not grab eyes, but those eyes that do fall on it, will linger, because of its compact size and sleek finish.

Vivo X200 FE specs and hardware: Pretty much flagship

In terms of specs, the Vivo X200 FE is bang in the flagship phone zone. It sports a Zeiss Master Display, similar to the ones seen on the more expensive X200 and X200 Pro, which is known for its color accuracy. It is a relatively smaller 6.31-inch LTPO AMOLED display, but it comes with 1.5K (2640 x 1216) resolution and 120 Hz refresh rate, with an HBM (high brightness mode) of 1800 nits, and a peak brightness of 5000 nits. That makes it very visible in bright daylight.

The X200 FE runs on the MediaTek DImensity 9300+ chip, which is a flagship-level chip, although slightly below the Dimensity 9400 that powers the Vivo X200 Pro and the Vivo X200. This is paired with RAM and storage variants of 12 GB/ 256 GB and 16 GB/ 512 GB. While the RAM is LPDDR5X, the storage, rather surprisingly for this price point, is UFS 3.1, which is brisk enough, but a level lower than the UFS 4.0 found on other flagships. The phone sports a three-camera setup on the back – a 50 megapixel main sensor with OIS, a 50-megapixel telephoto with 3x optical zoom and OIS, and rather oddly, an 8-megapixel ultrawide. There is a surprise in front, though – as the phone comes with a 50 megapixel selfie sensor with autofocus, something that is more common in Vivo’s V series and a first in the Vivo X series in India. And this being a Vivo flagship device, these cameras have been designed in collaboration with the legendary Zeiss.

The biggest tech surprise in the X200 FE is its battery. Vivo has managed to squeeze in a massive 6500 mAh battery into an 8.1 mm thin frame and a phone that weighs well below 200 grams, making it one of the biggest batteries in not just its price segment, but among all flagships! The battery comes with support for 90W charging, and there is a 90W charger in the box as well. The phone runs on Android 15 with Vivo’s FuntouchOS on top, with an assurance of three years of OS and four years of security updates (not quite in the Samsung and Pixel league, but decent enough). All said and done, this is a very solid spec sheet.

Vivo X200 FE Cameras: Zeiss-tastic, but with an odd ultrawide

Vivo has been pretty much the boss of the camera game, be it in the mid-segment, where its V series rules the roost, or in the premium one, where its X series has delivered stunning results. So it is hardly surprising that the Vivo X200 FE’s camera performance is generally very good indeed. The star of the show is the main sensor, which delivers excellent photographs in terms of both colors and details. Some might find the colors to be a little too bright, but there is plenty of detail, and the images generally are very pleasing to the eye. What’s particularly impressive is that the camera takes very good snaps in low light conditions or even at night, with a decent amount of detail and bright colors. Some might find the daylight snaps to be a bit oversharpened at times (almost Pixel-like), but most mainstream users will be happy with the results.

The telephoto does a very good job as well. It delivers 3x optical zoom, up to 10x lossless zoom, and well, if you are in crazy zoom mode, then you can go all the way up to 100x on it. We would, however, advise not proceeding too far beyond 10x in good light conditions. High zoom levels are great for capturing the moon, but anything beyond 15x in good light conditions (and beyond 5x in low light ones) compromises quality and sees noise creep in. Stick to up to 5x zoom, however, and the camera will deliver some brilliant snaps.

This being a Vivo phone, there are plenty of shooting options, with even some special portrait modes (you get five focal lengths to choose from), and a special high-contrast street photography mode. If you are ready to experiment, this is a great phone for photography. We would advise sticking to the main camera for videos, though, especially in low-light conditions. The telephoto is best used in good light conditions. The 8-megapixel ultrawide camera is, however, not in the same class as the main and telephoto cameras. One does get a wider perspective, but that is about it. Details are limited, although colors are decent, and there is no support for 4K video.

The Vivo X200 FE also becomes the first phone in the X series to get a 50-megapixel camera with autofocus. It is a very good camera too, coming with Zeiss tuning, multiple shooting options, and support for 4K video. However, the colors looked a little faded at times, especially when compared to the results on the V series, and we did not need any eye-tracking. That said, this is still one of the best selfie cameras in any phone in the premium segment.

Vivo X200 FE performance: Totally in the flagship zone

Given that it comes with a processor that is a notch below those used in its own flagships, there was some concern over how well the X200 FE would do in the gaming department. However, the Dimensity 9300+ turns in a very good performance. Action-packed titles like PUBG and Call of Duty ran smoothly on high graphics settings without any problems, and even the resource-heavy Genshin Impact was very playable (there were odd lags, but then we have had them on higher specced devices too – the game is taxing). The display is great for watching content, and the stereo speakers deliver good quality audio. The phone does heat up a little from time to time, but never reaches alarming levels.

Like almost all premium smartphones these days, the Vivo X200 FE comes with a number of AI tools onboard. Apart from Gemini (now pretty much a given on any Android device) and tools for translation and transcription, you also get a number of photography-oriented tools like AI Erase, AI Photo Enhance, AI Image Expander, AI Reflection Erase, the much-hyped Four Seasons portrait mode, and much more. While these tools work very well (although the Four Seasons option in Portrait mode does take some time in processing), in some cases, finding them is a bit of an issue – the AI Image Expander, for instance, comes under Framing in the Photos app, and the Image and AI Image Enhance comes under Repair, neither of which is really intuitive. We expected to see AI Image Enhance among other editing tools in the Adjust option. We really think Vivo should group its AI tools for photo and video editing under one heading, a bit like Xiaomi does in HyperOS – it would save us a lot of searching. But all said and done, once you get the hang of them (and where they are), the AI tools on the Vivo X200 FE work very well indeed.

The Funtouch OS interface of Vivo X200 FE can seem a little crowded to some, and the phone comes with a few third-party apps, but it all works very smoothly (and you can delete most of the apps you do not want). The phone races through most daily tasks very smoothly, and thanks to its relatively compact size is easy to carry and use. Call quality is very good, and the fingerprint scanner works swiftly.

Vivo X200 FE Battery and charging speed: Surprisingly big battery…and big battery life as well!

The Vivo X200 FE comes with a massive 6500 mAh battery, which makes it one of the biggest batteries we have seen in a flagship in the Indian market this year, irrespective of size. The fact that it comes in one of the most compact devices around makes it a bit of an engineering marvel. It is not just a matter of impressive numbers either – the Vivo X200 FE easily lasts a day and a half to two days on a single charge, which is outstanding in its segment. The phone comes with support for 90W charging and a 90W charger in the box, which gets it from 0-100 in about an hour and up to 50 percent in 30 minutes. That might not sound as sensationally quick as some other devices, but is extremely impressive for a battery of that size – the OnePlus 13s takes the same time to charge a 5850 mAh battery. With a battery of that size, even 50 percent should see off a day of normal use.

Vivo X200 FE pricing: Compactly competitive

The Vivo X200 FE is available in two RAM and storage variants at these prices:

• 12 GB/ 256 GB: Rs 54,999
• 16 GB/ 512 GB: Rs 59,999

Those prices are exactly identical to the biggest competitor to the Vivo X200 FE, OnePlus 13s. There is one crucial difference, though – the OnePlus 13s is priced at Rs 54,999 for 12 GB/ 256 GB and Rs 59,999 for 12 GB/ 512 GB, and has no 16 GB RAM variant. That said, the OnePlus 13s does come with a Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, which many consider to be superior to the Dimensity 9300+. In the compact phone zone, there are also the iPhone 16e at Rs 59,999 and the Pixel 9a at Rs 49,999, which might not have the sort of specs that the Vivo X200 FE, but have an enormous amount of goodwill and equity, and also have a clear software edge over the Vivo X200 FE. And well, if one is up to spending a little more and wants great cameras, there is also the superb Xiaomi 15, which comes for Rs 64,999 for a 12 GB/ 512 GB variant.

Vivo X200 FE Review Verdict: A(nother) compact champ

At Rs 54,999, the Vivo X200 FE is easily one of the best options for those who want a relatively compact camera with flagship level performance. The likes of the OnePlus 13s (yes, we have a comparison coming up soon) and iPhone 16e can claim to come with better chips, but as a complete package, the Vivo X200 FE is almost as good as it gets in compact phoneland. It has got the small-ish size, Zeiss cameras and a battery that most flagships would be envious of, and best of all, comes with a price tag that’s premium but not intimidating. Will it make compact phones a thing again? It is too early to say, but it definitely has the potential to do so.

Buy Vivo X200 FE