vivo's X500 Pro Reaches Europe at €1,399, and Its Austrian Spec Sheet Lists a Smaller 5,300mAh Battery

TENERIFE, Spain - vivo brought its X500 Pro and X500 Pro Max to Europe on Tuesday, five weeks after the two ZEISS-branded camera phones went on sale in China. The X500 Pro starts at €1,399 with 12GB of memory and 256GB of storage, and the X500 Pro Max starts at €1,599, Notebookcheck reported from the launch event in Tenerife. Android Authority reported the same starting prices. The cheaper standard X500 is not part of the European rollout.

The Pro Max comes in three storage sizes in Europe, €1,599 for 256GB, €1,799 for 512GB and €2,199 for 1TB, and every European configuration has 12GB of memory, according to Notebookcheck. The 1TB model is sold only through vivo’s own store. Pre-orders opened on Tuesday, and sales begin on Nov. 5, tech-ish reported, citing vivo’s European store.

The X500 series is built around a large circular camera module. Image: vivo

The detail that stands out is the battery. vivo’s Austrian product page lists the X500 Pro with a 5,300mAh cell, while the same phone launched in China with 6,510mAh. vivo’s Italian product page still lists 6,510mAh. The company has not explained the difference, so buyers should check the spec sheet for their own country. For the X500 Pro Max, the Austrian page lists a 6,750mAh battery split across two cells and marked as the European version. The Chinese Pro Max has an 8,000mAh battery.

Europe has seen this before. Last year vivo’s Austrian store listed the X300 Pro at 5,440mAh, against 6,510mAh for the same phone in Asia, tech-ish noted.

vivo’s global account introduced the X500 Pro Max on X on launch day. Screenshot: @Vivo_GLOBAL on X

The rest of the hardware matches the Chinese launch. Both phones run MediaTek’s Dimensity 9600 Pro and OriginOS 7. The X500 Pro has a 6.36-inch LTPO display at 1216 by 2660 pixels with a refresh rate of 1 to 144Hz, and vivo rates it at 4,500 nits of local peak brightness. It is 7.95 millimeters thick and comes in Sunny White and Moonlit Black. The X500 Pro Max has a 6.85-inch screen at 1440 by 3168 pixels and comes in Starry Gray and Moonlit Black. Both are rated IP68 and IP69 for dust and water.

The cameras are the reason to buy either one. On the X500 Pro, vivo lists a 50-megapixel main camera with a 1/1.28-inch sensor, a 64-megapixel ZEISS APO telephoto at an 85mm equivalent focal length and a 50-megapixel ultrawide. Both phones record 4K slow-motion video at 240 frames per second.

A vivo ZEISS telephoto extender, a clip-on lens sold separately. Image: vivo

vivo also sells clip-on telephoto extenders. The Gen 2 extender has a 200mm equivalent focal length and weighs 153 grams, and the Gen 2 Ultra, at 400mm and 248 grams, works only with the Pro Max, according to vivo’s product pages. Notebookcheck put the extenders at €299 and €459. Pre-order buyers through Nov. 30 get a free camera grip with the Pro Max or free Headphone Studio headphones with the Pro, the site reported, and vivo’s store for Austria, Germany and Switzerland gives a €120 voucher to registered buyers on orders placed through Nov. 4, according to tech-ish.

The X500 Pro Max display. Image: vivo

The two phones are among the most expensive Android handsets in Europe this fall. When vivo launched the series in China in September, the X500 Pro started at 6,499 yuan with 12GB of memory and 256GB of storage.