‘Ultra’ flagships and a camera arms race, rewrite India’s smartphone playbook

INdia’s smartphone securities industry testament compose a young chapter this summertime, as some Android phone makers belatedly find the confidence to launch expensive ‘ultra’ flagship phones. While Samsung and Xiaomi have continually done so, Vivo and Oppo are bringing their top-tier ‘Ultra’ phones to the country, for the first time. Three developments underline this trajectory. First, key Android phone makers believe a perceived price sensitivity of consumers isn’t a threat to sales. Secondly, a vote of confidence for the Indian economy, with strengthening purchasing power. And lastly, to monetise a cultural shift that increasingly intertwines phones as status symbols and aspirational purchases.The Ultra phones will be expensive propositions. Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is priced ₹1,39,999 onwards. Xiaomi introduced an impressive Xiaomi 17 Ultra ( ₹1,39,999) soon after its global launch. They will be joined this week by the Vivo X300 Ultra, and later this month, by Oppo’s Find X9 Ultra, quadrupling choice at par with global markets—their predecessors never launched in India.No pricing confirmation thus far, but estimates peg a premium over X300 Pro ( ₹1,09,999) and Find X9 Pro ( ₹1,09,999) respectively. For context, Vivo X300 Ultra is on sale in Europe for €2,000, which at current conversion, works out to around ₹2,22,000 for a 16GB+1TB variant.“The current wave of ‘Ultra’ Android flagships underscores a clear structural shift in India’s premium smartphone market, driven by sustained premiumisation, expanding affordability through financing, and longer replacement cycles that collectively support higher price bands,” notes Prabhu Ram, Vice President-Industry Research Group, CyberMedia Research (CMR).Their insights suggest smartphone camera quality remains one of the top three purchase considerations for Indian consumers.“There is a visible shift in how users engage with their devices. They are no longer occasional photographers or just a consumer of content. They are continuous creators, storytellers, and visual enthusiasts. Not in professional sense, but in behaviour,” notes Paigham Danish, Head of Product & GTM, Vivo India.The reason Vivo and Oppo are finally playing their cards, is to make up for lost time. “The ‘more than ₹1 lakh’ segment continues to be dominated by two global brands, Apple and Samsung. Among the four Ultra models, Samsung leads sales volumes driven by current and previous generation Ultra models. The sales gap with the Chinese counterparts is huge,” says Abhilash Kumar, Lead Research Advisor (Director), Smart Analytics Global (SAG).Data indicates even as India’s smartphone market plateaued in previous quarters, there’s sustained demand for premium devices. CMR’s India Mobile Handset Market Review for CY2025 notes a “structural transition”, particularly benefiting Samsung, Apple and OnePlus. Vivo and Oppo, reliant on affordable phones to corner market share, want to break those shackles.“India’s smartphone market is undergoing a transition in how consumers evaluate devices, with growing emphasis on camera capabilities, performance and AI-driven features,” says Tarun Pathak, Research Director, Counterpoint Research. They had, in April, reported India’s weakest smartphone shipment quarter in six years, on the back of subdued demand and rising bill of materials. Vivo (21% share) leads market share stakes, followed by Samsung (18%), Oppo (12%) and Xiaomi (8%).Within an ultra-luxurious quintet, experience is being built very differently. Flagship specs, including top-tier chips, lots of memory and storage despite an era of shortage, powerful cameras including large sensor and image processing optimisations, as well as refined designs.Ultras are also not a response to the rumoured iPhone Ultra foldable, expected later this year.A hardware arm’s race, with cameras centredFor an ‘Ultra’ experience to deliver value, phone makers remain heavily reliant on camera companies to provide expertise. Xiaomi works with German photography giants Leica, Vivo works with German optics company Zeiss, while Oppo relies on prowess of Swedish camera makers Hasselblad.A Smartphone Insights Report 2026 released this week by Counterpoint Research and Flipkart, notes that 45% of smartphone buyers will pay more for performance, and 57% are ready to buy an expensive phone for a better camera. Much like Samsung and Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo hope buyers find value from experiential extras an ‘Ultra’ flagship represents.“In the camera space, Apple and Samsung offer well-rounded, if not class-leading camera systems, and consumers often choose them for the overall proposition. That said, a niche segment continues to lean towards Ultra devices from Chinese phone makers, for their superior camera capabilities and additional accessories,” says SAG’s Kumar.“We’re interested in helping users capture images as close to real life as possible. We want to keep moving closer to what the human eye sees — in dynamic range, detail, and realism. Much of the industry focuses on making images look “prettier” through digital processing,” Anuj Sharma, chief marketing officer at Xiaomi India, tells HT. He underscores Xiaomi and Leica’s direction, which believes pure physics always beats software.Their LOFIC, or Lateral Overflow Integration Capacitor sensor, is optimised to prevent overexposed highlights in a frame—this results in better dynamic range in bright and low light scenarios. Sony, Samsung and Apple are expected to ready sensors with similar light handling philosophy, in the coming months.Oppo is pitching Hasselblad’s Master Mode and 10x Ultra-Sensing Optical-Zoom Telephoto capabilities, while Vivo points to an elaborate shooting mode array, and advanced image stabilisation.“The new Ultra flagships are long-term strategic bets designed to create a powerful halo effect across their portfolios and serve as growth levers in a challenging macro environment,” says CMR’s Ram.Both companies see a market for additional photography kits, expected to be fairly expensive. Prices haven’t yet been confirmed. This ecosystem play is an attempt to find foothold where Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy flagships still dominate.Vivo will introduce a 200mm focal length Telephoto Extender Gen 2 and a 400mm equivalent Extender Gen 2 Ultra lens. Oppo too is expected to put a 300mm Teleconverter on sale. Focal length is the distance, measured in millimetres, between a lens and image sensor—longer focal length means higher magnification at distance for longer zoom.For possible pricing context, Vivo’s 400mm Extender Gen 2 Ultra lens kit bundle is on sale in Europe for €400 (around ₹44,000). Oppo’s earlier teleconverter kit for Find X9 Pro retailed at around ₹39,999.Xiaomi’s approach negates a need for often cumbersome lens attachments, with the world’s first Leica 1-inch LOFIC sensor and 200-megapixel continuous optical zoom. In HT’s tests, the 17 Ultra delivers detailed photos, in handheld mode, at 120x zoom.This snapshots an era wherein Android phone makers will increasingly innovate to differentiate. Camera sensors, computational photography and an accessory ecosystem, are all for the menu.(Vishal Mathur is Technology Editor for Hindustan Times. When not making sense of technology, he often searches for an elusive analog space in a digital world.)