Vivo X300 FE defines compact flagships, uncompromised ambition and fashion sense

THither is quite an something to be said near the utterly gorgeous plan of the Vivo X300 FE, or Fashion Edition. It all comes together rather in something that’s indescribably likeable, proving again that the most beautiful phones don’t necessarily have to be the most expensive. This colour. The design of the camera module. Overall slimness. Neither is this some compromised slim phone, because this is powered by the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chip, and Vivo has given this enough Zeiss photography credentials that’d worry many digital cameras. A compact flagship, as rare as that breed is, that’s top-notch on specs across the board.The ₹79,999 price for the 12GB+256GB spec and ₹89,999 for the 12GB+512GB variant is, in my estimation, more of a revolution than anything else. This will be in the conversation with the Samsung Galaxy S26 ( ₹79,999 onwards) and the Xiaomi 17 ( ₹89,999) in terms of the screen size as well as the photography proposition. The Xiaomi 17 with its Leica credentials sets the benchmark for this category of devices, by far. Vivo has fit the X300 FE rather perfectly into the line-up, sitting between the X300 (around ₹75,999) and the X300 Pro (around ₹1,09,999) and I’d expect both these phones to get some revised market pricing too soon.With Vivo’s current flagship onslaught (I’ll call it that; competition is bound to be worried), it is imperative to assess the photography aspect first. The X300 FE’s combination of a 50-megapixel main wide camera and a 50-megapixel telephoto camera alongside an 8-megapixel ultra wide, sit in a camera island that is nothing more than a thin strip of real estate not much wider than the Suez Canal if we get the scales right. Look closely and you’ll notice slightly older generation optical sensors at play, but that isn’t something to worry about (this isn’t meant to be an Ultra or a Pro phone), all things considered. Also, a pleasant contrast to the much larger designs that phones tend to have these days. We now have three distinct design languages — the island style that Vivo’s X300 Ultra as well as X300 Pro and the Xiaomi 17 Ultra have, an individualist minimalism of the Samsung Galaxy S26 portfolio’s camera layout, and now this. Good choice to have.For a fair share of the demographic using a phone’s camera regularly, the Vivo X300 FE’s troika will deliver absolutely on point photography. Anything lacking in the sensors has been more than compensated for by this generation of the image processing pipeline. The key here is that this is a much better camera overall compared to phones in this screen size and thickness range—the Galaxy S25 FE, the Google Pixel 10a and to a large extent, the limited versatility of the Apple iPhone Air. Zeiss gives Vivo the real trump card on the X300 FE, as does a camera app which tends to hold within it a lot of functionality which you’ll begin to discover layer by layer as time passes.Six Zeiss style bokeh effects, a street photography mode and a flash portrait reminiscent of larger DSLR cameras, will work to a large extent. The flip side is, there are a lot of settings you must hover over in the days after buying the Vivo X300 FE, before things feel more locked in and in control of how you’d like the camera app to be. Once you’re past that effort, this is an impressive enough camera setup that is worthy of being in a flagship. Little to complain, either in terms of details, how colours are handled or dynamic range across lighting conditions. That said, the obviousness of AI boosting certain photos isn’t lost on anyone—toning that down, or giving a clear and obvious toggle of choice to the user, might be the way to go.There is a clear and obvious enhancement to certain photos which adds a sort of unnatural touch (at least visible to the more discerning eyes; perhaps the Instagram audience won’t notice it as much). Compared to some other Vivo flagships of this era, the X300 FE’s photos do look a tad cooler in terms of colour temperature—is that a factor of the sensor versus the image processing pipeline? Some edits may be required in some photos, if the slightly more natural and warmer tones are preferred. Particularly true for sceneries, the green-ness of the grass tends to be slightly off.That said, overall, photography results across lighting conditions are impressive. Particularly when you start to zoom in (and I’m talking of the phone’s telephoto camera, not the telephoto extender). Depending on preference, tonality changes are very much on the agenda with a number of photography styles, optimised by Zeiss. One could argue that Vivo could have done without the 8-megapixel ultra-wide sensor, which is just not in the same ballpark as the more capable wide and telephoto.There is a simplicity to the Vivo X300 FE’s design, and it is good to see a flat slab design providing the foundation for clean lines and symmetrical contours. It looks a lot slimmer than it actually is, and that’s never really a bad thing. The one that I’m reviewing here is the Urban Olive colorway, and while the aerospace aluminium does its bit towards a reassuring build, there’s something about the treatment of the finish which resists fingerprints and smudges rather well. This is one of those still rare compact phones, with the 6.31-inch display size key to that footprint, that also doesn’t compromise on performance. Mind you, this isn’t a small phone—it’s comparatively more compact when stacked against the norm.Partly a need to differentiate and partly the need of this sort of a form factor to keep thermals in control, the use of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chip with 12GB memory makes a lot of sense. One could argue whether it should be 12GB or 16GB taking cues from Xiaomi 17 Ultra’s or the Xiaomi 17’s direction, but there’s no doubting the flagship level specs here—and that equally means the performance. A 6,500mAh battery in a compact phone is no mean feat, as is the ability to cross the 6.5 hour screen on time with 25% battery still remaining.A compact flagship that’s genuinely a flagship phone, remains as rare as a unicorn. The Vivo X300 FE is a unicorn in many ways, even more so because the compact footprint doesn’t mean compromises in terms of specs, battery life, the camera combination or overall experience. The design makes it even more likeable, and the pricing ensures this isn’t a force-fit, but actually the final piece of the X300 flagship portfolio’s grand puzzle.(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.)