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Introduction
Pro+ signifies the top-of-the-line model in vivo's roster and we have this year's X60 Pro+ for you today. Headlining the (rather confusing) X60 series, the Pro+ comes with an all-out Zeiss-branded quad-camera system, a top-tier chipset, and a beautiful AMOLED display, all in a fancy (sort-of-) leather-clad body.
The camera is the X60 Pro's key selling point, featuring four focal lengths with something special about each module. It's mostly big sensors all around - the ultrawide uses a big sensor placed on a gimbal, the main unit has an even bigger sensor (gimbal - no, OIS - yes), the short 2x tele has a big sensor as teles go. Big sensors are hard to fit in a periscope tele camera, but you do get big zoom - 5x in this case.
Of course, any 2021 flagship smartphone worth its salt has to feature the Snapdragon 888 chipset, and the X60 Pro+ is no exception. The dual-curved AMOLED display is Samsung's contribution to this vivo's appeal. The one thing giving us pause is the modest battery capacity, but the vegan leather on the back suggests that looks were high on the priorities list, so a slimmer profile took precedence over autonomy.
vivo X60 Pro+ specs at a glance:
- Body: 158.6x73.4x9.1mm, 191g; Glass front, eco leather back, aluminum frame.
- Display: 6.56" Super AMOLED, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1300 nits (peak), 1080x2376px resolution, 19.8:9 aspect ratio, 398ppi.
- Chipset: Qualcomm SM8350 Snapdragon 888 5G (5 nm): Octa-core (1x2.84 GHz Kryo 680 & 3x2.42 GHz Kryo 680 & 4x1.80 GHz Kryo 680; Adreno 660.
- Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
- OS/Software: Android 11, Funtouch 11.1 (International), OriginOS 1.0 (China).
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.6, 1/1.31", 1.2µm, dual pixel PDAF, Laser AF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 48 MP, 114˚, 1/2.0", 0.8µm, gimbal stabilization; Telephoto: 32 MP, f/2.1, 50mm, 1/2.8", 0.8µm, PDAF, 2x optical zoom; Telephoto: 8 MP, f/3.4, 125mm, 1/4.0", PDAF, OIS, 5x optical zoom.
- Front camera: 32 MP, f/2.5, 26mm (wide), 1/2.8", 0.8µm.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 8K@30fps, 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60fps, gyro-EIS, HDR10+; Front camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps.
- Battery: 4200mAh; Fast charging 55W.
- Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); NFC.
vivo X60 Pro+ unboxing
The X60 Pro+ showed up at our doorstep in the same premium-looking navy blue flat squarish box as the X60 Pro (non-plus). There's a likeness of a camera lens assembly printed on top as well as the model name, in large letters, plus a Zeiss logo, so you know where the lens is coming from.
Inside the box, you'll get a full set of accessories uncharacteristic of the times. A 55-watt charger is the functionally most important bit, and it comes with a matching USB-A-to-C cable. You'll also get a set of earbuds that end in a 3.5mm plug, plus a USB-C-to-3.5mm adapter, so you have somewhere to plug the headset. And to round off the list, a snap-on protective back cover is also included.
Design
The X60 Pro+ is a smartphone you can't mistake for any other. Thanks to a combination of a huge camera island (is it a continent at this point?) and a leatherback, the Pro+ stands out not just from the crowd of other big-name flagships but also from the other gimbal-rocking vivos.
That camera assembly has a lot of modules to house and a couple of very large ones too. The top one is the ultrawide that's installed on the gimbal, next to it a Zeiss logo and a T* badge for the anti-flare coating by the German optics specialist. Mind you, the T* is missing on X60 Pro non-plus, and the Zeiss logo is bigger here than on that one, making the plus even more easily recognizable.
Next down the list is the main camera, with a tiny text that points out the 1/1.3" sensor size. Below it, side by side, are the two teles, with the periscope assembly extending below and outside of the island, to the right and into the sea of vegan leather.
This is the Emperor Blue colorway that we have here, the alternative being Orange. With the right mindset you could probably pull off that look, but we're a bit more comfortable with the understated blue of our review unit. It probably better complements the overall technical look given out by the camera cluster.
Blue or orange, the vegan leather is notably grippier than the anti-glare frosted glass of the X60 Pro non-plus. It's also practically impervious to fingerprints.
The exposed aluminum frame has a matte finish, so it, too, won't be spoiled by your greasy paws. Your right thumb, meanwhile, should have no issues reaching the power button on the right side of the handset. The knurled surface of the button makes it easily distinguishable from the volume rocker above it, itself well within reach. The buttons are metal too and are placed in a very slightly chiseled portion of the frame.
The concave bottom of the phone is where you'll find the card slot, and the tray only takes SIMs (two, nano-sized), but no microSDs. The USB-C port, loudspeaker, and primary mic can be found here, too.
The top is home to another mic, its pinhole piercing what is apparently a plastic cover plate. The least classy bit on the X60 Pro+ is the 'Professional Photography' label on that plate, but at least the typeface isn't too much in-your-face.
Bottom stuff • Dual nano SIM tray • 'Professional Photography'
A 6.56-inch AMOLED adorns the front, its curved side edges giving it an extra bit of flagship flair. The minimal bezels don't hurt its looks either. We had no run-ins with misinterpreted touch input from the curved edges, but we get how that could vary from person to person.
The centered punch hole for the selfie camera isn't the tiniest, but given the large-ish sensor in there, it's entirely acceptable. Less so is the fact that the earpiece above it is just that - an earpiece, but not an extra speaker.
The X60 Pro+ is equipped with an under-display fingerprint sensor of the optical variety. We had very positive experience with it both in terms of speed and reliability. It took a bit of adjustment to get used to its relatively low position, but unless you're constantly switching phones, that shouldn't be an issue.
There's no formal IP rating on the X60 Pro+ - vivos typically don't have dust and water protection. A change in this stance would be welcome, at least for high-end models like this one.
The X60 Pro+ measures 158.6x73.4x9.1mm, which makes it 5-6mm shorter than a Find X3 Pro, OnePlus 9 Pro or a Mi 11, so you could try and make a case for the vivo as a more compact alternative to most competitors. Weighing in at 191g, it's a few grams lighters than all of the above too, but those hardly make a difference.
6.56-inch AMOLED that's hard to fault
The vivo X60 Pro+ is equipped with the same 6.56-inch display that we saw on the non-plus, and that's no bad thing. It's a 1080p AMOLED with a 120Hz refresh rate, and the good things don't end there.
We measured 816ntis of brightness in auto mode with the phone under direct light, a significant boost compared to the 477nits when operating the slider manually. These are essentially the same numbers as the X60 Pro's. Maximum brightness is higher than on the Find X3 Pro, though the OnePlus 9 Pro and Galaxy S21+ can pump out some 60-70nits more, while the Mi 11 is brighter by 110nits. The vivo's 800+ result is still plenty bright, of course.
We recorded no illumination in the blacks, as it should be on OLEDs. The minimum brightness for white, meanwhile, was an excellent 2.0nits.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, |
White, |
||
| 0 | 477 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 816 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 472 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 818 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 493 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 774 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 525 | ∞ | |
| 0.038 | 871 | 22921:1 | |
| 0 | 498 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 926 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 458 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 1023 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 459 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 883 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 822 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 492 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 806 | ∞ | |
Color reproduction is handled in a three-mode way with an additional temperature slider in each. The out-of-the-box Standard mode has a distinct blue shift, which is easily resolved by moving the slider to around the mid-warm point. That way, we got very accurate results for our DCI-P3 swatches. No slider action was required in Professional mode, where we measured essentially perfect calibration for sRGB content. Bright mode is basically an extra colorful mode with no claims for accuracy.
The X60 Pro+ is HDR10+ capable, and Netflix and YouTube served it HDR streams of compatible videos. Amazon Prime Video, on the other hand, didn't.
Refresh rate settings on the X60 Pro+ let you choose between three modes - 60Hz, 120Hz and auto (Smart Switch) modes. There's no granular adjustment capability like you'd find on the top-end Galaxy Ultras, with the auto being a simple 120-or-60Hz mode.
In the always-on 120Hz mode, you'd be getting the full 120Hz pretty much constantly - the UI, browsers, social apps. The camera viewfinder and certain apps (Google Maps, for one) will force a switch to 60Hz, however, as will all video playback apps when you go into fullscreen mode - when browsing the video app for content or playing in windowed mode, it'll still be in 120Hz.
The Smart Switch mode maintains 120Hz for UI only when you're touching the display, otherwise, it drops to 60Hz, and that's the behavior in social apps. Oddly, in browsers, it will default to 60Hz as soon as you open the browser, with no spike to 120Hz when swipe around.
The 60Hz mode is, well, 60Hz for everything all the time.
vivo X60 Pro+ battery life
The vivo X60 Pro+ is powered by a 4,200mAh battery, one of the smallest batteries on a flagship Android handset. Distant relatives like the Oppo Find X3 Pro and OnePlus 9 Pro have a bit more juice (4,500mAh each), the Mi 11's power pack is a smidgen bigger at 4,600mAh, while the Galaxy S21+ relies on a 4,800mAh cell.
The vivo is fairly frugal with its use of what it's got, however, and posted decent numbers in our tests, if by no means excellent. The 11:33h result in Wi-Fi web browsing is somewhat low, but let's not forget that the test was carried out at 120Hz, all the time.
For video playback, on the other hand, we got more than 19 hours, which is a best-in-class score. That is always at 60Hz on the X60 Pro+, regardless of display mode, which is a sound power-saving approach.
Voice call longevity was okay at around 24 hours, while standby draw was entirely average for an SD888.
In the end, the X60 Pro+ got an Endurance rating of 91 hours, slightly better than on the OnePlus 9 Pro and the Mi 11, significantly lower than the Galaxy S21+ (in Exynos trim).
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSerDevice app. The endurance rating denotes how long the battery charge will last you if you use the device for an hour of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. More details can be found here.
All test results shown are achieved under the highest screen refresh rate mode. You can adjust the endurance rating formula manually so it matches better your own usage in our all-time battery test results chart where you can also find all phones we've tested.
As a side note, we should mention that we also ran the web browsing test at 60Hz, in which case we got an hour extra (12:36h). Since the Smart Switch refresh rate mode will default to 60Hz for browsers (and 60Hz is what you get in the 60Hz mode, obviously), that additional hour is there for the taking if you don't care for a high refresh rate when surfing the web and opt for either of the two non-120Hz modes. We feel like it's not worth it.
Charging speed
The vivo X60 Pro+ ships with a proprietary 55W charger branded Super FlashCharge 2.0 - that's 22 watts and a 'Super' more than the non-plus' unit. The extra power output makes a difference indeed, and a 30-minute charge from zero got us to 84% on the X60 Pro+ (69% on the X60 Pro). A full charge took 42 minutes.
The Oppo Find X3 Pro and the OnePlus 9 Pro are a bit faster than the vivo in both disciplines, and the Mi 11 is about on par with the X60 Pro+ in the sprint, but other than that, the X60 Pro+ is among the fastest charging phones around.
30min charging test (from 0%)
- Oppo Find X3 Pro
100% - OnePlus 9 Pro
99% - vivo X60 Pro+
84% - Xiaomi Mi 11
83% - Asus ROG Phone 5
70% - vivo X60 Pro
69% - nubia Red Magic 6
63% - vivo X50 Pro+
60% - Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
55% - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
54% - Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
54%
Time to full charge (from 0%)
- Oppo Find X3 Pro
0:28h - OnePlus 9 Pro
0:32h - vivo X60 Pro+
0:42h - Xiaomi Mi 11
0:50h - vivo X60 Pro
0:56h - nubia Red Magic 6
1:01h - Asus ROG Phone 5
1:05h - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
1:11h - vivo X50 Pro+
1:11h - Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
1:12h - Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
1:32h
Speaker test
Flagship or not, the X60 Pro+ still comes with a single speaker - vivo is no fan of stereo sound. The bottom-firing unit on this handset is as loud as on the model it replaces, earning a 'Good' score in our test - a notch lower than all competitors.
It may be a bit quieter than the non-plus, but the X60 Pro+ sounds better than its stablemate. We're hearing more sparkle in the high frequencies and livelier female vocals. Even so, virtually all rivals sound better.
Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.
Android 11 + Funtouch 11
The X60 Pro+ runs Android 11 with the proprietary Funtouch 11 layer on top, a combination we're already familiar with from the V20, or so we thought. That phone launched on Android 11 all the way in October last year, and back then, we noted a shift towards a less custom user interface, but that could have been due to the early release date. This version here isn't quite as stock, but rather more Funtouch-y.
The basics are either standard or close to it, even though the icons are thoroughly themed - the app drawer is stock, the task switcher is stock-ish (with a 'Clear all' button), the quick toggles in the notification shade have the usual circular design, the notification cards themselves are standard too. A welcome addition to the brightness slider is a switch for 'auto', usually buried in settings on stock-leaning UIs.
Lockscreen • Homescreen • Task switcher • App drawer • Quick toggles • Notifications
Since the phone's software is based on Android 11, it offers the Android 11-intrinsic features. For instance, the notifications are now grouped into categories, so 'Conversations' from messaging apps won't get lost in the clutter. In case you've dismissed something by accident, there's detailed notification history. Other notable Android 11 features include Bubbles (a Messenger-like chat heads functionality), better permission handling, built-in screen recorder, and the completely overhauled power menu.
With the return of the full-on Funtouch, in addition to the custom multimedia apps, we're seeing a custom dialer and messages apps. The iManager is here to stay as well, a utility for clearing memory cache, data usage analysis, virus scans and the like.
You have the usual set of navigation gestures with additional quick access to Google's Assistant by swiping diagonally from the lower-left and lower-right corners of the screen.
Album • Video • Dialer • Messages • iManager • Navigation
There's also a fair bit of options to tweak the UI appearance. You can change the font, mess around with the themes, and choose between a handful of Always-on display styles. The Dynamic effects menu lets you change the system animations and effects.
General settings • Always-on display • Themes
The Ambient light effect, for example, lights up the edges of the display for notifications, calls and even lets you choose which apps to trigger the effect. It's not something we haven't seen before - Samsung, OnePlus, and Xiaomi do that, but vivo takes it one step further and lets you choose not only the style but also the duration of the ambient light effect. You can turn this into a substitute for notification LED.
Dynamic light effects
There are some gaming-centric features on the X60 Pro+, grouped under the Ultra Game Mode in settings. A handful of options to minimize the disturbance during gameplay like blocking notifications and heads-up notifications are at your disposal.
Last, but not least, this mode gives you the freedom to turn off the phone's screen while the game is running in the background. This would save an immense amount of power when playing some types of online or turn-based games.
Ultra Game Mode
Synthetic benchmarks
The X60 Pro+, being the top-of-the-line model, gets a top-of-the-line chipset - the Snapdragon 888. Qualcomm's latest flagship SoC is manufactured on a 5nm process and features an octa-core CPU and a built-in 5G modem.
The unit we have for review packs 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage and 12GB of RAM. Another version with half the storage and 8GB of RAM is also in existence.
That's just the nominal, 'real' RAM you have, but there's also some 'Virtual RAM'. vivo's allocating 3GB of the storage to work in conjunction with the actual RAM and be used for dumping less important processes, thus theoretically allowing you to have more apps cached and ready for you when you need them. We have no objective means to test this feature, however.
As for the benchmarks that we can run - well, the X60 Pro+ breezed through those, topping every chart. In GeekBench, it was neck and neck with the OnePlus 9 Pro for the single-core title and the ROG Phone 5 for multi-core, but ultimately the vivo snatched both wins.
GeekBench 5 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- vivo X60 Pro+
3749 - Asus ROG Phone 5
3710 - OnePlus 9 Pro
3636 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
3518 - vivo X60 Pro
3490 - Xiaomi Mi 11
3489 - Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
3476 - vivo X50 Pro+
3411 - Oppo Find X3 Pro
3316 - Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
3244
GeekBench 5 (single-core)
Higher is better
- vivo X60 Pro+
1143 - OnePlus 9 Pro
1126 - Asus ROG Phone 5
1110 - Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
1109 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
1107 - Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
1091 - Xiaomi Mi 11
1085 - vivo X60 Pro
1034 - vivo X50 Pro+
930 - Oppo Find X3 Pro
926
The gap widened in Antutu, where the X60 Pro+' result is some 3.6% higher than that of the runner-up, the ROG Phone 5 - obviously, still a largely insignificant difference, but the vivo does win the bragging rights. The Mi 11 and the Find X3 Pro are further down, their numbers being 10% and 12% lower, respectively.
AnTuTu 8
Higher is better
- vivo X60 Pro+
734811 - Asus ROG Phone 5
708216 - OnePlus 9 Pro
691055 - Xiaomi Mi 11
668722 - Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
657273 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
657150 - Oppo Find X3 Pro
656467 - vivo X60 Pro
639612 - Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
622276 - vivo X50 Pro+
621433
In GFXBench, the X60 Pro+ is again on top, most of the time sharing the spotlight with the ROG Phone 5. The 1440p phones predictably take hits in onscreen fps numbers, the 1080p vivo suffers no such blows.
GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5
122 - vivo X60 Pro+
119 - OnePlus 9 Pro
119 - Oppo Find X3 Pro
113 - Xiaomi Mi 11
111 - Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
111 - Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
109 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
107 - vivo X60 Pro
96 - vivo X50 Pro+
85
GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- vivo X60 Pro+
105 - Asus ROG Phone 5
103 - Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
100 - vivo X60 Pro
86 - vivo X50 Pro+
74 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
58 - Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
58 - OnePlus 9 Pro
57 - Xiaomi Mi 11
57 - Oppo Find X3 Pro
55
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- vivo X60 Pro+
71 - Asus ROG Phone 5
71 - OnePlus 9 Pro
70 - Oppo Find X3 Pro
70 - Xiaomi Mi 11
67 - Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
66 - Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
66 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
64 - vivo X60 Pro
59 - vivo X50 Pro+
51
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- vivo X60 Pro+
62 - Asus ROG Phone 5
59 - Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
54 - vivo X60 Pro
51 - vivo X50 Pro+
43 - OnePlus 9 Pro
36 - Xiaomi Mi 11
33 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
33 - Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
33 - Oppo Find X3 Pro
33
GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)
Higher is better
- vivo X60 Pro+
44 - Asus ROG Phone 5
43 - Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
37 - vivo X60 Pro
35 - OnePlus 9 Pro
27 - Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
25 - Xiaomi Mi 11
24 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
23
GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)
Higher is better
- vivo X60 Pro+
43 - Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
43 - Asus ROG Phone 5
40 - vivo X60 Pro
34 - OnePlus 9 Pro
24 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
24 - Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
23 - Xiaomi Mi 11
22
GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5
32 - vivo X60 Pro+
31 - OnePlus 9 Pro
31 - Xiaomi Mi 11
28 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
28 - Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
26 - Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
25 - vivo X60 Pro
24
GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- vivo X60 Pro+
28 - OnePlus 9 Pro
28 - Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
28 - Asus ROG Phone 5
28 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
26 - Xiaomi Mi 11
25 - Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
25 - vivo X60 Pro
22
The X60 Pro+ loses its bragging rights in 3DMark Wild Life by about one percent - the SD888 devices are very tightly spaced here, save for the Galaxy, which is ever so slightly behind.
3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
5757 - Asus ROG Phone 5
5744 - OnePlus 9 Pro
5701 - vivo X60 Pro+
5695 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
5691 - Xiaomi Mi 11
5673 - Oppo Find X3 Pro
5653 - Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
5547 - vivo X60 Pro
4203
The vivo X60 Pro+ aced the benchmark run indeed, and it also did so with little impact on the numbers from thermal throttling. It does heat up considerably after sustained load, but the results remain consistently high. In any case, there's no doubt in our minds that the X60 Pro+ is a capable performer with plenty of reserves, as expected from its hardware.
Quad-camera setup, gimbal-mounted ultrawide
The vivo X60 Pro+ has four cameras on its back covering four separate focal lengths covering an effective zoom range of 14mm to 125mm in 35mm camera terms. And because vivo is a fan of gimbals, this year the Pro+ gets one as well.
A bit unusually, it's the ultrawide that gets the gimbal as opposed to the primary cam, which was the case on the X50 Pro and the X60 Pro. It uses a 48MP IMX598 sensor, a 1/2" Quad Bayer unit Sony developed to vivo's spec and pairs it with an f/2.2 aperture lens.
For the primary camera, vivo has used a Samsung S5KGN1 sensor. Nominally a 50MP imager, it has a 1/1.31" optical format and 1.2µm pixels. Samsung calls it Dual Tetrapixel - the 'Tetrapixel' alludes to the 4-in-1 color filter array, while the 'Dual' bit signifies it has dual pixel autofocus. The EXIF data reports a 23mm focal length and an f/1.57 aperture for the lens, which is stabilized, even if lacking a gimbal.
The short telephoto employs a 1/2.8" Samsung S5KGD1 sensor, another Tetrapixel unit with 0.8µm pixels. This one has a 50mm lens with an f/2.08 aperture, stabilized too. Then there's the 5x tele. A stabilized f/3.4 periscope lens assembly with a 125mm focal length bends light into an 8MP OmniVision OV08A10 sensor.
Over on the front, there's a 32MP selfie camera, same as on the X60 Pro. It's based on the Samsung S5KGD1 Tetrapixel sensor (1/2.8", 0.8µm). This one reports its focal length at 24mm while the aperture is f/2.45.
Over on the front, there's a 32MP selfie camera, same as on the X60 Pro. It's based on the Samsung S5KGD1 Tetrapixel sensor (1/2.8", 0.8µm). This one reports its focal length at 24mm while the aperture is f/2.45.
The camera app we see on the X60 Pro+ is, understandably, the same as on the X60 Pro. That's a much improved and more straightforward version of the one we had on the V20 - the confusing lens icon for access to the ultrawide is now gone, and switching all three focal lengths is done with the classic 'x'-based selector, here with four buttons.
The chief modes are switched with side swipes as on most other phones, and the 'More' tab lets you access less common modes. From there, you can also customize the modes you have available in the viewfinder.
There's a Pro mode that lets you tweak photographic parameters yourself, and it works with all four rear cameras. You get to select ISO (50-3200), shutter speed (1/12000s-32s), white balance (presets and a temperature slider), focus distance (no focus peaking), and exposure compensation (-3/+3EV in 0.1EV increments), with easily accessible auto buttons on all and a global 'restore' button to revert everything to auto. A live histogram and a level are also at your disposal.
Camera UI
Daylight image quality
Unsurprisingly, given the hardware, the X60 Pro+ delivers very appealing images, well worthy of its flagship stature. As we came to expect from our experience with the previous vivo, we're getting really vivid colors out of the X60 Pro+ in its default state. Whether we got used to them, or the Pro+ is ever so slightly more conservative with saturation, we're finding it hard to complain about the way this one renders color. Dynamic range, too, is excellent, easily on par with the best in class.
There's hardly a spec of noise in the main camera's photos, not in the sky, and not in the shadows either. Detail is as good as from any other 12-ish megapixel camera - it can't resolve the balcony blinds in the second sample as the 108MP-to-27MP Mi 11 could, but the vivo is up there with virtually every other high-end phone.
Daylight samples, main cam (1x)
The short tele maintains that positive impression and gives us likeable 8MP images at 2x zoom. Detail is very good, noise is minimal, and dynamic range is wide, if not quite as great in the shadows as on the main cam.
Daylight samples, tele cam (2x)
Then there's the periscope 5x zoom camera. In broad daylight, it captures detailed stills, again with little to no noise. Dynamic range is slightly narrower still but perfectly acceptable when the trade-off is extra reach.
Daylight samples, tele cam (5x)
Moving on to the ultrawide, we're once again seeing very appealing shots. Sharpness and detail are excellent, either class-leading or thereabout. There's some fine grain in the sky if you're particularly motivated to go looking for it, but generally, noise is a non-issue in daylight. Dynamic range is on par with the main cam, which is quite the achievement, and it's better than most ultrawides.
We're seeing a faint warm cast to greenery when examining the ultrawide shots against the ones from the primary camera. We don't necessarily mind the look in isolation, but we'd probably prefer better color matching between the separate cameras. Having said that, it could be related to the AI picking a different scene mode based on the different things that fit in the frame as the coverage changes.
Daylight samples, ultrawide cam (0.6x)
We're getting to the High resolution mode. Three of the four cameras have large high-res sensors with Quad Bayer color filters and can shoot at their nominal resolutions - only the periscope is 8MP. The main camera's 50MP mode can resolve finer detail under the right circumstances - plenty of light, nearby subjects, fine diagonal patterns. You'd also be getting a significant increase in noise and less saturated colors, plus the obvious large file sizes. For general picture-taking, it wouldn't be our first choice.
Daylight samples, main cam, 50MP
There's an even higher resolution mode that goes beyond the native 50MP and outputs 100MP photos. The negative aspects of the 50MP photos are amplified here (noise, file sizes), and if there are benefits in detail, we're not seeing them.
Daylight samples, main cam, 100MP
We wouldn't say there's such a significant hike in noise on the 2x tele cam when shooting in full resolution. Another good thing is that we're more easily seeing the extra detail in these when looking at side-by-side comparisons - it's not heaps of it, but it's there. The much bigger file sizes remain a strong argument not to shoot this way.
Daylight samples, tele cam (2x), 32MP
The ultrawide camera's full-res mode comes with a substantial drop in dynamic range, a lot more so than on the other two. There's a notable desaturation to go with it as well. Add to those the questionable benefit in terms of detail, and there seems to be no reason to shoot 48MP ultrawide photos.
Daylight samples, ultrawide cam (0.6x), 48MP
There's plenty of reason to shoot ultrawide close-ups, on the other hand. The module's ability to lock focus on very close subjects means you can get very good magnification with tiny subject matter. Naturally, the fact that you can be less than 3cm from what you're photographing will result in throwing a shadow over it with the phone in most cases, and such shooting distances aren't ideal for living beings either.
Close-up samples
Low-light image quality
The vivo X60 Pro+ applies some Night mode processing by default in regular Photo mode, a behavior we observed on the non-plus as well. It's quick and unobtrusive, and we didn't find it to cause any issues.
On the contrary, we got the flagship-grade photos we expected. Dynamic range is excellent, colors are vivid, and there's a lot of fine detail without any real noise.
Low-light samples, main cam (1x)
Night mode improves things just a tiny bit by opening up the shadows ever so slightly, but it's hardly a dramatic difference. There aren't significant benefits to shooting in Night mode on the main camera compared to just the regular Photo mode, but there aren't drawbacks either, really - it doesn't take much longer to shoot, and it doesn't hurt fine detail for the most part.
Low-light samples, main cam (1x), Night mode
The above words apply pretty much directly to the ultrawide camera's output as well. Dynamic range is wide already in Photo mode, with a minor nudge in the shadows in some scenes coming from Night mode. Detail changes very little between the modes and is pretty good, noise reduction is competent too, while colors see no desaturation at high sensitivities.
Low-light samples, ultrawide cam (0.6x)
Low-light samples, ultrawide cam (0.6x), Night mode
The 2x zoom level is handled by the dedicated short tele in almost all scenes, with the choice to switch to the main cam not entirely being up to the phone - of the samples below, only the fourth didn't come from the 2x camera.
Dynamic range remains respectable, and there's only a small bit of well-lit wall blown out around point light sources instead of big blobs of white. A point could be made that the phone prioritizes saving the highlights and exposes a little too dark, but that's not an objectionable approach really. Colors maintain the usual level of pop.
Low-light samples, tele cam (2x)
Switch to Night mode, and now the bulk of scenes get outsourced to the main camera (but not all of them, so there's still a threshold somewhere). We're seeing more significant tonal development benefits at both ends, so that's good. However, if Photo mode used the 2x cam, and Night mode used the main cam for 2x zoom, there will be a notable detail penalty to be paid, even if we're looking at 8MP Photo vs. 12MP Night shots. Basically, for a fairly less demanding street scene with a building facade, one that isn't too dark or contrasty, you'd be better off in Photo mode.
Low-light samples, tele cam (2x), Night mode
Zooming in further to 5x, we're seeing fairly underexposed images with less than ideal dynamic range. However, these are almost always captured with the actual 5x camera, and sharpness remains relatively good, there's a lot of detail and noise is kept low.
Low-light samples, tele cam (5x)
In our scenes, none of the 5x zoom samples in Night mode came out of the 5x camera, with some taken on the main one, others on the 2x. The ones coming from the main cam look rough even at fit-to-screen level, let alone when viewed at 1:1. Those sourced from the 2x module do look decent at fit to screen, but closer examination isn't advised.
The phone does lift up the shadows, and the thumbnails can have you fooled those are better pictures than ones taken in Photo mode, but we'd rather shoot at 5x in Photo mode and bump the shadows in post.
Low-light samples, tele cam (5x), Night mode
Once you're done with the real-world samples, head over to our Photo compare tool to see how the vivo X60 Pro+ stacks up against the competition.
vivo X60 Pro+ against the Galaxy S21+ and the OnePlus 9 Pro in our Photo compare tool
Portrait mode
The X60 Pro+ has three zoom levels available in its portrait mode, but the 5x level only gets you the beauty effects and filters, and some of the styles, but not the faux bokeh. Essentially, it gets you access to the 5x zoom camera with some tailoring for people photos. Here's a handful, with no effects applied.
Portrait samples, 5x
The other two zoom levels are each sourced from the respective camera and deliver excellent results. Detail is great in most light conditions, and even if the main camera (1x zoom) does slightly better in dimmer settings, the 2x camera is no slouch either. Subject isolation is generally good, though the 2x module was slightly more prone to the occasional mishap. The tele has a slight tendency for warmer, more reddish skin tones, which is noticeable against the main cam's more neutral look. In isolation, you'll likely not mind either approach. Dynamic range is super wide in either mode, so back-lit portraits shouldn't be an issue.
Portrait samples, 1x
Portrait samples, 2x
The promo materials mention the Zeiss Biotar simulation mode for recreating the characteristic swirly bokeh look of that particular lens lineup of the German optics company. It takes a specific background for the effect to be most visible - specular highlights or general busy backgrounds work best and the effect is a lot more pronounced on the 2x camera. Here are a few samples.
Portrait samples, 1x, Biotar style
Portrait samples, 2x, Biotar style
Selfies
The X60 Pro+ captures essentially the same selfies as the non-plus, which is to be expected given the shared hardware. Those are always saved at 32MP, and you get your MP's worth of detail in scenes with balanced lighting, though more challenging conditions (higher contrast scenes, less light) do rob you of absolute detail. In any case, however, those would make excellently detailed 12MP selfies. Dynamic range is plenty wide, colors are accurate - that's to say, not as lively as on the rear cameras.
Selfie samples
We had another run-in with the iffy selfie portrait implementation on the X60 Pro+, just as we observed on the non-plus. We only got actual blurry background portraits in some of the scenes, even though the viewfinder would show a live preview of the effect for all of them. For what it's worth, the Pro+ had fewer failed attempts than the Pro, but it remains unreliable for this particular task.
Subject detection was perhaps a fraction better on this phone, though this does tend to vary wildly with different hair, clothes and background. We've found that taking several shots usually results in getting at least one good one.
Selfie samples, Portrait mode
Video recording
The vivo X60 Pro+ records video up to 8K30 with its main camera. The 2x tele is capped at 1080p 30fps, though up to 4K60 options are available at the 2x zoom level, only those come from the main camera. The 5x tele maxes out at 1080p 30fps, too, and no direct 5x toggle is available at higher resolution settings, though you could pinch to zoom if you insist. The ultrawide camera, meanwhile, maxes out at 4K60.
8K footage (bitrate is around 105Mbps) at 1x zoom level comes with a significant crop compared to the native field of view. Quality isn't spectacular given the nature of the sensor that's capturing it. Having said that, the X60 Pro+ clips are typically sharper and cleaner than the ones out of the Galaxy S21+ and about on par with the OnePlus 9 Pro's results. Dynamic range is pretty limited, though colors are accurate.
8K at the 2x zoom zoom level is visibly upscaled and is quite blocky, plus it has some heavy sharpening applied to compensate.
4K30 from the primary camera (50Mbps) at 1x zoom level is sharp and detailed. Colors are a little warmer than the 8K capture and conversely warmer than real life, but not disturbingly so. Dynamic range, however, is too narrow for our liking.
4K at 2x zoom has the same global properties as 1x, which is logical - it is coming from the main camera, after all. So on a pixel level, you'd be looking at similar oversharpened upscaled footage.
The 5x zoom camera takes very nice 1080p 30fps clips. For what it's worth, detail is about as good as on the Galaxy Note20 Ultra in 1080p at 5x, which is high praise. Then again, the Galaxy can also do 4K at that zoom level, while the vivo can't.
The ultrawide camera's 4K30 capture is very detailed if a little noisy. Dynamic range remains an issue, and you'd be losing detail in both extremes, but more notably in the shadows.
Standard stabilization is available on all cameras in all resolutions and frame rates. That's in contrast to the 'Ultra stable' mode, which locks you into 1080p 60fps and limits your zoom levels to 0.6x and 1x (each captured by the respective camera). Mind you, that second tier of stabilization is called 'Super anti-shake' on the vivo X60 Pro (non-plus), here the name is different.
Standard stabilization at 1x zoom is excellent at maintaining stability when the phone is pointed in one direction, and it also executes pans smoothly. Some shake does make it to the videos if you're recording while walking.
Whether thanks to the gimbal or simply because of the wider focal length (likely the combination of both), the ultrawide's footage doesn't have those walking shakes and is essentially flawless.
The 5x zoom stabilization isn't quite as remarkable, but it's still a lot better than none at all.
The Ultra stable mode on the ultrawide cam is very capable of ironing out shake even from running, so it's particularly well suited to action video capture, the 60fps frame rate helps with that look as well.
The Ultra stable mode is nowhere as good on the 1x main camera.
Here's a glimpse of how the vivo X60 Pro+ compares to rivals in our Video compare tool. Head over there for the complete picture.
vivo X60 Pro+ against the Galaxy S21+ and the OnePlus 9 Pro in our Video compare tool
Competition
The vivo X60 Pro+ competes at the highest level, and rivals are many and capable. We can think of several loosely related offerings from vivo's sister companies, and also Xiaomi's latest, plus a couple of Samsungs.
If you're trying to match the X60 Pro+' camera prowess, it'll take a Galaxy Ultra of some sort, but both the S20 Ultra and the S21+ Ultra come in at a serious premium over the vivo's asking price. The S21+, on the other hand, is about there. It's not as great at zooming in, and its ultrawide is nowhere as capable as the X60 Pro+' either, but you could hardly call its images disappointing. The Galaxy does offer niceties like an IP rating and stereo speakers, and has longer battery life. The scantest of retail bundles doesn't help its case, and ultimately the vivo is the better choice for image capture.
That's also true against the Mi 11 proper, itself having zero telephoto cameras against the vivo's two, even though you may be a fan of the Mi 11's 27MP main camera photos. The Xiaomi does have one of the brightest displays around, plus stereo speakers and an IR blaster if you can find any use for it.
The OnePlus 9 Pro goes for X60 Pro+ money, and it has a few things going for it in a battle against the vivo - a higher-res adaptive RR display, IP rating and stereo speakers. It's not as tele-cam-deprived as the Mi 11, with a 3.3x unit in between the vivo's 2x and 5x, though it probably doesn't qualify for a tie in the camera department, and the X60 Pro should be higher on your shortlist if you care about taking pictures.
The Oppo Find X3 we haven't seen, but we can extrapolate from our experience with the Find X3 Pro. It's got a better display than the vivo, and potentially slightly better battery life, though the non-Pro Find comes with a slightly lower-grade SD870 chipset. The Find has awesome cameras, but it tops out at 2x zoom, so the vivo wins for reach, but the Oppo has a unique 'microscope' unit that might just be your thing.
Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G • Xiaomi Mi 11 • OnePlus 9 Pro • Oppo Find X3
Verdict
The vivo X60 Pro+ has very few things missing for the high-end handset that it is. How important stereo speakers and water-resistance are to you isn't a question we can answer, but we feel the Pro+ has enough pros going for it to offset their absence.
If you value the camera aspect of your smartphone, you should know that there probably isn't a more proficient and well-rounded option for the money. While that's the X60 Pro+' standout capability, the handset also packs a great display and excels at speed and performance while delivering similar endurance to the bulk of the competition. The distinctive looks aren't hurting it either.
Smartphones from vivo have rarely struck us as being particularly high on the bang-for-buck meter, instead typically providing more premium-priced propositions. The X60 Pro+ isn't by any means cheap either, but in its top-tier market segment, it has both the spec sheet and the real-world performance to warrant its asking price.
Pros
- High-quality build, premium looks, rich retail bundle.
- Wonderful AMOLED display - bright, accurate, 120Hz.
- Class-leading performance.
- Great photo quality across the board.
- Excellent video stabilization.
Cons
- No IP rating for dust and water protection.
- No stereo speakers.
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