Editorials · Reviewer Insight
Vivo X500 Pro Max vs iPhone 18 Pro Max: Sample Photos Comparison
Vivo challenges the iPhone with a massive telephoto camera.
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Can Vivo beat the iPhone in the camera game? | Image by PhoneArena
The smartphone camera race is heating up in 2026.
With most new flagship smartphones just launched in the past few weeks, the popular iPhone 18 Pro Max now has even more alternatives.
The one that caught my eye was the Vivo X500 Pro Max. Vivo is a company that has a meticulous focus on image quality with its long standing collaboration with Zeiss, but this latest X500 Pro Max takes things to the next level.
Vivo X500 Pro Max vs iPhone 18 Pro Max Camera Specs:
|
|
| vivo X500 Pro Max | Apple iPhone 18 Pro Max |
| Main camera | |
|---|---|
| 50 MP (LOFIC sensor, OIS, Laser and PDAF) Sensor name: Sony LYT-L910 Aperture size: F1.6 Focal length: 24 mm Sensor size: 1/1.28" | 48 MP (PDAF, ToF 3D depth sensing, Sensor-shift OIS) Sensor name: Sony IMX905 Aperture size: F1.5/F4.0 Focal length: 24 mm Sensor size: 1/1.28" Pixel size: 1.22 μm |
| Second camera | |
| 50 MP (Ultra-wide, Autofocus) Sensor name: Samsung ISOCELL JN5 Aperture size: F2.0 Focal Length: 15 mm Sensor size: 1/2.75" |
48 MP (Ultra-wide, Sensor-shift OIS) Sensor name: Sony IMX972 Aperture size: F2.2 Focal Length: 13 mm Sensor size: 1/2.55" Pixel size: 0.7 μm |
| Third camera | |
| 200 MP (Telephoto, Periscope, OIS, PDAF) Sensor name: Samsung ISOCELL HP9 Optical zoom: 3.5x Aperture size: F2.7 Focal Length: 85 mm Sensor size: 1/1.4" Pixel size: 0.56 μm |
48 MP (Telephoto, Periscope, OIS, PDAF) Sensor name: Sony IMX973 Optical zoom: 4.0x Aperture size: F2.8 Focal Length: 100 mm Sensor size: 1/2.55" Pixel size: 0.7 μm |
| Front | |
| 50 MP | 18 MP (Time-of-Flight (ToF), Autofocus, HDR) |
See the full
vivo X500 Pro Max vs Apple iPhone 18 Pro Max specs comparison
or compare them to other phones using our
Phone Comparison tool
In pure technical terms, the Vivo X500 Pro Max has roughly the same 1/1.3-inch main camera sensor as the iPhone. It also introduces a new and much more powerful telephoto camera that has more than two times the sensor size of Apple's flagship.
But let's see whether this actually translates into meaningfully better photos:
Main Camera
Portraits
Zoom
Ultra-wide Camera
Selfie
So, which one do you prefer: the Vivo X500 Pro Max or the iPhone 18 Pro Max?
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