This iPhone 17 rival proves non-Pro phones don't have to compromise on cameras and battery life
The Vivo X300 proves that compact and lightweight phones can deliver a true flagship package.
(Image credit: Prakhar Khanna/Future)
Apple brought long-overdue upgrades to the iPhone 17 this year: a ProMotion 120Hz display, slimmer bezels, camera tweaks, and better durability were just a few of the improvements that made it arguably the best-value iPhone ever.
The iPhone 17 is undoubtedly one of the best compact phones of 2025, and I thought it couldn’t be surpassed – that is, until I started using the Vivo X300 as my primary phone.
The Vivo X300 is the size of an iPhone 17. However, it's built for those of us who don’t want a big and heavy phone but need flagship cameras and multi-day battery life. At the time of writing, it's not available in the US, UK, or Australia, but the Vivo X300 nonetheless proves that small and non-Pro phones don't have to compromise in the areas that really matter. Allow me to explain.
The Vivo X300 is the no-compromise compact phone I’ve been waiting for
(Image credit: Prakhar Khanna/Future)
Like the Apple iPhone 17, the Vivo X300 has a 6.3-inch AMOLED display with support for a 120Hz refresh rate and the same 460ppi pixel density. It's sharp, vivid, legible in bright daylight, and immersive, thanks to the slim bezels and minimal punch-hole selfie camera cutout. You also get 2160Hz PWM dimming, so the screen is gentle on your eyes, even during late-night reading sessions.
The phone is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 9500 chipset, paired with up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.1 storage. And for the first time, it runs OriginOS outisde of China. You won’t notice any stutters, lags, or hangs in day-to-day use while using the Vivo X300 Pro, and it also handles demanding games, Lightroom Mobile photo editing, and more power-hungry tasks with ease.
On the software front, I love the new look, sleeker animations, and overall more intuitive user interface. OriginOS 6 has a few iOS-inspired features, like the Origin Island: a pill-shaped floating element, which can also be used to share on-screen items with other apps via drag and drop. It shows live updates on food delivery apps and contextual actions, but it remains a work in progress right now.
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