Vivo previewed its upcoming X300 Ultra flagship smartphone with a Zeiss-co-engineered telephoto system that reaches an equivalent focal length of 400 mm. The phone was shown during Mobile World Congress 2026 in Barcelona, where the company demonstrated its latest imaging technology aimed at pushing smartphone photography further into long-lens territory.
Vivo is one of the largest smartphone manufacturers in the world, though its devices are more commonly found in Asia than in Europe or North America. The company has collaborated with Zeiss on camera systems for several years, focusing on optical design and image processing. With the X300 Ultra, Vivo is emphasizing long-range zoom capabilities that go well beyond what most smartphones currently offer. To find out more about the Vivo X300 and its features, have a look at the following video:
A 400 mm equivalent telephoto lens
Most smartphone telephoto cameras typically fall somewhere between roughly 70 mm and 200 mm equivalent focal length. A 400 mm equivalent lens moves into the range more commonly associated with dedicated telephoto lenses used for wildlife, sports, or distant subjects. For comparison, many professional wildlife lenses used on full-frame cameras also sit around the 400 mm range. Extending smartphone cameras to this focal length pushes them closer to the long-telephoto territory traditionally handled by interchangeable-lens camera systems.
Image credit: Vivo / Han Boxiao (Weibo)Zeiss-co-engineered telephoto system
While the X300 Pro already includes a powerful 200 MP Zeiss telephoto camera, the X300 Ultra pushes the concept further by supporting a new Zeiss Telephoto Extender Gen 2 Ultra, which extends the focal length to an equivalent field of view of around 400 mm.
Once mounted, the extender works together with the phone’s built-in telephoto camera, which uses a high-resolution sensor. The additional optics extend the focal length of the camera module so the system can reach roughly 17× optical zoom.
The concept is fairly simple. The external optics provide real optical magnification, while the phone continues to handle stabilization and image processing behind the scenes. Rather than relying only on digital zoom, the extender does much of the optical work and the phone’s computational photography helps refine the final image.
Image credit: VivoPrice and availability
The Vivo X300 Ultra was previewed at Mobile World Congress 2026 in Barcelona, but Vivo has not yet confirmed the final price. Reports suggest the device will debut in China sometime in the first quarter of 2026, with additional markets following later in the year. For more information, please see the Vivo website.
What do you think about using external optics like a 400 mm telephoto lens on a smartphone? Would this kind of camera kit make phones more useful for serious photography? Let us know in the comments.