How does a phone with a crazy external lens compare to the S23 Ultra’s zoom camera?

The vivo X200 Ultra is a great camera phone in its own right (if you’re willing to import it), in no small part due to its impressive 200MP 3.7x periscope camera. However, the company switches things up by offering an optional external lens for even better zoom.

The X200 Ultra’s 2.35x telephoto converter lens effectively turns the phone’s 200MP periscope camera into an ~8.6x shooter. I thought it would be a good idea to compare this lens to the Galaxy S23 Ultra, which was the last of Samsung’s flagships with a dedicated 10x camera (10MP). I wasn’t expecting the S23 Ultra to hold up very well, but here’s how it went.

Is it any surprise that I think the vivo X200 Ultra and its external lens handily beat the two-year-old Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 10x camera in the comparisons above? Absolutely not, I’m comparing a 2023 flagship to a brand-new flagship phone with a bulky lens. Samsung’s 10x and 30x images are washed out and lack detail compared to the vivo pictures.

You can see this disparity most clearly in the second set of images, as I can make out the “1919” on the mini-lighthouse in the vivo picture. I also quite like the sea in the second vivo picture, which looks like a painting in the Samsung image. Samsung’s 10x picture also contains plenty of noise in the dark parts of the scene. vivo’s images are a little overly contrasted for my tastes, though, so it’s not a complete win here.

You can take a closer look at the difference in definition via the comparison below. I can actually see the cable car inside the station with the vivo as opposed to a blob with the Galaxy. In saying so, the X200 Ultra’s heavy-handed image processing at long range is apparent. The phone’s AI-driven processing seems to struggle with complex scenery, resulting in these over-sharpened, almost striated textures on the mountain. I would like to see the company take a step back with this aggressive image processing in more situations.

What about people, though? Well, the good news is that the X200 Ultra’s lens offers a shallow depth-of-field effect without needing to switch to the portrait mode. This gives the scene a good level of depth owing to the blurred background, while the S23 Ultra’s rendition appears flatter by comparison. This is also apparent when zooming in to 30x and 800mm.

The X200 Ultra pictures also show significantly more detail, allowing me to crop in a little further and still end up with a decent image. By contrast, the S23 Ultra’s images simply lack the same level of clarity and are significantly noisier. It’s not a clean sweep for the vivo handset and lens. Neither phone truly captured accurate skin tones here, but the Galaxy S23 Ultra got closer to the actual scene at 10x. I also noticed mesh-like artifacts in the 800mm vivo image around the left ear. It’s a very minor issue and not something you’ll see unless you’re really pixel-peeping, but it’s worth pointing out anyway.

When I compared the lens-free X200 Pro to the Galaxy S23 Ultra earlier this year, I thought that the vivo was really able to stretch its advantage over the Samsung in low light. So what happens when you add an external lens into the mix?

The first set of images highlights one of vivo’s traditional strengths, namely its ability to tame light sources in low light. Meanwhile, the signage in the S23 Ultra’s image is blown out. Vivo’s snap also gives us a much clearer look at the building’s artwork. Neither phone manages to stay noise-free in this challenging scene, but you don’t have to zoom in to see it on the Samsung image.

The second set of pictures reveals a greater disparity, as noise dominates the Samsung picture while vivo’s aggressive noise reduction pays off in this situation. I can also make out various bits of text in the X200 Ultra’s image, which is a testament to the detail on offer here. You can view full-resolution images from each phone via our Google Drive folder.

It’s really no surprise that the vivo X200 Ultra and its bulky telephoto converter lens came out on top in this comparison. In fact, I’d be more concerned if this were a closer fight. The combination of that 200MP 3.7x camera and the external lens results in significantly better image quality, particularly at long range and in low light. It wasn’t a flawless victory for vivo, though, owing to the occasional image processing issue.

If anything, this shootout makes me sad that we haven’t seen a camera phone since the Galaxy S23 Ultra with a proper 10x zoom shooter. I don’t think a modern 10x camera would actually beat the X200 Ultra and its giant lens, but updated hardware and more sensible image processing would certainly help it get much closer. So my fingers are crossed for more 10x cameras in 2026.