Portrait king: Vivo X200 Ultra again obliterates flagships from Samsung, Apple, Oppo, and others

In this test, Versus compared the nine flagship devices using the Lumix S5II mirrorless camera as a reference point. The test was divided into three major segments — studio shots, daytime portrait, and lowlight portrait. In the test, Pixel and Sony Xperia 1 VII quickly claimed their place and maintained it to the end — the eight and ninth positions, respectively.

In studio shots, the Vivo X200 Ultra tied with the iPhone 16 Pro Max in first position with 14 points. As for the daytime category, Vivo took the first position with 13 points. In the lowlight section, Vivo also took the first position with 13 points. Versus threw in two extra categories: daylight portrait video and lowlight Portrait video. Vivo took the first position in both, clutching the maximum points available.

Here is how the phones ranked overall in portrait photography:

1. Sony Xperia 1 VII (12 points)
2. Google Pixel 9 Pro XL (19 points)
3. Honor Magic 7 Pro (22 points)
4. OnePlus 13 (25 points)
5. Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (28 points)
6. iPhone 16 Pro Max (30 points)
7. Xiaomi 15 Ultra (32 points)
8. Oppo Find X8 Ultra (36 points)
9. Vivo X200 Ultra (40 points)

Vivo's win is no accident here — as we showed in our review of the Vivo X200 Ultra, it is indeed the Houdini of portrait photography. In a previous test we covered, the X200 Ultra emerged king of zoom photography against the same set of flagships, albeit with no Sony in the picture.