Vivo confirms a re-brand for its NEX flagship smartphone series

Vivo had hinted that it would release a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1-powered flagship smartphone, and would resurrect the abandoned NEX line in order to name it. This rumored new generation, prospectively tipped as the 5, has acquired leaks related to its looks and specs since then. Now, however, Vivo has apparently decided to upend all of this speculation after all.

The company's general manager of brand and product strategy Jia Jingdong has confirmed that the onetime premium line is not coming back after all, and will act as a new X-series flagship instead.

This might come as a disappointment to fans of devices such as the NEX Dual; however, the executive has assured them that it will resume the old series' reputation for novel features and designs (even if many of these amounted to not much more than waterfall displays in practice).

The X line, which has consisted of premium mid-rangers with often Zeiss-branded elaborate cameras to date, is accordingly now said to expand to include upcoming variants such as the X Note (possibly the erstwhile NEX 5), not to mention an X Fold. Therefore, the series might see many more new launches than normal in 2022.