Two of China’s biggest phone makers appear to be moving in opposite directions this week. Oppo’s next camera flagship may never reach the shops, while Vivo’s rival handset is said to be progressing exactly as planned, with a launch pencilled in for the spring of next year.
The contrast comes from the same source. Chinese tipster Digital Chat Station, who has a strong record on early phone leaks, posted on Weibo that an unnamed maker’s top-end Ultra project had been put on hold. When readers asked whether he meant Oppo’s Find X10 Ultra, he did not correct them, and when asked whether the freeze applied to this generation or a later one, he replied that it was this generation. The exchange has been widely read as a sign that the phone has been shelved, although Oppo has said nothing.
The Find X10 Ultra had been expected in the first half of 2027, after the Find X10 and Find X10 Pro Max went on sale around the world. Instead, the Pro Max now looks likely to stay at the top of Oppo’s range. Early reports had described the missing Ultra as a serious camera machine, with talk of a 200-megapixel main sensor, a 200-megapixel periscope zoom, a further long-range zoom and a 100-megapixel front camera. Oppo never confirmed any of that, and leaked specifications differed from one report to another, so it is impossible to say exactly what has been lost.
No official reason has been given for the hold. The explanation most often put forward is cost. Prices for memory chips and top-end processors have climbed sharply this year, driven largely by huge demand from artificial intelligence companies, and the squeeze has been nicknamed RAMageddon. Ultra phones are the most exposed, because they carry the largest memory, the most expensive camera hardware and the fastest chips. Oppo is not alone: Xiaomi’s 18 Ultra was reportedly cancelled earlier for similar reasons, the iQOO 16 Ultra may not arrive in 2027.
Vivo, by contrast, is carrying on as normal. The same tipster reported in October that the Vivo X500 Ultra was going through routine refinements and remained on schedule. Huang Tao, Vivo’s vice president of product, has confirmed that the Ultra line will continue and that the next model should arrive in March or April 2027, as the X300 Ultra did in March 2026.
Vivo X500 Ultra Expected Specifications
According to the leaks, the biggest change will be the processor. Vivo is said to be testing Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, built on a 2-nanometre process. That would be a switch from MediaTek, whose Dimensity 9600 Pro powers the X500 Pro Max, the most advanced phone in the current range. The new chip comes from the same family now appearing in other early 2027 flagships, including the OnePlus 16. As with everything else about this phone, the choice is unconfirmed.
The screen is tipped to be a 6.85-inch BOE panel with a resolution above 2K, a refresh rate of 144Hz and LTPO technology, which saves battery by slowing the display when nothing moves on screen. Reports describe a flat panel with even bezels on all four sides, large rounded corners and a 3D ultrasonic fingerprint reader set into the display. The battery is also tipped to be larger, possibly around 7,000mAh, but Vivo has not confirmed a capacity, a charging speed or a price.
The launch window is the one detail with something close to official backing. The X500 series was unveiled in China on 21 September 2026 and went on sale there three days later. Since then the range has reached Europe, and reports point to an Indian launch by the end of November. The Ultra may not follow the same path: one report suggests it could stay a China-only model, leaving buyers elsewhere waiting or looking to import.
Camera Upgrades
The camera is where Vivo is expected to make its biggest push. Early leaks point to a triple rear system of two 50-megapixel sensors and one 200-megapixel sensor, with a 50-megapixel camera on the front. A later round of leaks went further, suggesting the latest test handsets pair a 200-megapixel periscope zoom with a much larger sensor, possibly 1/1.2 inches, alongside a new 50-megapixel main camera. Huang Tao has said the Ultra will offer a clear step up in camera ability over the Pro Max. The bar is already high: the Pro Max has a 200-megapixel ZEISS periscope telephoto, a 50-megapixel main camera and a 50-megapixel ultra-wide.
For now, the two companies’ fortunes look very different. Oppo’s most ambitious phone of the generation looks to have fallen victim to rising component costs and a market cooling on ultra-premium handsets, while Vivo is pressing ahead with a device built around the same expensive ingredients. Whether that confidence is rewarded will only become clear in March or April. Until Vivo puts the phone on a stage, every specification should be treated as provisional, but the message from the leaks is consistent: the Ultra race is not over, even if one of its runners has already stepped aside.
