vivo S20 Series Launched: Stunning Looks, Powerful Performance and Impressive Battery Life

vivo S20 Series Launched: Stunning Looks, Powerful Performance and Impressive Battery LifeOn the evening of November 28th, vivo officially launched its new vivo S20 series through an online product launch event. The series comprises two models: the vivo S20 and the vivo S20 Pro

vivo S20 Series Launched: Stunning Looks, Powerful Performance and Impressive Battery Life

On the evening of November 28th, vivo officially launched its new vivo S20 series through an online product launch event. The series comprises two models: the vivo S20 and the vivo S20 Pro. Upholding the S-series' consistent focus on aesthetics, the vivo S20 series maintains a slim and stylish design while significantly upgrading battery life and imaging capabilities, aiming to provide young users with a more balanced and competitive product experience.

vivo S20: Straight Screen, Long-lasting Battery, New Benchmark for Durability

In May this year, the vivo S19 series redefined the direction of the S-series, retaining its slim and stylish characteristics while emphasizing durability and sturdiness in the standard version. The vivo S19, with its 6000mAh large-capacity battery integrated into a 7.19mm thick body, set a new industry benchmark. The vivo S20 builds upon this, further increasing the battery capacity to 6500mAh, making it vivo's largest-capacity model to date. Remarkably, despite a 500mAh increase in battery capacity, the body thickness remains unchanged.

Beyond the enhanced battery capacity, the vivo S20 boasts a 90W fast charging speed, significantly reducing charging time and further improving user experience. Despite its slim design, the vivo S20 hasn't sacrificed sturdiness. It has passed SGS's full-machine drop and impact resistance certification and China Quality Certification Center's waterproof certification, effectively handling unexpected situations during daily use. Its "Diamond Shield" dual-resistant glass, jointly developed by vivo and Schott AG of Germany, offers 150% improved drop resistance compared to its predecessor and remains smooth even after thousands of scratch tests.

Design-wise, the vivo S20 continues the Chinese aesthetic design concept, introducing the new "Phoenix Feather Gold" color. This colorway uses micron-level lithography to depict phoenix feather textures with tens of millions of shimmering lines, creating an elegant and grand appearance. The S20 series offers four color options; "Phoenix Feather Gold" and "Pine Smoke Black" are standard across the series, "Jade Dew White" is exclusive to the S20, and "Purple Qi Dong Lai" is exclusive to the S20 Pro. The "Purple Qi Dong Lai" boasts a unique back pattern, offering users a delightful surprise.

The vivo S20 features a 6.67-inch straight screen, bucking the trend towards smaller straight screens, aligning with its focus on long battery life and durability. The screen utilizes BOE Q10 luminous material, has a 1.5K resolution, and supports a 120Hz refresh rate. Overall, the vivo S20 can be seen as a minor iterative upgrade from the S19, primarily optimizing color schemes, design, battery capacity, and charging speed, while significantly enhancing durability and protection. Performance and imaging remain largely similar to the previous generation.

vivo S20 Pricing:

• 8GB+256GB: 2299

• 12GB+256GB: 2599

• 12GB+512GB: 2799

• 16GB+512GB: 2999

The vivo S20, with its "more for the same price" strategy, showcases its advantages in battery life and design. It's undoubtedly a highly attractive option for users prioritizing practicality. However, if you seek comprehensive upgrades in performance, imaging, and design, the vivo S20 Pro would be a more ideal choice.

vivo S20 Pro: Flagship Imaging, Rivaling Ultra-level Capabilities

Unlike the S20 standard version focused on extreme battery life, the vivo S20 Pro is more like a flagship product developed by vivo based on the comprehensive upgrades of its X-series. It features a trendy curved screen, also using BOE Q10 luminous material and supporting 3840Hz ultra-high-frequency PWM dimming. Furthermore, the S20 series introduces personalized brightness technology, a feature available in both the standard and Pro versions.

As a flagship contender, the vivo S20 Pros imaging system is naturally noteworthy. Both front and rear quad-cameras utilize 50MP flagship-level sensors; the rear main camera is the IMX921 (the same as the X100 and X200); and the telephoto lens is the IMX882, marking the S-series' first use of a periscope telephoto lens with an 85mm equivalent focal length. It's worth noting that while many flagship models sacrifice telephoto macro capabilities for slimness, the S20 Pro retains this feature, enabling greater depth of field in close-up shots.

Thanks to the comprehensive focal lengths, the S20 Pro offers five golden portrait focal lengths: 23mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm. Coupled with self-developed AI portrait algorithms, it can capture clear high-dynamic-range portrait photos even in backlight conditions. The classic studio-level portrait soft light is retained, with the addition of Butterfly Light and Rembrandt Light modes, both using AI-simulated physical engines.

Beyond hardware improvements, the S20 series debuts the new "One-Shot" mode, simulating the interface and logic of a Polaroid camera. After shooting, it displays an animation mimicking photo paper, offering four retro filters and Live photo dynamic watermarks, and supports connecting to a printer for photo printing.

In terms of performance, the S20 Pro is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ mobile platform, using TSMC's 4nm process and a full-large-core design, ensuring stable performance and handling high-load gaming scenarios.

System-wise, the entire S20 series comes pre-installed with OriginOS 5, supporting various AI features like Blue Heart Xiao V, Atomic Island, and Xiao V Circle Search.

The vivo S20 Pro is a new phone built to flagship standards, matching the X-series flagship in imaging, outperforming the X100S series in performance, and incorporating fun features like Dopamine Live photos and "One-Shot" mode.

vivo S20 Pro Pricing:

• 12GB+256GB: 3399

• 12GB+512GB: 3799

• 16GB+512GB: 3999

The vivo S20 Pro, with its "more for the same price" strategy, excels in imaging, performance, and design. Its rich photography features cater to the sharing needs of young users, making it a potential dark horse in the year-end smartphone market.

Beyond Beauty, Real Strength

The vivo S series has attracted numerous young users with its high aesthetic appeal and slim design. The S20 series is a significant effort by vivo to deeply engage the young market. The new "Phoenix Feather Gold" color scheme not only highlights Eastern aesthetics but also caters to users pursuit of personalization. Features like studio-level soft light and Dopamine Live frames enhance the fun of social content creation, appealing to Gen Z users' preferences.

Beyond aesthetics, the S20 series shows significant technological advancements. The S20 standard version upgrades to a third-generation silicon anode battery, enhancing battery life and low-temperature stability; while the S20 Pro demonstrates flagship-level capabilities in performance and imaging.

However, the vivo S20 series still faces challenges in securing a foothold in the fiercely competitive mid-range market. Canalys data shows a 12% quarter-over-quarter growth in China's smartphone shipments in Q3 2024, indicating a significant recovery in mid-range market demand. Facing strong competitors such as the OPPO Reno, Honor digital series, and Redmi K series, the vivo S20 series faces considerable competitive pressure.

In terms of pricing, the vivo S20 series is competitive within its respective price segments, with the S20 standard version being particularly cost-effective. However, the lack of an upgrade to the latest generation processor is a slight drawback. The S20 will be available on December 6th, and the S20 Pro on December 12th, slightly later than competitors. Whether it can continue its predecessor's success remains to be seen.