Vivo’s next great flagship phone will likely be called the X500

Leaks from a reliable tipster suggest Vivo is skipping the X400 name entirely and will call its next flagship the X500.

Digital Chat Station claims the X300’s successor will jump straight to the 500-series. This isn’t a random choice. The number “4” is considered unlucky in China and other Asian markets, so Vivo is just sidestepping the bad vibes.

Could be powered by 2nm Dimensity 9600

This is actually a move we’re seeing across their entire line-up. The company is already expected to jump from the S30 to the S50 series later this month. We’ve also seen this pattern with the Y-series and their X Fold devices. It seems the ‘four’ is just out.

The X300 series just landed this month. It nabbed the crown as the world’s first phone with the Dimensity 9500. Now the X500 is tipped to continue Vivo’s trend of debuting MediaTek’s top-tier silicon. It’s expected to be the very first phone powered by the unannounced Dimensity 9600.

This chip is a big deal. It’s rumoured to be MediaTek’s first-ever 2nm mobile processor, built by TSMC. The advertised specs for this 2nm process are wild. TSMC claims it offers 1.2 times the logic density of the current N3E process.

ALSO READ: Vivo X300 Ultra could be world’s first dual 200MP camera phone

This translates to an 18 per cent performance boost for the same power draw. Or, it could offer a massive 36 per cent drop in power consumption while running at the same speed. That’s a huge efficiency gain.

MediaTek apparently finished the design for this 2nm chip last month and is aiming for mass production next year. So we likely won’t see the X500 until the third quarter of 2026.

A new chip isn’t the only upgrade. The X500 series, which should include an X500, X500 Pro, and X500 Ultra, will also reportedly get a new self-developed imaging chip from Vivo’s “Blueprint” programme. This should make its imaging capabilities seriously impressive. We still have a while to wait.

Vivo has a packed schedule before we get to the X500. The S50 series is due any day now. Plus, the first half of 2026 should bring an updated X300s and a X300 Ultra, which is rumoured to be the world’s first phone with dual 200-megapixel cameras.