vivo X500 Pro Max review

Design and handling

The vivo X500 Pro Max isn't far from the X300 series in terms of overall design language. The X500 Pro series adopts a similarly flat design with a big circular camera module on the back. There are only subtle changes to the looks, which can be easy to miss.

The camera ring now has a knurling in a more typical classic camera styling, while the area around the camera island is slightly elevated.

The back panel has a subtle 0.6mm slope that starts from the upper half of the back, and vivo says this little design tweak reduces the perceived protrusion of the camera bump. We've seen a similar design choice from Xiaomi in the past with the 13 Ultra, but this one is far more subtle.

The rest of the body design is pretty much the same - flat front, flat back and flat side frame with small contours around the edges for a more comfortable grip.

The frame is made of aerospace-grade metal, while the back is made of either glass or fiber-reinforced plastic, depending on the color. The White, Orange and Gray colors come with AG glass, while the Black variant is "glass fiber".

vivo X500 Pro Max

The front panel is protected by an Armor Glass material, while the lenses sit behind an Ultra Hard AR Coating that's scratch-resistant and also reduces reflections and lens flares. The Armor Glass is vivo's own branded glass, and if the vivo X300 Pro is anything to go by, it's not particularly scratch-resistant (we can't say anything about its shatter resistance).

There's also great overall ingress protection, as the phone is rated to meet the requirements of the IP68 and IP69 standards against water and dust ingress.

The phone's side frame doesn't reveal anything out of the ordinary except an additional shortcut key, which vivo hasn't branded like other manufacturers. It's customizable, and you can assign various shortcuts. These sort of buttons are pretty common these days, though.

vivo X500 Pro Max

The bottom is where you will find the SIM card tray, which can hold up to two physical SIM cards, but the phone also supports eSIM functionality. Keep in mind that only two SIM cards can be active at a time, regardless of whether they are physical or eSIM.

The fingerprint reader is ultrasonic, and it's conveniently positioned. We had no issues with it, as it's snappy and reliable as always.

vivo X500 Pro Max • X500 Pro • X500

Overall, the vivo X500 Pro Max boasts a premium design and is marketed with high-quality materials, as one would expect from a high-end device. But just like the vast majority of smartphones these days, it's nice to the touch and relatively comfortable to hold, but it's also very slippery.