Vivo X500 Reuses Last Year’s Chip in a Larger Battery

A Vivo X500 demo unit lists a Dimensity 9600M chip at 4.21GHz and a 7,500mAh battery. The Weibo screenshot from leaker Bald Panda, dated September 12, also shows 12GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, Vivo’s V3+ imaging chip, and OriginOS 7.

Vivo will launch the X500, X500 Pro, and X500 Pro Max in China on September 21. The 9600M’s 4.21GHz peak matches the Dimensity 9500 that powered both X300 phones last year, so the volume model is keeping that 3nm die while 2nm silicon moves to the Pro pair.

Last Year Both X300 Phones Shared One Chip

When Vivo announced the X300 and X300 Pro on October 13, 2025, both phones used the same MediaTek Dimensity 9500. The split was size, camera, and battery, not silicon. The compact X300 shipped a 6.31-inch panel and a 6,040mAh cell in a 190g body. The X300 Pro used a 6.78-inch panel, a 6,510mAh silicon-carbon cell, and a 226g body, and went on sale on October 17, 2025.

That shared-chip plan is the baseline the X500 leak breaks. The vanilla X500 is no longer a smaller twin of the Pro with the same SoC. It is the 3nm volume phone. The Pro and Pro Max take the new 2nm part and the new main sensor.

The older 9500 phones are still on Vivo’s China site. The company lists the X Fold 6 from 7,999 yuan for 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, up to 10,999 yuan for 16GB and 1TB, on a 9500-class chip. Reusing that die in the X500 is how Vivo keeps a flagship camera phone in the same price band as those leftover 9500 models.

Why Vivo Split the Silicon This Time

The About Phone page names the X500 chip Dimensity 9600M and clocks it at up to 4.21GHz, the same peak as the Dimensity 9500. MediaTek’s 9500, built on 3nm, uses a C1-Ultra core at 4.21 GHz, three C1-Premium cores at 3.5GHz, and four C1-Pro cores at 2.7GHz. The part number behind that 9500 die is MT6993, and Oppo’s Find X10 has shown up on Geekbench with the same MT6993, which is why the 9600M label reads as a 2026 name on last year’s flagship silicon rather than a new 2nm design.

MediaTek is scheduled to unveil the Dimensity 9600 Pro at 2:30 p.m. China time on September 15, six days before Vivo’s event. A Geekbench run of an X500 Pro Max listed that chip as MT6995 with two cores at 4.55GHz, three at 4.35GHz, and three at 3.10GHz, plus a Mali-G2-Ultra-NX MC12 GPU and 16GB of RAM. That listing scored 4,137 in single-core and 12,751 in multi-core. Tipsters have tied the 9600 Pro to TSMC’s 2nm N2P node, and Vivo has already said the Pro models use a 2nm Dimensity chip.

The most powerful and capable Dimensity ever.

MediaTek, Dimensity 9500 product page

That line is still on MediaTek’s 9500 page, which also claims 32% faster single-core performance than the prior Dimensity flagship, a 100% larger L1 cache, a 33% larger L3 cache, 16MB of L3, and 10MB of system-level cache. Parking that chip in the X500 is not a midrange cut. It is last year’s top MediaTek phone chip, renamed, in the model Vivo needs to sell in volume.

THE TWO CHIPS IN THE X500 SERIES

Gizmochina’s April supply notes on 2nm wafers are the boring reason this split exists. If 2nm is scarce and expensive, Vivo cannot put it in every X500. The compact 7,500mAh phone gets the 3nm die that already shipped in millions of X300 units. The Pro pair get the new node, and they will have to charge for it.

A 6.59-Inch Body and a 7,500mAh Battery

Digital Chat Station’s earlier leak put the vanilla X500 on a 6.59-inch flat 1.5K OLED. A white-unit unboxing later matched that size and showed a 90W charger plus a silicone case in the box. Wired charging is listed at 90W and wireless at 40W, the same pair the X300 Pro used.

The battery is the number that changes daily use. 7,500mAh is 1,460mAh more than the X300’s 6,040mAh, a 24% jump, and 990mAh more than the X300 Pro’s 6,510mAh, a 15% jump. The screen grows from 6.31 inches to 6.59 inches, so some of that cell pays for a larger panel. It is still a lot of capacity in a phone that stays under 6.6 inches.

BATTERY STEPS FROM X300 TO X500

• X300: 6,040mAh in a 6.31-inch, 190g body.
• X300 Pro: 6,510mAh silicon-carbon cell in a 6.78-inch, 226g body.
• X500: 7,500mAh in a 6.59-inch body, 90W wired and 40W wireless.
• X500 Pro Max: about 8,000mAh in a 6.85-inch body, still unrated on the retail sheet.

The demo unit also advertises virtual RAM expansion up to 24GB and up to 50GB of compressed storage. Those are software tricks, not extra chips, and they will not change the 3nm versus 2nm gap. They do show Vivo dressing the volume phone as a full flagship on the About screen.

Vivo Put the X300 Pro Sensor on the Base Phone

Vivo has already confirmed the vanilla X500’s cameras in a Weibo teaser. The main sensor is the 50MP Sony LYT-828 with a 1/1.28-inch format, the same unit that sat behind the X300 Pro’s gimbal main camera. Vivo calls it the largest main sensor it has put on a standard X-series phone, with Zeiss gimbal-level stabilization rated CIPA 5.5.

The telephoto is not a leftover X300 module. It uses the 64MP Sony LYT-610 (LYTIA-610) periscope from the X500 Pro’s APO stack, also rated CIPA 5.5, and it can record 4K slow motion at 120fps. Vivo has confirmed a 200mm teleconverter kit for this phone. Image processing still runs through the Blueprint V3+ chip that was on the demo screenshot.

THE X500 CAMERA KIT VIVO HAS CONFIRMED

• Main camera: 50MP Sony LYT-828, 1/1.28-inch, CIPA 5.5 gimbal-level stabilization.
• Telephoto: 64MP Sony LYT-610 periscope, CIPA 5.5, 4K 120fps slow motion.
• Accessory: 200mm teleconverter kit support on the standard model.
• Processing: Blueprint V3+ imaging chip, same family as the X300 generation.

That is a strange “base” camera. Last year the vanilla X300 used a 200MP Samsung HPB main and a 50MP telephoto, while the Pro took the LYT-828 and the 200MP periscope. This year the volume phone inherits the Pro’s wide sensor and shares the Pro’s 64MP telephoto, then gives up CIPA 7.0, the new Phantom 900, and 4K 240fps. Buyers who want the X300 Pro’s stills look without the new video stack are being pointed at the 6.59-inch model.

The 2nm Chip and the 200MP Zoom Go to the Pros

Vivo product manager Han Boxiao used the company’s Creator Festival in Yantai to talk about the Pro cameras, not the 9600M. He said the Pro models use a ZEISS Ultra Dynamic main camera built around a custom Phantom 900 sensor from Sony and Vivo’s BluePrint team, with up to 17EV of dynamic range, 4K 240fps slow motion, and 4K 120fps HDR. The X500 Pro Max’s main camera adds 3-degree optical stabilization, and the Pro stack is rated CIPA 7.0.

The X500 Pro is the compact one this time. Leaks put it on a 6.37-inch 1.5K OLED at 144Hz, a step that sits next to last year’s 6.31-inch X300 rather than the 6.78-inch X300 Pro. It uses the same 2nm Dimensity chip as the Pro Max, the Phantom 900 main, and the 64MP LYT-610 telephoto at 85mm with CIPA 7.0, plus 4K 60fps HDR output. Color options shown so far are black, orange, white, and silver.

The X500 Pro Max is the camera brick. Vivo has shown a large circular island that accepts grips and optical attachments, a 6.85-inch 2K LTPO panel at 144Hz, and the 1/1.4-inch 200MP Samsung HP0 telephoto from the X300 Ultra, with CIPA 7.0 and a 400mm teleconverter. Slow motion is listed at 4K 240fps, 480fps, and 960fps, with 4K 120fps 10-bit Log. Battery capacity is about 8,000mAh. The photography-kit unboxings and the orange rear glass are what filled English-language feeds in the second week of September, which is useful cover if Vivo wants the 6.59-inch phone to look like the calm default.

THE THREE PHONES VIVO HAS CONFIRMED

Early summer leaks also named an X500e and a 6.3-inch Pro Mini. Vivo’s own confirmations, and the Malaysia filings, only list these three. The extra names look like older guesses for the same 6.59-inch 3nm phone, not extra SKUs on the September 21 stage.

Three Models Launch in China on September 21

Vivo locked the date at the Creator Festival on September 7. The China event is set for 7 p.m. on September 21, with the Watch 6 and Buds Clip on the same stage. A dedicated reservation page is already live on Vivo’s China site. Global timing is not set, but the X500 (V2619), X500 Pro (V2621), and X500 Pro Max (V2610) cleared Malaysia’s SIRIM database on September 13, which is the usual tell that export hardware is in the pipeline for India and other markets after China.

That same week’s X Fold 6 listings show how Vivo now prices a 9500-generation flagship in China, and an X Fold 6 price leak against the X Fold 5 already tested a higher ceiling on the foldable. The X500’s 9600M badge is the other half of that ladder: keep the compact camera phone on the die Vivo already bought, and put the 2nm bill on the Pro and Pro Max.

THE SEPTEMBER CALENDAR

1. September 7, 2026: Vivo confirms the X500, X500 Pro, and X500 Pro Max for a China launch on September 21, at the Creator Festival in Yantai.
2. September 12, 2026: Bald Panda posts the X500 About Phone screenshot with Dimensity 9600M at 4.21GHz, 7,500mAh, 12GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, V3+, and OriginOS 7.
3. September 13, 2026: The three models appear on Malaysia’s SIRIM list under V2619, V2621, and V2610.
4. September 15, 2026: MediaTek is scheduled to unveil the Dimensity 9600 Pro at 2:30 p.m. China time.
5. September 21, 2026: Vivo stages the China launch at 7 p.m., with the Watch 6 and Buds Clip.

The demo unit’s status bar still marked it as a review sample, so RAM and storage SKUs can change on stage. Vanilla refresh rate, the X500 Pro’s battery size, and China starting prices have not been posted by Vivo. Color sheets circulating for the X500 show white, pink, silver, and black.

WHAT WE KNOW

• Launch slot: China, September 21, 2026, at 7 p.m., three phones plus Watch 6 and Buds Clip.
• Vanilla silicon: Dimensity 9600M at up to 4.21GHz on a demo unit, matching the Dimensity 9500’s peak.
• Vanilla camera: 50MP LYT-828 1/1.28-inch and 64MP LYT-610, both CIPA 5.5, with a 200mm teleconverter.

WHAT IS UNCONFIRMED

• Official 9600M name: MediaTek has not posted a 9600M product page; the label is on the phone, not yet in a chip briefing.
• Retail memory: 12GB plus 512GB is the demo configuration, not a full SKU list.
• China prices: Vivo has not published starting prices for any of the three phones.

MediaTek speaks on September 15. Vivo puts the three phones on a stage six days later. The X500 that shows up in that hall is a 6.59-inch camera phone with a 7,500mAh cell and last year’s flagship die under a new name.