vivo V70 Elite review: This mid-premium phone does many things right, and gets some things very wrong

There’s a certain predictability to vivo’s V‑series launches. Every year, the company releases a phone that looks good, takes nice photos, and plays it safe everywhere else.

With the new vivo V70 Elite, the company seems to be nudging this lineup into a more ambitious space. The design is more refined, the cameras more confident, and the battery life surprisingly muscular.

But ambition is a tricky thing. It raises expectations. And after using the V70 Elite for about two weeks, it’s evident that it’s a device that feels like it’s trying to graduate into the mid‑premium league, but it still carries the uncertainties of its mid‑range past. This is a phone that gets a lot right—sometimes impressively so—but it also stumbles in ways that shouldn’t exist at this price.

Premium polish with inspired brilliance

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: the V70 Elite looks a lot like the iPhone 16 Pro. The flat edges, the camera island, the proportions—the resemblance is unmistakable. So, while the V70 Elite feels premium, it doesn’t feel distinctive. But since it’s gorgeous, nobody would mind the inspiration.

The matte back is genuinely lovely. It has a velvety texture that resists fingerprints better than most glass slabs, and the aluminium frame feels sturdy without being heavy. The phone’s compact footprint is refreshing and it’s also slimmer—the grip in hand is just perfect, especially if like me, you’re tired of lugging around large devices and prefer to use phones one-handed without contorting the thumb like a circus performer. And then there’s the IP68/IP69 rating enabling safety in water immersion. It’s the kind of practical durability that more mid‑premium phones should offer.

The 6.59‑inch AMOLED panel is one of the V70 Elite’s strongest assets. It doesn’t chase extreme brightness numbers or refresh rates. Instead, it focuses on delivering a comfortable, reliable visual experience. And honestly, that works for me. It’s bright enough to cut through Delhi’s harsh afternoon sun, and the colour tuning thankfully leans natural rather than hyper‑saturated. Watching videos feels immersive without being overwhelming, and the slim bezels help the phone look more expensive than it is.

Smooth for everyday use, but not built for bragging rights

The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is a fascinating choice. It’s a chip that sits awkwardly between mid‑range and flagship territory. In daily use— browsing on Edge, Outlook, Gemini’s shenanigans, camera bursts, and the usual doomscrolling—the phone felt fluid. App switching was quick, animations were smooth, and I never felt like I was waiting for the phone to catch up.

But push it harder and the cracks show.

Gaming performance isn't flawless, and you will notice occasional slowdowns and skipped frames, especially in longer sessions. Plus, the phone does warm up enough to remind you that this isn’t a performance‑first device.

This is where the V70 Elite’s identity crisis becomes apparent. It wants to be taken seriously as a mid‑premium phone, but it doesn’t quite have the horsepower to compete with some other devices in and around the segment.

If you’re upgrading from a two‑year‑old mid‑ranger, you’ll be impressed. But if you’re coming from a premium device in and around the segment, you’ll notice the difference.

The 6,500mAh battery is the V70 Elite’s biggest flex. Even with extensive use through the day, I’d end the day with about a fifth battery capacity left. Plus, the 90W charging is reasonably fast. The device charges to over 20% in just 15 minutes while a little over an hour charges the phone from zero to 100%.

The evolution of battery tech in the recent past—not specific to this phone—has eased the battery anxiety many of us used to live with. You stop hunting for charging points at airports or in cafés. You simply use the phone and trust it to last.

Two excellent lenses and one that feels like a compromise

vivo has built a reputation for strong cameras, and the V70 Elite mostly lives up to that. The primary and telephoto lenses are genuinely impressive, but the ultrawide feels like it belongs on a cheaper phone.

The 50MP main sensor produces crisp, contrast-y images with a pleasing depth. Colours lean slightly cool, but not in a way that feels artificial. Portraits are particularly impressive: Edge detection is clean, and the background blur feels natural rather than aggressively processed.

Low‑light performance is good but not exceptional. The phone tends to brighten scenes more than necessary. It’s competent, but not the kind of low‑light magic vivo’s X‑series is known for.

The 3X telephoto lens is the unsung hero here. In a segment where many brands still skip telephoto entirely, vivo’s implementation is genuinely useful. Zoomed‑in shots retain detail, and the colour science stays consistent with the primary lens.

This is one of the reasons the V70 Elite feels more versatile than its peers. It gives you creative flexibility that many mid‑premium phones simply don’t offer. You get an entire gamut of options and filters and camera modes to play with. In fact, there’s almost an excess of options, enough to overwhelm someone who just wants to point and shoot.

The ultrawide is the Achilles’ heel of this camera setup. Soft edges, distortion, and visible noise in anything less than ideal lighting. In a phone priced above ₹50,000, this is disappointing.

Video capability is solid, if not class‑leading. 4K 60fps across lenses is a welcome addition and stabilisation is good enough, but low‑light video still struggles with noise and exposure control.

Modern user experience that’s trying a tad too hard

OriginOS 6, the company’s new proprietary UI layer based on Android 16, is visually appealing and highly customisable. The animations are smooth, the widgets are genuinely useful, and the overall experience feels modern.

But it’s also quite busy and there’s too much happening everywhere which could overwhelm casual users. And vivo still can’t resist stuffing the phone with pre‑installed apps (sure, some of them can be uninstalled). This is one area where vivo’s ambition feels oddly half‑hearted. The company clearly wants to offer a premium software experience, but it’s still clinging to the habits of its budget‑phone past.

Should you buy one?

Introducing an ‘Elite’ variant is vivo’s attempt at offsetting higher component costs while positioning the V70 Elite as a more premium device. Even though there isn’t a significant delta over the V70, and a V70 Pro doesn’t exist at the moment.

This takes the V-series into a completely new territory of over- ₹50,000 premium smartphones: the 8GB+256GB variant is priced at ₹51,999 while the 12GB+256GB variant is priced at ₹56,999. The second variant brings it close to vivo's own stellar X200T, among other competitive offerings from Motorola and OnePlus.

It’s not perfect. Still, in a market full of spec‑sheet braggarts, the V70 Elite’s quiet competence is refreshing. It’s a phone for someone who values design, battery life, and camera versatility over raw horsepower.

Abhishek Baxi is a New Delhi-based tech writer.