Premium smartphone buyers in India now face a big choice because Samsung and Vivo just brought their best devices to the market. You can buy the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra starting at ₹1,21,999, while the top tier Vivo X300 Ultra enters the market at ₹1,59,999. Both brands are trying to win your attention by packing heavy hardware specifications, highly advanced camera systems, and custom software setups into these expensive devices.
Build & Display
- Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra measures 163.6 x 78.1 x 7.9 mm
- Vivo X300 Ultra has an IP69 rating against hot water jets
- The Samsung display screen has a 120Hz refresh rate and a special anti reflective coating with Mohs level 6 hardness.
- Vivo features a faster 144Hz refresh rate display with 2160Hz dimming to protect your eyes from strain.
Look at the screens. Both screens are beautiful. Samsung gives you a huge 6.9 inch screen that gets bright enough to read your messages clearly under direct Indian sunlight. (Actually, it also includes a clever privacy feature to block nosey people from peeking at your phone). Vivo gives you a 144Hz refresh rate showing one billion rich colors. Honestly, everything feels smooth like butter when you scroll.
Now, look at the body shapes. Samsung uses an Armor aluminum 2 frame with a flat shape and puts an embedded stylus inside for taking quick notes. The front is made of Corning Gorilla Armor 2, and the rear is made of Gorilla Glass Victus 2 with an IP68 rating. The Vivo phone is pretty heavy it weighs 232 or 237 grams. The Vivo phone is also a bit thick it measures 8.2 to 8.5 mm.
Hardware Performance
- The 3 nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset powers both devices’ quick speeds.
- Samsung comes with 3x and 5x telephoto zoom lenses in addition to a 200 megapixel primary camera.
- Vivo’s 200 megapixel primary camera is equipped with Zeiss optics and a hardware gimbal stabilizer.
- You can buy optional add on lenses for 200mm and 400mm focal lengths with the Vivo phone.
Both phones are fast. Samsung runs its main processor cores at a higher speed while Vivo keeps its graphics card at standard factory levels. You will not find any lag when you play heavy games online. Neither company lets you use an external memory card to expand your storage space later.
Samsung pairs its system with 12GB or 16GB of RAM with UFS 4.X storage and commits to seven years of major Android upgrades with One UI 8.5. Vivo uses 16GB of RAM with UFS 4.1 storage and runs its own OriginOS 6 software layer on top of Android 16 (The graphics chip on the Samsung is an Adreno 840 clocked at 1.3GHz while Vivo uses the standard version).
Samsung has four cameras: a 12 megapixel front camera, a 200 megapixel primary lens with a wide f/1.4 aperture, and multidirectional phase detection autofocus. It also features a 50 megapixel 5x periscope lens and a 10 megapixel 3x lens.
Vivo uses a three camera array but adds a special Zeiss T* coating to stop lens flare and a 50 megapixel front camera with autofocus. Its primary 200 megapixel camera has an f/1.9 aperture and a 35mm focal length. The periscope lens also uses a 200 megapixel sensor with a 3.7x zoom and a 3.4:1 macro ratio.
Battery sizes
- Samsung packs a 5000 mAh battery while Vivo has a larger 6600 mAh silicon carbon battery.
- In India, the base Samsung model with 256GB of storage costs ₹1,21,999.
- For ₹1,59,999, Vivo offers a single model with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage.
- Samsung’s premium 1TB storage model costs ₹1,80,999.
Look at the battery power because Vivo gives you a huge 6600 mAh battery on its international model. Samsung uses a standard 5000 mAh lithium ion battery which is smaller but keeps the phone lighter. For connectivity, Samsung includes Bluetooth 6.0, tri-band Wi-Fi 7, Ultra Wideband, and DeX mode for desktop work. Vivo offers Bluetooth 5.4, dual-band Wi-Fi 7, an infrared port, and high resolution audio playback.
Actually, if you buy the top 1TB model of Vivo, you even get emergency satellite calling features. Both devices include ultrasonic under display fingerprint sensors and Type-C 3.2 ports with DisplayPort support. Let us talk about the exact pricing details for the Indian market now. The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra costs ₹1,21,999 for the 12GB and 256GB model, ₹1,35,999 for the 12GB and 512GB model, and ₹1,80,999 for the 16GB and 1TB model. The Vivo X300 Ultra comes in a single 16GB and 512GB option for ₹1,59,999.
My Verdict
I feel that your choice depends on what you want from a premium phone. If you want seven years of updates, a built in stylus, and a lighter design, buy the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra. But if you want a much bigger battery, a 144Hz screen, and a gimbal camera with Zeiss lenses, the Vivo X300 Ultra is an excellent choice. Both phones are extremely fast, but Samsung gives you a cheaper starting price if you do not need 512GB of storage.
