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Vivo X300 Could Soon Get a Price Hike or Be Discontinued as X300 FE Creates Confusion in Vivo’s Lineup

The recent announcement of the release of the Vivo X300 FE has generated some interesting discussion in the segment of premium phones in India. The brand launched the new FE phone through some intense marketing campaigns, with the unveiling of the new phone taking place in a grand ceremony held in Delhi on the 6th of May. The product has been released as the compact premium phone which caters to those who are in search of flagship features in a more compact phone.

Vivo X300 FE

However, the pricing scheme of the phone seems to have created several speculations among consumers, owing to the fact that the FE phone is even costlier than the regular flagship Vivo X300. This peculiar situation has made many consumers speculate about the possible discontinuation or an increase in the price of the Vivo X300 soon.


Vivo’s Current X300 Lineup Looks Unbalanced

The Vivo flagships are currently made up of four different smartphones. The list seems to be thorough on the surface, but the actual pricing indicates that there is a problem concerning the standard X300 and the recently released X300 FE.

Smartphone

Starting Price

Vivo X300

Rs 75,999

Vivo X300 FE

Rs 79,999

Vivo X300 Pro

Rs 1,09,999

Vivo X300 Ultra

Rs 1,59,999

The positioning of the Vivo X300 Pro and Vivo X300 Ultra is logical. These phones aim at flagship smartphone users with high-end hardware and impressive camera technology. It is the Vivo X300 FE that confuses people here.


In the past, Vivo had its FE line, which stands for Fashion Edition, and it was always considered an affordable version of flagship smartphones. Typically, these models had premium styling but fewer features to keep prices lower. This worked great with previous FE lines, but the Vivo X300 FE defies this logic. The new smartphone costs more than the base model of the Vivo X300. This causes some trouble for potential customers since the base Vivo X300 features better flagship hardware.

Vivo X300 Offers Better Flagship Hardware Than the X300 FE

The standard version of the Vivo X300 has the best chipset available for smartphones in general – the MediaTek Dimensity 9500 chipset. Thus, it ensures the performance necessary for heavy gaming, advanced AI applications, and even professional photography.


Speaking about cameras, there is one major difference between both models – the standard version has a much more advanced set of three cameras. In particular, there is a 200MP main camera and two additional 50MP cameras. Therefore, the Vivo X300 has much greater photography flexibility and quality.


As far as the Vivo X300 FE is concerned, the device has a lower-end processor, which is represented by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset. It is still powerful enough, but does not belong to the flagship segment. Moreover, it has less powerful camera hardware than the standard version of the device. Namely, there is only a 50MP main camera and a very weak 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera.


Lastly, video shooting capabilities are another difference between these versions. The standard version of the Vivo X300 can shoot consistently 4K videos using all cameras simultaneously. The only notable benefit offered by the FE model is the bigger battery of 6,500 mAh compared to 6,040 mAh in the regular X300. Nevertheless, from practical testing results, it seems that such differences in batteries cannot compensate for the more expensive price of the FE model.


From various benchmark and battery tests, the Vivo X300 lags behind the FE model in PCMark battery endurance tests by about half an hour and has a slightly faster battery consumption rate of about 2 percent while playing games.


Vivo X300 FE Pricing

Another factor contributing to the sharp pricing strategy of the Vivo X300 FE seems to be the current global memory and semiconductor shortage faced by the smartphone industry.


The emergence of artificial intelligence firms and the surge in demand for advanced memory elements have greatly disrupted the global supply chain. Smartphone firms are experiencing escalating manufacturing costs of RAM, storage, and other crucial components.


Consequently, several OEMs have resorted to releasing their latest smartphone devices at premium prices, 20 to 25 percent higher than the price of their predecessor models. Some firms have discreetly raised the cost of existing smartphones because of the rising manufacturing expenses.


Given this market scenario, it becomes clear why the Vivo X300 FE was released at a relatively steep price point as compared to its predecessor model, the Vivo X200 FE, which was launched at an affordable price point of Rs 54,999. Here’s how the pricing currently compares between the two X300 models:

Variant

Vivo X300 FE

Vivo X300

12GB + 256GB

Rs 79,999

Rs 75,999

12GB + 512GB

Rs 89,999

Rs 81,999

16GB + 512GB

NA

Rs 84,999

The pricing gap becomes even harder to justify when buyers realize that the standard Vivo X300 not only costs less but also offers a higher-end chipset and better overall camera capabilities.

Compact Design Is No Longer Exclusive to the FE Series

Another selling point that has been associated with the FE series from Vivo is the compactness of the devices. Such smartphones were marketed as compact flagship phones meant for customers who were dissatisfied with the bulkiness of flagship phones on the market. However, with the release of the Vivo X300 series, this advantage is essentially lost.


To start off with, the regular Vivo X300 comes with a compact flagship phone feel thanks to a 6.31-inch LTPO AMOLED screen, while being as light as around 190 grams. The bottom line here is that consumers receive a compact smartphone despite the flagship components inside it.


What's more, there is even a telephoto extender kit available for the Vivo X300 series which allows for optical zoom of up to 2.35x equivalent to a focal distance of 200mm.

Vivo X300 May Soon See a Price Hike

Considering the current scenario, Vivo might be forced to reconsider the pricing of its Vivo X300 in order to make a distinction in the range of products. In case the Vivo X300 is being sold at its current cost, then there would not be much interest in the FE version of the smartphone because of its superior performance in key aspects compared to the standard X300 model.


Thus, there is a necessity to make changes in the price of the Vivo X300 to give reason for introducing the FE model in the range of Vivo’s smartphones. Moreover, from the industry perspective, several companies have increased the prices of their smartphones over the last few months because of rising input costs.


Alternatively, Vivo could slowly eliminate the standard X300 model rather than raise its prices. Intriguingly, there are already hints of the supply for this device dwindling. The smartphone apparently faces scarcity at Flipkart across several territories, where some versions become unavailable for shipment.


This trend usually signals issues within backend inventories or even preparation for a smaller market presence. Although it remains unlikely that Vivo would abruptly discontinue a flagship product released less than six months ago, it is not beyond the realm of possibility if the firm deems the X300 FE series more consistent with their long-term pricing philosophy.

It is also possible for Vivo to adopt an intermediate strategy by reducing the availability of the standard model while focusing attention on the FE lineup. In this regard, buying the Vivo X300 at the moment turns out to be an excellent decision for customers seeking premium compact phones.


The phone offers the buyer superior hardware performance of flagship models, improved camera adaptability, more efficient zoom technology, and similar compact ergonomics at a lower price compared to the X300 FE model.


In case Vivo decides to change the prices for this particular model of the company's smartphones or reduce their market presence, such an opportunity may be available for a relatively short period of time.


Nevertheless, everything stated above should remain pure speculation until Vivo announces any information concerning the future development of this model line. However, judging by the current market dynamics, this might happen sooner or later.


With the introduction of the Vivo X300 FE, a very odd pricing strategy has inadvertently been introduced by Vivo in one of the flagships in the recent past. The fact that Vivo is pricing a sub-flagship FE edition at a higher price point than the actual flagship makes it the more economical choice in many ways.


If the company does not make any changes, it might be difficult to sell the X300 FE at such a price level due to several reasons. In the coming weeks, the decisions of the company in raising the price of the Vivo X300 or cutting its availability in India will be quite critical.


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