I took Vivo’s iPhone 17 Pro rival to Shanghai to find out just how far ahead Chinese camera phones really are

We all know how good the iPhone 17 Pro's cameras are, but if you're looking for the absolute best in mobile photography, you'll need to look a little further afield. Vivo has just unveiled its X300 series phones, along with some serious accessories, and these phones truly blur the lines between smartphone and professional camera.

If you live in the US or the UK, you might not be too familiar with the Vivo brand, but among Android enthusiasts, it's quickly gaining a reputation for its stellar image processing and top-tier camera hardware. Take the company's latest flagship, the Vivo X300 Pro: it comes with Zeiss-certified optics, brand-new image sensors developed in collaboration with Sony and Samsung, and a photography kit that transforms it into a compact camera.

So, how does the Vivo X300 Pro compare to Apple's latest flagship? I've spent the last ...