Vivo just handed a pair of its flagship phones a very public assignment: go into India's forests, deserts, mountains and coasts and shoot the stories only the wild can tell. The result is "Go Into The Wild," a visual storytelling initiative in partnership with National Geographic Creative Works that aims to show what the X300 family can do when pushed into real-world, often unforgiving, conditions.
A Nat Geo-backed camera test with an audience
This isn't a lab demo. Vivo sent a Nat Geo Explorer and a roster of creators out with the X300 and X300 Pro to capture untouched landscapes and wildlife encounters. The point, as Geetaj Channana — Head of Corporate Strategy at vivo India — put it, is to "blend our imaging expertise with advanced AI and optical innovation to capture moments with striking clarity and emotion." A National Geographic spokesperson added that the collaboration builds on their visual exploration legacy to "inspire audiences with authentic moments from the natural world."
The campaign will surface as short films, outdoor placements, digital storytelling and a curated visual showcase — all footage shot entirely on the X300 series.
What the phones bring to the field
Vivo's X300 line currently includes the X300 and the X300 Pro. Both lean heavily on ZEISS optics, big sensors and computational tricks aimed at photographers who want pro-level reach without hauling kit.
Highlights:
- 200MP ZEISS optics on key modules and a 50MP Sony LYT main sensor on the Pro.
- New telephoto tools: the X300 Pro supports a ZEISS APO telephoto camera, India’s first Telephoto Bird Shots feature and a ZEISS 2.35x Telephoto Extender Kit (vivo says this enables up to 8.5x optical zoom with exceptional clarity).
- Software additions including AI Landscape Master, vivo Portrait Engine and improved stabilization driven by the VS1 Pro imaging chip.
- Bigger batteries and wireless charging on the Pro (the Pro's 6,510mAh Chinese unit figure was reported; global units sometimes differ in capacity).
Taken together, these are deliberate choices: big sensors plus optics tuned with ZEISS presets, plus on-device AI for low light, motion and landscape rendering. Those pieces explain why vivo pitched the project as an "immersive photography and storytelling initiative." It wants to turn creators' phones into a storytelling rig.
In the hands: what reviewers noticed
On a practical level, reviewers found the X300 Pro especially convincing as a field camera. A writer who took the phone to a bird sanctuary reported DSLR-like reach at 20x and clean detail even when pushing hybrid zoom to moon shots at long focal lengths. Video held up well even at high zoom, and an ability to shoot 4K (and up to 8K) while grabbing stills mid-recording made it useful for creators who edit on the go.
Not everything was flawless. Some long-zoom shots showed a painterly smoothing when the phone stitched and processed pixels, and OriginOS — vivo’s newer software layer — still takes some getting used to after years of Funtouch iterations. But for people who default to carrying a telephoto lens on trips, the X300 Pro made a persuasive case for leaving that glass at home.
Bigger picture: Vivo’s premium push
This campaign lands amid an obvious strategic push. Vivo has been evolving the X series from a mid-market contender into a camera-first flagship maker that wants to sit alongside Apple and Samsung in premium conversations. That evolution — steady hardware steps, a deepening relationship with ZEISS, and India-specific computational tuning for skin tones and local lighting scenarios — is central to the company's argument that premium means more than specs.
Software matters too: vivo shipped OriginOS with the X300 series in India to smooth the user experience and help the hardware feel more premium. And wider industry moves — better on-device models, bigger sensors, and point-and-shoot AI edits — are lowering the barrier between professional-looking imagery and smartphone photography. Advances like Microsoft's MAI-Image-1 illustrate how rapidly imaging models are influencing what phones can produce.
There are also hints that vivo isn't finished with hardware. Leaks and certifications suggest an X300 Ultra is in the works — reports point to 100W USB PPS charging, massive battery options and even two 200MP sensors. More on that possibility has been collected in coverage about how the X300 Ultra could go global and what it might pack.
Why this matters beyond marketing
Put simply: phone cameras are now a language people use to tell stories, and manufacturers want to be the publisher. Partnering with National Geographic gives vivo a credible stage to show how kit, software and creative workflows combine. For consumers, it means phones that are increasingly useful for serious photography; for content platforms it means more high-quality mobile-first material. And for photographers, it presents a choice: carry less gear, or keep the traditional kit and enjoy the benefits of both.
The campaign itself doubles as a stress test — exposing the X300 family's strengths and limits under real conditions, which is the clearest proof anyone can ask for. The only question left is whether the phones’ computational magic will keep pace with the rise in on-device AI and the inevitable demands of creators who expect mirrorless-grade fidelity from a pocket device.
Either way, you can expect more wild footage — and more phones trying to earn the right to sit in a photographer's hand.