Vivo has officially revealed its upcoming flagships, the X50 range of smartphones. The company teased the launch of the X50 series on Weibo — and the most intriguing feature of all is the wack gimbal camera sensor on this one boi.

Now, the X50 series has finally been announced, in the form of the Vivo X50, Vivo X50 Pro, and Vivo X50 Pro+, alongside the Vivo TWS Earphone Neo (but the ear-buddies are only launching in the Chinese market).

Swivel, swivel

But how did Vivo manage to build a functioning gimbal into a smartphone? That’s the big question. The whole concept seems like something out of a science fiction movie. The gimbal system is exclusive to the X50 Pro and is modelled after a full-sized professional gimbal — you know, the ones previously only found in high-end filming equipment and drones? The gimbal keeps the camera module still in the event of a shake or a bump, increasing the stability of the main camera.

And that’s not even half of it. Vivo also built a Gimbal Radar into the UI of the phone itself. As the user, you can view the gimbal as an animated ball that reflects the gimbal’s movement. It’s almost like a spirit level meter on your display. There are other neat tricks at play too, like motion-deblur algorithms and continuous focus tracking to enhance image and video clarity.

As expected for a 2020 smartphone, there is a massive focus on photography, and the module around the back is ginormous. The X50 Pro and X50 Pro+ come with a periscope lens with support for up to 60x Hyper Zoom. On the X50 Pro+, you’ll get Samsung’s new 50MP ISOCELL camera sensor which will be brilliant for low-light photography. The X50 is the base variant without a curved display, lacking the gimbal feature and periscope lens.

We’re excited to test out the feasibility of an in-smartphone gimbal, but will have to wait until Vivo’s latest is available in SA. Vivo entered the country late last year with a few budget devices, but we’re sure the X50 range will make its way to our shores. We’re just not sure when.