Vivo X21 Is India's First Smartphone With an In-Display Fingerprint Sensor: Price, Specifications, and More

Vivo X21 has been launched in India at an event in New Delhi on Tuesday. The smartphone's biggest highlight is of course its under-display fingerprint sensor (aka in-display fingerprint scanner), making it amongst the first production smartphones to offer the feature. Other highlights of the Vivo X21 include its Android 8.1 Oreo-based operating system, and its 6.28-inch full-HD+ Super AMOLED display that is accompanied by a display notch containing the front facing sensors like the selfie camera and proximity sensor. The Vivo X21 is exclusive to Flipkart in India. It will compete with the likes of OnePlus 6 and Honor 10 in the Indian market.

To recall, the smartphone had first been launched by Vivo in China in March this year in two variants - the X21 and X21 UD - with the latter variant the one that sported the under-display fingerprint sensor. In India however, the Chinese company has decided to launch the X21 UD variant as the X21 itself. It is also among the first smartphones to be eligible for the Android P Beta (Developer Preview 2) that was released by Google at its I/O 2018 developer conference earlier this month. The Vivo X21 last week went up for pre-bookings ahead of the India launch.

Vivo X21 price in India, launch offers

The Vivo X21 price in India has been set at Rs. 35,990, and it will go on sale from Tuesday itself. At this price, the smartphone competes with the Honor 10 and OnePlus 6. As we mentioned previously, the smartphone is exclusive to Flipkart, and the e-commerce site had already detailed the Vivo X21 launch offers ahead of its launch in the country. It will be available in Black and Gold colour options in India, with the Gold variant due to arrive later.

Vivo X21 vs OnePlus 6 vs Honor 10

Vivo X21 launch offers on Flipkart include an extra Rs. 3,000 off on regular exchange value, 5 percent cashback on SBI credit cards, and no-cost EMI up to 12 months on all credit cards.

Vivo X21 specifications

The dual-SIM (Nano) Vivo X21 runs FunTouch OS 4.0 based on Android 8.1 Oreo, and sports a 6.28-inch full-HD+ (1080x2280 pixels) Super AMOLED display with a 19:9 aspect ratio and a 402ppi pixel density. It is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC clocked up to 2.2GHz and coupled with 6GB of RAM.

The Vivo X21 sports a dual rear camera setup, with the 12-megapixel primary camera featuring an f/1.8 aperture and a 2PD (Dual Pixel technology) Samsung S5K2L8 sensor. The secondary camera is a 5-megapixel offering. The company is touting Slow Motion video recording, AI HDR, Portrait and Bokeh, Live Photo, AR Stickers, and Shot Refocus features for the rear camera. Vivo has used the same front camera as the primary rear camera, with an f/2.0 aperture. The front camera offers Live Photo, AI Face Beauty, AI HDR, Portrait and Bokeh modes (single camera), and AR Stickers. Storage on board is 128GB, which is expandable via microSD card (up to 256GB) in a hybrid dual-SIM configuration.

Connectivity options on board the Vivo X21 include 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac (dual-band, 2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth v5.0, GPS/ A-GPS, Micro-USB with OTG, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Sensors on board include an accelerometer, ambient light sensor, digital compass, gyroscope, proximity sensor, and the under display fingerprint sensor. It is powered by a 3200mAh battery, measures in at 154.45x74.78x7.37mm, and weighs 156.2 grams. It features the AKM AK4376A Hi-Fi chipset, continuing the tradition of the Vivo X-Series.

Is Vivo X21 the future of smartphones or an overpriced gimmick? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.