Vivo X21 With Under Display Fingerprint Sensor to Launch in India on May 29, Will Be a Flipkart Exclusive

Vivo X21 is set to launch as the company's latest smartphone in India on May 29. The smartphone will be exclusively available via Flipkart, according to a dedicated page set up by the e-commerce brand. It mentions "a revolution in fingerprint sensor technology," which clearly alludes to the under-display fingerprint sensor that the top-end variant of the Vivo X21 offers. After launching the smartphone in China in March, Vivo had introduced the X21 smartphone in international markets for the first time earlier this month. Notably, the Vivo X21 variant being launched in India features an under-display fingerprint sensor, which is called the Vivo X21 UD in China. Vivo is evidently looking to do away with the UD branding for India, where it can be expected to launch only one variant of the smartphone - foregoing the variant without the under-display fingerprint sensor.

The key feature of the handset is that a special 128GB variant of the X21 is the mobile maker's second handset to sport an under display fingerprint sensor, last seen on the Vivo X20 Plus UD launched earlier this year. It means that there is no physical home button or fingerprint sensor and users simply need to touch a circular on-screen fingerprint prompt to unlock their smartphone. However, rest of the models have a regular fingerprint sensor placed on the back. Notably, it is one of the first few smartphones for which Google has released the Android P Beta update.

As mentioned, the Vivo X21 UD is the company's second smartphone after the X20 Plus UD to pack an on-screen fingerprint sensor. The Vivo X20 Plus UD was showcased at CES 2018 and then launched in China in January, but never made it to India. However, the company has sent out invites for the launch event of the Vivo X21 in India, and has been alluding to the under-display fingerprint sensor on social media, as well as, in the press invite. The company had earlier hinted at the upcoming launch as well. Currently, there is no information on the pricing and availability of the smartphone in the country. It is expected to compete with the likes of Honor 10 and OnePlus 6 that have launched in India recently.

Vivo X21 UD price, specifications

Notably, the Vivo X21 is a mid-range handset. During its China launch, the smartphone was priced at CNY 2,898 (roughly Rs. 29,900) for the regular 64GB variant and CNY 3,198 (roughly Rs. 33,000) for the regular 128GB variant. On the other hand, the special under display fingerprint sensor-equipped 128GB variant — the Vivo X21 UD — was priced at CNY 3,598 (roughly Rs. 37,100). Also, the price of the Vivo X21 in Singapore was set at SGD 799 (roughly Rs. 39,900).

Coming to the specifications, the dual-SIM Vivo X21 runs FunTouch OS 4.0 on top of Android 8.1 Oreo out-of-the-box. It sports a 6.28-inch full-HD+ (1080x2280 pixels) Super AMOLED display with a 19:9 aspect ratio. The phone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC, coupled with an Adreno 512 GPU, 6GB of RAM and 64GB/ 128GB inbuilt storage options.

In terms of optics, the Vivo X21 bears a vertical rear dual camera setup with a 12-megapixel primary sensor (f/1.8 aperture) and a 5-megapixel secondary sensor (f/2.4 aperture) with LED flash. On the front is an iPhone X-like notch that houses the 12-megapixel front camera which has features such as a f/2.0 aperture, IR fill light, 3D mapping, and Face Wake facial recognition. There is a 3200mAh battery, with fast charging support, under the hood.

Connectivity options on the Vivo X21 include 4G LTE, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0, USB 2.0 with OTG support, and GPS. Sensors on the phone include regular fingerprint sensor/ under display fingerprint sensor, gravity sensor, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, and gyroscope. Dimensions of the phone are 154.5x74.8x7.4mm and weight is 156.2 grams.