vivo V50 Lite 5G is the keyword you’ll find on the box, but what’s really inside is vivo’s latest attempt to squeeze flagship specs into something that still slips under the R13K mark — and surprisingly, it doesn’t feel like a compromise.
Yes, it’s another mid-range phone. Yes, it’s using another MediaTek chip. But the real headline here is the 6,500mAh battery, which is enormous by any standard — and paired with 90W FlashCharge, vivo claims it’ll go from empty to full in just under an hour. You also get reverse charging, because apparently, this thing is so confident about its stamina, it’s willing to share.
The V50 Lite 5G looks like it studied the flagship playbook and crammed in what it could: a 6.67-inch AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, 1800 nits peak brightness, and 2392 × 1080 resolution. It’s got the Sony IMX882 sensor on the 50MP main rear camera, a secondary 8MP camera, and a 32MP front shooter — plus vivo’s Aura Light flash and software-enhanced shooting modes like Super Night and Golden Portrait.
It even gets a little cocky with extras like dual stereo speakers, IP65 water resistance, in-display fingerprint scanning, NFC, and Google’s Circle to Search — a trick that’s mostly been reserved for higher-end Android phones.
Under the hood, you’ll find the MediaTek Dimensity 6300 — an 8-core chip built on a 6nm process — alongside 8GB of RAM (with another 8GB virtual expansion) and 256GB of storage. The phone ships with Funtouch OS 15 based on Android 15, and supports 5G on both SIM slots.
It’s all packed into a 7.79mm slim body weighing 197g, with a plastic composite back and polished metal finish.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The Dimensity 6300 is capable, not thrilling. The secondary rear camera is more support act than headline feature. And while vivo promises five years of battery health, there’s no word on long-term OS update commitments.
Still, it’s hard to ignore just how much vivo’s throwing in here. This isn’t a flagship killer — it’s a feature chaser. And for a lot of people, that might be exactly what they’re after.
vivo V50 Lite 5G is available now at a recommended retail price of R12,999 through all major South African network providers.