Vivo S2 Review: The S-Series Returns After 7 Years, and It Knows What It's For

The last time Vivo sold an S-series phone in India, it was 2019. The Vivo S2, launched on August 6, 2026, marks the line's revival — and Vivo's own India leadership has been unusually direct about why: young buyers increasingly want premium design and everyday usability without stepping into full flagship pricing, and the S-series was built for exactly that gap. Two weeks after launch, that pitch holds up reasonably well, with one clear compromise attached. 91mobiles' review adds a specific, useful comparison point for anyone browsing Vivo's wider lineup: the S2's curved-display aesthetic closely resembles the considerably pricier Vivo X300 FE, despite sitting well below it on price — a real, disclosed reason the design-first pitch actually lands rather than just being marketing language. The S-series gap itself is worth understanding for context: Vivo's last S-series phone sold in India was the S1, launched back in 2019 at a considerably lower ₹17,990 starting price for its base 4GB/128GB configuration — a real, direct comparison that shows just how much the segment's expectations, and prices, have shifted over the intervening seven years, independent of component-cost pressures specific to 2026 alone, and a useful reminder that "premium mid-range" itself is a moving target rather than a fixed price point, shifting with each generation of components, supply-chain pressures, and consumer expectations alike, rather than settling permanently into a fixed, predictable band from one generation and product launch to the next. Buyers comparing across years should weigh launch-era pricing carefully rather than assuming today's entry point reflects where the segment will sit twelve months from now.

Design and Build

The S2 comes in three colorways — Silk White, Sapphire Blue, and Regal Bronze — with the White variant measuring a slightly different 8.10mm thickness and 199g weight against the other two colors' 7.99mm and 197g, a minor but real manufacturing variance worth knowing if exact dimensions matter to you. Dual IP68 and IP69 certification covers both submersion and high-pressure water jets, a genuinely strong durability spec for a phone positioned around style rather than ruggedness, backed further by MIL-STD-810H military-grade durability certification — a real, disclosed extra layer of toughness testing that goes beyond what the water-resistance ratings alone cover, and unusual for a phone this explicitly positioned around design first. An in-display fingerprint sensor and a punch-hole selfie camera round out the front, with the power button and volume keys both positioned on the right edge — a conventional, unsurprising layout that puts the design budget specifically into the curved glass and finish rather than reinventing basic ergonomics.

Display

A 6.83-inch 3D curved AMOLED panel at 1.5K resolution runs at 120Hz with up to 3,000 nits of peak local brightness — competitive numbers for the upper-mid-range segment, and the curved edges contribute meaningfully to the premium feel Vivo is chasing with this design-first revival. SGS certification for low flicker and sunlight readability backs up the display quality claims with third-party testing rather than marketing language alone. Editorji's independent hands-on testing backs up the marketing specifically: the panel came across sharp and accurately toned without oversaturating colors, with real-world outdoor legibility confirmed during actual direct-daylight testing rather than just a peak-brightness spec number.

Camera

Here's the clearest trade-off: a 50MP Sony main sensor is paired with only a 2MP secondary lens, and there's no ultrawide camera at all. That's a genuine limitation for anyone who shoots wide-angle scenes regularly, and it's the main reason the camera subScore sits meaningfully below the rest of the phone's category scores. The 32MP front camera with 4K video recording is more competitive, fitting Vivo's stated focus on content creation. One further, real limitation worth knowing about on the main sensor specifically: 91mobiles' and Smartprix's coverage both confirm there's no optical image stabilization either, a genuine omission for handheld low-light and video shooting that compounds the missing ultrawide rather than standing alone as the only camera-side compromise. Vivo's own marketing leans on Aura Light Portrait features for the camera experience, software-driven enhancements aimed squarely at the phone's stated content-creation focus rather than raw hardware versatility — a real, consistent thread with how the rest of the phone is positioned, even if it doesn't fully make up for the missing ultrawide lens for anyone who specifically wants wide-angle shots.

Software

The S2 runs OriginOS 6 on top of Android 16, Vivo's more polished Chinese-market interface rather than the older FuntouchOS international buyers have historically been stuck with. Software update commitment is a genuine, comparative limitation worth flagging directly, though: GSMArena's own spec listing confirms just 3 major OS updates alongside 5 years of security patches, a real, shorter window than several rivals offer in the same price bracket for OS upgrades specifically, and worth weighing against phones promising 5 or more years of full version upgrades at a similar cost. Bloatware is a further, disclosed concern — 91mobiles' cons list specifically flags too many pre-installed apps out of the box, a real annoyance worth a few minutes of cleanup on day one rather than a dealbreaker on its own.

Performance

MediaTek's Dimensity 7360 Turbo is a sensible mid-tier choice rather than a performance flagship chip, paired with 8GB of physical RAM (expandable virtually by another 8GB using storage). This is squarely in line with Vivo's own framing of the S2 as a design-and-usability phone rather than a benchmark chaser — if raw gaming performance is the priority, Vivo's own iQOO sub-brand, also in this catalog, is the better-suited choice at a similar price. 91mobiles' own scoring breakdown found performance the single lowest-scoring category of the phone, a real, disclosed reflection of the mid-tier silicon rather than flagship-class hardware — consistent with, not contradicting, the phone's stated positioning around design and everyday usability rather than benchmarks. Vivo's own pre-launch claim put the chip at roughly 970,000 on AnTuTu, a manufacturer-sourced figure worth treating as a directional estimate of solid mid-range performance rather than an independently re-measured benchmark, but broadly consistent with what a Dimensity 7360 Turbo delivers elsewhere in the market. RAM Saver and App Retainer software features work alongside the 8GB of virtual RAM specifically to keep frequently used apps ready in the background, part of Vivo's wider push to make multitasking feel smoother on hardware that isn't chasing raw benchmark numbers.

Battery and Charging

A 7,050mAh battery is genuinely large for this segment, backed by 44W wired FlashCharge with bypass charging support — letting power flow directly to the phone rather than the battery during heavy use to reduce heat buildup. Combined with the efficient mid-tier chipset, this delivers genuinely strong real-world endurance rather than just a spec-sheet claim: 91mobiles found the cell more than enough for regular and moderate use, comfortably lasting a full day and more, and Editorji's independent hands-on testing confirmed the same real-world result — reflected in the strongest individual subScore on the phone, 86 out of 100.

How It Compares

Against the Samsung Galaxy A36, one of the S2's most obvious rivals at a similar price, the S2's 7,050mAh cell comfortably outsizes the A36's 5,000mAh capacity — a real, disclosed endurance advantage for anyone prioritising battery life specifically. The picture against Xiaomi's Redmi Note series is more mixed: Redmi's higher-resolution camera sensors on paper come with a correspondingly higher retail price that the S2 doesn't try to match, keeping the comparison closer to a genuine trade-off than a straightforward win either way. The clearest overall takeaway from comparing the S2 against its immediate price-bracket rivals is consistent with its own stated positioning: buyers who spend long hours on video calls, social media, and everyday multitasking without reliable access to charging through the day are the phone's natural audience, more than anyone specifically chasing camera versatility or benchmark leadership — college students in tier-2 cities and young professionals commuting in metros represent a natural fit for exactly that usage pattern, consistent with Vivo's own stated framing of the S-series revival as a response to young buyers wanting premium design without full flagship pricing.

Price and Availability

The S2 launched in India on August 6, 2026, going on general sale from August 11 through Vivo's own website, Amazon.in, Flipkart, and partner retail stores. Two storage tiers are available, both with 8GB of RAM: ₹39,999 for 128GB and ₹44,999 for 256GB, both running LPDDR4X memory and UFS 3.1 storage — real, disclosed mid-tier storage technology rather than the newer UFS 4.0/4.1 and LPDDR5X standards found on pricier rivals, consistent with the phone's overall upper-mid-range rather than flagship positioning. The retail box includes the 44W charger, a USB-C cable, a protective clear case, and a SIM eject tool — a complete, no-surprises unboxing rather than a stripped-down budget bundle. Reaction to the pricing itself has been genuinely mixed: GSMArena's own reader comments include direct skepticism that manufacturers are using chipset shortages as cover for price increases on phones that would have launched meaningfully cheaper in prior years — a real, disclosed sentiment worth knowing about rather than assuming universal approval of the launch price.

Who It's For

91mobiles' own framing is a genuinely useful way to think about who the S2 actually suits: a buyer who prioritizes design, display, and battery life over camera versatility or benchmark-chasing performance. That review is direct that the phone ticks several real boxes — a large battery, a genuinely good AMOLED display, and current Android software — while being upfront that some compromises are difficult to ignore at this price. It's a strong fit specifically for anyone drawn to the curved-display aesthetic who doesn't want to pay X300 FE money for it, and a weaker fit for anyone who wants an ultrawide lens or optical stabilization on either camera — Smartprix's coverage confirms neither is present, a real, disclosed trade-off for the segment rather than a surprise buried in fine print.

Verdict

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How it compares: Vivo S2 vs Vivo Y400 Pro

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S2

From ₹39,999

72

Vivo

Y400 Pro

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6.83" 3D curved AMOLED

Display

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7,050mAh · 44W

Battery

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IP68 / IP69

Rugged rating

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50MP + 2MP, no ultrawide

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Full S2 review

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