Vivo V17 Launched in Malaysia; Sports Tiny Hole-Punch Cutout & RM1,699 Price Tag

The Vivo V17 mid-range smartphone has just been launched in Malaysia. What makes this mid-ranger particularly interesting is its hole-punch cutout for the front-facing camera. Measuring only 5mm in diameter, it’s said to be the smallest one in the market.

Thanks to the small camera cutout, the V17 does look sleeker than other smartphones with a similar design language, including the Samsung Galaxy S10e and Huawei Nova 5T. Vivo calls this the “Ultra O” screen, and it houses a 32MP f/2.45 selfie camera.

Aside from the hole-punch cutout, the display itself is a 6.44-inch 2400 x 1080 Super AMOLED screen. This being an AMOLED panel, you can expect to get deep blacks and vibrant colours. On top of that, Vivo says that the V17 has an impressive 91.38% screen-to-body ratio.

Like most smartphones in the market now, underneath the display of the V17 is an in-screen fingerprint sensor. According to Vivo, this sensor now comes with a 3P lens. Along with Vivo’s “intelligent algorithm,” the sensor is supposedly faster at recognising fingerprints now.

Powering the V17, on the other hand, is a decidedly mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 chipset. It’s not the most capable processor – especially in this price range – but it should be fast enough to provide a relatively good user experience. Whether you’re gaming or multitasking on this phone, the Snapdragon 675 should be up for the task.

On the back of the V17 is a rather unique-looking rear camera system. It’s a quad camera configuration made up of a 48MP f/1.8 primary shooter with PDAF, an 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide angle camera, a 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor, and another 2MP f/2.4 macro lens. Unfortunately, there is no telephoto shooter here.

Nonetheless, battery life is one of the V17’s main selling points. After all, it comes with a generous 4,500mAh battery, which should be able to get you through a day’s worth of use comfortably. If you need to quickly charge up the phone, the V17 supports 18W fast charging via USB-C.

Other specifications of the V17 include 8GB of RAM, 256GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot for further expansion, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and two colour options: Admiral Blue and Crystal White.

The Vivo V17 is now available for pre-order in Malaysia for RM1,699 on Vivo’s official online store; you can also use a RM50 discount code over there. While RM1,699 is a pretty hefty price tag for a mid-range smartphone, you do get 256GB of storage and 8GB of RAM. The V17 will hit store shelves on 21 December 2019.