Vivo just brought the S series back to India after a seven-year gap. The original S1 landed in 2019, and now the S2 has picked up the name for a phone that shares nothing with its predecessor except the badge. It launched on August 11 at roughly ₹40,000 for the 8GB/128GB model and ₹44,500 for the 8GB/256GB version, and it is clearly built around one idea: give people a big curved screen and a battery that refuses to quit, then work backwards from there.
What I liked
The display is the star of the show. It is a 6.83-inch curved AMOLED panel running at 1260 x 2800 resolution (about 449 ppi), 120Hz refresh, and up to 3,000 nits peak brightness. Numbers aside, outdoor visibility holds up in harsh sunlight, colours look punchy without tipping into cartoonish, and the curve makes edge swipes and scrolling feel more natural than on a flat panel. At this price, most competitors are still using flat screens, so this is a real point of difference.
Battery life that doesn't need babying. The 7,050mAh cell is genuinely huge, lasts a full day with room to spare, even under fairly heavy use. This is paired with vivo's BlueVolt battery tech, which the company says preserves battery health for up to six years, so it should age better than most.
A design that doesn't scream "budget phone." Despite the giant battery, the phone stays slim at 8mm and weighs 197 to 199 grams depending on the colour. The horizontal camera bar sits nearly flush with the back panel, so it doesn't wobble on a table, which is a small thing that a surprising number of phones still get wrong. It comes in Sapphire Blue, Regal Bronze and Silk White, and the Silk White unit, which I tested, gets a finish that shifts under light.
Selfies and video punch above the price. The 32MP front camera and 4K recording on both front and rear cameras are just fine and produce social media-friendly images.
It stays cool under pressure. A 3,800 mm² vapour chamber keeps the Dimensity 7360 Turbo chipset from throttling, and during my month-long use, the phone never once got uncomfortably warm. Add three promised Android upgrades and five years of security updates, along with OriginOS 6’s Gemini-powered features such as Circle to Search, AI Transcript Assist and Smart Call Assistant, and the S2 feels like a phone that should remain current for a good few years.
What didn't work for me?
No ultra-wide lens. The rear setup is a 50MP main sensor (Sony IMX852, f/1.8) plus a 2MP auxiliary lens that exists mostly to fill a spec sheet rather than to shoot anything. If you like wide landscape or group shots, this is a real gap.
The chipset is the limiting factor. The Dimensity 7360 Turbo never really gave me trouble during everyday use, and it handled light to medium gaming just fine. But for a phone at this price, “just fine” feels like a low bar. There’s enough power here for most people, but not enough to make the S2 feel particularly quick or future-proof. The older LPDDR4X RAM doesn’t help that impression either. And while 44W charging is perfectly usable, it feels noticeably conservative when rivals in this bracket are already pushing 80W and beyond.
Verdict
The Vivo S2 is easy to recommend, but only to a very specific kind of buyer. If you spend most of your time watching content, scrolling, taking the occasional photo and simply want a phone that will comfortably last all day, the S2 gets the fundamentals right. The excellent curved display and massive battery are easily its biggest reasons to buy.
But at ₹40,000 to ₹45,000, I wouldn’t pick it if performance or cameras are high on your priority list. The lack of an ultra-wide camera is difficult to overlook at this price, and the Dimensity 7360 Turbo is capable rather than class-leading. For me, the S2 is a great everyday phone, not a great all-rounder. Buy it for the screen and battery. If you want more from your cameras or gaming performance, shop around first.
Price: ₹39,999
