A ring light on a phone? That's crazy, but the Vivo S17 Pro has just done that!

The Vivo S17 Pro launches the brightest smartphone ever, including a ring light. How can that work?

Normally the headline feature in a phone announcement is the camera's megapixel count, or perhaps the processor for gaming. Vivo isn't aiming to disappoint on those counts, but is highlighting the ring light.

"Ring light?" you're probably wondering. "On a phone?" It's a fair question. It certainly isn't a fold out one providing the same light as a real ring light, such as those in our best ring light guide.

In fact it seems to be a circular camera flash which offers the option to choose warmer or colder color temperatures, which is pretty cool (though it seems the software will do this for you based on ambient light). It certainly does look like a ring, but we can't see something that size getting quite the same catchlights as the real thing. Perhaps the IMX766V 50-megapixel equipped main camera will spot it, or the IMX663 12-megapixel 2x portrait camera.

Brightest phone ever? Well that's not the only additional illumination to be found on the S17 Pro.

As well as the temperature-adjustable ring light, and the traditional torch-light LED cluster on the back by the main camera array, the phone offers a couple of discretely fitted lights for the f/2 selfie camera, which is also 50-megapixels. They're tucked into the rim between the frame and screen and, apparently, offer a soft light.

The Vivo S17 Pro's non-light specs include a MediaTek Dimensity 8200 processor, 6.78-inch 452PPI screen, and a 4505mAh battery with 80W fast charging. An assortment of colors include sky blue, pink, white, and black and the shell has a cloudy texture. Pre-sales have begun ahead of tomorrow's official launch, alongside an updated version of the TWS Air Pro wireless headphones Vivo.

It's fair to say this is a spectacularly well-equipped phone in terms of lighting options (although that might be more of a criticism of every other phone than praise aimed at this). Are we cheeky to wonder if Vivo's team might be interested in looking at our tutorial on how to use a ring light.

Will the phone make our best camera phones list? Time will tell. If you're happy with your phone already, look at ways to take your camera phone photography to the next level.

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With over 20 years of expertise as a tech journalist, Adam brings a wealth of knowledge across a vast number of product categories, including timelapse cameras, home security cameras, NVR cameras, photography books, webcams, 3D printers and 3D scanners, borescopes, radar detectors… and, above all, drones.

Adam is our resident expert on all aspects of camera drones and drone photography, from buying guides on the best choices for aerial photographers of all ability levels to the latest rules and regulations on piloting drones.

He is the author of a number of books including The Complete Guide to Drones, The Smart Smart Home Handbook, 101 Tips for DSLR Video and The Drone Pilot's Handbook.