diff --git a/packages/vinext/src/shims/link-prefetch.ts b/packages/vinext/src/shims/link-prefetch.ts
index 179bf4d11..fb0ebab26 100644
--- a/packages/vinext/src/shims/link-prefetch.ts
+++ b/packages/vinext/src/shims/link-prefetch.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { hasBasePath, stripBasePath } from "../utils/base-path.js";
+import { isAbsoluteOrProtocolRelativeUrl } from "./url-utils.js";
 
 export type LinkPrefetchIntent = "viewport" | "intent";
 export type LinkPrefetchPriority = "low" | "high";
@@ -65,7 +66,7 @@ export function getLinkPrefetchHref(input: {
   currentOrigin: string | undefined;
 }): string | null {
   const { href, basePath, currentOrigin } = input;
-  if (!isAbsoluteOrProtocolRelative(href)) return href;
+  if (!isAbsoluteOrProtocolRelativeUrl(href)) return href;
   if (currentOrigin === undefined) return null;
 
   try {
@@ -86,7 +87,3 @@ export function getLinkPrefetchHref(input: {
     return null;
   }
 }
-
-function isAbsoluteOrProtocolRelative(href: string): boolean {
-  return href.startsWith("http://") || href.startsWith("https://") || href.startsWith("//");
-}
diff --git a/packages/vinext/src/shims/link.tsx b/packages/vinext/src/shims/link.tsx
index 2a0e3b2ca..ece70bbd3 100644
--- a/packages/vinext/src/shims/link.tsx
+++ b/packages/vinext/src/shims/link.tsx
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ import {
   type LinkPrefetchRouterMode,
 } from "./link-prefetch.js";
 import {
+  isAbsoluteOrProtocolRelativeUrl,
   normalizePathTrailingSlash,
   resolveRelativeHref,
   toBrowserNavigationHref,
@@ -366,7 +367,7 @@ function applyLocaleToHref(href: string, locale: string | false | undefined): st
 
   // Absolute and protocol-relative URLs must not be prefixed — locale
   // only applies to local paths.
-  if (href.startsWith("http://") || href.startsWith("https://") || href.startsWith("//")) {
+  if (isAbsoluteOrProtocolRelativeUrl(href)) {
     return href;
   }
 
@@ -546,11 +547,7 @@ const Link = forwardRef<HTMLAnchorElement, LinkProps>(function Link(
     // Same-origin absolute URLs (e.g. http://localhost:3000/about) are
     // normalized to local paths so they get client-side navigation.
     let navigateHref = normalizedHref;
-    if (
-      resolvedHref.startsWith("http://") ||
-      resolvedHref.startsWith("https://") ||
-      resolvedHref.startsWith("//")
-    ) {
+    if (isAbsoluteOrProtocolRelativeUrl(resolvedHref)) {
       const localPath = toSameOriginAppPath(resolvedHref, __basePath);
       if (localPath == null) return; // truly external
       navigateHref = localPath;
diff --git a/packages/vinext/src/shims/navigation.ts b/packages/vinext/src/shims/navigation.ts
index 3ec48ded7..7649be0fc 100644
--- a/packages/vinext/src/shims/navigation.ts
+++ b/packages/vinext/src/shims/navigation.ts
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import {
 } from "../server/app-rsc-cache-busting.js";
 import { VINEXT_MOUNTED_SLOTS_HEADER, VINEXT_PARAMS_HEADER } from "../server/headers.js";
 import {
+  isAbsoluteOrProtocolRelativeUrl,
   isHashOnlyBrowserUrlChange,
   toBrowserNavigationHref,
   toSameOriginAppPath,
@@ -1094,7 +1095,7 @@ export function useParams<
  * Check if a href is an external URL (any URL scheme per RFC 3986, or protocol-relative).
  */
 function isExternalUrl(href: string): boolean {
-  return /^[a-z][a-z0-9+.-]*:/i.test(href) || href.startsWith("//");
+  return isAbsoluteOrProtocolRelativeUrl(href);
 }
 
 /**
@@ -1419,7 +1420,7 @@ const _appRouter = {
       // origins so we don't pollute the prefetch cache with a same-path .rsc on
       // the current origin. Mirrors Link's prefetchUrl and navigateClientSide.
       let prefetchHref = href;
-      if (href.startsWith("http://") || href.startsWith("https://") || href.startsWith("//")) {
+      if (isAbsoluteOrProtocolRelativeUrl(href)) {
         const localPath = toSameOriginAppPath(href, __basePath);
         if (localPath == null) return;
         prefetchHref = localPath;
diff --git a/packages/vinext/src/shims/router.ts b/packages/vinext/src/shims/router.ts
index 2e3ca1ad8..8abecdf52 100644
--- a/packages/vinext/src/shims/router.ts
+++ b/packages/vinext/src/shims/router.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import type { VinextNextData } from "../client/vinext-next-data.js";
 import { isValidModulePath } from "../client/validate-module-path.js";
 import { installWindowNext, type PagesRouterPublicInstance } from "../client/window-next.js";
 import {
+  isAbsoluteOrProtocolRelativeUrl,
   isHashOnlyBrowserUrlChange,
   toBrowserNavigationHref,
   toSameOriginAppPath,
@@ -172,7 +173,7 @@ export function applyNavigationLocale(url: string, locale?: string): string {
   if (!locale || typeof window === "undefined") return url;
   // Absolute and protocol-relative URLs must not be prefixed — locale
   // only applies to local paths.
-  if (url.startsWith("http://") || url.startsWith("https://") || url.startsWith("//")) {
+  if (isAbsoluteOrProtocolRelativeUrl(url)) {
     return url;
   }
 
@@ -184,7 +185,7 @@ export function applyNavigationLocale(url: string, locale?: string): string {
 
 /** Check if a URL is external (any URL scheme per RFC 3986, or protocol-relative) */
 export function isExternalUrl(url: string): boolean {
-  return /^[a-z][a-z0-9+.-]*:/i.test(url) || url.startsWith("//");
+  return isAbsoluteOrProtocolRelativeUrl(url);
 }
 
 /** Resolve a hash URL to a basePath-stripped app URL for event payloads */
diff --git a/packages/vinext/src/shims/url-utils.ts b/packages/vinext/src/shims/url-utils.ts
index 6d908aa24..2ce3ad5f3 100644
--- a/packages/vinext/src/shims/url-utils.ts
+++ b/packages/vinext/src/shims/url-utils.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,22 @@
  */
 import { hasBasePath, stripBasePath } from "../utils/base-path.js";
 
+// Mirrors Next.js's absolute URL classification:
+// packages/next/src/shared/lib/utils.ts
+const ABSOLUTE_URL_REGEX = /^[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z\d+\-.]*?:/;
+
+export function isAbsoluteUrl(url: string): boolean {
+  const firstChar = url.charCodeAt(0);
+  const startsWithLetter =
+    (firstChar >= 65 && firstChar <= 90) || (firstChar >= 97 && firstChar <= 122);
+
+  return startsWithLetter && ABSOLUTE_URL_REGEX.test(url);
+}
+
+export function isAbsoluteOrProtocolRelativeUrl(url: string): boolean {
+  return isAbsoluteUrl(url) || url.startsWith("//");
+}
+
 /**
  * If `url` is an absolute same-origin URL, return the local path
  * (pathname + search + hash). Returns null for truly external URLs
@@ -118,13 +134,7 @@ export function normalizePathTrailingSlash(path: string, trailingSlash: boolean)
  * Prepend basePath to a local path for browser URLs / fetches.
  */
 export function withBasePath(path: string, basePath: string): string {
-  if (
-    !basePath ||
-    !path.startsWith("/") ||
-    path.startsWith("http://") ||
-    path.startsWith("https://") ||
-    path.startsWith("//")
-  ) {
+  if (!basePath || !path.startsWith("/") || isAbsoluteOrProtocolRelativeUrl(path)) {
     return path;
   }
 
@@ -140,12 +150,7 @@ export function resolveRelativeHref(href: string, currentUrl?: string, basePath
 
   if (!base) return href;
 
-  if (
-    href.startsWith("/") ||
-    href.startsWith("http://") ||
-    href.startsWith("https://") ||
-    href.startsWith("//")
-  ) {
+  if (href.startsWith("/") || isAbsoluteOrProtocolRelativeUrl(href)) {
     return href;
   }
 
diff --git a/tests/link-navigation.test.ts b/tests/link-navigation.test.ts
index e11f51290..9175de719 100644
--- a/tests/link-navigation.test.ts
+++ b/tests/link-navigation.test.ts
@@ -256,6 +256,25 @@ describe("Link prefetch pure decisions", () => {
         input: { href: "//external.com/path", basePath: "", currentOrigin: "https://example.com" },
         expected: null,
       },
+      {
+        name: "mailto URL",
+        input: {
+          href: "mailto:hello@example.com",
+          basePath: "",
+          currentOrigin: "https://example.com",
+        },
+        expected: null,
+      },
+      {
+        name: "tel URL",
+        input: { href: "tel:+123456789", basePath: "", currentOrigin: "https://example.com" },
+        expected: null,
+      },
+      {
+        name: "sms URL",
+        input: { href: "sms:+123456789", basePath: "", currentOrigin: "https://example.com" },
+        expected: null,
+      },
       {
         name: "same-origin with basePath",
         input: {
@@ -373,6 +392,44 @@ describe("Link App Router navigation scheduling", () => {
     expect(transitionStates).toEqual([true]);
   });
 
+  it("lets the browser handle native URI schemes without app-router navigation", async () => {
+    const userOnClick = vi.fn();
+    const hrefs = ["mailto:hello@example.com", "tel:+123456789", "sms:+123456789"];
+
+    for (const href of hrefs) {
+      const result = await renderIsolatedLink({
+        href,
+        nodeEnv: "production",
+        props: { onClick: userOnClick, prefetch: false },
+        requireRef: false,
+      });
+
+      try {
+        const clickEvent = {
+          button: 0,
+          currentTarget: { hasAttribute: () => false, target: "" },
+          defaultPrevented: false,
+          preventDefault() {
+            this.defaultPrevented = true;
+          },
+        };
+        const onClick = result.capturedAnchorProps.onClick;
+        expect(onClick).toBeTypeOf("function");
+        if (onClick === undefined) {
+          throw new Error("Expected rendered Link anchor to expose an onClick handler");
+        }
+
+        await onClick(clickEvent);
+
+        expect(userOnClick).toHaveBeenCalledWith(clickEvent);
+        expect(clickEvent.defaultPrevented).toBe(false);
+        expect(result.navigate).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      } finally {
+        result.restoreNodeEnv();
+      }
+    }
+  });
+
   it("lets the browser handle download links without app-router navigation", async () => {
     vi.resetModules();
 
@@ -476,6 +533,7 @@ async function renderIsolatedLink(options: {
   });
 
   const fetch = vi.fn(() => Promise.resolve(new Response("")));
+  const navigate = vi.fn();
   const pagePrefetchLinks: CapturedPrefetchLinkElement[] = [];
   const location = {
     href: "https://example.com/current",
@@ -492,7 +550,7 @@ async function renderIsolatedLink(options: {
     },
   });
   vi.stubGlobal("window", {
-    __VINEXT_RSC_NAVIGATE__: vi.fn(),
+    __VINEXT_RSC_NAVIGATE__: navigate,
     addEventListener: vi.fn(),
     dispatchEvent: vi.fn(),
     history: {
@@ -536,6 +594,7 @@ async function renderIsolatedLink(options: {
       anchor,
       capturedAnchorProps,
       fetch,
+      navigate,
       pagePrefetchLinks,
       restoreNodeEnv,
     };
@@ -878,6 +937,22 @@ describe("Link prefetch scheduling", () => {
     }
   });
 
+  it("does not prefetch native URI schemes on production intent", async () => {
+    const result = await renderIsolatedLink({
+      href: "mailto:hello@example.com",
+      nodeEnv: "production",
+    });
+
+    try {
+      result.capturedAnchorProps.onMouseEnter?.({ currentTarget: result.anchor });
+      await flushPrefetchTasks();
+
+      expect(result.fetch).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    } finally {
+      result.restoreNodeEnv();
+    }
+  });
+
   it("normalizes same-origin absolute URLs before production intent prefetch", async () => {
     const result = await renderIsolatedLink({
       href: "https://example.com/same-origin-intent-prefetch-target",
diff --git a/tests/link.test.ts b/tests/link.test.ts
index 1d3fd1c30..085ecbb14 100644
--- a/tests/link.test.ts
+++ b/tests/link.test.ts
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ import { runWithI18nState } from "../packages/vinext/src/shims/i18n-state.js";
 import { setI18nContext } from "../packages/vinext/src/shims/i18n-context.js";
 
 import {
+  isAbsoluteOrProtocolRelativeUrl,
+  isAbsoluteUrl,
   normalizePathTrailingSlash,
   resolveRelativeHref,
   toBrowserNavigationHref,
@@ -380,6 +382,17 @@ describe("Link locale handling", () => {
     expect(html).toContain('href="http://example.com/path"');
   });
 
+  it("locale does not mangle native URI schemes", () => {
+    const cases = ["mailto:hello@example.com", "tel:+123456789", "sms:+123456789"];
+
+    for (const href of cases) {
+      const html = ReactDOMServer.renderToString(
+        React.createElement(Link, { href, locale: "fr" } as any, "x"),
+      );
+      expect(html).toContain(`href="${href}"`);
+    }
+  });
+
   it("locale string uses configured locale domains for cross-domain links", () => {
     (globalThis as any).window = {
       __VINEXT_DEFAULT_LOCALE__: "en",
@@ -624,6 +637,25 @@ describe("toSameOriginPath", () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe("absolute URL classification", () => {
+  it("matches Next.js scheme classification for native URI schemes", () => {
+    expect(isAbsoluteUrl("mailto:hello@example.com")).toBe(true);
+    expect(isAbsoluteUrl("tel:+123456789")).toBe(true);
+    expect(isAbsoluteUrl("sms:+123456789")).toBe(true);
+    expect(isAbsoluteUrl("ftp://example.com/file")).toBe(true);
+    expect(isAbsoluteUrl("/local")).toBe(false);
+    expect(isAbsoluteUrl("?page=2")).toBe(false);
+    expect(isAbsoluteUrl("#section")).toBe(false);
+    expect(isAbsoluteUrl("//example.com/path")).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("treats protocol-relative URLs as browser-owned absolute-like hrefs", () => {
+    expect(isAbsoluteOrProtocolRelativeUrl("//example.com/path")).toBe(true);
+    expect(isAbsoluteOrProtocolRelativeUrl("mailto:hello@example.com")).toBe(true);
+    expect(isAbsoluteOrProtocolRelativeUrl("/local")).toBe(false);
+  });
+});
+
 describe("resolveRelativeHref", () => {
   it("resolves relative search params against the current page", () => {
     expect(resolveRelativeHref("?page=2", "http://localhost:3000/posts/1")).toBe("/posts/1?page=2");
@@ -645,6 +677,12 @@ describe("resolveRelativeHref", () => {
     expect(resolveRelativeHref("/about", "http://localhost:3000/posts/1")).toBe("/about");
   });
 
+  it("leaves native URI schemes unchanged", () => {
+    expect(resolveRelativeHref("mailto:hello@example.com", "http://localhost:3000/posts/1")).toBe(
+      "mailto:hello@example.com",
+    );
+  });
+
   it("strips the current basePath before returning the app-relative href", () => {
     expect(resolveRelativeHref("?page=2", "http://localhost:3000/base/fr/posts/1", "/base")).toBe(
       "/fr/posts/1?page=2",
diff --git a/tests/shims.test.ts b/tests/shims.test.ts
index 6411ac8ec..a98b2470b 100644
--- a/tests/shims.test.ts
+++ b/tests/shims.test.ts
@@ -10646,6 +10646,12 @@ describe("Pages Router router helpers", () => {
       expect(isExternalUrl("//cdn.example.com/img.png")).toBe(true);
     });
 
+    it("detects native URI schemes as external", () => {
+      expect(isExternalUrl("mailto:hello@example.com")).toBe(true);
+      expect(isExternalUrl("tel:+123456789")).toBe(true);
+      expect(isExternalUrl("sms:+123456789")).toBe(true);
+    });
+
     it("returns false for relative paths", () => {
       expect(isExternalUrl("/about")).toBe(false);
       expect(isExternalUrl("/")).toBe(false);
@@ -10719,6 +10725,19 @@ describe("Pages Router router helpers", () => {
       }
     });
 
+    it("does not prefix native URI schemes", async () => {
+      const { applyNavigationLocale } = await import("../packages/vinext/src/shims/router.js");
+      (globalThis as any).window = { __VINEXT_DEFAULT_LOCALE__: "en" };
+      try {
+        expect(applyNavigationLocale("mailto:hello@example.com", "fr")).toBe(
+          "mailto:hello@example.com",
+        );
+        expect(applyNavigationLocale("tel:+123456789", "fr")).toBe("tel:+123456789");
+      } finally {
+        delete (globalThis as any).window;
+      }
+    });
+
     it("prefixes local paths with locale", async () => {
       const { applyNavigationLocale } = await import("../packages/vinext/src/shims/router.js");
       (globalThis as any).window = { __VINEXT_DEFAULT_LOCALE__: "en" };