iQOO’s flagship smartphone last year (our review here) managed to strike the perfect balance between price and affordability. It packed the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset with the company’s in-house Supercomputing Chip Q2 working by its side. The Dynamic Light around the camera module gave the device its own unique flair. A year later, the new iQOO 15 (yes, they leapt over ‘14’) gets all the expected upgrades. It is powered by Qualcomm’s latest flagship chipset, Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, and iQOO’s Supercomputing Chip Q3. The display is brighter, the battery is bigger, and there’s even wireless charging support this time around. The price tag of Rs 73,000 still looks affordable in comparison to other flagships, but it is a big jump from the Rs 55,000 asking price of its predecessor. We used the iQOO 15 for a week to investigate whether it still justifies the price – here is our review of the smartphone.
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In This Article
iQOO 15 Review: Design and Display
Here’s what you get inside the iQOO 15’s retail box:
- Smartphone
- Power adapter
- USB-C to USB-C cable
- Silicone cover
- SIM ejector
- Warranty card
- Quick start guide
The iQOO 15 follows the design language of its predecessor. The flat back panel has the brand’s lettering at the bottom. The Dynamic Light around the camera module is more subtle this time. Positioned at the bottom of the island, it lends it a ‘floating’ effect. We used the Alpha (Grey) colour variant for this review, which uses a fibreglass back panel. It registers fingerprints far too easily. We recommend slapping the silicone cover (provided in the box) on the phone to keep annoying smudges at bay and even out the camera bump.
The aluminium frame houses the volume rocker and the side button on its right edge. The SIM tray, microphone, USB-C port, and primary speaker are positioned at the bottom. Up top lie the secondary speaker, noise-cancelling microphone, and IR blaster. The device is rated IP68/IP69 for dust and water resistance. It can survive exposure to high-pressure water jets and immersion up to 1.5m for 30 minutes.
iQOO 15 uses Samsung’s 2K M14 LEAD OLED display. This panel has a 144Hz refresh rate and can reach a whopping 6,000 nits of peak brightness while playing HDR content. In outdoor use, the display hits up to 2,600 nits in High Brightness Mode. It is easily able to overcome bright surroundings to maintain legibility. The touch response offered by this display is amazing – certainly the best we’ve seen on an iQOO offering yet. The ultrasonic fingerprint sensor is lightning quick.
During the review period, we used the iQOO 15 as our primary media streaming device. The OLED display presented a delightful viewing experience, relaying visuals packed with vibrant colours and brilliant detail. Furthermore, the ‘Visual Enhancement’ and ‘MEMC and Super Resolution’ tools in display settings bump the contrast, colour, frame rate, and resolution for an even better viewing experience. The stereo speaker setup produces a good audio output, but it could use a little more pronounced low end.
iQOO 15 Review: Performance and Cameras
iQOO’s flagship phones go above and beyond to deliver a power-packed performance that will blow your socks off. Its latest offering finds itself at the top of the performance pile yet again. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC and iQOO’s Supercomputing Chip Q3 work in tandem on this device. The ridiculously high benchmark numbers speak for themselves.
- AnTuTu 3D: 3,746,676
- Geekbench 6: 3,537 (single-core) | 10,208 (multi-core)
There are two RAM and storage (UFS 4.1) variants on offer, but the LPDDR5X Ultra RAM configuration is exclusively available on the top-spec model.
- 12GB + 256GB: Rs 72,999
- 16GB + 512GB: Rs 79,999
The iQOO 15 crushes routine tasks without getting out of first gear. During the week-long review period, we did not encounter a single lag or hiccup while daily driving this device. With UFS 4.1 storage on board, the apps loaded instantly. Even after launching a dozen apps at once, the device did not break a sweat. Juggling between these apps was a very seamless experience. As far as general performance goes, this smartphone clears its rivals with ease.
An elite gaming performance is the cornerstone of every iQOO flagship. The company’s in-house Supercomputing Chip Q3 allows you to bump the resolution and frame rate using the sidebar menu. While the native frame rate has a ceiling of 60fps, the Q3 chip boosts it to 144fps. You can also optimise the visuals and apply various filters to in-game scenes. We played titles like Call of Duty Mobile and BGMI on this device and were highly impressed with the smooth and effortless gameplay. The 8K VC Cooling System kept the internal temperature of the device in check, keeping it from causing any throttling issues. The back panel started to warm up after the 30-minute mark, which is a slight downgrade from last year.
The iQOO 15 is the first smartphone in India to run Vivo’s new Android 16-based OriginOS 6. The smartphone has been promised 5 major OS upgrades and 7 years of security patches. There are a handful of bloatware apps on the device, which is never a good sight on a flagship offering.
OriginOS 6 is smoother and more vibrant than its Funtouch predecessor. The screen transition and app loading animations make the browsing experience feel snappy. Some of the strong aspects of Funtouch OS have been retained in Vivo’s new custom skin. These include the customisation options for the lock screen, home page, ambient lighting, app icons, fingerprint icon, and other elements. The brand has shown no hesitation in drawing direct inspiration from iOS, most notably in the Origin Island, which works similarly to Apple’s Dynamic Island. The Liquid Glass-like design language can be seen in the Quick Settings Menu and lock screen.
While there is no central hub of AI features on the device, the tools pop up whenever required. The native dialer app has a ‘Smart Call Assistant’ that translates and summarises your phone calls. Pulling the sidebar on the screen gives you access to AI captions. The native photo-gallery app has AI tools for removing unwanted objects, boosting details, and more. The new ‘Snap-up engine’ detects when you’re trying to book a ticket and speeds up the process to help you stay ahead in the queue. However, this feature is available for certain whitelisted apps in limited regions.
Battery anxiety is not something you have to deal with anymore when you get your hands on this device. The massive 7,000mAh Si/C battery pack can last two days of moderate use with ease. A day of heavy use (AOD enabled, maximum resolution and refresh rate, and plenty of gaming) left us with ~30% charge before bed. The wired charging speed has been downgraded to 100W from 120W, but the good news is that the smartphone now supports wireless charging. Using the power adapter provided in the box, we were able to fully charge the phone in just under an hour.
The camera module of the iQOO 15 gets a small but important upgrade. The Sony IMX816 telephoto sensor has been replaced with the larger Sony IMX882 lens. As a result, the 50MP telephoto camera now has an improved 3x optical zoom instead of 2x. The 50MP Sony IMX921 primary shooter and 50MP ultrawide lens remain unchanged from the previous model.
The 50MP primary shooter captures great pictures in outdoor daylight conditions. The images showcase vibrant colours, amazing contrast, and tasteful dynamic range. The detail captured in these images is satisfying, too. The final results do look a bit ‘social media ready’ with their slightly boosted colours, but we don’t have any complaints about that. In limited lighting conditions, the Night Mode does a good job of lighting up the shot and getting rid of the noise, but the images appear a bit washed out.
The 50MP telephoto lens gives you room to zoom into the shot without worrying about any significant loss of quality. With 3x optical zoom, you don’t need to bring yourself significantly closer to the subject. The images retain the colour profile and sharpness of the main camera. Even the shots taken at 10x zoom are well-composed and quite passable. However, you hit a point of diminishing returns soon after that.
The Camera app offers 5 focal length levels for portraits – 23mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, and 100mm. The telephoto lens takes over for the 85mm shots. The smartphone does a brilliant job of detecting the edges of the subject and applying a healthy dose of background blur. As a result, the portrait shots are clear and well-focused.
The 50MP ultrawide sensor is the weakest of the trio, but it still puts up a good display. The images are a smidge softer compared to the ones taken with the main camera, but the vivid colours make up for the lost details. However, the images taken in limited lighting conditions remain soft and grainy. The 32MP front-facing camera takes clear selfies with lots of detail. The tone and texture correction effects are kept to a minimum.
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Verdict
The iQOO 15 is undeniably one of the best performance-oriented smartphones out there. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC lives up to its benchmark numbers in everyday use. You won’t ever find yourself wanting more power while carrying out routine tasks. The new AMOLED display sourced from Samsung is bright and super responsive. The bigger 7,000mAh battery pack ensures a 2-day battery life with moderate usage. While the charging speed may have been downgraded to 100W, the addition of 40W wireless charging is a nice touch. The refreshed telephoto sensor in the rear camera module pays off big dividends, too.
Our only gripe with this smartphone lies with its gaming performance. The native frame rate support being capped at 60fps makes little sense to us. The option of 144fps gameplay can only be enabled through iQOO’s game management interface. Furthermore, while the device has an improved cooling system, its thermal management does not match up to its predecessor.
Pros
- Bright display
- Powerful processor
- Upgraded telephoto lens
Cons
- Native refresh rate for games is capped at 60fps
- Slightly pricey
