After putting out its flagship smartphone in late 2025, iQOO has added an ‘R’ model to the lineup. The iQOO 15R is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 SoC, which is positioned just below the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset in Qualcomm’s hierarchy of mobile processors. Its AMOLED display refreshes at 144Hz and can reach a peak brightness of 5,000 nits. Under the hood, the smartphone packs a massive 7,600mAh Si/C battery pack. Priced just under Rs 45,000, this smartphone demands the ‘flagship killer’ title. Of course, it makes some tradeoffs to keep its price in check, the most notable one being the lack of a telephoto lens in the rear camera array. We used the device for a week to find out if it can take on the heavyweights. Here is our review of the iQOO 15R.
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In This Article
iQOO 15R Review: Design and Display
Before we talk about the iQOO 15R’s design, let’s take a look at what you get inside its retail box:
- Smartphone
- 100W power adapter
- USB-C to USB-C cable
- Clear plastic case
- SIM ejector
- Warranty card
The iQOO 15R retains the basic form factor of its flagship sibling (our review here). Its flat glass back panel has a smooth finish that exudes a nice in-hand feel. It doesn’t register smudges and fingerprints easily. The chequered pattern on the ‘Triumph Silver’ colour scheme shines when light falls on it. We like the dose of personality it injects into the device, but folks who find it garish can go for the muted ‘Dark Knight’ colour variant. The square camera island has rounded corners. The LED flash is placed just outside this island.
The aluminium frame brings strength and durability to the device. It houses the volume rocker and the side key on its right edge. The SIM tray, microphone, USB-C port, and primary speaker grille are placed at the bottom. Up top lie the secondary speaker and the noise-cancelling microphone. The smartphone is rated IP68/IP69 for dust and water resistance. It can withstand being submerged up to 1.5 metres in water for up to 30 minutes.
The brilliant 6.59-inch AMOLED display leaves no room for complaints. It has a 144Hz refresh rate and can reach a peak brightness of 5,000 nits. It was easily able to overcome the bright natural light falling on it in sunny outdoor conditions to maintain excellent legibility. The smoothness and fluidity of the display are on par with some of the best flagship phones out there. The presence of the ultrasonic fingerprint sensor is the cherry on the cake. It is nice to see iQOO go all out on this front, when most manufacturers settle for an optical unit.
During the review period, we used the iQOO 15R as our primary media streaming device, viewing content across OTT platforms like Netflix, JioHotstar, and Prime Video. The 1.5K AMOLED display curated an amazing viewing experience, with the signature deep blacks and thrilling contrast bringing every frame to life. The slim and uniform bezels around the display made sure there were no distractions while watching movies and TV shows. The stereo speaker setup produces a good audio output, but we would have preferred a slightly stronger low end.
iQOO 15R Review: Performance and Cameras
A tenacious processor is what separates a ‘flagship killer’ from its upper midrange counterparts. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 SoC under the hood of the iQOO 15 hands it the power that not many phones in its price bracket can boast about. But it doesn’t stop there. Accompanying Qualcomm’s formidable chipset on this device is iQOO’s in-house Supercomputing Chip Q2.
The smartphone comes in 3 RAM (LPDDR5X Ultra) and storage (UFS 4.1) variants:
- 8GB + 256GB: Rs 44,999
- 12GB + 256GB: Rs 47,999
- 12GB + 512GB: Rs 52,999
We ran a couple of benchmark tests on this device. Here is how it performed:
- AnTuTu 3D: 3,142,884
- Geekbench 6: 2,810 (single-core) | 9,138 (multi-core)
The iQOO 15R does not leave you hanging for power under any circumstance. It goes through routine tasks like calling, instant messaging, web browsing, media streaming, and GPS navigation like a hot knife through butter. Equipped with UFS 4.1 storage, the smartphone wastes no time in opening apps. The LPDDR5X Ultra RAM juggles a dozen apps like it’s nothing. In everyday use, the smartphone barely gets out of first gear. You get a taste of its potential when you carry out demanding tasks like photo and video editing.
Speaking of demanding tasks, the iQOO 15R can run gaming titles like Call of Duty Mobile and BGMI at their highest settings. The Supercomputing Chip Q2 delivers clear graphics and interpolates the frame rate to 144fps. These settings can be accessed from the game bar. However, the frame rate in the native settings in gaming titles peaks at 90fps. This isn’t a big drawback, rather an interesting detail. The 6500 mm² VC cooling system does a decent job of dissipating the heat generated by the device. We felt slight warmth on the back panel after the 20-minute mark, but it did not result in any unwanted frame drops. The gameplay remained smooth and consistent throughout.
Software duties on this device are handled by the Android 16-based OriginOS 6 out of the box. It has been promised 4 major OS upgrades and 6 years of security patches. Apart from a couple of bloatware apps, the software experience offered by OriginOS 6 on this device is very clean. The OS is properly optimised for a smooth browsing experience. The catchy app opening/closing animations and sliding page/panel effects make the experience even more enjoyable.
There are plenty of customisation options available for the lockscreen and homepage. Our favourite is the ‘Flip card’ simulation, which adds a little motion effect to the lockscreen wallpaper upon gently tilting the phone. We also like that the smartphone offers a vast library of native AOD faces. On top of that, you can customise elements like the fingerprint icon, charging animation, lighting effects, and more.
OriginOS 6’s AI suite isn’t the most comprehensive one out there, but it consists of the basic tools that one needs for everyday tasks. The native photo editor has AI tools to remove unwanted objects, boost details, adjust colours, and expand the image. The Smart Sidebar gives you quick access to the AI caption generator and screen translator. Additionally, you get Google’s Circle to Search and Gemini Assistant.
The 7,600mAh battery under the hood of this smartphone is larger than the one on its flagship counterpart. You can push the device to its limits without exhausting the battery at the end of the day. If you limit yourself to routine tasks, you can get 2 days of battery life on a single charge. With an average screen time of 4-5 hours, we were left with ~30% charge in the tank at the end of each day. The 100W power adapter provided in the box took just under an hour to fully charge the phone.
Moving on, iQOO 15R’s rear camera island houses a 50MP Sony LYT-700V primary shooter and an 8MP ultrawide lens. The lack of a telephoto lens is a reasonable tradeoff, especially for the power-enthusiast demographic for this phone. The punch-hole cutout on the display houses a 32MP front-facing camera. The main and selfie cameras can record 4K footage at 30 and 60fps. Meanwhile, the recording chops of the ultrawide lens are limited to 1,080p resolution at 30fps.
The 50MP primary shooter takes detailed and tasteful shots in outdoor daylight conditions. The images sport balanced colours and exude a natural look. We like that the smartphone doesn’t overprocess the images. The contrast and dynamic range leave no room for complaints either. In limited lighting conditions, the main camera relies on Night Mode to get rid of the grain and assign appropriate colours to the images.
Images taken from the 8MP ultrawide lens are a bit cooler compared to the ones taken from the main camera. The tonal shift isn’t a big issue for us, especially when you consider that the images still manage to pack a lot of detail. The ultrawide shots do not appear soft by any stretch of the imagination. However, in limited lighting conditions, some grain creeps into the images, but they are still passable.
Portrait shots taken by the iQOO 15R are vibrant and well-focused. The native camera app offers 3 focal length options for portraits – 23mm, 35mm, and 50mm. This lets you take a step back and incorporate more of the background into the shot. The camera does a good job of detecting the subject’s boundaries. However, the background blur effect leaves more to be desired. A more intense blur would’ve been ideal. If you’re looking for DSLR-like shots, there are other camera-centric phones in this segment for you. Lastly, the 32MP front-facing camera takes clear and detailed selfies without applying over-the-top texture and tone correction effects.
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Verdict
The iQOO 15R is a cracking deal for gaming enthusiasts and power users who want a device that can crush any task that’s thrown its way. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 has proven itself to be a colossal processor that’s only bested by Qualcomm’s flagship chipset. To sweeten the deal, iQOO has equipped its flagship killer with top-of-the-line hardware. The 1.5K AMOLED display holds up well in bright outdoor conditions, while the ultrasonic fingerprint sensor under this panel outperforms its optical counterparts by a long shot. The 7,600mAh battery pack can last for up to 2 days on a full charge.
Granted, the camera island would be better off with a telephoto lens in it, but the primary and ultrawide shooters do a great job in a variety of lighting conditions. The portraits leave more to be desired, but it is a fair tradeoff for more power. If you’re a photography enthusiast, we’d recommend the V70 from iQOO’s sister brand, Vivo.
Pros
- Bright display
- Powerful processor
- Big battery
- Good main camera
- Ultrasonic fingerprint sensor
Cons
- Mediocre portrait shots
