iQOO’s latest budget offering punches well above its weight. Launched last month, the iQOO Z9 5G is currently priced at Rs 20,000. The successor to last year’s iQOO Z7 5G (our review here), the Z9 is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7200 SoC. This chipset is a brilliant addition to a smartphone in this price bracket. While iQOO smartphones are known to be powerhouses, the Z9’s AMOLED display and 64MP primary shooter hold a lot of promise as well. So, the question remains – is this smartphone the complete package under Rs 20,000? We’ve been using it for the last week to find the answer. Here is our review of the iQOO Z9 5G.
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In This Article
iQOO Z9 5G Review: Design and Display
Here’s what you get inside the iQOO Z9 5G retail box.
- Smartphone
- 44W power adapter
- USB Type-A to Type-C cable
- Clear plastic case
- Warranty Card
- Quick Start Guide
There are two colour variants on offer – Brushed Green and Graphene Blue. The smartphone has a sleek form factor and a plastic build. The flat back panel gets a matte finish and a two-step island up top for the camera array. The flat plastic frame is curved around the corners. The Z9 offers a decent grip, despite its flat rails and back panel.
The volume rocker keys and the side button are placed on the right edge of the frame. The bottom edge houses the hybrid SIM slot, primary microphone, USB Type-C port, and the primary speaker grille. The secondary microphone is present on the top of the device. The earpiece also acts as a secondary speaker. Unlike the Z7, the Z9 does not have a 3.5mm headphone jack.
One of the highlights of this smartphone is its 6.67-inch AMOLED display. It offers a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz which is simply amazing for a smartphone in this price category. It can reach a peak brightness of 1,800 nits. We did not face any legibility issues while using the smartphone under direct sunlight. The bezels surrounding the display are thin but get ever so slightly thicker around the chin.
We used the iQOO Z9 5G as our primary media-viewing device during the review period. This included watching live sports on Disney+ Hotstar, catching live streams on Twitch, binging videos on YouTube, and viewing movies on Netflix. The AMOLED display did justice to the content and we were satisfied with the detail-packed pictures and vivid visuals on the screen. The output from the stereo speaker wasn’t as full as we would have liked, but it can reach a high volume level.
Like last year’s Z7, the Z9 has an IP54 rating for dust and water resistance. The smartphone can survive minor water splashes. The protection for the display has been upgraded to Dragontrail Star 2 Plus. The Z7 rocked Schott Xensation glass protection.
iQOO Z7 5G: Performance and Cameras
The MediaTek Dimensity 7200 SoC is a great processor to have on a smartphone priced under Rs 20,000. The Pro variant of iQOO Z7 (our review here), which was one of our favourite midrange smartphones of 2023, also rocked this chipset under its hood. The recently launched Nothing Phone (2a) (our review here) carries the Pro variant of this chipset. On the Geekbench 6 app, the iQOO Z9 5G scored 1,055 points in the single-core test and 2,682 points in the multicore test. In comparison, the Z7 Pro scored 1,196 and 2,657 points respectively.
The Z9 5G handles everyday tasks like video calling, emailing, navigation, web browsing, and media streaming with ease. Jitters and lags are very uncommon on this device. The touch response is good but the haptics are a little blunt. Even though the device has an LPDDR4X RAM, it is surprisingly good at multitasking.
Like all iQOO smartphones, the Z9 5G does not disappoint while gaming. For a smartphone priced under Rs 20,000, the gaming performance here is above average. Frame drops and stutters are uncommon while playing titles like Call of Duty Mobile and BGMI in average graphics. In low graphic settings, we were able to play COD Mobile at 120fps. The back panel gets slightly warm after 40 minutes of gaming. Once you hit the 1-hour mark, throttling issues due to overheating become more prevalent.
OS duties on the iQOO Z9 5G are handled by Funtouch 14. There is a fair amount of bloatware on the device, including the infamous ‘Hot Apps’ and ‘Hot Games’ ads masquerading as folders in the app drawer. Thankfully, they can be easily removed from the device. On top of the bloatware, the notification spam that Funtouch OS generates is also very dampening to the overall software experience. On the bright side, the personalisation options for the lock screen, AOD, and home screen are stacked and diverse.
The Z9 5G is equipped with a 5,000 mAh battery. The smartphone can easily last an entire day on a full charge. During the review period, our daily tasks on the iQOO Z9 5G included video calling, social media browsing, instant messaging, media streaming, and even a bit of gaming. With more conservative usage, you can push this smartphone’s battery life to one and a half days. The 44W power adapter provided in the box can fully charge the smartphone in just over an hour.
The rear camera array of the Z9 5G comprises a 50MP primary shooter and a 2MP depth sensor. The lack of an ultrawide camera in this array is a sore miss. Nevertheless, the primary lens produces a good performance on this device.
In daylight conditions, the 50MP wide camera captures detailed and sharp images with vibrant colours. The images are balanced and not overprocessed or unnecessarily boosted. We were happy with the dynamic range in the images as well. In our time with the smartphone, it did justice to the scene in front of it.
In limited lighting, this camera does a good job of letting in enough light to properly expose the subject and take bright shots. Turning on the Night Mode reduces the amount of grain on the images and adds a brightening effect. The colours assigned to the subject are accurate as well.
Portrait shots taken with the iQOO Z9 5G are well-focused. The smartphone does a good job of separating the subject from the background. It applies a background blur to the images as well, but we would have liked this effect to be more pronounced and intense.
The front-facing 16MP camera takes good selfies. The smartphone does not brighten the skin tone in the processing phase. However, the skin texture feels a little smoothened in the final results. The resolution for video recordings is still limited to 1080p for the front camera. The rear camera can record 4K videos at 30fps.
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Verdict
For a smartphone priced at Rs 20,000, the iQOO Z9 5G produces an exemplary performance across the board. The 120Hz AMOLED panel is great for users who prioritise a great media-watching experience over everything else. The MediaTek Dimensity 7200 SoC pulls its weight while running games like COD Mobile and BGMI. We were pleased to see that the smartphone can run COD at 120fps. The 50MP primary camera delivers a good performance as well. The lack of an ultrawide camera is disappointing, but the Z9 5G is still one of the best smartphones in its price bracket.
iQOO Z9 5G: Pros
- Great 120Hz AMOLED display
- Good gaming performance
- Affordable
iQOO Z9 5G: Cons
- No ultrawide camera
- Contains bloatware
