2023 may be about to end but smartphone releases keep rolling! You wouldn’t expect a flagship smartphone to drop in December but iQOO has made it somewhat of a tradition to keep the best for the last. Launched earlier this month, the iQOO 12 is the first smartphone in India to be powered by the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC – a chipset we’ll be seeing a lot next year. iQOO has gained a reputation for being a ‘gamer’ brand, but with this new release, it sets out to prove that its flagship can do it all. The cherry on top of this ever-so-delicious cake is that the smartphone is priced at Rs 52,999, making it one of the most affordable flagships on the market. But does it have what it takes to go up against your Samsungs and your OnePluses? Let’s find out in our comprehensive review of the iQOO 12.

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iQOO 12 5G review: Design and Display

iQOO 12’s retail box packs the following contents:

• Smartphone (We got the Legend (White) variant of the iQOO 12 for this review).
• Clear plastic case.
• USB Type-C to Type-C charging cable.
• 120W power adapter (can power a laptop).
• SIM ejector tool.
• Quick Start Guide.
• Warranty card.
• BMW/iQOO promotional card.

iQOO 12 is certainly the brand’s best-looking flagship smartphone yet. The long BMW stripes spanning the length of the back panel are now reduced to a small logo. This is a welcome change for someone who wasn’t a big fan of the gaudy branding. The ‘enamelled’ glass used for this back panel has a glossy texture, which is a bit slippery but thankfully does not register a lot of smudges or fingerprints.

The highlight of the back panel is the massive camera module. A silver metallic ring runs around this ‘rounded square’ module giving off a premium look. The black finish on the camera bump goes pretty well with the white colour of the back panel. It reminds us of Xiaomi 13 Pro which was released earlier this year. We’ll take a closer look at the camera specs and performance later in the review.

Another design choice that paid off on the iQOO 12 is the flat metallic frame. A curved frame would have offered a better grip, but the flat sides massively elevate its in-hand feel. The glossy silver finish complements the ring around the camera module and adds to the ‘premium’ factor. The left edge of the frame houses the volume rocker keys and the power button. The SIM tray, primary microphone, USB Type-C port, and primary speaker grille can be found at the bottom edge. Up top lies a secondary speaker and microphone along with an IR blaster.

The 6.78-inch LTPO AMOLED display has a refresh rate of 144Hz and can reach a peak brightness of 3,000 nits. Using the smartphone under direct sunlight presents no complications, as the display is bright enough to be perfectly legible. The ‘Smart Switch’ option in display settings, alters the refresh rate of the screen according to your usage. It can drop down to 1Hz when the phone is on standby.

Watching content on the iQOO 12 is a wonderful experience. The smartphone offers Wideline L1 DRM and HDR10+ support and can play HD content across all major OTT platforms. The images produced on the screen pack a lot of details and feature rich colours. You can turn on the ‘Visual enhancement’ option from settings to boost the contrast and vividness of the display. You can choose to apply this effect for specific apps as well. The ‘MEMC and Super Resolution’ option increases the frame rate and resolution of some dynamic pictures, leading to smoother visual effects. The dual speaker arrangement is loud, but the sound quality could be a bit ‘fuller’.

While the hardware and material used on the iQOO 12 is impressive, the lack of IP67 dust and water resistance is a bit of a letdown. We have come to expect this standard on all flagships, so this smartphone’s IP64 rating falls a little short. Nevertheless, it is good enough to guard the phone against light rainfall and minor water splashes.

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iQOO 12 5G review: Performance and Cameras

As mentioned earlier, iQOO 12 is the first smartphone in India with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC. This chipset is paired with iQOO’s Supercomputing Chip Q2 to boost the smartphone’s performance. There are two RAM and storage variants on offer – 12GB + 256GB and 16GB + 512GB. We used the latter unit for this review.

Before we move on to the gaming performance, let’s take a look at how the iQOO 12 handled basic tasks during the review period. Our daily usage comprised using the phone for instant messaging, calling, emailing, shooting pictures and videos, playing media, gaming, and GPS navigation.  Even with a dozen apps running in the background, the iQOO 12 did not miss a single beat. All the tasks were handled expertly and the phone kept up the pace with ease. Even in multi-window mode, we were able to watch YouTube in one panel while shooting tweets on the other. The new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 certainly feels a step ahead of its previous iteration. On Geekench 6, the iQOO 12 garnered a single-core score of 2,218 points and a multi-core score of 6,696 points.

An exemplary gaming performance is the cornerstone of every iQOO flagship, and the iQOO 12 is no different. The Supercomputing Chip Q1 pulls its weight in this department, supporting up to 144fps interpolation. We played Call of Duty Mobile and Genshin Impact in their highest graphic settings and did not experience any unwanted stutters or lags. What really impressed us was the thermal management brought about by the 6K Vapour Chamber which is 40% larger in size compared to the previous model. After gaming for an hour, the smartphone only got slightly warmer. Testing the device in the winter works in its favour, but given our experience with iQOO’s previous smartphones, this performance will be replicated in warmer temperatures as well.

While we aren’t the biggest fans of Funtouch OS, its latest iteration does bridge some of its flaws. Apart from a few third-party apps, there isn’t much bloatware on the device. The notorious ‘Hot apps’ folders are not present on iQOO’s flagship offering. The V-Appstore is still there and routinely sends notifications that are best described as spam. Another thing we dislike about Funtouch OS is the ‘Global search’ feature which gets triggered whenever you swipe down on the home screen. Ideally, you want this gesture to bring up the notification shade.

What we like about the Funtouch 14 OS is its dynamic effects package. You can use it to add personalised animations and effects for charging, fingering recognition, home screen transitions, and more. The ‘Background Stream’ feature lets you play YouTube videos in the background. This means that even if you don’t have a YouTube Premium subscription, you can play videos and songs with your phone’s screen locked. Pretty neat. You can also use this feature while gaming as well.

After a day of moderate to heavy usage, we were left with a 15-20% charge on the iQOO 12. The 5,000 mAh battery can be charged with the 120W power adapter provided in the box. It took the smartphone just under 30 minutes to fully charge. There’s no wireless charging, which isn’t a dealbreaker given the fast wired charging speeds.

The iQOO 12 also gets some key upgrades to its camera arrangement. Like a complete flagship, the iQOO 12 offers a versatile camera performance under different lighting conditions, breaking the stereotype that comes with most gaming smartphones. The rear camera setup consists of a 50MP primary shooter with a 1/1.3-inch sensor with OIS, a 50MP ultrawide lens, and a 64MP periscope telephoto lens with OIS.

The main sensor takes punchy, sharp images in bright daylight conditions. The images are well-detailed and colour-rich. You can choose from three colour modes on the Camera app – Vivid, Textured, and Natural. We stuck to the default Vivid mode as it produced the best results with colours that truly ‘popped’. The dynamic range offered by the primary camera in this mode was amazing. At no point did we feel that the images were overprocessed or we would have switched to the Natural mode. Our only minor complaint is that the sky felt a little underexposed in some of the images.

The 64MP periscope telephoto lens on the smartphone is one of its biggest highlights. The 3x optical zoom on this camera produces amazing results. The images are well-composed and do not lose any detail. We found ourselves using this camera a lot during the review, something we can’t say about iQOO 12’s direct rivals. There is minimal loss of detail even with 10x zoom. After that, the image quality takes a hit. Even though the image processor does a good job of resolving the image and getting rid of the noise, the final results feel a bit artificial.

Images taken with the 50MP ultrawide camera are on the softer side and do not replicate the colour richness of the primary sensor. It does pack a good amount of details but the results are a hit or miss. In low light conditions, this camera did not match up to the standard. The main camera, on the other hand, produced stellar results even in the nighttime. The Night Mode on the camera app did a great job of lighting up the subject and producing accurate colours.

The 16MP selfie camera is the same unit as the one found on the previous iteration of the smartphone. It does a decent job of taking selfies and does not overcorrect the skin tones, which we like. The camera app offers a bunch of effects, filters, and shades to play around with while using the selfie camera. The only letdown is that this camera cannot record 4K videos. The maximum resolution has been capped at 1080p @ 30fps. In comparison, the primary rear camera can record 8K videos @ 30fps and 4K videos @ 30/60fps.

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Verdict

With the iQOO 12, the Chinese manufacturer has thrown the gauntlet to all its competitors that have releases lined up for early 2024. This isn’t your average gaming smartphone that falls short in other departments. Instead, it oozes personality with its design and puts forward a cutting-edge camera performance that easily matches (and in some cases surpasses) other smartphones in its price bracket. Priced at Rs 52,999, we don’t see a lot of smartphones beating the value for money that iQOO 12 provides.

iQOO 12 5G: Pros

• Appealing design
• Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC produces a stellar performance
• Impressive thermal management
• Well priced

iQOO 12 5G: Cons

• Lacks an IP67 rating