Phones can still be interesting and need not be boring black slabs with incremental upgrades. That’s what iQOO 9 Pro proves. The brand has been gaining traction by offering phones that put performance first, complete with innovations that many known Android brands fail to offer. We are talking about flagship performance across every department on the phone and if this is marketed properly, it can become the default brand for many.
As expected, the flagship experience begins right from the box. The review unit we have is in partnership with BMW, so there is a racing motif in the rear panel as well as the back cover, which comes in the box.
At a time when we are seeing squared off, flat designs take precedence — inspired by the iPhone — IQOO has gone with a curved display, which feels good to hold. Instead of keeping a camera bump, the module has been extended to form a rectangle across the back, which may appear over the top but some people may like it, plus, it does make the phone standout from the crowd.
Flexing processor muscles
Powering the device is one of the fastest processors money can buy — Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Mobile Platform built on 4nm process technology. Be it Geekbench or AnTuTu, benchmark scores are very high and you are promised excellent performance for several years. It comes with Adreno 730 graphics processing unit and Spectra 680 image signal processor. Compared to Snapdragon 888, it has a maximum increase of 20 per cent in CPU performance and 30 per cent in GPU performance.
So, Genshin Impact anyone? This is the phone to play the game on. Since we are on gaming, let’s talk about a few more tricks that make this a special device. The Intelligent Display Chip is able to increase the frame rate and optimise colours so you enjoy high FPS, plus there is 1000Hz ‘instant touch’ besides the 300Hz touch sampling rate. Keeping the machine cool is the full coverage liquid cooling system.
All of this does justice to the 6.78-inch 2K E5 AMOLED display with LTPO 2.0 technology. In other words, the screen refresh rate can go from 1Hz to 120Hz, depending on the activity you are undertaking. The display is among the best you will find in the market with colours that pop. Also important is the inclusion of LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage, ensuring data transfer speeds are high, be it gaming or video editing. Onboard is 12GB RAM plus 4GB of extended RAM, which can be an overkill.
Known to have the fastest under-display fingerprint scanner, this time too you won’t be disappointed with the 3D ultrasonic large fingerprint sensor. It uses sound waves instead of light to recognise fingerprints and the phone unlocks quickly without fail. Another element that ensures max experience: The dual stereo speaker combined with the sound field expansion algorithm make music streaming or gaming a pleasure.
Camera — stable as a rock
The fisheye mode with 150 degree field of view is innovative and can brighten social media feed.
The other department which IQOO excels in is camera, which has been given an overhaul. What you get this time is 50MP GN5 gimbal stablised main snapper. The ultra-wide is a 50MP camera with 150-degree fisheye wide angle and the third is a 16MP 60mm portrait with 2.5x optical zoom
The GN5 sensor obviously offers excellent performance in daylight but, more importantly, ensures night shots retain enough details. It can capture moving subjects better in dark environments and recognise pattern changes in all directions.
The 50MP GN5 gimbal- stablised main snapper is sharp.
Complementing it is gimbal stablisation, which is among the best you will see on mobile phones. The anti-shake angle is converted to about ±1 degree while the anti-shake angle of the gimbal camera system is up to ±3 degree.
The Rabbit Hole effect on a picture taken using the IQOO 9 Pro
There are a few neat tricks you can do with the main snapper while taking photographs — Fisheye, Crystal Ball, Asteroid and Rabbit Hole, which give you the feel of a GoPro. They work well and can liven up social media feeds from time to time. Zooming capabilities are great up to 8-10X but like with most phones, anything beyond that is very blurry.
Making videos perfect is VIS 5-axis stabilization. There are a plenty of video recording options, which can be confusing. It’s possible to go up to 8K@30fps with stablisation turned on while you can go up to 4K@60fps with stablisation.
That brings us to the quibble we have with the phone — the selfie camera. The tricks of the rear camera are not seen on the selfie front. In fact, video is restricted to 1080p@30fps. I am not sure why IQOO didn’t put more emphasis on the selfie front because for vloggers, the front camera is very important.
Power up
Lately, we have been hearing a lot about fast-charging at the blink of an eye. Xiaomi has shown us the way. And IQOO has got it right by giving customers 120W FlashCharge, which charges 50 per cent of the battery in eight minutes 100 per cent in 20 minutes (though it took us 22 minutes because we were using the phone while charging). You also get 50W wireless FlashCharge. The battery you have here is 4,700mAh and the processor is power efficient enough to give you at least a day’s charge, even after keeping always-on display option turned on. There is also support for 14 5G bands
Should you buy it?
Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 mobile platform is one of the fastest processors in the market and is perfect for gaming.
When OnePlus arrived on the scene, it was marketed as a flagship killer. Frankly, IQOO can do the same. Yes, there is some bloatware (can be deleted) but that doesn’t hamper one’s experience of the phone. More I use the phone, I feel OnePlus may feel the squeeze. An area where improvements can be made is how far you can push the software, something Samsung does very well; tie-ups with companies like Microsoft can make it a more productive device.
At a time when we have become used to incremental upgrades, this phone comes across like a fresh breeze. The pace at which the brand is developing, IQOO has a very promising future. For the time being, the IQOO 9 Pro has all the makings of a rock star.
At a glance
The comes with 120W flash charge and 50W wireless flash charge.
Device: IQOO 9 Pro
Price: Price: iQOO 9 Pro is priced upwards of Rs 64,990 (8GB+256GB). iQOO 9 is priced upwards of Rs 42,990 and iQOO 9 SE is priced upwards of Rs 33,990. Pre-Order is on (March 2 for iQOO 9 SE) on Amazon.in and iQOO.com
High notes
• Latest flagship processor
• Excellent stablisation on the main camera
• Very good battery life
• Top gaming performance
Muffled notes
• Video is restricted to 1080p@30fps on the selfie camera
• Comes with bloatware like Josh, CRED and ShareChat which can be deleted