Vivo’s subsidiary iQOO is known for smartphones with a focus on design and performance. The company is starting this year with a similar mantra, by launching India’s first smartphone powered by. the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-powered processor, which is the iQOO 11. It also sports features such as a 144Hz 2K display, 16GB LPDDR5x RAM, and UFS 4.0 based storage. So yes, it would be fair to say, this is currently the most powerful Android smartphone in India, at least till the launch of its contemporaries like the OnePlus 11 and the Xiaomi 13. I have been testing the Alpha variant of the iQOO 11 for over a week, and here is my full review of the iQOO’s latest flagship smartphone.
The Alpha variant of the iQOO 11 comes with a glass back panel and metal frame (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar / Indian Express)
iQOO 11 review: Design
The iQOO 11 comes in two variants, the Legend variant has BMW M-series branding, and the black colour Alpha variant comes in a matte finish with a bit of a texture. The black colour variant uses glass, while the white variant of the iQOO 11 uses faux leather. I have been testing the Alpha variant, which has minimal branding, and from the back, it looks like an expensive smartphone with its massive camera bump and the 3D curved finish.
While the Alpha iQOO 11 does not attract any fingerprints, it is definitely slippery. I ended up using the phone with the bundled case, although I didn’t want to. The frame of the phone is made using aluminium, just like other smartphones in this price range. Also note this is a big phone, and is not meant for one-handed usage. The front of the iQOO 11 mostly has the display, a flat panel screen with minimal bezels on all four sides. While having a flat screen makes it easy to apply screen protectors, a curved display would have made this phone feel even more premium. Overall, the iQOO 11 is a well-built premium looking smartphone with almost all the bells and whistles that one expects from a performance-oriented flagship smartphone of 2023.
iQOO 11 has a 144Hz 2K AMOLED display with an in-display fingerprint sensor (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar / Indian Express)
iQOO 11 review: Display
As I have mentioned before, a curved display would have further elevated the design and positioning of the iQOO 11. Like all modern iPhones, the iQOO 11 has a fully flat display, protected by the first generation Corning Gorilla Glass Victus. The company does include a screen protector (soft type) with the phone, and I have been using the phone by removing it. As of today, there are no noticeable scratches on the display. However, I would definitely recommend users install a 2D tempered screen protector to prevent scratches and accidental damage in the long run.
The iQOO 11 has a massive 6.78-inch 10-bit E6 AMOLED display with 1440x3200p resolution, 144Hz refresh rate, and a peak brightness of 1800 nits. Specs-wise, this is currently the most advanced display on a smartphone. Features like a 300Hz touch sampling rate and 1200 Hz instant touch also make it a great display for mobile gamers.
The display produces bright and punchy colours with excellent outdoor visibility. While the phone supports HDR playback on YouTube, it does not support Dolby Vision format, which takes away a few points from this nearly perfect smartphone display.
From watching movies on an OTT platform (you can stream 1080p content on all apps) to playing games, the content just pops, especially if you enable the visual enhancement option from the display settings menu. Do note the display resolution is set to FHD+ by default, and the refresh rate is set at smart switch. There is an option to set the resolution to QHD and 144Hz refresh rate from the settings menu. Overall, the iQOO 11 definitely has a flagship-grade display that is suited for gamers, content, consumers, and the general audience.
iQOO 11 has a triple camera setup with a 50MP primary sensor, 13MP telephoto lens, and an 8MP ultra-wide angle lens (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar / Indian Express)
iQOO 11 review: Cameras
Unlike other performance-oriented flagship smartphones, iQOO has not skimped on the cameras. The phone gets a true triple-camera setup with a 50MP GN5 wide-angle lens (f/1.88), 13MP telephoto lens (f/2.46), and an 8MP ultra-wide angle lens (f/2.2). The iQOO 11 surprised me, especially with the primary 50MP camera.
Under the daylight situation, photos taken on the primary camera looked sharp and vibrant, with lots of details. What’s even more surprising was the night mode performance. While the same cannot be said about the telephoto and ultra-wide angle lenses, as the photos taken on these cameras looked a bit soft compared to the pictures from the primary camera.
I also liked the fact that there is zero shutter lag, and the phone quickly captures photos, which helps shoot moving subjects. This smartphone can also shoot up to 8K videos with up to 30fps using the wide-angle and telephoto lens. There is also a 16MP selfie camera at the front, which also does a good job of capturing pictures in most lighting conditions. While the iQOO 11 might not be the best camera smartphone for this budget, it’s not bad either. With a dedicated telephoto lens, it offers many more options.
Captured using the night mode on the iQOO 11 (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar / Indian Express)
When taking close-up shots using the main camera, iQOO 11 creates natural-looking bokeh around the subject (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar / Indian Express)
iQOO 11 has a dedicated moon mode, which uses 30x digital zoom (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar / Indian Express)
Landscape shot captured on the iQOO 11’s main camera (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar / Indian Express)
iQOO 11 is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC with up to 16GB RAM and 256GB storage (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar / Indian Express)
iQOO 11 review: Performance
Performance is the bread and butter of this smartphone, and the company even calls it the world’s most powerful smartphone, thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, 16GB LPDDR5x RAM, and 256GB of UFS 4.0-based storage. On the AnTuTu benchmark, the device posted 1,24,0651 points in our test. Similarly, on Geekbench 5, the iQOO 11 scored 1472 points on the single-core CPU test and 4720 points on the multi-core CPU test. As per these numbers, the iQOO 11 is currently the most powerful smartphone that has ever launched in India, and we can expect to see similar performance on upcoming phones like the OnePlus 11 and the Samsung Galaxy S23.
I also ran a CPU throttling test, where the iQOO 11 was able to sustain 90 per cent of its peak performance for 15 minutes without overheating or thermal throttling. I played games like COD: Mobile for hours at high graphics quality and max frame rate, and did not notice any frame drop even after continuous gameplay for over an hour. Currently, there is no Android game that iQOO 11 cannot handle, which makes this even better than dedicated Android gaming smartphones.
The iQOO 11 is likely to remain one of the best-performing Android smartphones of this year, both from the benchmark and real-world performance perspectives. Features like the faster LPDDR5x RAM, fast storage, and even a V2 chip for image processing help the device deliver the best possible performance during gaming and multitasking.
iQOO 11 ships with Android 13 OS with custom FunTouchOS 13 skin on top (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar / Indian Express)
iQOO 11 review: Software
The iQOO 11 ships with the latest Android 13 OS with custom FunTouch OS 13, which has its own pros and cons. While the software feels highly optimised with no lags, I didn’t like the fact that it comes with many third-party apps. Some of them can be easily uninstalled, while apps like Browser, V-Store, iManager, and EasyShare can neither be removed nor disabled.
While it might be acceptable to see bloatware on entry-level and mid-range phones, having many third-party apps on a high-end smartphone like an iQOO 11 definitely spoils the experience. Sometimes, I also missed several notifications from apps like WhatsApp and Instagram, and in some apps, you have to manually enable notifications.
iQOO 11 has a 5,000 mAh battery with support for 120W fast charging (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar / Indian Express)
iQOO 11 review: Battery life and connectivity
The iQOO 11 has a large 5,000 mAh battery, and you get a 120W fast charger in the box, which can top up 50 per cent of the battery in just 8 minutes. I suffer from battery anxiety, and this device with its 120W fast charging made me feel relieved about the battery life. If you are not gaming, and only using the iQOO 11 for social media, calls, and a bit of content consumption, the phone can easily last for over a day and deliver 7 hours of screen on time, even with the display resolution set to 1440p at 144Hz refresh rate. Heavy-duty gamers might have to use the charger at the end of the day.
In terms of connectivity, I used the iQOO 11 with both Airtel and Jio networks, and I could connect to the 5G network on both. The device had no problem connecting to WiFi and Bluetooth devices. However, the data transfer rate on the USB Type-C port is limited to USB 2.0, which is a disappointing
iQOO 11 is 2023’s first flagship focused on performance (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar / Indian Express)
iQoo 11 review: Verdict
As a flagship offering, the iQOO 11 does a few things well. It has an excellent display, a premium design, and a high-performance processor. Similarly, it has an above-average camera, a large battery, and fast-charging technology. As a premium device, which starts at Rs 59,999, it misses out on features like IP rating for water and dust resistance, and wireless charging. But then these are not deal-breakers in my view. Overall, the iQOO 11 is a great smartphone for those looking for a high-performance smartphone with the latest and most powerful processor from Qualcomm. Still, it might make sense to wait for other premium devices for this year and see how they fare, before you decide to buy the iQoo.
