Vivo sub-brand IQOO has just announced its latest phone in India and it's got a relatively impressive set of specs. Among the headline features are pressure-sensitive "Monster Touch" shoulder buttons and 4D vibration engine intended to woo gamers as well as 55W fast charging.
The IQOO 3 packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 5G chipset even though the 5G capabilities will be disabled in the cheapest variant of the phone, as explained by XDA Developers. It's strange artificially handicap a phone in this way, but considering there's no 5G network infrastructure in India it makes some sense. This considerable processing power is backed up by 8 or 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 128 or 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage, so performance shouldn't be an issue. Battery capacity is listed as 4,400mAh and the included 55W charger promises 50% from 15 mins.
Unlike other recent budget flagships there's no high refresh rate display here, although the touch response rate is upped to 180Hz. It offers a 6.44-inch Super AMOLED with an FHD+ resolution (2400x1080) with a hole punch cutout for the 16MP selfie cam. On the rear, the array of four cameras consists of a 48MP main sensor, 13MP telephoto, 13MP ultra-wide, and 2MP bokeh camera. Digital zoom of up to 20x is supported, and there's an AI Super Night Mode for low light shots. The phone runs Android 10 with the company's own IQOO UI over the top which is reminiscent of pretty much any Chinese Android skin.
The IQOO 3 goes on sale March 12 on Flipkart in India starting at 36,990 INR, which is roughly about $515 and more than the OnePlus 7T retails for in the country. Orange, black, and silver color options will be available.