Vivo had launched its iQOO (which stands for I Quest On and On) sub-brand in China last year April. The brand sells performance driven smartphones with impressive price tags. At the beginning of this year, iQOO confirmed that it will be arriving in India by launching its first phone in February. Today, the company took off covers from the Snapdragon 865 mobile platform powered iQOO 3 smartphone. After the Realme X50 Pro 5G that debuted yesterday, it is the second smartphone to arrive with 5G support in India even though 5G connections haven’t started in the country. The iQOO 3 phone that is packed with some exciting features like punch-hole display, 48-megapixel triple cameras and 55W fast charging for its large-sized battery can be bought in 4G and 5G flavors.
iQOO 3 specifications and features
The iQOO 3 smartphone measures 158.51 x 74.88 x 9.16mm and it weighs 214.5 grams. The smartphone flaunts an HDR10+ complaint S-AMOLED display of 6.44 inches that features a punch-hole at the top-right corner. The 20:9 aspect ratio supporting display produces full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels, 800nits of full screen brightness and 100 percent P3 color gamut. The screen of the iQOO 3 is integrated with an in-display fingerprint reader that unlock in just 0.31 seconds. The glass rear of the phone curves towards the edges.
The Snapdragon 865 mobile platform which is a 5G-ready SoC is present at the helm of the iQOO 3. The chipset of the iQOO 3 is coupled with up to 12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM. It is the world’s first smartphone to ship with UFS 3.1 storage that promises transfer speeds of 1.2Gbps. It can be bought in 128 GB and 256 GB storage versions. The iQOO 3 smartphone is fueled by a 4,400mAh battery that supports 55W Super FlashCharge technology. It takes only 15 minutes the phone to reach 50 percent battery juice from scratch.
For gamers, there are shoulder buttons dubbed as Monster Touch buttons on the left edge of the device. These buttons can be used to map gaming functions such as shoot, jump, fly, etc. It also offers other gaming friendly features such as 180Hz touch response rate, 4D in-game vibrations and Ultra Game Mode. There is carbon fiber VC liquid cooling technology onboard that can effectively reduce surface temperature by 3.5-degree Celsius and CPU temperature by 12-degree Celsius.
iQOO offers an L-shape capsule data cable for conveniently charging the iQOO 3 while playing games. The Android 10 OS is preloaded on the device along with iQOO UI 1.0 custom skin. There is Multi-Turbo technology for boosting the phone’s performance while gaming. According to the company, the iQOO 3 recorded an impressive AnTuTu score of 610,576.
The punch-hole on the iQOO 3 has a 16-megapixel selfie camera. The rear side of the device has a rectangular camera module at the upper-left corner. It consists of an f/1.79 aperture 48-megapixel main shooter, an f/2.2 aperture 13-megapixel ultrawide lens, an f/2.46 aperture 13-megapixel telephoto sensor with 20x digital zoom and an f/2.4 aperture 2-megapixel portrait lens. The quad cameras are blessed with features like 2.5cm Super Macro Mode, Super Night Mode, Super Anti-Shake and 4K video recording at 30fps. For enhanced audio experience, the iQOO 3 is equipped with AK4377A Hi-Fi audio chipset. The device comes with Hi-Res audio certification.
iQOO 3 5G price and release date
The iQOO 3 will be exclusively available through Flipkart in India starting from March 4 at 12 PM. The smartphone will be also available for purchase through iQOO India website. The iQOO 3 with 4G connectivity comes in two models such as 8 GB RAM + 128 GB storage and 8 GB RAM + 256 GB storage. They are priced at Rs. 36,990 (~$515) and Rs. 39,990 (~$557). The 5G edition of the iQOO 3 comes with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB storage and it costs Rs. 44,990 (~$626).
Buyers of the iQOO 3 in India with ICICI credit cards can take advantage of flat Rs. 3,000 (~$42) discount. The phone can be availed in color variants such as Volcano Orange, Quantum Silver and Tornado Black. Other launch offers include no cost EMI options of up to 12 months and Rs. 12,000 (~$167) benefits from Jio.
In China, the iQOO 3 comes in four variants such as 6 GB RAM + 128 GB storage, 8 GB RAM + 128 GB storage, 12 GB RAM + 128 GB storage and 12 GB RAM + 256 GB storage. These models are priced at 3,598 Yuan (~$515), 3,798 Yuan (~$539), 3,998 Yuan (~$568) and 4,398 Yuan (~$625). The pre-sales of the phone begin today in China through online retailer sites. The first sale of the iQOO 3 5G will be held in the home market through online and offline stores from March 2.
