iQOO Z9 Lite 5G first impressions: Will this be your first 5G phone?

I received the Mocha Brown variant of the Z9 Lite. As can be seen in the images, it has a matte shimmery finish on the back, and the flat edge of the phone feels good in hand. The IP64 rating for dust and water resistance provides peace of mind against accidental spills or exposure to dust.

The iQOO Z9 Lite 5G has a teardrop notch display with thick bezels on all four sides, which is a bit of a letdown. However, the 6.56-inch IPS LCD HD+ resolution panel offers good sun legibility as it supports up to 840 nits of brightness. The screen supports a 90Hz refresh rate, which enables a smooth experience during usage. While it lacks HDR support, it supports HD content on Netflix and Prime Video as it is a Widevine L1-certified device.

The MediaTek Dimensity 6300 chipset is a slightly overclocked version of the existing Dimensity 810 chipset, which is coupled with LPDDR4x RAM and eMMC 5.1 storage. The phone comes in 4GB and 6GB RAM variants, both offering 128GB of storage. The device supports up to 6GB of virtual RAM and has a microSD card slot for additional storage. In terms of gaming, the device is good enough for casual gaming.

The 5000mAh battery easily lasts me through a full day with normal usage. The in-box 45W charger allows the phone to go from 0 to 100 percent in nearly 2 hours. Since it is an entry-level 5G phone, here’s how it performed in a 5G speed test on a Jio network.

The iQOO Z9 Lite runs on the latest FunTouch OS 14 based on Android 14. It comes with some handy features, such as the App Retainer, which is useful for quickly resuming apps where I left off, and the ability to hide sensitive photos, adding an extra layer of privacy. It is good to know that Z9 Lite owners will receive Android upgrades for two years and security updates for three years. Shown above is how the device performs on different benchmarking apps.

Another good thing about the device’s software is that while there are many preloaded apps, most of them are from Google and iQOO, with some additional apps like PhonePe, Netflix, and Truecaller. To sum up, there are no annoying investment apps, unnecessary party app store apps, or short video creation apps, which are usually considered bloatware.

For selfies, the iQOO Z9 Lite 5G has an 8-megapixel OmniVision OV8A010 front camera and a 50-megapixel Sony IMX852 + 2-megapixel macro dual-camera setup on the back. When the lighting is good, the Z9 Lite 5G managed to capture decent shots.

The main camera supports 2x in-sensor zoom, while the same sensor captures portrait shots in 1x. The other photography modes available on the device include Night, Video, 50MP, Panorama, Documents, Slow Motion, Timelapse, Pro, and Live Photo. In addition, the device allows beautification features, filters, and aperture settings (portrait mode). When it comes to video recording, the front and rear cameras offer up to 30fps 1080p video recording, but there is no stabilization support as it is a budget device.

For security, the device is equipped with a side-mounted fingerprint sensor. When it comes to audio, it features a top-mounted speaker and a 3.5mm audio jack available on the bottom edge. Even the earpiece of the device emits sound while playing audio or video.

For additional storage, the device features a hybrid SIM slot, which supports two SIM cards or one SIM card and a microSD card at a time.

In conclusion, the iQOO Z9 Lite 5G is a decent device if you are looking for the latest and budget-friendly 5G phone. It is good to see iQOO offer longer software support for this device when many of the competing devices in the price segment get only at least one major Android upgrade. The offer price of Rs 9,999 makes it a good 5G budget phone contender. However, if you can shell out a few more thousand Rupees, you will find several good options, one of them being the Redmi 13 5G, which recently debuted for Rs 13,999.

iQOO Z9 Lite 5G price in India

The iQOO Z9 Lite 5G has arrived in India with two options: 4GB+128GB for Rs 10,499 (~$125) and 6GB+128GB for Rs 11,499. The phone is scheduled to go on sale on July 20 through Amazon India and iQOO India’s e-store. Those who are interested can take advantage of a Rs 500 discount via ICICI and HDFC credit/debit card and credit card EMI transactions until July 31.