iQOO 16 is launching on September 29, design and color variants officially confirmed

After teasing the arrival of its next flagship phone for the past few days in China, iQOO has finally revealed its launch date. The iQOO 16 will be officially unveiled on September 29 at 7pm local time in China, and the company says sales will begin immediately after the launch event.  Here’s a look at what to expect from this performance-focused offering.

iQOO 16 launch date and design

Despite being positioned as the standard model, iQOO says the iQOO 16 will deliver hardware and features that can rival higher-end Pro Max models.

The design is expected to follow a futuristic theme, with the “Tomorrow’s Porthole” design language shaping the camera area. The three rear cameras are linked visually through a mechanical-style structure inspired by a spacecraft window.

The Light Chaser color variant of the device will flaunt a holographic rear panel. Its laser holographic imaging technology uses multiple manufacturing processes to create changing red and blue light effects as the viewing angle shifts. It will also arrive in Legend and Racing Track color variants.

The display could be one of the phone’s biggest highlights. iQOO has confirmed that the iQOO 16 will be the first smartphone to feature a 2K resolution panel with a 165Hz refresh rate, developed jointly with Samsung Display.

The panel uses Samsung Display’s latest M16 organic light-emitting material and LEAD 2.0 technology without a traditional polarizer. According to the company, this approach can reduce power consumption by around 30% while retaining the high resolution and refresh rate.

The 6.85-inch screen is also expected to support up to 2,800 nits of global peak brightness, 10,000 nits locally and up to 500Hz multi-touch sampling. Other display technologies include DC dimming, up to 3,300Hz PWM dimming and gaming glare protection.

Under the hood, the iQOO 16 is expected to use Qualcomm’s next-generation Snapdragon flagship platform alongside iQOO’s Q4 gaming chip. The phone is also tipped to receive upgraded vibration motors and speakers for a more immersive gaming experience.

The iQOO 16 is likely to draw power from an 8,400mAh battery with support 100W wired and 50W wireless charging. The rear camera setup is expected to include a 50-megapixel main camera with a 1/1.3-inch sensor, a 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera and a 50-megapixel periscope telephoto camera.

Storage options are tipped to include 12GB+256GB, 12GB+512GB, 16GB+512GB, and 16GB+1TB configurations. It will come preloaded with OriginOS 7-based Android 17 and will carry IP68 and IP69 ratings for dust and water resistance.

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