iQOO 15 Review: Questing on and on… into the Premium Flagship Zone

iQOO is said to be an abbreviated form of “I Quest On and On,” and the iQOO 15 sees the brand take its quest right into the premium phone segment. With the iQOO 15, iQOO has finally shed its flagship killer gear and moved into the proper premium flagship zone, fighting on all fronts, without the benefit of a price that was lower than others. Like its predecessors, the iQOO 15 packs in some hefty hardware and comes with an eye-catching design, as well as an all-new interface (it is the first phone to be launched in India with OriginOS). But all this now comes at a price that is significantly higher than its predecessors. Can iQOO move its loyal audience to a higher price tag, even as it challenges well-established premium players?

iQOO 15 design and appearance: Cool and classy looks with a Monster Halo!

The iQOO 15 is available in two shades, Legend White and Alpha Black, and both of them radiate a premium feel, with just the right bit of edginess added to elegance. We got the Legend White, with a tall, flat display with narrow bezels on the front, and a smooth white glass back. The white is very marble-like in feel and texture, with a subtle shine that is very classy. On the top left side of the back is a large square-ish jet black camera unit with three cameras and a flash, and right around this is what iQOO calls Monster Halo, panels of LEDs that flash in different colors depending on the functions you allot to them, and can even ‘breathe’ in different colors. It is not as spectacular as Nothing’s much hyped Glyph UI, but it is just as useful for those who want to see notifications while keeping their phones face down on tables. On the lower left side of the back is the iQOO branding, and next to it is the new iQOO logo, a tricolor racing checkerboard pattern, which the brand says pays tribute to racing flags.

Between the glass front and back is an aluminum frame with straight sides, which is the trend these days. iQOO has not bothered with any special buttons on the frame – the iQOO 15 has the usual volume rocker and power/display button on the right, a Type-C port with a speaker grille and SIM card tray on the base, and a speaker grille with an infrared port on top. The left side is totally plain.

At 163.65 mm in height, the iQOO 15 is a tall phone, although at 8.17 mm, it is reasonably slim. It weighs 220 grams, which is a little heavy, but feels reassuringly solid. Rather oddly, its spec sheet makes no mention of Gorilla Glass or any other protection on the front or the back, which is a bit of a surprise. That said, it comes with IP68/69 dust and water resistance, which means that it can easily survive a dunking in the water. In sum, the iQOO 15 has a very premium look and feel to it, with the Monster Halo lights around the camera unit on the back giving it a very edgy look.

iQOO 15 Specs and Hardware: What do you want? We got it all!

The iQOO 15 is easily the most spec-packed phone of the year so far. It comes with a large 6.85-inch LTPO AMOLED display with 3168 x 1440 (2K) resolution, a refresh rate of 144 Hz, and a pixel density of 508 ppi. It has a local peak brightness of 6000 nits and an HBM of 2600 nits, making it one of the brightest displays around. The display can also switch between 1 Hz and 144 Hz, depending on the content displayed.

Powering the iQOO 15 is the latest mobile flagship, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip. It is available in two RAM and storage variants: 12 GB/ 256 GB and 16 GB/ 512 GB, with the RAM being LPDDR5X and the storage being UFS 4.1. The phone features three 50 megapixel cameras on the back – a Sony IMX921 main sensor with OIS, a Sony IMX882 telephoto with 3x optical zoom, and a 50 megapixel ultrawide with autofocus. Selfies are handled by a 32 megapixel front-facing camera, which lacks autofocus but can shoot 4K video. Also on board are stereo speakers and Bluetooth 6.0 connectivity, as well as 5G, GPS, and infrared connectivity.

A key USP of the device is the fact that it is the first to be released in India running the new, clean OriginOS 6, instead of the cluttered Funtouch OS seen in the past. The new UI runs on top of Android 16 and comes with an assurance of five years of software updates and seven years of security patches.

Keeping all this ticking is the task of a large 7000 mAh battery with support for 100W wired and 40W wireless charging. There is a 100W wired charger in the box. Rather amazingly, this is one of those rare phones that has no major gap in its spec sheet. It is a proper spec monster.

iQOO 15 Performance: Gaming monster, but OriginOS is awesome too

The first thing that struck us about the iQOO 15 when we started using it was the much cleaner interface. The iQOO 15 is the first phone in India to ship with OriginOS 6, and the UI is totally different from FunTouch OS, and comes with a less cluttered and more sleek look. The overall feel is more elegant and refined compared to the more colorful and crowded Funtouch OS. There are third-party apps onboard still – our unit came with Sony LIV, LinkedIn, Facebook, Spotify, Instagram, Netflix, PhonePe, and, in a rather odd choice in a gaming phone, Block Blast! There is also a Game Center with recommended games and a V-Appstore, but the presence of all these does not seem as intrusive as it did on Funtouch OS. All said and done, OriginOS gives very premium and elegant vibes and works smoothly too. Add to that the usual array of AI tools that are now a constant feature of premium flagships (Gemini, Circle to Search, editing, writing, translating tools, et al,) and the iQOO 15 ticks the flagship software box.

But while its software grabs attention straight away, there is no doubting who the star of the iQOO 15 show is: gaming. The phone’s combination of a large, quad-HD display, flagship-level processor, and speedy RAM and storage ensures that it is a proper gaming beast. We sailed through titles like Genshin Impact and Call of Duty without any problems, even with high graphics settings, and even PC ports like Titan Quest and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic ran very smoothly on the phone. While the phone did get warm from time to time, it was never uncomfortably or worryingly hot.

The brilliant, large, bright display is terrific for viewing content, and the speakers are among the best in the segment in terms of quality (although not the loudest), adding an element of space as well as punch to the sound. If you love playing games and watching shows and videos on your phone, this is perhaps the best phone out there for under USD 999 (or Rs 1,00,000 in India). Was the gaming experience better than the OnePlus 15? Yes, it was. The bigger, higher-resolution display does make a difference. Incidentally, stay tuned for a detailed comparison between those two phones shortly!

With all that hardware on board, it is hardly surprising that the iQOO 15 sailed smoothly through everyday tasks like browsing the web, social media doomscrolling, and the daily quota of emails and messages. The fingerprint scanner works smoothly, and network connectivity and call quality are very good. The Monster Halo lights around the camera at the back are not just a party trick that grabs attention, but are actually very useful if one customizes them for different alerts and notifications.

iQOO 15 camera performance: Bright, pleasing, and versatile

If you are the type who loves bright colors, then you will love the rear cameras on the iQOO 15. The phone has three 50 megapixel cameras on its back, and they deliver a riot of color. This might annoy purists and those who prefer natural and realistic colors, but we have to admit that we had no major complaints from the iQOO 15’s camera setup. The main sensor is the detail wizard and takes the best images if one is looking for street or food snaps, while the telephoto scores in portraits and long-distance shots. In portrait, we got the option to choose from five focal lengths – 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, and 100mm. The 100mm focal length is the surprise here, as it allowed us to get some remarkably good close-up portraits. Edge detection is quite good, although bokeh can seem a little artificial and overdone at times.

The telephoto sensor has 3x optical zoom, but thanks to some software and AI sorcery can even take 10x zoom shots without a significant loss of detail. Digital zoom goes all the way to 100x and can actually deliver some surprising pictures, although the level of clarity and detail does decrease significantly. Even the ultrawide – often the ignored underperformer in a camera setup – delivers surprisingly detailed results. Some people might find the vivid reds, greens, and blues a little too much, but the iQOO 15 overall delivers very pleasant images, even though one can sometimes detect a pink tint on them. The main camera is the one to go with in low light conditions – it turns in a decent amount of detail while retaining those bright colors. It is the best option for videos, too, although the telephoto does well in good light conditions, too.

The selfie camera has been bumped up to 32 megapixels, and while there is still no autofocus on it, it now has a wider sensor, which allows us to take selfies of bigger groups. As with many selfie cameras, this one also aggressively smoothens skin and brightens complexions, but we cannot see too many people complaining.

This being an iQOO device, there are truckloads of editing options onboard. There are several filters and effects (including some new filters for portrait mode), and the famous seasonal effects that allowed us to put snow in a snap of Delhi are very much there. There are also plenty of AI tools out there, including the option to remove reflections, AI erase, expand images, and so on. All said and done, the iQOO 15’s cameras gave us a lot of variety, captured pleasant snaps, and allowed us to do a lot with them. For most consumers, that is just perfect. These are comfortably flagship-level cameras.

iQOO 15 Battery life and charging: Goes on and on, as the brand quests on and on

The iQOO 15 comes with a large 7000 mAh battery with support for 100W wired and 40W wireless charging. Those are impressive numbers, which translate into equally impressive performance. We were a little apprehensive that the bright and high-resolution display would adversely impact battery life, but the iQOO 15 easily sailed through a day, and more of normal to heavy usage, and with a lot of care, can perhaps even see off two days on a single charge, which is exceptional given its display size and quality. It is not quite in the OnePlus 15 zone, but then the OnePlus 15 has a larger battery and a smaller and lower-resolution display to contend with. The 100W charger gets the phone from empty to full in about 55 minutes, which is very good when you consider the size of the battery. It also got the phone to close to 60 percent in about half an hour – and that should see most people through a day of normal usage!

iQOO 15 Pricing: A big jump

The iQOO 15 comes in two RAM and storage variants at these prices:

• 12 GB/ 256 GB: Rs 72,999
• 16 GB/ 512 GB: Rs 79,999

Those prices are exactly the same as the recently launched OnePlus 15. But while the OnePlus 15’s price was a relatively smaller rise from Rs 69,999 for the OnePlus 13, the iQOO 15’s price leap has been massive – the iQOO 13 started at Rs 54,999. While the new price is very much in keeping with the rising prices of flagship devices in the Indian market, consumers might find the dramatic Rs 18,000 price hike over the iQOO 13 a bit difficult to swallow.

iQOO 15 Challengers and Competition: Never Settler and other premium players in da house!

• OnePlus 15 – Never Settler in a more Premium Role
  Rs 72,999
  This is the most obvious challenger to the iQOO 15 with a similar spec sheet and even price. At the time of writing, it is the only other phone in the market with a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor. Might appeal to those looking for a more understated phone and not too much into gaming. It also has a massive 7500 mAh battery.
• Vivo X300 – compact challenger with Zeiss camera magic
  Rs 75,999
  The just-released X300 comes with superb cameras made in collaboration with Zeiss, and runs on the MediaTek Dimensity 9500 chip. It is very compact with a 6.31-inch display, but that compactness means a much smaller battery.
• Realme GT8 Pro – A real option with Ricoh snappers
  Rs 72,999
  Another device with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, the Realme GT 8 Pro has also made a iQOO-like price leap, but is betting on its Ricoh-flavored cameras to be a contender. A 200 MP telephoto might lure some.
• Oppo Find X9 – Some might find this interesting
  Rs 74,999
  The latest flagship from Oppo also gets into the premium zone, but is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 9500 chip and comes with Hasselblad cameras (no longer on the OnePlus, alas).
• Pixel 10 – Getting premium without the fuss
  Rs 74,999
  Some might turn up their noses at its relatively modest display and processor, but with the rising prices all around it, the Pixel 10 has suddenly become a flagship contender. It comes with a clean UI, excellent AI performance, a distinct design, and super cameras. And it is delightfully compact too.

iQOO 15 Review Verdict: Moving into the Premium League, but with plenty to offer!

Its price hike means that the iQOO 15 is not quite the no-brainer the iQOO 12 and 13 were. It is now more of a premium flagship than a budget flagship or a flagship killer. As a result, it not only faces more competition than it did in the past, but also that its competitors are far more premium and well-established players. In 2025, against the likes of the Galaxy S25, the OnePlus 13, and the Pixel 9, the iQOO 13 was an easy choice, thanks to its vastly lower price tag.

However, the iQOO 15 can no longer lean on its price against the premium players, and that makes its path ahead a challenging one. That said, its blend of quad HD display, flagship processor, and RAM, and that color shifting Monster Halo light on the back, gives it a terrific blend of style, substance, and edginess. Whether this will enable it to rattle the cages of the iPhones, Pixels, and Galaxy S series, not to mention similarly priced devices from OnePlus, Vivo, and Oppo, only time will tell. Right now, what we can safely say is that iQOO has come to the premium phone party with a very impressive device that delivers great performance without cutting too many corners.

Buy iQOO 15

Source link