India's tryst with the iQoo brand of smartphones has been sketchy. Readers would recall that the brand surfaced in 2019 as a subsidiary of the BBK Electronics owned Vivo, but began functioning independently since. They launched handsets including the iQoo 3, the iQoo 5 series and the iQoo 7 series. We also got a few devices from their Z series and some Neo rebrands.
The company now appears to have taken a leap of faith. They announced the India plans for the latest iQoo 9 series that went official in China this week. In the lead-up to the BGMI India series finals on January 13, the company named iQoo7 as the official handset for the event and confirmed the iQoo 9 series launch.
However, there could still be a twist in the tale. The good folks at MySmartPrice saw a teaser at the BGMI semifinals with images of the iQoo 9 series launch in India. One of the devices appeared to be the iQoo 9 Pro while the other looked like the earlier iQoo 8 base variant that launched in August of 2021. Now the same images have also appeared on the company's website.
iQoo 8 - specifications, design and pricing
Having said so, the iQoo 8 is no mug when it comes to the specs. Launched last August in China, the handset features a 6.56-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. It's successor, the iQoo 9 has a larger 6.78-inch curved LTPO AMOLED scree with a similar refresh rate.
In terms of processors, the iQoo 8 arrived with the Snapdragon 888 whereas both the iQoo 9 models have the latest Snapdragron flagship chipset. In terms of battery size, the earlier model comes with a 4,350mAh unit with 120W fast charging support.
On the optics front, the iQoo 8 has a triple rear camera setup with a 48MP primary shooter, a 13MP ultra-wide lens and a 13 MP portrait sensor. The iQoo 9 base variant has a rear 50MP camera is a Samsung ISOCELL GN5 1/1.57" sensor with f/1.75 aperture. There is a 13 MP 120-degree ultra-wide, and a 12 MP 2x zoom lens for company with the selfie-cam being a 16 MP snapper.
iQoo 9 Pro - specifications, design and more
The premium iQoo 9 Pro has a 6.78-inch AMOLED screen. It offers a slightly curved screen with a much higher resolution of 3200x1440 pixels. However, the refresh rate remains same at 120Hz though being an LTPO 2.0 panel, it brings the ability to vary the refresh dynamically from 1Hz to 120Hz.
The handset runs on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 paired with either 8 GB or 12GB RAM and 256 or 512GB of internal storage. The device has 4,700mAh battery with 120W wired charging option besides 50W of wireless charging and 10W reverse charging.
The premium device has a 50MP sensor that provides a 150-degree field of view, similar to what the Realme GT 2 Pro had announced just a couple of days ago. The tele-photo unit comprises a 16MP sensor with 2.5x optical zoom while the selfie camera specifications remain the same.
Of course, we have no official information on why a handset from an earlier launch is accompanying the latest handset that boasts of top-notch features and specs that includes the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor and a 4,700mAh battery.
Readers would recall that this isn't the first time that iQoo has followed this strategy. Last year, rebranded its iQoo Neo 5 as the iQoo 7 in India and after some time, we got to see the Chinese variant of the iQoo 7 arriving as the iQoo 7 Legend in India.
There were rumors of a possible iQoo 8 Legend arriving in India, which was further justified when the base iQOO 8 with model number V2136 was listed in the database of the BIS authority.
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