iQOO 15 Initial Impressions: What We Think So Far?

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iQOO has finally launched its top-of-the-line smartphone, the iQOO 15. It brings massive upgrades such as the all-new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC, an upgraded telephoto, and a larger battery capacity. However, the price has been bumped by a good margin as well.

I got the chance to experience the device and its launch for a brief time. And here I am with the honest initial impressions of the device, based on that short usage time and its mind-blowing specs. While the on-paper specifications look amazing, let’s see if it holds up as a top flagship, and most importantly, let’s bring a rough answer to the question, “Is it the most performance-focused flagship phone?”

Design and Build

Starting with its design and build, the Legend and the Black color variant feel surreal in real life. The Legend is my personal favourite. It has a metal frame and a frosted glass rear panel. It doesn’t attract smudges and fingerprints, thanks to its design. However, the device reportedly uses the fiberglass material on its rear. It’s a glorified version of the plastic back and not the real glass. This is a bit disappointing.

The iQOO 15 has the IP68/IP69 dust and water resistance rating. This means that it can easily withstand splashes of water. It has the latest Schott Xensation Core protecting the screen, too. The phone is more squared-off and flat than older models, which gives it a modern look and feel.

Display

As expected, the phone’s screen is out of this world. iQOO claims that it is the best panel you can get for the price. It uses the super-new Samsung M14 OLED display with a 2K resolution and a 144Hz refresh rate that can also drop down to 1Hz (LTPO) to save battery.

The brightness is insane as it can hit 2600 nits when you use it outdoors. Plus, it supports both HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. The panel also has a 2160 Hz PWM dimming rating, which should make it much easier to look at for long periods. The bezels are nice and thin.

Cameras

Gaming-focused phones usually skimp on cameras, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here. The iQOO 15 brings a powerful triple-camera system.

The main camera uses a 50-megapixel Sony IMX921 sensor with OIS (Optical Image Stabilization). It also has a 50-megapixel ultrawide lens and the star of the show: a brand-new 50-megapixel 3x optical telephoto with OIS.

For selfies, it has a 32-megapixel front camera. Images seen so far are vibrant and look great for social media, with good detail and HDR control, especially from the main and 3x zoom lens. However, the camera processing still needs a bit of fine-tuning for certain difficult shots, which should be fixed in later updates. In my brief testing, I didn’t find the camera processing to be up to par. But it would be better to reserve the verdict for final review.

Performance, Battery, and Software

The iQOO 15 packs the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, paired with LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.1 storage. It features a huge 8000 mm² VC cooling system to keep things cool even when playing intense games for hours. The specs promise that this phone can maintain its top speed without slowing down.

For the battery, it has a massive 7,000 mAh cell with support for 100W wired fast charging. The charger is thankfully included in the box. It also brings back 40W wireless charging. This is a good combination for battery life and convenience.

As for the software, it runs on OriginOS 6 based on Android 16 right out of the box. The whole look and feel is polished and incredibly smooth. The best part? iQOO is promising an industry-leading 5 major Android updates and 7 years of security support. For reference, the OnePlus 15 promises 4 years of Android updates and 6 years of security updates. iQOO is just clearly better here.

Final Verdict

While I can’t give a final judgment yet, the iQOO 15 absolutely looks like a strong contender for the title of “ultimate performance flagship.”

It gets almost everything right: a fantastic display, the most powerful chipset, a huge battery, super-fast charging, and a beautiful, high-quality build. The haptics (vibration) motor is also fantastic. At its offer pricing of ₹64,999, this phone is simply an amazing value. However, the non-offer base price of ₹72,999 seems a tad high for what it offers. But as I said earlier, this post is not about drawing any conclusion, but about discussing its offerings and price.

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