Today, iQOO unveiled what is likely its best candidate yet for the title of flagship killer. Neo 3 is a smartphone that, with some of the very best specs, pushed the price boundary down to an unbelievably low level.
Specs like 144 Hz LCD IPS, Snapdragon 865 with 5G, a 4500 mAh battery with 44 W fast charging, or even a triple 48 MPx camera place it among the best smartphones of this year.
Let’s start with an insane price
At today’s conference, iQOO unveiled its new flagship iQOO Neo 3, and they did it in style. Right now, however, sales are planned only in China from April 29.
Prices will definitely surprise you as much as they surprised us. The base version 6 + 128 GB will go on sale for 2698 yuan, which is about €353! The other three variants are priced as follows:
- 8 + 128 GB variant for 2998 yuan, which is €393,
- 8 + 256 GB variant for 3398 yuan, which is €445,
- 12 + 128 GB variant for 3298 yuan, which is €433.
With this kind of pricing strategy, companies like Xiaomi or OnePlus used to start back in the day, but today’s flagship models from them are only something we can talk about as more expensive premium smartphones. We’re happy to see a company like iQOO in the market. By the way, it operates as a sub-brand of Vivo.
The design probably won’t blow you away
In design, the smartphone fits right into this year’s mainstream models with a classic punch-hole in the display, color finishes with gradients, and camera placement in the style of Samsung Galaxy S20.
There’s also a fingerprint sensor on the side. It’s available in light blue and black-blue. The manufacturer could’ve been a bit more creative here. In our opinion, though, the smartphone still looks good—even without a distinctive “waterfall” display curve like, for example, the Xiaomi Mi 10 or OnePlus 8.
Fast 144 Hz display
iQOO managed to fit 6.57″ LCD IPS display and 144 Hz refresh rate into that panel. The display sharpness is 400 ppi.
The display resolution is FHD+ (1080 x 2408 px), it supports HDR10, and the contrast ratio is 1500 : 1. It also includes a cutout for the front camera.
But as a compromise to keep the price lower, it misses a fingerprint sensor under the display, which is located on the side as we mentioned earlier.
Snapdragon 865 plus UFS 3.1
In terms of processor performance or memory speed, iQOO didn’t hold back. They used the best mobile processor on the market, Snapdragon 865, with the graphics chip Adreno 650 and a clock of 2.84 GHz.
Storage is UFS 3.1 with maximum read speeds up to 1733 MB/s and write speed of 731 MB/s. Storage capacity is 128 and 256 GB.
Even the RAM is top-notch. You get 6, 8 and 12 GB, and it’s LPDDR4X type. In the AnTuTu test, the model scored an impressive 597 583 points.
Multi-Turbo 3.0 improvement
Manufacturers often also implement system AI enhancements for better smartphone performance. iQOO created Multi-Turbo 3.0 acceleration that improves network reach and signal, but also handles system cleaning and maintenance.
A special cooling system and gaming certification
Proper performance also needs proper cooling, which is taken care of by a 11-stage cooling system, including with liquid. The manufacturer claims it can reduce temperatures by up to 10 °C.
iQOO Neo 3 doesn’t get lost even in the gaming smartphone segment, because it has received a gaming certification from KPL (King Pro League), and its performance only proves it.
4500 mAh and 44 W fast charging
As for the battery – it has 4500 mAh, which is already standard for 5G smartphones. But the Neo 3 will impress you with fast 44 W charging.
In 20 minutes it charges to 50 %, and in 58 minutes it reaches full 100 %.
But the camera isn’t a complete top-tier performer
The segment where the manufacturer had to make a few cuts is the camera. We won’t claim it’s a weak lineup of cameras, but it certainly won’t reach the top spots on DxOMark.
The primary sensor has 48 MPx with an ƒ/ 1.79 aperture and pixel size of 0.80 µm. The second is an ultra-wide sensor with 8 MPx and 110° FOV, followed by a 2 MPx macro sensor.
Video is recorded in 4K quality and also includes 960 fps slow-motion.
AI selfie camera
The selfie camera got 16 MPx and supports various features, such as face beautification or removing red-eye effects using AI.
5G support plus Wi‑Fi 6
Just from the name, it’s clear the smartphone supports the fast 5G technology. It applies to both SA and NSA. There’s also NFC.
Wi-Fi 6 is starting to get implemented in almost every new smartphone and network device. That means you can enjoy higher data transfer speeds. With an iQOO Neo 3 and a Wi-Fi 6 router, you can reach up to 1.2 Gb/s.
iQOO UI interface
For less popular Chinese brands, the sticking point is usually the system UI overlay. However, the manufacturer promises that iQOO UI is a very well-tuned system. So we’ll try to get the smartphone for a review so we can test it.
Naturally, the overlay is built on the operating system Android 10 Q.
Quality stereo speakers
To top it all off, the iQOO Neo 3 also comes with quality stereo speakers certified for Hi-Res Audio and Smart PA improvements.
It’s a great feature, for example for gaming, and thanks to surround sound you can orient yourself better.
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