vivo's gamer-centric sub-brand iQOO today
announced the iQOO Z1, which is the first smartphone to have MediaTek's
Dimensity 1000+ SoC at the helm. However, the iQOO Z1 isn't an entirely new
smartphone. It's actually the iQOO Neo3 5G powered by the Dimensity 1000+. That
means you get a 6.57" 20:9 LCD of 2408x1080 pixel resolution, that has a
refresh rate of 144Hz and a punch hole in the top-right corner for the 16MP
selfie camera.
Around the back is a 48MP main camera
accompanied by an 8MP ultrawide and 2MP macro units. The smartphone boots
Android 10 with iQOO UI on top and has three memory configurations - 6GB/128GB,
8GB/128GB, and 8GB/256GB.
The iQOO Z1 comes with Multi-Turbo 3.5 for
performance boosting as well as liquid cooling heat dissipation, which iQOO
claims can reduce the temperature of the smartphone by 10-12 degrees Celsius.
Other highlights of the iQOO Z1 include a side-mounted fingerprint reader,
3.5mm headphone jack, Wi-Fi 6, dual-mode 5G (SA/NSA), dual SIM (5G+5G), NFC,
USB-C port, and super linear dual speaker.
The iQOO Z1 packs a 4,500 mAh battery with
44W SuperFlash charge support, which juices up the cell from flat to 50% in 23
minutes and takes another 36 minutes to reach 100% charge. The Z1 comes in
Galaxy Silver and Space Blue colors (machine translated from Chinese) and
there's also a special edition called One Piece which features the One Piece
skull and logo on its back.
The base model of the iQOO Z1 with 6GB RAM
and 128GB storage is priced at CNY 2,198 (US$ 310/€ 280), and for CNY 300 (US$ 42/€ 39)
more, you get 2GB extra RAM. And if you go for the top-end variant with 8GB RAM
and 256GB storage, you'll have to shell out CNY 2,798 (US$ 395/€ 360). iQOO also
launched a few accessories for the Z1, which include covers, Bluetooth
controller with a joystick, and neckband wireless earphones priced at CNY 39
(US$ 6/€ 5), CNY 159 (US$ 22/€ 20) and CNY 269 (US$ 38/€ 35), respectively.
The iQOO Z1 is up for pre-orders through
vivo's official China site, with pre-bookings on e-commerce sites kicking off
from May 25. The smartphone will go on sale in China from June 1, but
availability in other markets is currently unknown.
