This is not the iQOO 9 that launched in China, that one was much closer to the 9 Pro. This one arrives with a different chipset, screen, camera and battery. Basically, other than the name, the global iQOO 9 is a completely different from the Chinese one. The phone is now powered by the Snapdragon 888+, the overclocked 888 from last year (rather than the new 8 Gen 1). It comes with two memory configurations: 8/128 GB and 12/256 GB (there is no 512 GB option). Note that the Extended RAM 2.0 feature can use the UFS 3.1 storage to add some virtual RAM.
The chipset is cooled by the Full Coverage
Vapor Chamber Liquid Cooling System, which the company claims drops the phone’s
surface temperature by 4°C (and as much as 12°C for the chipset itself during
heavy gaming). The phone still runs Funtouch OS (version 12, based on Android
12), instead of switching over to OriginOS. It will receive OS updates for two
years and an extra year of security patches (the same goes for the SE below).
The AMOLED display is smaller at 6.56”,
down from 6.78” on the Chinese model. It still has 1080p+ resolution and even
an HDR10+ certification. The iQOO 9 supports the Dual Monster Touch controls
that we saw on the iQOO 7 Legend – basically, the display is split into two
zones and each can sense the amount of pressure you apply with your thumb.
The display offers 120Hz refresh rate and
300Hz touch sampling rate with an Intelligent Display Chip. This chip can drop
the frame rate of the game to give the chipset a chance to cool off. It does
this by inserting intermediate frames to simulate 90 fps while the GPU only
renders at 60 fps (this is supported only on PUBG for now).
The phone itself now is a tad smaller at
159.1 x 75.1 x 8.63 mm. Unfortunately, this also means a smaller battery, 4,350
mAh (down from 4,700 mAh). The good news is that the 120W fast charging is
maintained and can do a full 0-100% charge in just 18 minutes. The bad news is
that there is no wireless charging on this model.
The main camera switched to a 48MP Sony
IMX598, a smaller 1/2.0” sensor with 0.8µm pixels (vs. 50MP, 1/1.57”, 1.0µm on
the Chinese unit). This one has gimbal optical stabilization. It is joined by a
13MP ultrawide camera (120°) and a 13MP portrait camera with 2x optical
magnification (50mm). On the front is a 16MP selfie camera. The iQOO 9 is
already on pre-order, sales will start on March 2. The base 8/128 GB version
costs ₹ 43,000 (US$ 575/€ 510), while the 12/256 GB one will set you back ₹ 47,000.
You can find it on Amazon India.
The vanilla 9 is available in three
colorways: Alpha, Phoenix and Legend, the latter sporting BMW M Motorsport
branding with the iconic triple stripe.
