Two hundred Watts – 200W! The announcement of the new iQOO 10 series brought the first phone to push that much power over a USB-C cable and into its battery, which can be fully charged in 10 minutes.
This is with a 4,700mAh battery on the Pro model and is an impressive technological feat. Compared to the iQOO 9 Pro (which had the same capacity), the full charge is twice as fast (10 vs. 20 minutes). Is that a meaningful change or are we firmly in “diminishing returns” territory? And how do you feel about the new iQOOs in general – that’s the topic of this week’s poll.
Pricing info for the iQOO 10 and 10 Pro
The iQOO 10 Pro builds on the 9 Pro. It upgrades to the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 (from the original 8 Gen 1) and uses an LTPO3 display panel (vs. LTPO2), though the other key specs are the same – 6.78” diagonal, QHD+ resolution, 120Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ support. Some protections seem to have been removed, e.g. the old display had “Panda Glass”, no glass brand is listed for the new one. The 9-series phone was also dust and splash resistant, this one makes no such claims.
Besides the new charging system and chipset there are really only minor differences. For example, the telephoto camera increased its focal length to 69mm (up from 60mm, so 3x magnification instead of 2.5x), but that dropped the resolution to 14.6MP (down from 16MP). There isn’t much more to it.
iQOO 10 Pro highlights: SD 8+ Gen 1 • LTPO3 QHD+ AMOLED display • Longer telephoto lens (3x, 69mm)
The iQOO 10 Pro is launching in China next week, starting at a price of CNY 5,000 ($740/€725/₹59,300) for the 8/256GB model. That’s the same launch price as the iQOO 9 Pro, so we expect the price of the new model in India (which is yet to be confirmed) to be in the same ballpark – ₹65,000 (possibly with a change to base memory capacity).
If you are in its region, what else can you buy instead?
The vivo X80 Pro costs ₹80,000 (12/256GB) or CNY 5,500 (8/256GB). It uses the original 8 Gen 1 (there are versions with the Dimensity 9000 too), also has a 6.78” LTPO3 QHD+ AMOLED display, a 50MP main camera with a larger sensor (1/1.3”), a 5x periscope (8MP) and 2x tele modules (12MP), plus a 48MP ultra wide that’s not all that wide (114°). The 4,700mAh battery takes nearly four times as long, 38 minutes, to charge using an 80W adapter.
If you’re in China, you can also look at the Xiaomi 12S Pro at CNY 6,000 (8/256GB). That one does have the new 8+ Gen 1, but its claim to fame is the massive 1” 50MP main sensor. The other cameras are worth a look too, including a 5x periscope with a 48MP sensor and a 48MP ultra wide (128°). Charging is slow, at least compared to the iQOOs, the 4,860mAh battery goes to 100% in 41 minutes (67W).
If you’re outside of China, you may have to wait on the launch of the Xiaomi 12S Pro, which goes for CNY 5,000 (8/256GB). The 12S Pro has the same 6.73” LTPO QHD+ AMOLED display as the Ultra and the same 8+ Gen 1 chipset. The main camera is not bad by any means with a 50MP 1/1.28” sensor, the 50MP 2x telephoto and 50MP 115° ultra wide are less impressive. This one does charge fast, though, its 4,600mAh battery does 120W so 0-100% takes 19 minutes.
vivo X80 Pro • Xiaomi 12S Ultra • Xiaomi 12S Pro • ZTE nubia Red Magic 7S Pro
The vivo proudly bears its ZEISS badge on the back, the Xiaomi’s are in the Leica camp. And iQOO? Well, you can have the BMW M branding on the back – great cars, but they don’t know much about cameras.
The nubia Red Magic 7S Pro is a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 powered phone from this month. It stands out with an active cooling fan that not only offers stable performance during gaming, it also helps cool the charging system – 5,000mAh battery with 135W charging, 0-100% in 15 minutes. This model has a 6.8” FHD+ non-LTPO AMOLED display and the camera is nothing to write home about. Well, except for the under display selfie camera. The 7S Pro launched in China at CNY 5,200 and is coming to the international market soon.
Time to vote – who wants an iQOO 10 Pro?
If the poll widget above isn’t working for you, try casting your vote here.
Moving over to the vanilla iQOO 10, it’s a cost-reduced version of the Pro. It still uses the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, still has a 6.78” AMOLED display – though a non-LTPO FHD+ panel without HDR. Now come the more important cuts.
The main 50MP (1/1.57”, 1.0µm) camera loses the gimbal stabilization in favor of a traditional OIS. Also, the telephoto is a bog standard 12MP 2x unit, the 50MP 150° ultra wide is swapped for a regular 13MP 120° module.
iQOO 10 highlights: 120W charging (0-100% in 19 min) • 6.8″ 120Hz AMOLED display • 50+12+13MP camera
The battery capacity is the same 4,700mAh and the charge speed is 120W, the same as the 9 Pro. With some optimizations, the 0-100% time is 19 minutes, so still around twice as slow as the Pro. If you can call 19 minutes “slow”, of course. Note that this model lacks wireless charging.
The iQOO 10 is also launching in China next week at a base price of CNY 3,700 ($550/€535/₹44,000) for the 8/128GB unit. The iQOO 9 never made its way to India, at least not the phone from China with that name – the iQOO 9 and 9 SE in India are different models. There is a rumored iQOO 9T, which is closer to the mark. In other words, we don’t expect to see this version of the iQOO 10 outside of China.
But if you could get an iQOO 10, will you?
If the poll widget above isn’t working for you, try casting your vote here.
