iQOO Neo 10 5G.
Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit
Emerging smartphone maker iQOO has come up with a new premium mid-range phone Neo 10 series, in India.
It has the looks of the premium iQOO 13 and also comes with Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chipset, which promises good performance. Even the camera too has good upgrades over the predecessor.
I used the device for close to a week, and here are my thoughts on the latest Android phone.
Design, build quality and display
As noted earlier, iQOO Neo 10's design language takes inspiration from the ultra-premium iQOO 13 series. It has the same curved, squarish camera module, which is very unique to the iQOO brand.
Our review unit is titanium chrome. It looks nice in the sunlight and also manages to repel the fingerprint smudges.
iQOO Neo 10 5G.
Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit
The company also offers Inferno Red, which is said to be the best-looking among the two variants.
The mid-range device's back and the mid-frame around the display are made of polycarbonate material. When you hold the device, the frame (8.1mm thickness) offers a good grip for the fingers to hold on to the device firmly. Also, it is sturdy and can survive an accidental fall on the floor from a knee height.
Further, it comes with an IP65 dust-and-water resistant rating, meaning it can survive high-pressure water jets (nozzle size: up to 6.3mm) from all angles.
The display is protected by Schott Xensation coating and also a secondary layer of screen guard pre-fitted by the company.
The company has covered all bases to improve the durability of the device compared to the previous iteration.
iQOO Neo 10 5G.
Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit
The latest iQOO Neo 10 sports a 6.78-inch 1.5K (2800×1260p) AMOLED display with a 20:9 aspect ratio, supports a 144Hz refresh rate, and offers up to 5,500 nits peak brightness.
Additionally, it boasts propreitary Supercomputing Chip Q1, which enhances frame stability, boosts image quality, and ensures ultra-low latency while playing games.
It also supports MEMC (Motion Estimation Motion Compensation) technology, enhancing 30 FPS video to 60 FPS for a more fluid OTT viewing experience when using the phone indoors or outdoors under the shade.
However, under direct sunlight, there are reflection issues. That said, there is no rival brand in its class that has a better display than this.
iQOO Neo 10 5G.
Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit
Note: In India, only the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (costing more than a lakh) comes with an anti-reflective coating to deliver a better viewing experience.
The device also features dual SIM slots, an in-display fingerprint sensor, a Type-C port, an infrared sensor, and stereo speakers.
Performance
iQOO Neo 10 is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 octa-core processor. It is a 4nm class 64-bit octa-core Kryo silicon. With a peak clock speed of 3.2 GHz, it promises 31 per cent improvement in performance.
With the latest Adreno 825 GPU, it promises to deliver up to 49 per cent improved performance and 49 per cent better power efficiency.
The Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 also houses a Qualcomm AI Engine, which features a faster NPU and 2x larger shared memory, promises to offer improved bandwidth and up to 44 per cent faster AI performance. The AI Engine also supports a variety of LLMs and LVMs, providing seamless speed and enhanced privacy with on-device processing.
In addition to Circle to Search and Google Gemini AI bot, it supports AI Super Documents, Live Text, AI Call Translation, AI Translation, AI Note Assist, and AI Transcript.
iQOO Neo 10 CPU and GPU performance score on Geekbench 6.0.
Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit
The device does a fine job in terms of performance. Be it playing graphics-rich games or operating the camera to record 4K videos or while using generative Artificial Intelligence features, the iQOO Neo 10 worked smoothly without any hint of lag.
Also, it comes with a large 7000 mm² vapour chamber to ensure efficient heat dissipation while performing heavy-duty tasks.
The device runs Android 15-based FuntouchOS 15. It comes with a lot of third-party apps in addition to Google's core applications. Thankfully, the device has a lot of space to install hundreds more. Also, you can capture thousands of photos and videos without any worry of running out of storage anytime soon.
The company offers the device in four configurations-- 8GB LPDDR5X RAM + 128GB storage (UFS 4.1), 8GB LPDDR5X RAM + 256GB storage(UFS 4.1), 12GB LPDDR5X RAM + 256GB storage (UFS 4.1) and 16GB LPDDR5X RAM + 512GB storage (UFS 4.1).
iQOO Neo 10 5G.
Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit
iQOO 10 Neo comes with a massive dual-cell 7000mAh battery. Under normal usage, it can easily last for two days with Wi-Fi connection. Even if it's fully reliant on a cellular network for internet all day, the device can still deliver more than a day.
It supports 120W SuperVOOC fast charging. It can be fully charged from zero to 100 per cent in little over 40 minutes. It can reach 50 minutes in around 15 minutes.
iQOO Neo 10's camera sample.
Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit
Photography
It houses a dual-camera module-- main 50MP (with 1/ 1.95-inch Sony IMX882 sensor, f/1.79 aperture, OIS: Optical Image Stabilisation) + 8MP ultra-wide angle lens (with GC08A3-WA1XA sensor, f/2.2) with LED flash on the back.
iQOO Neo 10's camera sample.
Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit
It takes brilliant photos in all light conditions. Though the colourful subjects, such as flowers, look a tad brighter and vivid than they usually appear to the eyes, they are pretty good, worthy of being shared on social media platforms.
iQOO Neo 10's camera sample.
Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit
Even in the close-up range, the camera manages to get all the minute details clearly in the photos.
iQOO Neo 10's camera sample.
Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit
In portrait mode, it gets a sharp focus on the subject and artfully blurs the background to get that bokeh effect.
iQOO Neo 10's camera sample.
Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit
It also takes nice ultra-wide-angle photos, covering a vast area within the frame.
In addition to the AI eraser, it also supports gen AI-powered tools such as AI Photo Enhance, to sharpen blurry portrait images.
It also features AI Image Expander and Live Cutout, which allows users to create precise image cutouts instantly and can be used to make stickers and make messaging more engaging and fun between friends and loved ones.
iQOO Neo 10's camera sample.
Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit
Also, it supports digital zoom up to 10X. The image quality remains good up to 5X, but beyond that, a lot of grains begin to accumulate and lose sharpness.
iQOO Neo 10's camera sample.
Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit
At night, the iQOO Neo 10 gets sharp photos with less noise.
iQOO Neo 10's camera sample.
Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit
On the front, it houses a 32MP sensor (with f/2.45) for selfies and video calling. It takes nice photos in the sunlight.
iQOO Neo 10's camera sample.
Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit
Both the back and front cameras can record up to 4K video at 60 frames per second. The video appears stable, even with shaky hands, on par with rival brands in the Rs 30,000- 40,000 price range.
iQOO Neo 10's camera sample.
Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit
Final thoughts
iQOO Neo 10 is a complete package. It not only looks like a premium iQOO 13, but also performs like one. It delivers super smooth performance without the slightest hint of sluggishness.
It excels in gaming, photography and most importantly, it delivers long battery life as well.
iQOO Neo 10 5G.
Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit
iQOO Neo 10 is available in two colours-- Inferno Red and Titanium Chrome. It comes in four configurations-- 8GB RAM + 128GB storage, 8GB RAM + 256GB storage, 12GB RAM + 256GB and 16GB RAM + 512GB storage-- for Rs 31,999, Rs 33,999, Rs 35, 999 and Rs 40,999, respectively.
The latest iQOO Neo 10 will be competing with the OnePlus Nord 4 (review), Google Pixel 7 (review), Redmi Note 14 Pro, Nothing Phone (3a) Pro, and Motorola Edge 60 Pro, among others.
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