iQOO 12 5G review: Powerful premium phone

Besides smooth performance, iQOO 12 5G excels in premium build quality and photography experience.

iQOO earlier in the month launched the new premium phone iQOO 12. It is the first phone in India to come with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, Qualcomm's latest and most powerful silicon for Android phones.

I used the device for a little over a week and here are my thoughts on the latest iQOO 12 series.

Design, build quality and display

As I noted in my first impression article, the new iQOO 12 features a refreshing design language with meaningful changes over the predecessor.

The special BMW Legend series flaunts a cool snow-white colour scheme with a trademark red-black-blue colourway strip with iQOO brand engraving. It has a visually appealing smooth porcelain enamel glass and does a fine job repelling stains such as fingerprint smudges.

The company also offers the Alpha variant with a black colourway and comes with a Fluorite AG glass cover.

iQOO 12 5G series.

At the top left corner, there is a massive triple-camera sensor in the curved square module, which makes the device stand out among its peers.

On the sides, it is lined with a premium aluminium rail and beautifully blends with the back case. Even the antennas are colour-matched with white colours. The flat curved frame offers a good grip for the fingers to hold onto the device.

The device also comes with an iP68 rating, a first for any iQOO phone to date. It can survive accidental drops in swimming pools for close to 1.5 metres (around five feet) for up to 30 minutes.

On the front, it features a magnificent 6.78-inch full HD+ (1260x2800p)E7 AMOLED screen. It supports 144Hz refresh rate, HDR10+, offers peak brightness up to 3000 nits and has a pixel density of 453ppi (pixels per inch).

iQOO 12 5G series.

It is great for binge-watching TV series or movies for several hours without any issues as such. Even under the direct sunlight, I was able to read news articles without having to squint my eyes or take the display close to my eyes.

The on-screen fingerprint sensor works without any issues. It should be noted that the device comes with wet touch technology which ensures the display takes inputs without any lag-ness even with sweaty fingers.

Performance

As noted earlier, it is powered by 4nm class Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 silicon. It promises a 30 per cent increase in CPU performance and 20 per cent better GPU performance compared to the previous generation.

Our review unit comes with 512GB of storage and 16GB of RAM. Also, the Extended RAM is turned on by default to 16GB. In total, the device has 32GB of physical memory. For obvious reasons, the phone has been smooth in terms of loading apps and operating the camera.

iQOO 12's CPU and GPU performance score on Geekbench app.

As advertised, iQOO 12 is a smooth performer. It waltzs through all tasks without breaking a sweat. Even with graphics-rich games too, the new phone didn't show any lag-ness at all. In Ultra Game mode, the device offers options such as do not disturb mode to block calls/messages, increase framerates, special gaming controls and more to enhance the gaming experience.

Ultra Game mode on iQOO 12 5G series.

The device supports six motion control options (left-hand lifting, right-hand lifting, left-leaning, right-leaning, horizontal forward pressing, and horizontal backwards pressing).

Motion Control support on iQOO 12 5G series.

It also boasts 6010 mm2 vapour cooling chamber, which is 40 per cent bigger than seen in the predecessor. This has greatly improved the thermal performance and never once during the testing period, did the device exhibit overheating.

iQOO 12 5G series.

The device runs on Android 14-based Funtouch OS 14. There are no bloatware apps as such and also, with 512GB storage (460GB available), consumers don't need to worry about the lack of microSD card support.

Even with a base storage of 256GB, it is more than enough to capture photos and videos, be able to install hundreds of apps.

The new iQOO 12 supports 5G service offered by both Airtel and Reliance Jio in India. The device works on 5G network and doesn't need any software update as such

iQOO 12 5G series.

With a 5,000mAh cell capacity, it delivers two full days of battery life. With extreme usage such as hours of multimedia streaming and gaming, it can still be able to last a whole day.

The company offers a 120W charger with the retail box. It is a great value addition to the user experience. It can power up the device from zero to 100 per cent capacity in around 30 minutes.

iQOO 12 5G's camera samples.

Photography

It houses triple camera module--main 50 MP (1/1.28-inch, OIS: Optical Image Stabilisation, 2.4 μm sensitivity) + 64 MP 3X Periscope Telephoto Camera (f/2.57, 3X optical zoom | 100x hybrid zoom, OIS) + 50 MP ultra wide-angle camera (1/2.76-inch sensor, 15 mm, 150-degree (119.4-degree after distortion correction) field of view) with LED flash on the back.

iQOO 12 5G's camera samples.

iQOO 12 takes brilliant photos in the sunlight. The colours, of course, are a bit warmer than natural. But, I like it, as they are prettier and worthy to be shared among friends and on social media platforms.

iQOO 12 5G's camera samples.

It also does a good job of capturing minute details of the subject. The photos look sharper and better than some phones costing more than a lakh.

iQOO 12 5G's camera samples.

It also supports ultra-wide angle mode. It can manage to capture vast areas of the landscape without any artificial bending of structures in the sides.

iQOO 12 5G's camera samples with ultra-wide angle mode.

Also, the 2X and 3X optical zoom works great without any loss of photo quality. Even the digitally processed 10X and 20X zoom pictures are good too.

To an extent, 60X Zoom manages to get a fine photo, where we can identify people's faces. But, beyond that, as you can see the 100X zoom, the images look like paint artwork.

It also excels with the portrait mode too. It manages to get sharp photos with edges captured without smudges. Also, the background of the subject is naturally blurred with the bokeh effect.

iQOO 12 5G's camera sample with  portrait mode.

With night mode, iQOO 12 excels again and outshines most of its peers in the premium segment.

Another interesting aspect of the iQOO 12 is that it supports Astromode and you don't need any accessories such as a tripod to get a stable platform to get that perfect star-laced sky photo. It can manage to get a decent sky photo even with the phone held in a hand for 10 seconds.

iQOO 12 5G's camera sample with night mode.

On the front, it houses a 12MP (f/2.5) wide camera. It takes brilliant selfies. The camera does great with processing the human face in terms of smoothening acne scars and fine-tuning complexion to make it look good. If you are not okay with it, there are more tools to fix chin and even eye size too. Also, while video calling too, it does an amazing job.

iQOO 12 5G's camera sample with night mode.

iQOO 12 can record 8K at 30 frames per second(fps), 4K at 30/60/120 fps and 1080p at 30/60/120/240fps. It delivers fine with stable videos and is also good enough to make high-quality vlogs.

iQOO 12 5G series.

Final thoughts

Besides smooth performance, iQOO 12 excels in photography in all light conditions. Also, the fast charging 120W charging is a valuable perk of owning the device.

The new iQOO 12 is available in 12GB RAM + 256GB storage and 16GB RAM + 512GB storage for Rs 52,999 and Rs 57,999.

Amazon is offering good exchange offers and this can help people save more money and reduce the device's price to under Rs 50,000.

Considering the overall aspects and the price, the iQOO 12 is a compelling buy for those looking for a premium phone alternative to Samsung or OnePlus brands.

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