The subsidiary brand of Vivo, iQOO’s flagship smartphone, the iQOO 12 has been launched in India. iQOO was founded in 2019 under Vivo and has been delivering smartphones from the budget range to the flagship range.
iQOO has consistently prioritised gaming performance in its smartphones since its inception, successfully delivering powerful devices such as its predecessor, the iQOO 11, to the market.
iQOO has also partnered with BMW, specifically BMW M Motorsport, to co-develop gaming-oriented smartphones. Their flagship release this year has gained considerable attention.
iQOO’s flagship lineup for this year includes the iQOO 12 and the iQOO 12 Pro. Both smartphones share similar specs and differ in display features, IP rating, battery size and charging options.
Let us see what the iQOO 12 offers in terms of specs.
Specifications of iQOO 12
| Dimensions | Height: 163.22 mm Width: 75.88 mm Thickness: 8.10 mm |
| Weight | 203.7 grams |
| Display size | 6.78-inch |
| Display type | LTPO AMOLED |
| Resolution | 2,800 × 1,260 |
| Refresh rate | 144Hz |
| IP rating | IP64 waterproof and dustproof |
| Chipset | Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (4 nm) |
| CPU0 | Octa-core (1×3.3 GHz Cortex-X4 & 5×3.2 GHz Cortex-A720 & 2×2.3 GHz Cortex-A520) |
| GPU | Adreno 750 |
| OS | Android 14, Funtouch 14 |
| RAM | 12GB | 16GB |
| Storage | 256GB | 512GB |
| Rear camera | 50 MP (1/1.3” sensor) main camera 50 MP wide camera 64 MP periscope telephoto camera |
| Selfie camera | 16MP |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6/7, tri-band |
| Bluetooth | 5.4 |
| Audio | Stereo speakers |
| SIM | Dual nano SIM |
| Sensors | Accelerometer | Ambient Light Sensor | Proximity Sensor | E-compass | Optical in-display fingerprint sensor | Gyroscope | Infrared blaster | Flicker sensor |
| Battery | 5,000mAh |
| Charging | 120W wired |
| Colours | Alpha | Legend |
| Price (expected) | Rs 92,000 (12/256GB) Rs 104,000 (16/512GB) |
Design and Display
The iQOO 12 has a new and refreshed design from its predecessor, iQOO 11. It has a flat back with slightly curved edges along the frame. The major difference can be seen in its camera module. The camera module of the smartphone has a curved squared shape much like a lens of a sunglass. The outer ring of the camera module has a patterned metal strip design.
There is also the BMW M Motorsport badging to highlight the partnership with iQOO. The frame is made up of metal and has a shiny finish.
The display on the front is flat and has a centred hole-punch cutout for the selfie camera. The bezels all around are thin and along with the flat panel, the display has an almost 90 per cent screen-to-body ratio.
The iQOO 12 has a 6.78-inch LTPO AMOLED panel which has a 1.5K resolution (2,800 x 1,260 pixels). The display has a maximum refresh rate of 144Hz for a smooth experience. It also has a contrast ratio of 8,000,000:1 and supports 10,700 million colours. With the VM7 light-emitting material, the display has up to 3,000 nits peak brightness for bright lighting conditions. It has a capacitive multi-touch screen and HDR10+ support.
Performance and Storage
The iQOO 12 under the hood has the latest flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset built on a 4nm architecture. Its CPU configuration, featuring an octa-core setup has a Cortex-X4 clocked at 3.3 GHz, Cortex-A720 cores at 3.2 GHz, and Cortex-A520 cores at 2.3 GHz. The graphics rendering for smooth gameplay and performance is handled by the Adreno 750 GPU. It runs on Android 14 with Funtouch 14 operating system.
Gaming performance has not been compromised either. The iQOO 12’s gaming is enhanced with the dedicated Q1 chip. It has gaming features like a 144Hz refresh rate for smooth visuals, low-latency frame insertion to enhance responsiveness, and superframe technology for consistent frame rates in demanding scenes. Additionally, its super-resolution amplifies textures for sharper graphics for maximum viewing experience.
With intensive gaming comes heating issues. And one thing gamers dislike along with lag and fps drop is heating issues. So to counter that during intense gaming sessions or heavy tasks, the iQOO 12 features an advanced 6K VC Four-Zone Cooling System designed to efficiently draw heat away which is 40 per cent larger than its predecessor.
It has an intelligent cooling system across multiple fronts: targeting heat dispersion in the areas where users’ thumbs naturally rest during gaming, integrating an under-display graphite cooling film to manage temperatures along the smartphone’s bezels, and incorporating a design less susceptible to temperature shifts. It is further improved by an AI-driven cooling engine that optimizes thermal performance with Thermal Identification 3.0 coupled with a Temperature Control Strategy Engine.
The iQOO 12 also features a Large X-axis linear Motor with a compact size of 560 mm³, 1.2 Grms steady-state vibration amplitude, a rapid 13.1 ms steady-state vibration startup time, and an 85 Hz bandwidth. This motor provides skill-customizable vibrations, delivering precise and impressive in-game feedback for an immersive gaming experience.
For memory options, the iQOO 12 has two RAM options, 12 GB and 16 GB. The 12 GB option is the base option which is paired with 256 GB storage whereas the 16 GB option is paired with a larger 512 GB storage.
Camera
iQOO hasn’t disappointed in the camera department too for a flagship experience. It has a triple rear camera setup with a 50MP main camera with a 1/1.3” sensor, a 50MP wide-angle camera, and a 64MP periscope telephoto camera. The aperture sizes vary between f/1.68 for the 50MP, f/2.0 for the wide-angle, and f/2.57 for the 64MP lens. The rear camera delivers nice photos and adopts different lighting conditions. It also has Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) for stable and clear shots.
It has features including snapshot, night, portrait, photo, video, high resolution, pano, Ultra HD document, Slo-mo, time-lapse, long exposure, supermoon, Astro, tilt-shift and Pro. Video recording from the rear camera is also good. It supports video shooting at 8K at 30fps, 4K at 24/30/60fps, and 1,080p at 30/60/120/240fps. It also has a gyro-EIS for stable video outputs.
The front camera of the iQOO 12 includes a 16MP wide camera with f/2.5 aperture. Features of the front camera include AI beauty, portrait mode, and HDR. The video recording capacity might be a bit lacking with support of 1,080p shooting at 30fps. At this price range and a flagship option, iQOO should have provided at least 4k recording at 24fps.
Battery and Others
The iQOO 12 has a 5,000mAh battery which supports fast 120W wired charging for quick power-ups. The Pro version has other flagship options like wireless charging and reverse wireless options. Connectivity-wise, it supports Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6/7 across tri-bands and Bluetooth 5.4 for wireless connection with other compatible devices. It also has support for dual nano SIM cards.
Audio is enhanced through the stereo speakers and with support for 24-bit/192kHz audio. It has an array of sensors including an accelerometer, ambient light sensor, proximity sensor, E-compass, optical in-display fingerprint sensor, gyroscope, infrared blaster, and a flicker sensor.
The iQOO 12 has two colour options; Alpha and Legend.
The expected price for the iQOO 12 in Nepal is projected at Rs 92,000 for the 12GB RAM/256GB storage variant and Rs 104,000 for the 16GB RAM/512GB storage variant.
