Chinese smartphone maker Vivo’s sub-brand iQOO announced its new flagship phone the iQOO 11 on Thursday. The phone, which will be available in certain markets across Southeast Asia for the first time, adopts Qualcomm’s latest high-end chipset Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
Why it matters: The iQOO 11 introduces an innovative update to the adaptive refresh rate, supporting partial refresh to increase power efficiency.
- The phone brand is also expanding to new markets with the device, with the iQOO 11 set to be made available in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. A spokesperson for the brand told TechNode that “iQOO will continue to develop across overseas markets and gradually extend its international presence in the future.”
Details: In addition to the Qualcomm chipset, the iQOO 11 offers high-spec storage and memory chips. The phone also adopts a new cooling system to maintain peak hardware performance when running games.
- With the support of the new Qualcomm chipset, the iQOO 11 is capable of using a low-power double data rate 5X (LPDDR5X) memory chip, which is 33% faster than the last generation of the LPDDR5. The model also offers 16 GB RAM.
- UFS 4.0 standard storage is another selling point, which offers higher performance and lower power consumption. Sequential write and read speeds are respectively up to 60% and 80% faster than older models.
- For the cooling system, iQOO adopts a three-layer graphite vapor chamber (VC) liquid design. The cooling area is slightly larger than the last generation and has a new stamped VC technique, with the effective cooling area rising by 19.5%.
- There is also a V2 chip to boost the gaming experience by increasing frames per second (FPS). Games can be rendered up to 90 FPS or 120 FPS, even when the game does not support such high frame rates. The technology lessens power consumption by freeing rendering pressure from the main chipsets. The V2 chip also offers filters to enhance gaming scenes.
- The display is another highlight. It used a 6.78-inch punch-hole display with 1440 × 3200 pixels resolution and a 144 Hz refresh rate. It also comes with the third generation of LTPO adaptive refresh rate technology, supporting different refresh rates for different display areas. The use of new E6 luminescent material also reduces power consumption by 13% compared to displays made with E5 material.
- The iQOO 11 offers the regular triple-camera combo: two ultra-wide cameras and a 50 mm portrait one.
- With a large 5,000 mAh battery, the iQOO 11 supports 120 W speed charging.
- The phone is available in two colorways inspired by BMW M Motorsport: the Legend edition and the Alpha edition. It will be launched in Indonesia and Malaysia on Dec. 8, in Thailand on Dec. 15, and in India on Jan. 10.
Context: Founded in 2019, iQOO focuses on gaming phones for the Chinese and Southeast Asian markets.
- The brand took 4.6% of the Chinese smartphone market with “its competitive products and pricing” in the third quarter of this year, according to IDC. Together with parent company Vivo, it topped the Chinese market, shipping 20% of phones in the quarter.
- In the global market, Vivo accounted for 9% of smartphone shipments in the second quarter of 2022, according to Counterpoint Research.