The highly awaited iQOO 12 smartphone has finally been unveiled, creating quite a stir in the mobile sector. While it might seem like it’s just an upgrade to the iQOO 11, in reality, it’s a game-changer for the industry. A quick look at the specifications and price point of the iQOO 12 will show that it’s aiming for the premium segment. Yes, the initial price might seem steep, but this is a phone that comes packed with a considerable amount of processing power, providing users with more than they’d anticipate at that cost, even surpassing their expectations. So, is the iQOO 12 the ideal new premium flagship contender? Our comprehensive review of the iQOO 12 will examine every facet of this device and measure its standing against its rivals.
iQOO 12 Key Specs
| Specifications | iQOO 12 |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 1163.22 x 75.88 x 8.10 mm |
| Weight | 203.7 grams |
| Display | 6.78-inch 144 Hz LTPO AMOLED |
| Chipset | Snapdragon® 8 Gen 3 |
| RAM | 12GB / 16 GB (LPDDR5X) |
| Storage | 256 GB / 512 GB (UFS4.0) |
| Rear Cameras | 50 MP + 50 MP (Wide-Angle Camera) + 64 MP (Periscope Telephoto Camera) |
| Front Camera | 16 MP |
| Operating System | FuntouchOS14(Base on Android 14) |
| Battery | 5,000 mAh |
| Charging | 120W Flashcharge |
iQOO 12: What’s in The Box?
Since brands have begun omitting the charger from the box in an effort to decrease their carbon footprint, box contents tend to be minimal. However, this isn’t the case with the iQOO 12. This product comes with the phone, a clear protective cover, a specialized SIM card ejector tool, a Type-C charging cable, a 120W flash charger, and a user manual all included within its packaging.
iQOO 12: Design and Build
Upon initial review, the iQOO 12 comes across as exceedingly premium, suggesting that Vivo has substantially improved the design compared to the preceding iQOO 11. The phone features a smooth-edged, triple camera set-up alongside an LED flash, a prominent camera bump, and a front pinhole camera. Additionally, an in-screen fingerprint sensor and a 6.78-inch 144Hz LPTO AMOLED display enhance the user experience.
The white-colored iQOO 12, with its dazzling aluminum alloy, offers a luxe feel whether it’s being used in public or held during a phone conversation. The build quality remains uncompromised and despite its luxurious features, the camera bump is not excessively large.
iQOO 12: Display
The iQOO 12 captivates with an outstanding 144Hz display. Its 6.78-inch AMOLED screen with a resolution of 2800 x 1260 enhances your multimedia experience. An exceptional feature is VM7 technology, which promotes optimal battery utilization.
Featuring HDR10+ support, the screen performance is exceptional under various lighting conditions, reaching a peak brightness of 3000 nits and an 8,000,000:1 contrast ratio. The bezels of the iQOO 12 are slimmer than its predecessor, the iQOO 11, lending it a sleek, balanced appearance.
The iQOO 12, favors streaming enthusiasts with HDR support, offering rich, pleasing colors. After enjoying extensive HDR content, it’s clear that the display is high-performing. I selected the visually impressive movie, Blade Runner 2049, and the graphically intense game, Genshin Impact, to test the display’s ability to skillfully manage complex color themes.
With Blade Runner 2049, the iQOO 12 effortlessly presented the film’s vivid neon and dark orange shades, immersing me into the dystopian LA landscape. The handset offered an immersive experience seldom matched by other devices.
Genshin Impact’s vibrant, anime-style visuals were well represented on the iQOO 12’s screen. Even when the refresh rate was set to 120Hz during gameplay, the graphics remained sharp and detailed. The rapid and precise response from the capacitive multi-touch feature provided an additional layer of interaction.
In summary, the iQOO 12, with its ability to display over a billion distinct colors, ensures you won’t miss any detail, whether you’re viewing content or playing games. It truly meets expectations, providing a viewer’s experience that’s challenging to equal.
iQOO 12: Performance
The iQOO 12 offers substantial performance upgrades with its Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, a substantial enhancement compared to its predecessor. This device also provides up to 16 GB (LPDDR5X) RAM and as much as 512GB UFS4.0 storage, making it an incredibly capable device for any given task. Its remarkable performance combined with an extended battery life make it an excellent choice for a broad spectrum of consumers.
Day-to-Day Usage + Gaming
These hardware credentials are not just appealing in theoretical terms, but they also bring forth a reliable and swift performance, free from any noticeable throttling or overheating issues. I tested this by playing graphics-heavy games like Genshin Impact and Asphalt 9 at the highest graphical settings. Despite the phone warming up slightly during prolonged gaming sessions, there were no indications of frame rate drops. This minor heat buildup did not interfere with my gaming experience. Having used the iQOO 12 as my primary device for over a week, I can vouch for its seamless performance, devoid of any thermal throttling signs.
Benchmarks
During our rigorous stress test, the iQOO 12 exhibited impressive durability with virtually no issues. The phone’s capability to handle my demanding usage was mirrored in the benchmark scores. Here are the findings from my test on the iQOO 12:
| iQOO 12 | Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra | Xiaomi 13 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Processor | Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 | Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 | Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 |
| Geekbench 6 (single-core / multicore) | 2194/6344 | 1877/4970 | 1712/5080 |
| 3D Mark WildLife Extreme Stress Test | 5115/3508 | 3754/2518 | 3688/2958 |
iQOO 12: Software
Vivo continues to utilize the Funtouch OS brand for its international devices, the latest version being Funtouch OS 14, which is touted as the most sophisticated version of its user interface (UI) yet. It employs the Smooth Envision engine, which is designed to keep more apps open seamlessly without any lags, stutters, or freezes.
With Funtouch OS 14, users can expect more fluid animations courtesy of a new Motion Blur algorithm-based feature. The new UI also boasts a range of customization options offered by Android 14, including monochrome themes. The high refresh rate and impressive UI smoothness enhance user experience.
In addition, Funtouch OS 14 introduces improved video editing tools, a Smart Mirroring feature for secure screen-sharing that conceals notifications, and a password-protected “hidden photos” option. The new OS also offers a mini hang-up window for quick access, even during gaming, and a gaming mode window for an optimized gaming experience. This mode comes with battery saver, balanced, and monster options, the latter of which boosts clock speed and assigns more RAM to the game.
iQOO 12: Camera
The iQOO 12 features an impressive and diverse camera setup. It offers a triple rear camera, which comprises of a 50MP Astrography camera and a 50MP wide-angle camera, promising spectacular captures. It also includes a 64MP 3X Periscope Telephoto Camera that provides an expansive zoom range (up to 100X). The phone also showcases a 16MP front camera for splendid selfies.
The primary rear cameras deliver breathtaking photos, particularly in well-lit conditions. The images display deep depth and vibrancy, with pleasing contrast and saturated colors. Particularly, the green, red, and blue tones are captured distinctively. And also lets you edit the bokeh effect after taking photos in portrait mode.
Although compact, the 16MP front camera delivers high-quality selfies filled with detail, without any distortion or unwanted artificial enhancements. It operates efficiently in Portrait mode, with only rare instances of misjudgments with complex backgrounds.
The addition of the 50MP Astrography Camera and the 50MP wide-angle camera improves the iQOO 12’s photographic capabilities, enabling it to capture crisply detailed wide shots, whether it be expansive landscapes or large group photos.
The iQOO 12’s 64MP 3X Periscope Telephoto Camera is also surprising, delivering crisp images with impressive color accuracy, irrespective of the zoom level. It complements the Astrography and wide-angle cameras perfectly, enhancing the phone’s versatility.
The iQOO 12 provides an abundance of modes like Scene Mode Snapshot, Night, Portrait, Photo, Video, High resolution, Pano, Ultra HD Document, Slo-mo, Time-lapse, Long Exposure, Supermoon, Astro, Tilt-shift, and Pro. Whatever the scenario, this phone has you covered.
The Experience Phone’s image stabilization feature is prominent, with both Optical and Electronic Image Stabilization (OIS +EIS) working together to yield stable, tremor-free images. This feature plays a major role in video mode, resulting in jerk-free and smooth videos even at 4K/60fps.
In conclusion, the iQOO 12 offers a remarkable camera experience that surpasses several other devices in the same category. Whether capturing daytime or nighttime scenes, stunning portraits or sweeping landscapes, still shots or videos, the iQOO 12’s camera setup can be trusted to capture them with pinpoint accuracy and delightful charm.
iQOO 12: Network & Connectivity
The iQOO 12 performs exceptionally well in terms of network and connectivity. My experience utilizing it with my Jio SIM has been flawless. Indeed, this device’s network reception surpasses that of my standard iPhone 12. With the iQOO 12, one can expect superior 5G connectivity in most places, as shown by the ~1Gbps download speed I enjoyed at our office using Jio network.
Additionally, the iQOO 12 is equipped with Wi-Fi 7 support and efficiently operates on both 2.4G and 5G bands. Regarding Bluetooth functionality, the device doesn’t let down either with its cutting-edge Bluetooth 5.4 support. I’ve used many Bluetooth earphones, like the Airpods Pro (which I use daily), Oppo Enco M32, and Sony’s XM4, with this phone successfully, without any connectivity issues or hiccups while listening to music or on a call.
However, one consistent problem I encountered was the device failing to pick up any sound during calls whenever it was connected to my car’s Bluetooth stereo system. This might be a software bug though, which could possibly be solved with a future update.
iQOO 12: Battery and Charging
The iQOO 12 includes a 5,000 mAh graphite battery. During my examination, it lasted approximately 8.5 hours with moderate use such as scrolling through social media, streaming videos on YouTube and Netflix, and taking photos. From my experience, the iQOO 12 can effortlessly last for a full day even under heavy usage.
When it comes to charging, the iQOO 12 comes with a 120W fast charging feature, which is noticeably quicker compared to other Android phones currently available. It manages to fully recharge the device from zero to 100 percent within just 30 minutes. Additionally, it includes a feature to prevent the battery from overheating during rapid charging.
iQOO 12: Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 144Hz Display | The front camera could be better |
| Best in class Performance | Added bloatware |
| Stable OS | |
| Good camera performance | |
| Very fast charging |
Conclusion
The iQOO 12 is a performance beast as I have experienced and it is visible from the benchmarks as well. This paired with a 144Hz display, can beat most of the flagship Android phones easily. A good and stable OS with fast charging makes it the perfect premium daily driver.