Among the releases of the major flagships, this year with their grand launches and marketing campaigns, a flagship entered the market silently it was Vivo’s subbrand iQOO that released its iQOO 12 in November 2023, with its 3 sleek designs the Legend (BMW White with Enamel glass), the Alpha (Black with AG Glass) and Desert (Red with Vegan Leather), and was the first most economical phone that had Qualcomm’s new chipset which is Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 starting at INR 50,999, with bank credit card discount. But is iQOO 12’s flagship status still intact or time for a new frontrunner, let’s find out.
Built & Design
The iQOO 12 has flat curves at the edges, it is a light-weight phone that is ergonomic, and it has an aluminum frame, the Legend variant feels slippery with its glossy back and the premium touch of the BMW M Motorsport logo, and the Alpha variant seems easy to hold with its matte finish, along with a camera bump that appears like a hatch from a spaceship which is prominent but not emerged, it is helpful in gaming and lastly it has a score of IP64 for dust prevention and light sprays of water, refrain from immersing it in the water.
Display
iQOO 12 possesses a screen size of 6.78 inches, with LTPO AMOLED, 1260 x 2800px resolution, and a refresh rate of 144 Hz, the screen appears sharp at 453 ppi, and it also supports HDR 10+ for video, and color accuracy can be achieved by controlling the color setting, it has an impressive brightness of 500 nits (manual) 1400 nits (auto mode), the refresh rate of 120Hz is generally optimized, 144Hz is utilized for gaming and certain apps, and 1Hz idling to save battery. The optical under-display fingerprint scanner is fast and precise, it would be better if it was ultrasonic for more precision and secured.
Camera and Photography review
There are 3 camera lenses in iQOO 12 50MP main lens with PDAF and Object Image Stabilization (OIS), 64 MP telephoto 3x zoom with PDAF and OIS, and 50MP (Ultrawide and F 2.0). The main camera photos are sharp with proper colors and a wide dynamic range. In low-light conditions, auto-mode is enabled and the pictures are captured with great details and balanced exposure. In night mode, the photos are slightly brighter.
Videos can be captured at 8k at 30 fps with proper stabilization and the level of detail is nice. The EIS works properly in 4k recording and handles normal jerks during the recording. The 4k recording from the main camera works fine too it captures proper details with punchy colors and is bright with a wide dynamic range.
The telephoto camera captures photos in 3x zoom, high level of detail and sharpness are observed. Dynamic range is great, nice color and reproduction natural bokeh are observed. The 10x zoom telephoto captures lossless pictures, noise is low.
The 4k at 30fps video consists of dynamic range, detail, and proper contrast. The ultrawide camera captures detail, sharpness, and covered dynamic range. The Ultrawide camera captures low-light photos by default in auto mode with great dynamic range and good exposure. The Ultrawide captured video at 4k 30fps, it was detailed and sharp, accurate. The 16 MP selfie has accurate colors and a wide dynamic range.
OS and Software Features
The phone comes with Android 14 with the layer Vivo’s Funtouch OS 14. The Funtouch OS is very customizable and you can assign different shortcuts of Apps or tasks to volume keys. The IR blaster in the iQOO 12 can help you control all the household smart electronic devices. The Ultra-game mode enables your phone to boost performance by increasing CPU and GPU processing frequency while consuming battery faster than normal mode.
The gaming overlay features help you customize gaming performance. The iQOO 12 is promised with 3 years of software updates and 4 years of software updates making it a good future-proof device.
Hardware Features
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset makes a great gaming device. The iQOO 12 ergonomics are good for holding the phone in landscape mode, it comes in handy when you’re doing a gaming marathon. The 6K Vapor chamber helps phone in thermal handling, which provides constant frames in gaming. The 144 Hz enabled refresh rate is good for smooth gaming.
For the audio, the iQOO 12 possesses 2 stereo speakers, and at the top frame both an earpiece and grill are installed, the loudness of the speakers is good but the overall quality feels not so premium with a mediocre base.
The Phone comes with 12 and 16 GB RAM with 256/512 GB storage in India with UFS 4.0.
Battery Life
The battery life is good in IQOO 12. With 5000 mAh capacity the battery backup of this device is good. It can provide enough juice for whole-day use with mixed usage of cameras, browsing, and scrolling social media. The iQOO 12 comes with a 120 W fast charger in the box which you now don’t find in any flagship devices. My charging experience with iQOO was 0 to 67% charge in 15 minutes and 100% in 27 minutes.
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| It has a top-notch design. | Pre-installed Bloatwares. |
| Improved cameras compared with its previous models. | Wireless charging is not supported. |
| Extended battery life. | Restricted worldwide availability. |
| Fast charging with 120W charger in the box provided. | Only IP64 water, dust resistance. IP68 missing. |
| Missing of AI integration and UI features. |
Conclusion
The Snapdragon 8 Generation 3 has plenty of benefits and gives flagship the number of raytracing better performance. The AI features are missing in the phone. This phone debuted in India as the cheapest Flagship with Snapdradon 8 Gen 3 priced at INR 50,999. The camera performance at few times show inconsistent delivery which may impact your photography. The missing of AI features makes the phone less competitive to current flagships. But it still gives Xiaomi 14 a edge in the price at INR 47,999. If you don’t care for AI features and wireless charging then its a steal deal and worth considering.
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