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iQOO 15 uses the latest hardware, sees improvement in the cameras, and even offers better durability against water. But is it worth the premium?
iQOO 15 is the latest to power the new flagship chipset and other solid additions.
iQOO is moving up the flagship ladder this year and the iQOO 15 shows the company has big aspirations and the product is looking to compete with the best in the business. The new iQOO flagship takes the latest available hardware, improves on its design to some extent and manages to pack upgraded cameras too.
But all this comes at a steep cost compared to its predecessor, iQOO 13 in the market. Now, the question is, since none of the recent phone launches have excited with their price tags, does iQOO 15 also fit itself into that group? That’s what we have been exploring with the device over the last few weeks and here’s the review.
Same-ish Design With Some Refinements
iQOO 15 looks pretty much like the 13 but when you see it closer, the changes are subtle but adds more refinement to the whole device. The new iQOO phone has the matte glass finish with aluminium frame which brings further solidity and better grip in the hand.
The panel at the back in the Legend variant is smooth which also makes it slightly slippery but nothing that’s bad. It gets both IP68 and IP69 ratings which gives it higher ability to withstand water jets and immersion also.
The screen ratio is also not very wide so holding it felt quite easy and comfortable. Yes, the 210+ grams weight is nicely distributed but you tend to feel the heft after a while which was hard to avoid with a large battery on board.
The squircle camera layout nicely blends with the panel and you also have the Halo lights for notifications in different colours.
The Screen Upgrade
iQOO 15 uses an upgraded 2K resolution AMOLED display with 1B colours and 144Hz refresh rate with claimed 6,000 nits of peak brightness. It also supports Dolby Vision and HDR 10+ but the main thing is that the screen is bright enough to use outdoors, and the panel offers punchy and crisp colours with deep blacks in focus for a pleasant viewing.
The size of the bezels remain sleek which gives you more screen estate and with a 6.85-inch display that’s the least you can expect. The screen gets a decent level of protection and during our time we didn’t notice a lot of damage or scratches which bodes well.
Premium Performance?
iQOO 15 once again uses the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset with up to 16GB RAM ( further 16GB RAM virtually available) and 512GB storage. The hardware setup should usually become the backbone of the device but it seems to throttle under heavy load, and that’s when you notice the phone getting hotter than usual.
The gaming performance is generally reliable but you see the change in benchmark scores that doesn’t match with the actual levels in such cases. Is that a concern, not really, and this is not linked to iQOO doing anything but more about the hardware in use.
Enter OriginOS
Vivo and iQOO are finally using OriginOS for their phones in the Indian market. This means the end of Funtouch OS which was good but not at the level where these two brands aspire to reach. The software experience has been lacking with the older version and the early signs with OriginOS are promising.
This is more refined in terms of the fluidity and the features are more enhanced. It is not the direct replica of the Chinese ROM but Vivo and iQOO and doing a lot of work behind the scenes to get the Indian version at that level which could take some time.
The whole interface is refreshing, more polished and even though some quirks remain, it is a good start that can only get better. Having said that, the bloatware is hard to ignore even though you can delete them, but a premium device should be offered with a clean slate.
The other important change is that you get 5 OS upgrades promised along with 7 years of security updates, which is as close to Google and Samsung we have seen any of these brands come in recent years. And getting Android 16 out of the box means you are guaranteed to have the iQOO 15 running with Android 21 when it comes out in the market.
Upping The Camera Ante
iQOO 15 has been offered a triple 50MP camera system which now has a wide sensor with OIS, a new telephoto lens with OIS and an ultrawide angle lens. The first two are the main highlights on the device, especially the quality of the telephoto lens which is probably the best we’ve seen from iQOO. The main camera also does well with natural tones and dynamic range but the skin tones and details are still missing.
The portraits have a lot more depth and the versatility of the lens allows you to try in different ranges. This is the best we have seen an iQOO flagship phone perform and there is still a lot that can be done to make it better. However, the ultrawide lens flatters to deceive and some of the details are not clear. The selfie camera gives you the right colours and tone but there are instances where the skin details are sketchy.
Just Keeps Going On
iQOO 15 packs a 7,000mAh silicon carbon grade battery which allows the phone to come with a frame of around 8.1mm. This unit supports 100W wired and 40W wireless charging, which is the flagship standard these days. The PCMark Battery score of the iQOO 15 was around 30 hours which is one of the best we’ve got in recent months.
This phone can easily last for over a day and a half and moderate users can get around 2 days if they really push the limit.
The charging speed is good enough to get you fueled up in an hour that most people would be fine with for a battery of this size. The adapter is offered in the box so you don’t need to spend extra for a charger.
iQOO 15 has some solid upgrades that make it a compelling option, not at least because of the flagship chipset. The cameras have improved, the new software does show its value in the overall experience and the battery just keeps on going. However, the premium you pay for these additions could make it a challenge for buyers, especially when you have more options out there in the market.
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December 11, 2025, 09:27 IST
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