iQOO launched its Z11 5G smartphone in India last week as the successor to last year’s Z10. This has a better curved AMOLED display, faster Dimensity 7500 SoC, and a huge 7050mAh battery. The design has also changed. Is this a good mid-range smartphone in this market? Let us dive into the review to find out.
| Box Contents |
| Display, Hardware and Design |
| Camera |
| Software, UI and Apps |
| Fingerprint sensor |
| Music player and Multimedia |
| SIM and Connectivity |
| Performance and Benchmarks |
| Battery Life |
| Conclusion |
Box Contents
- iQOO Z11 5G 12GB + 256GB in Aurora Green color
- 44W charger
- USB Type-A to Type-C cable
- Clear protective case
- SIM ejector tool
- User guide and warranty information
Display, Hardware and Design
The iQOO Z11 sports a 6.83-inch (2800 × 1260 pixels) 1.5K quad-curved AMOLED display with 144Hz refresh rate. The screen has up to 5000 nits peak brightness and 2000 nits HBM. The color output is good as well since it has 1.07 billion colors.
The 144Hz refresh rate offers a smooth user experience, especially when you are scrolling through the UI and when gaming. You can select from standard (default), professional, and bright screen color modes. You can select smart switch or force it to 60Hz or 144Hz.
Visual enhancement optimizes the color and contrast of some pictures for more vivid display effects, says the company. There is 2,160 PWM Dimming that is automatically activated when you are using the phone in low brightness. The screen has SCHOTT Xensation Up glass protection.
The phone has a 32MP front camera inside the punch-hole. There is an earpiece on the top edge that doubles up as a secondary speaker, a feature the Z10 lacked. You can see ultra-narrow bezels on the sides. The haptic feedback is decent.
Coming to the button placements and ports, the power button and the volume rockers are on the right; the dual SIM slot is present on the bottom along with the USB Type-C port and the speaker vent. The secondary microphone, speaker vent, and IR blaster are rare on the top.
The phone has a plastic frame but comes with a matte finish so it doesn’t attract fingerprints. It weighs 199 grams and is just 7.99mm thick even though it packs a huge 7050mAh battery. The weight distribution is good.
The Aurora green that we have is inspired by the northern lights and has a hint of blue color when light falls on the back. It also comes in the celestial blue color with hints of the midnight blue sky.
Compared to IP65 ratings in the Z10, this has IP68 and IP69 ratings for dust and water resistance. It also has Military-Grade Durability.
Camera
- 50MP main camera with 1/1.95″ Sony IMX882 sensor, f/1.8 aperture, OIS
- 8MP ultra-wide camera with f/2.2 aperture
- 32MP front camera with f/2.0 aperture
The camera UI in the Origin OS 6 is familiar. There is a 50MP mode, Panorama, Documents, Slo-mo, Time-lapse, Pro mode and live photo. The rear camera offers 12.5MP output after pixel binning, and the front camera images are 32MP in size.
Coming to the camera quality, the daylight shots are good, and it is recommended to enable HDR option, which automatically switches on HDR according to the shot, so that the dynamic range is good. The camera can focus quickly. The portrait mode has decent edge detection.
Low-light images are decent as well, but there is noise when you zoom in. The night mode is useful, thanks to the optimization. There is also supermoon mode with up to 20x zoom, compared to 10x in the normal mode. The supermoon option is a good addition, but you can’t compare it to flagships.
The 32MP camera does well in daylight, and the front camera portrait is decent as well, but it is not the best when it comes to low-light.
Check out some camera samples below.
It can record videos at 4k resolution at up to 30 fps from the rear and front camera. It has standard and ultra stabilization, but the resolution is down to 1080p in the ultra option since it crops the content. OIS does a good job in stabilization. It doesn’t have portrait video recording.
Software, UI and Apps
Coming to the software, the phone runs on Android 16 with Origin OS 6 on top. It recently got the Android security patch for August 2026. The iQOO Z11 will get 3 Android OS updates and 5 years of security updates, which is better than older Z series phones.
The iQOO Z11 emphasizes artificial intelligence tools designed to assist users in educational and daily organizational environments. Key highlighted capabilities include:
- AI-Powered Transcription & Summarization: Designed to record and automatically transcribe audio, generating structured summaries to assist students during lectures and study sessions.
- Content Creation & Organization: Integrated software utilities aimed at simplifying note-taking, document generation, and digital file management.
- Enhanced Multitasking: Optimized software algorithms intended to streamline app switching and resource management for heavy daily use.
There is AI eraser and image cutouts, AI Super Document, AI Circle to Search, and AI Note assist. Live wallpapers are now seamless, and there is also customized call background. There is Link to Windows that enhances collaboration between your vivo device and PC.
Out of 12GB of LPDDR4X RAM, about 11.25GB is usable, out of which 7GB is free when the default apps are running in the background. There is an additional 12GB RAM expansion feature. Out of 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage, 223.74GB is free out of the box.
Since the phone has an IR blaster on the back near the camera deco, it comes with a Smart Remote app. Apart from the usual set of utility and Google apps, it comes preloaded with a lot of apps such as Netflix, Instagram, Facebook, Truecaller, Agoda, LinkedIn, Spotify, and the Amazon app. These apps can be uninstalled, but they come back after a reset.
Fingerprint sensor and Face unlock
The phone has an optical in-display fingerprint sensor, which immediately unlocks the phone just by keeping your finger on the sensor. You can add up to 5 fingerprints. There are different animation styles that display when you unlock, which you can disable. The phone also has face unlock that can unlock the phone in seconds, but it is not as secure as fingerprint.
Music and Multimedia
The default music player also has an equalizer and DeepField sound effects. It doesn’t have FM radio support. There is audio super resolution and super audio features. Audio through the stereo speakers is pretty good, after the Z10 missed it. Audio through the headphones is good as well.
This has Widevine L1 so that you can play HD content on Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and other streaming apps. It also supports HDR playback on YouTube, and the company has also added HDR support for Netflix.
Dual SIM and Connectivity
It has the usual set of connectivity features, such as 5G with support for n1/n3/n5/n8/n28B/n38/n40/n41/n48/n66/n77/n78 bands, and supports Airtel and Jio 5G out of the box. There is also dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 6 802.11be (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz), Bluetooth 5.4, GPS + GLONASS, and it doesn’t have NFC support. It also has USB OTG support, and it has USB 2.0.
Moving on, the call quality is good, and we did not face any call drops and the earpiece volume was loud. It uses the company’s own dialer with auto call recording option and Google messages app.
The iQOO Z11’s body SAR is 0.9W/Kg and head SAR is at 1.15/Kg which is under the limit in IIndia,which is 1.6 W/kg (over 1 g).
Performance and Benchmarks
It is the first smartphone in India to be powered by MediaTek Dimensity 7500 Turbo 4nm processor. It is the first to integrate Arm’s latest C1 CPU cores. It has 4x Arm C1 Pro up to 2.6GHz and 4x Arm C1 Nano up to 2.0GHz.
There is Mali-G615 MC2 that has decent gaming performance. There is 3800mm² Vapor Chamber Cooling System to maintain performance stability under sustained loads. You can play graphic-intensive games like COD, BGMI and Genshin Impact, but you can’t expect sustained peak performance in high graphics mode. In BGMI HDR Extreme works.
In 3D Mark wild life stress test, it scored 98.8% which is good. The temperature increased from 25 to 36 degrees, which is decent. That said, check out some synthetic benchmark scores below.
Battery life
Coming to the battery life, the phone packs a 7050mAh (typical) silicon-carbon battery, which is actually less than the 7300mAh battery in the Z10. But it can still easily last for more than a day with heavy use, thanks to the optimization.
I got close to about 8 hours of screen on time with 2 days of use. This is mostly on Wi-Fi and occasional 5G use with Smart refresh rate. This is way better than other iQOO phones.
Since the phone has support for 44W fast charging, it can charge up to 50% in about 35 minutes and up to 100% in over an hour. You will have to enable the fast charging option if you want to reduce the charging time, but the phone gets a bit hot.
There is also a bypass charging feature when gaming, so the charging current bypasses the battery to go straight to the motherboard, so it doesn’t affect the battery. It also has 7.5W reverse charging that lets you charge other devices with the phone.
Conclusion
The iQOO Z11 5G emerges as a well-rounded contender in the upper mid-range segment, bringing notable upgrades over its predecessor. The standout highlights are undeniably its sharp 1.5K 144Hz quad-curved AMOLED display, rugged IP68/IP69 build quality, and exceptional battery endurance backed by a massive 7050mAh cell. The Dimensity 7500 Turbo handles daily tasks and moderate gaming smoothly while keeping thermal throttling strictly in check.
On the downside, low-light photography still has room for refinement, and the absence of NFC alongside a steep launch price on the higher memory trims might make buyers hesitate. However, if your priorities center around immersive media consumption, solid day-to-day performance, best-in-class ingress protection, and multi-day battery life, the iQOO Z11 5G makes a compelling case—especially with active launch discounts.
Pricing and availability
The iQOO Z11 is priced Rs. 34,999 for the 6GB + 128GB variant, Rs. 39,999 for the 8GB + 128GB variant, Rs. 44,999 for the 8GB + 256GB variant and the top-end 12GB + 256GB variant costs Rs. 49,999.
It is now available through Amazon.in, iQOO.com, and offline stores like Reliance Digital and vivo exclusive stores. As a part of launch offer that includes Up to Rs. 3000 instant discount with select bank cards and Rs. 1000 coupon discount, the effective starting price is Rs. 31,499.
Alternatives
The motorola edge 70 fusion in the similar price range is a good competition.
Pros
- 120Hz curved AMOLED display is brilliant
- Smooth performance
- Good main camera in daylight
- Eye-catching design, IP69 ratings
- Excellent battery life
Cons
- Average low-light camera performance
- The top-end variant has steep pricing