iQOO has launched its Z10R 5G smartphone in India, which the company says is not a successor to the Z9s, even though it looks like one. This has a large quad-curved AMOLED display, faster Dimensity 7400 SoC, and a bigger 5700mAh battery. Is this the best phone in the market in the under Rs. 20,000 price range? 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 Z10R 5G 12GB + 256GB version in Moonstone colour
- Clear Silicon case
- USB Type-C Cable
- 44W FlashCharge wall adapter
- SIM ejector tool
- Quick start guide and Warranty information
Display, Hardware and Design
The iQOO Z10R sports a 6.77-inch (2392 x 1080 pixels) FHD+ 19.9:9 aspect ratio quad-curved AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate. The screen has up to 1800 nits peak brightness and 1300 nits HBM. The colour output good as well since it has 1.07 billion colors.
The 120Hz 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 colour modes. You can select smart switch or force it to 60Hz or 120Hz.
Visual enhancement optimizes the color and contrast of some pictures for more vivid display effects, says the company. The screen has Diamond Shield Glass protection, and the company also mentions that is uses SCHOTT Xensation α glass.
The phone has a new 32MP front camera inside the punch-hole. There is an earpiece on the top edge which also works as a secondary speaker. You can see ultra-narrow bezels on the sides. The haptic feedback is decent.
Coming to the button placements and ports, the power button is present on the right side along with the volume rockers. There is nothing on the left side. The dual SIM slot, primary microphone, USB Type-C port and the loudspeaker grill are present on the bottom. The secondary microphone is present on the top. The phone has a plastic frame, and has a glossy finish, but it doesn’t attract fingerprints.
It weighs 183.5 grams, and the weight distribution is good. The Moonstone colour that we have has a refined, textured shade that transforms pure white into a luminous canvas shaped by nature’s mystery and subtle imperfections that make it truly unique, says the company.
It also comes in Aquamarine colour that is inspired by the shimmering waves of the ocean and the fluid grace of water, wrapping cutting-edge technology in a premium liquid-metallic blue. It has IP68 + IP69 ratings for dust and water resistance, which is a first for the company in the price range. The phone also comes with Military-grade durability (MIL-STD-810H).
Camera
- 50MP camera with Sony IMX882 sensor, f/1.79 aperture
- 2MP Galaxycore GC02M1 sensor with f/2.4 aperture
- 32MP front camera with Galaxycore GC32E1 sensor, f/2.45 aperture
The camera UI is the same as other phones running Funtouch OS. It includes several features such as AR stickers, long exposure, 50MP mode, supermoon, underwater mode and more. Even though the phone has a 50MP rear camera, the final output is 12.5MP in size after pixel binning, and the front camera output is 32MP.
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. Even though it doesn’t have a dedicated macro mode, 2x zoomed shots are good for macro since it can focus close.
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 new 32MP camera does a good in daylight, and the front camera portrait is decent as well, but it is not the best when it comes to low-light. The Aura light is good, but it is not that bright compared to standard LED flash.
Check out some camera samples below.
It can record videos at 4k resolution at up to 30 fps from the rear and front camera, which the older iQOO phones in the price range lacked. It has standard and ultra stabilization. OIS does a decent job in stabilization, but I don’t know how it will suit for vlogging as the company advertises. It doesn’t have HDR video recording or portrait video recording.
Software, UI and Apps
Coming to the software, the phone runs on Android 15 with Funtouch OS 15 on top. It has Android security patch for July 2025. The iQOO Z10R will get 2 Android OS updates and 3 years of security updates, similar to older Z series phones.
Funtouch OS 15 brings vivo’s Priority Scheduling model for 15% faster app startup time, has zRAM compression algorithm, resulting in a 40% boost in compression speed, vivo’s Origin Animation for a more natural and intuitive user experience. The Lightning-Speed Engine offers faster app launches, and Aqua Dynamic Effect adds a visually pleasing touch to system interactions.
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 11.19GB is usable, out of which 4.5GB is free when the default apps are running in the background. There is additional 12GB RAM expansion feature. Out of 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage, 221GB is free out of the box.
Apart from the usual set of utility and Google apps, it comes preloaded with a lot of apps such as Amazon, Facebook, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Netflix, Spotify and PhonePe. These apps can be uninstalled, but they come back after 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 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 and through the headphones are good.
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 Netflix.
Dual SIM and Connectivity
It has the usual set of connectivity features such as 5G with support for n1/n3/n5/n8/n28B/n40/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, but it lacks NFC support. It also has USB OTG support, and it has USB 2.0.
iQOO says that the phone has 360° antenna that reduces network blind spots, and adds signal bridge technology to significantly improve low-frequency signal strength We did not face any call drops and the earpiece volume is good. It has the company’s own dialer with option for auto call recording.
The iQOO Z10R’s body SAR is 0.891W/Kg and head SAR is at 0.989/Kg which is way under the limit in India which is 1.6 W/kg (over 1 g).
Performance and Benchmarks
It is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 7400 SoC. It has 4X Arm Cortex-A78 cores at up to 2.6GHz, paired with 4X Arm Cortex-A55 cores at 2GHz. This uses TSMC’s 4nm process. The phone has vapor chamber liquid cooling, but the company doesn’t reveal the size. There is also graphite material on the front and back of the device, the company added.
The new Arm Mali-G615 GPU does a good job in games. The Dimensity 7400 is a minor upgrade over the 7300. There is graphite cooling with 13690mm² total cooling area and there are 10 temperature sensors for intelligent cooling. You can play graphic-intensive games like COD, BGMI and Genshin Impact, but can’t expect sustained peak performance is high graphics mode. In BGMI HDR Extreme works.
In 3D Mark wild life stress test, it scored 99.4% which is good. The temperature increased from 23 to 35 degrees, which is not much. That said, check out some synthetic benchmark scores below.
Battery life
Coming to the battery life, the phone packs a 5700mAh battery that can easily last for more than a day with heavy use, thanks to the optimization.
I got close to 6 hours of screen on time with close to 2 and half days of use mostly on Wi-Fi, and occasional 5G use with Smart refresh rate, which is good.
Since the phone has support for 44W fast charging, it can charge up to 50% in about half an hour and up to 100% in over an hour. 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.
Conclusion
At a starting price of Rs. 19,499, the iQOO Z10R is a good option in the under Rs. 20,000 price range offering good screen, impressive battery life, IP68 + IP69 dust and water resistance ratings, and the main camera and the front cameras are decent in most cases. 4K recording for front camera is a good addition.
It doesn’t have an ultra-wide camera, which is not a big deal. Wish it had IR blaster which is present in some phones in the range. 44W fast charging is good, but full charge takes over an hour.
Pricing and availability
The iQOO Z10R is priced at Rs. 19,499 for the 8GB + 128GB model, 8GB + 256GB model costs Rs. 21,499 and the top-end 12GB + 256GB model costs Rs. 23,499. With the Rs. 2000 bank offer, the effective starting price is Rs. 17,499.
It will be available through Amazon.in and iQOO eStore starting from July 29th.
Alternatives
The realme P3 Pro 5G in the price range is a good alternative with faster performance, a better main camera, slightly bigger battery and fast charging. POCO X7 5G is also a good, cheaper option. If you spend a big more there is iQOO Z10 with a bigger battery, and faster charging, but it also doesn’t have an ultra-wide camera, and lacks stereo speakers.
Pros
- 120Hz curved AMOLED display is good
- Smooth performance
- Main camera is good in daylight
- IP68 + IP69 ratings
- Excellent battery life
Cons
- No ultra-wide camera
- A lot of preloaded apps