iQOO launched the iQOO 15R smartphone in India in the iQOO 15 series earlier this week. This has a smaller screen, retains the premium metal frame from the iQOO 16, is powered by the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 SoC, and manages to pack a huge 7600mAh battery. Is this the best phone in the sub-50K price range? Let us dive into the review to find out.
| Box Contents |
| Camera |
| Battery Life |
| Conclusion |
Box Contents
- iQOO 15R 12GB + 512GB in Dark Knight colour
- Clear Silicon case
- USB Type-C Cable
- 100W Super FlashCharge wall adapter
- SIM ejector tool
- Quick start guide and Warranty information
Display, Hardware and Design
The iQOO 15R sports a 6.59-inch (2750×1260 pixels) 1.5K 19.64:9 aspect ratio LTPS AMOLED display with 144Hz refresh rate. The sunlight legibility is good, and it has up to 5000 nits peak brightness. The colour output good as well since it has 1.07 billion colors.
You can select between 1080p and 1.5K display options. The 144Hz refresh rate, 360Hz touch sampling rate and 3200Hz instant touch sampling rate offer 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 144Hz, but it can switch between 60Hz, 90Hz, 120Hz and 144Hz depending on the content. Visual enhancement optimizes the color and contrast of some pictures for more vivid display effects, says the company.
There is also MEMC and super resolution for improved frame rate and resolution in some apps like YouTube, Netflix and Prime video. There is 4320Hz PWM Dimming that is automatically activated when you are using the phone in low brightness. It also has DC-Like Dimming. The screen has SCHOTT Diamond Shield glass protection. It also has HDR 10+ support, which works for YouTube, and Netflix.
The phone has a 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 around and below the screen. The haptic feedback is good.
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, so you just see the antenna band. The dual SIM slot, primary microphone, USB Type-C port, and loudspeaker grill are present on the bottom, and the secondary microphone is present on the top along with the speaker vent. The IR blaster is present on the back, near the flash.
It has a metal frame with a matte finish, so it doesn’t attract fingerprints easily. It weighs 202 grams, which is less than the iQOO 15 even with a bigger 7600mAh battery. The weight distribution is good.
The Dark Knight version that we have has a fiberglass back with a matte finish so that it doesn’t slip out of your hands easily. It also comes in an India-exclusive Triumph Silver color that has tiny patterns on the glass back that look attractive, but it is slightly heavier at 206g.
It has IP68 + IP69 ratings and can stand when immersed in up to 1 meter of water or when exposed to high-pressure water jets for 30 seconds. There is also wet finger screen control enabling calling, shooting, and gaming with a wet or sweaty hand.
Camera
- 50MP rear camera with 1/1.56″ Sony LYT-700V sensor, f/1.88 aperture, OIS
- 8MP ultra-wide angle lens with f/2.2 aperture
- 32MP front-facing camera with f/2.45 aperture
The camera UI is the same as other phones running Origin OS. It includes several features such as AR stickers, Pro Sports mode, long exposure, 50MP mode, supermoon, fisheye, and more. There is also Landscape and Night mode and street photography features with a custom UI. 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.
Daylight shots came out well, and the dynamic range is better with auto HDR. Coming to the camera quality, the daylight shots are brilliant, thanks to VCS and vivo’s algorithm. It is recommended to enable the HDR option, which automatically switches on HDR according to the shot, so that the dynamic range is good. The camera can focus quickly.
Zoom is decent, but not the best, mainly due to the lack of a telephoto sensor. Up to 10X looks good, but you lose details when you zoom further. Ultra-wide shots with the 8MP camera is decent. Low light shots are good with a lot of details and less noise. The night mode is useful, but it takes a few seconds to process.
The 32MP front camera is good in daylight, and the portrait is decent as well, but low light needs improvements.
Check out some camera samples below
It can record videos at 4k resolution at up to 60 fps from the main rear camera and the 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. There is no HDR video recording, but there is portrait video, but it is limited to 1080p 30fps.
Software, UI and Apps
Coming to the software, the phone runs on Android 16 with Origin OS 6 on top, making it the first phone in the country to run OriginOS 6 out of the box. It recently got the Android security patch for February 2026. The iQOO 15R will get 4 Android OS updates and 6 years of security updates for the first time.
OriginOS 6 centers around the new Origin Smooth Engine, coordinating computing, storage, and display modules for sustained system responsiveness. The Origin Animation System introduces motion effects such as Spring Animation, Blur Transition, Morphing Animation, and One Shot Animation for enhanced visual fluidity, inspired by natural elements.
There are Dynamic Glow and Translucent Color effects for visual depth, Immersive Weather offering animated environmental visuals, Lock Screen Grid for flexible widget arrangement and photo blending, and a new 4×7 Home Screen Grid with adaptive folders and Flip Cards that animate with device motion.
- Origin Island: Real-time status bar with Android 16 Live Updates
- Copy & Go: Copy details to call, text, or schedule directly
- Drag & Go: Move photos or content seamlessly between apps
- AI Retouch: Combines AI Erase, Image Expander, and Photo Enhance
- Productivity Tools: Smart Call Assistant, DocMaster, AI Creation, AI Search
- Cross-Device Integration: Office Kit for Windows and Mac and One-Tap Transfer for iQOO and iPhone offer smooth workflow
Out of 12GB of LPDDR5X Ultra 9600Mbps RAM, about 10.88GB is usable, out of which 6GB is free when the default apps are running in the background. There is an additional 12GB RAM expansion feature. Out of 512GB of UFS 4.1 storage, 456.16GB is free out of the box.
Since the phone has an IR blaster, 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 Facebook, PhonePe, Netflix, Instagram, and LinkedIn. These apps can be uninstalled, but they come back after a reset.
Fingerprint sensor and Face unlock
The phone uses a 3D ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor, which is quicker and more accurate compared to the optical fingerprint scanner. 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 crisp and loud. 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 in YouTube, and Netflix has HDR 10+.
Dual SIM and Connectivity
It has the usual set of connectivity features, such as 5G with support for n1/n3/n5/n7/n8/n18/n20/n26/n28A/n28B/n38/n40/n41/n48/n75/n71/n77/n78 bands, and supports Airtel and Jio 5G out of the box. There is no eSIM support. There is also dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 7 802.11be (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz), Bluetooth 6.0, GPS + GLONASS and NFC support. It also has USB OTG support, and it has USB 2.0. We did not face any call drops, and the earpiece volume is good.
The stock dialer adds smart summary and AI call translation. There is also call recording without announcement. It uses Google Messages.
The iQOO 15R’s body SAR is 0.98W/Kg and head SAR is at 1.01/Kg which is almost similar to the iQOO 15, under the limit in India, which is 1.6 W/kg (over 1 g).
Performance and Benchmarks
This is one of the first phones to be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 platform. It also integrates the OP Gaming Core out of the box. It has a 2 + 6 all-big core architecture that uses 2 x Oryon Prime CPU at up to 3.8GHz, 6 x Oryon Performance CPUs at up to 3.32GHz. The chip is fabricated using the TSMC 3nm process technology. It promises a 36% improvement in overall performance compared to its predecessor.
The phone has 6500 mm² ultra-large vapor chamber for IceCore VC cooling. There is also Dual-Layer Graphite Sheet, 2000 W/m.K Thermal Conductivity and over 14000 mm² thermal conductivity area. The phone has a Q2 self-developed chip that offers both 1.5K super resolution and a 144 fps super frame rate using game frame interpolation concurrently. It also has live streaming that was first introduced in the iQOO 15, and the company has developed a game live-streaming assistant that requires no specialized hardware or software; users can simply download a tool on a laptop or desktop and connect with the app on their phone.
We did not face any issues or frame drops in the graphic-intensive games like COD, BGMI, and Genshin Impact, thanks to the new Adreno 829 GPU. The Super Computing chip helps to achieve ultra-low latency even with the high frame rate games. HDR Ultra works in BGMI.
In 3D Mark wild life stress test, it scored 66%, and the temperature shot up from 32 to 44 degrees. The stability is better, and the temperature has increased compared to the iQOO 15, and this is on par with the OnePlus 15R that uses the same chip. Check out the benchmark scores below.
Battery life
Coming to the battery life, the phone packs a 7600mAh (typical) Silicon-Carbon battery, which is 600mAh bigger than the iQOO 15, even though this is smaller. It can easily last for more than a day even with heavy use, thanks to the optimization.
I got over 6 half hours of screen-on time with about 2 days of use, mostly on Wi-Fi, and occasional 5G use with a smart refresh rate and heavy use for the last day with the 5G hotspot on for several hours. This is slightly better than the iQOO 15, thanks to the optimization and a bigger battery.
Since the phone has support for 100W fast charging, it can charge up to 50% in about 25 minutes and up to 100% in about 50 minutes. You will have to enable the fast charging option or high-speed charging 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. However, there is no wireless charging.
Conclusion
The iQOO 15R strikes the perfect fit between flagship performance and sleek ergonomics, setting a new performance benchmark for smartphones in the range. By bringing the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 to the sub-45K segment, iQOO has set a massive performance benchmark for 2026. The most impressive feat, however, is the engineering required to fit a gargantuan 7600mAh battery into a 202g body that actually feels lighter and more ergonomic compared to the competitors.
While it makes small concessions—specifically the lack of an LTPO panel and a secondary telephoto lens—it compensates with a brilliant 1.5K 144Hz display, a highly durable IP68/IP69 build, and an incredibly smooth software experience via Origin OS 6. The 100W charging ensures that even with such a massive cell, you aren’t tethered to a wall for long.
If you are a heavy user, a gamer, or someone who simply never wants to worry about battery life again, the iQOO 15R is arguably the best value-for-money phone in the price range currently available in India.
Pricing and availability
The iQOO 15R is priced at Rs. 44,999 for the 8GB + 256GB model, the 12GB + 256GB model costs Rs. 47,999, and the top-end 12GB + 512GB model costs Rs. 52,999.
The phone will be available from Amazon.in, iQOO.com, and offline stores, starting from March 3rd for everyone and from March 2nd for those who had pre-booked the phone.
Alternatives
The OnePlus 15R is the direct competitor at the same cost, but the phone is expected to a price hike. If you spend more, there is OnePlus 13s with a faster chip in a more compact design.
Pros
- 144Hz 1.5K AMOLED display is brilliant
- Smooth performance and good gaming performance
- Decent cameras
- Solid build with IP68 + IP69 ratings
- Excellent battery life with 100W fast charging
Cons
- No LTPO display
- Front camera could have been better