The IQOO Neo6 is an affordable flagship phone that majors on style
Vivo sub-brand blends gaming horsepower with sleek looks and a capable camera
Business casual, but for gaming. It’s a thing. Or at least IQOO wants to make it a thing, with its latest mid-range smartphone. The IQOO Neo6 is dressed to impress, but underneath the streamlined looks, beats the heart of a capable gaming handset. Rapid touch response, uprated cooling and a high refresh rate display should help it rival pricier alternatives for anyone that spends most of their phone time playing.
If you’ve not heard of IQOO before, it’s basically the final piece of the BBK Electronics puzzle that includes Oppo, OnePlus and Vivo. Think of it as Vivo’s affordable sub-brand, with some hardware and camera know-how from the big boys. And it’s pronounced “eye-koo”, don’tcha know.
As the Neo6 is a mid-range device we’re talking plastic construction, rather than glass or metal, but a few funky colour schemes and minimal branding give the Neo6 a more premium look.
Inside there’s a Snapdragon 870 CPU doing all the grunt work, along with either 8 or 12GB of RAM and 128 and 256GB of storage depending on how flush you’re feeling when you reach IQOO’s checkout page. It’s a mid-range chip with baked-in 5G support, and should be powerful enough for extended gaming sessions at the screen’s native resolution. The firm has also stepped up on the cooling with five layers of 3D graphite plates, so it shouldn’t get too toasty even after hours of play. It’s running Android 12, with parent co Vivo’s Funtouch OS sat on top.
No need to worry the 4700mAh battery won’t last as long as you can when it comes to marathon PUBG matchmaking, either. It’ll recharge at a rapid 80W, which is good for a 50% top-up in less than quarter of an hour.
IQOO has gone all out on the display front with a 6.62in AMOLED that promises a 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ support and a whopping 1300 nits peak brightness. We’re not talking LTPO tech here, so there’s no true variable refresh, but resolution is a sensible 2400×1080 so shouldn’t be too much of a power drain. It’ll register touch inputs at an almost ridiculous 1200Hz, too.
The Neo6 has a three-lens rear camera setup, headlined by a 64MP, f/1.89 main snapper with optical image stabilisation. It’s paired with an 8MP, f/2.2 wide-angle, and a 2MP, f/2.4 macro. We’ve yet to be truly impressed by one of these, but who knows – maybe IQOO has cracked it? There’s also a 16MP, f/2.0 selfie camera up front in a centred hole punch formation.
The IQOO Neo6 is heading to India first, with prices starting at ₹34,999 (about £350) for the 8GB RAM/128GB storage model, and rising to ₹39,999 (£400) for the 12GB/256GB version, direct from IQOO’s online store. There’s currently no word on if a European launch is on the horizon – IQOO historically doesn’t do business here, so Brits wanting to get their hands on one may need to look to import specialists instead.
Tom Morgan-Freelander
Deputy Editor 
