iQOO 15 with Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Launched in China

iQOO has finally launched its next flagship phone, the iQOO 15 in China. The device was unveiled at a dedicated launch event and is the first phone from the brand to feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset and OriginOS 6. Here is everything new with the smartphone.

iQOO 15 brings familiar looks with "Elite" upgrades

The all-new iQOO 15 has not brought a drastic change when it comes to the design. It retains almost the same look as that of the iQOO 13 with the squircle camera deco, rounded edges and a flat profile. However, iQOO has refined the already premium look further.

For instance, the aluminium mid-frame is now brushed instead of the polished look that the iQOO 13 featured. This will definitely help the phone keep fingerprints and smudges away. Moreover, it is as thin as its predecessor at 8.1mm and heavier at 215 grams (iQOO 13 weighs 207 grams).

Under the hood, the iQOO 15 is powered by the latest and greatest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 alongside up to 24 GB of LPDDR5x Ultra RAM and up to 1 TB of UFS 4.1 storage. The 8 Elite Gen 5 is a 3nm octa-core processor based on Qualcomm's latest Nuvia Oryon 3^rd generation cores that bring a whopping 40% performance jump.

The SoC is paired with the all-new iQOO Q3 gaming chip which the brand says can deliver 2K Super Resolution and 144 FPS Super Frame Rate with QNSS support in games like Genshen Impact, Call of Duty, PUBG, Fortnite Mobile and more.

Complementing this performance jump is iQOO 15's 7,500 mm² vapour chamber cooling module. The brand claims a 26% jump in heat difference and 10% better heat dissipation than the iQOO 13.

On top of it, the smartphone is the first iQOO device to ship with the latest OriginOS 6 update out of the box. The Android 16-based OS skin brings a new transparent UI with translucent textures and elements, a new Blue River Smooth Engine for fluid animations, updated Atomic Island, notification and widgets stacking, cross-ecosystem connectivity and more.

There are also a bunch of new AI tools like Object Eraser in Live Photos, a new AI image editor, AI voice prompts, Circle to Search 2.0 and more.

At the front, the iQOO 15 maintains its flagship stature with an equally impressive display panel. It is the first smartphone in the world to bring Samsung's M14 ultra-luminous 2K Everest OLED panel on a smartphone.

The display also makes use of the LEAD (non-polarised OLED) technology to achieve 6,000 nits of peak brightness, 100% DCI-P3 coverage, Dolby Vision playback support and more. iQOO has equipped the 15 with a 6.85-inch 2K 144 Hz flat LTPO OLED panel, which can go as dim as 1 nit of brightness.

Moving on, talking about the iQOO 15's cameras, the smartphone retains the triple camera setup from the iQOO 13. However, the overall optics have been upgraded to match the smartphone's elite title.

It now features a 50 MP Sony primary rear "ultra-shake" camera, a 50 MP ultrawide and another 50 MP Sony periscope telephoto camera. At the front, there's a 32 MP shooter for selfies.

Battery-wise, there is a direct 1,000mAh jump with the iQOO 15. It now features a 7,000mAh cell, compared to 6,000mAh inside the last-gen model. On the charging front however, it now supports only 100W fast USB-C charging compared to 120W on the 13. The smartphone misses out on wireless charging support.

Lastly, iQOO adds an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner to the 15, alongside a stereo speaker setup, dual IP68 + IP69 rating, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, NFC, an Infrared port, GPS, dual SIM 5G and a USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 port.

Coming to the pricing, iQOO 15 has launched in China starting from 4,199 Chinese Yuan (approximately Rs 51,500) for the 12 GB + 256 GB model. As for the colour options, interested folks will be able to score the iQOO 15 in the Soaring Cloud Edition, Legend Edition, Wilderness Edition and Track Edition options.