iQOO 13 Review: Redefining Flagship Value

iQOO, a sub-brand of Vivo, is thought for making telephones which might be performance-focused and worth for cash. After the success of the iQOO 12 from final 12 months, the model is now again with one other flagship, which, on paper, looks like one other efficiency monster. The iQOO 13 is the newest telephone from the model, and it is one of many first telephones to launch in India with the Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC. Aside from utilizing the top-of-the-line flagship processor from Qualcomm, the 13 additionally brings a brand new show, bigger battery, and barely up to date design.

The iQOO 13 is now barely costlier than the outgoing mannequin, beginning at Rs. 54,999 for the bottom variant with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage and Rs. 59,999 for the 16GB 512GB choice. On this overview, we will inform you if it is price the additional money.

iQOO 13 Design: Premium and classy

• Dimensions – 163.37×76.71×8.13mm
• Weight – 213g
• Colors – Nardo Gray and Legend

The iQOO 13 is a handsome rectangular slab that, regardless of its dimension, would not really feel huge in hand. Whereas it appears similar to final 12 months’s iQOO 12 (Review), there are some modifications. The telephone will get a matte/satin end glass rear panel with chamfered sides and a flat aluminium body with curved, rounded edges. The rear panel is slippery, however the shiny body supplies a considerably safe grip. You do get a transparent grippy case within the bo, although. The body has a metallic end to it and gathers fingerprints, however the rear panel on our Legend variant retains the fingerprints and smudges away. The Nardo Gray choice is, sadly, a fingerprint magnet.

The rear panel has a matte end

iQOO exhibits off its partnership with BMW M Motorsport on the Legend variant in a really refined method. The rear panel is usually plain, with simply the iQOO brand on the backside and the BMW M badge. The white model, aka Legend, appears and feels elegant. The eye to element is superb.

The telephone is simply 8.1mm thick, however the rear digicam module does protrude out. The module now has an RGB LED strip referred to as ‘Monster Halo’. You should use the strip as a notification mild or whereas gaming. It is not very brilliant, but it surely does the job of notifying you.

You should use the LED strip across the digicam island as a notification mild

iQOO 13 now comes with an IP ranking. It will get IP68/IP69 ingress safety in opposition to mud and water. We eliminated the SIM tray and located that it makes use of a rubber seal. The telephone homes its energy and quantity buttons on the proper body. You will discover the SIM tray, USB Kind-C port, and a loudspeaker on the backside, together with a microphone. The highest homes the second loudspeaker and one other microphone. The telephone additionally has an IR blaster contained in the rear digicam module and NFC assist.

iQOO 13 Show: Huge, brilliant, and the whole lot proper

• Measurement – 6.82-inch, 2K decision
• Kind – Q10 AMOLED, 144Hz refresh charge, 300Hz contact sampling charge
• Safety – Schott Xensation Alpha

The show on the iQOO 13 is a pleasant improve over the iQOO 12, primarily in a single key space – brightness. You continue to get an 8T LTPO AMOLED panel with a 144Hz refresh charge and 2K decision, however the brightness has been boosted to 1,800 nits HBM (excessive brightness mode) and 4,500 nits peak brightness. This equates to raised outside visibility, even underneath a brilliant solar. The show dimension can also be barely larger – 6.82-inch in comparison with 6.78-inch on the 12. The bezels are slim and uniform throughout, and also you get a centred hole-punch digicam cutout on the prime. The panel additionally presents a 300Hz contact sampling charge.

The show is brilliant outside and presents good viewing angles

Different show options are principally much like final 12 months and embody 10-bit color, HDR10 assist, and Widevine L1 for HD streaming. You get three refresh charge modes – Sensible Swap (Auto), Commonplace (60Hz), and Excessive (144Hz). The telephone additionally helps you to swap between full-HD and QHD decision. As for the colors, you’ll be able to select between Commonplace, Skilled, Brilliant, or Adaptive color. The show is superb for gaming and watching movies with good color output. It additionally presents a number of eye safety options and will get two TUV certifications.

You will discover a new and improved ultrasonic fingerprint scanner on the iQOO 13, a step up from the usual optical unit discovered on the 12. The scanner was quick and correct all through the overview interval. It was additionally positioned at a snug peak from the underside of the show.

iQOO 13 Software program: Loads of customisation and a few AI

• OS – Android 15
• UI – Funtouch OS 15
• Newest safety patch – 1 October 2024

The iQOO 13 runs the newest Funtouch OS 15, based mostly on Android 15. iQOO has promised 4 years of OS updates and 5 years of safety patches. The telephone presents a principally clear software program expertise other than just a few preinstalled apps and video games. Fortunately, all of this may be uninstalled. There’s not a number of bloatware on the telephone, however there’s additionally not a number of AI options on the machine, particularly when your complete smartphone trade is after AI. IQOO will seemingly begin bringing new AI options with future software program updates.

The telephone will get updates till Android 19

For now, you get AI erase and AI enhancement instruments within the Gallery app, which do proper by their identify. The AI erase helps you to take away objects, folks, and distractions from a picture, and it carried out fairly nicely after we tried it. The AI enhancement device, in the meantime, tries to eliminate blur from photos and likewise did an honest job in our testing. Aside from this, you get Google’s Circle to Search, Stay Transcribe, and a Dynamic Gentle function to regulate the LED array on the again.

iQOO 13 Efficiency: Like a BMW M4, it’s unimaginable

• Processor – Snapdragon 8 Elite
• RAM – 12/16GB LPDDR5x
• Storage – 256/512GB UFS 4.1
• GPU – Adreno 830

iQOO has at all times gone after efficiency figures and delivering an excellent easy gaming expertise on its quantity collection, which continues with the 13. The iQOO 13 can run any recreation you throw at it, and it could actually run the sport on the highest graphics settings potential. The brand new Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC is tremendous quick, and utilizing the telephone is like driving a BMW M4 or M2 Competitors. The chip contains a new core structure in comparison with final 12 months’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and makes use of customized Oryon cores that supply as much as 4.32GHz clock speeds. You additionally get a brand new Q2 supercomputing chip developed by iQOO that’s stated to enhance gaming efficiency whereas being environment friendly.

Gaming is tremendous enjoyable on the iQOO 13

If we speak numbers, the iQOO 13 performs rather well in all artificial benchmarks. It additionally scores larger than its solely present competitor out there, the Realme GT 7 Professional, in most assessments. In comparison with final 12 months’s 12, there are many enhancements.

In terms of real-world utilization, the telephone continues to carry out fantastically, and now we have by no means as soon as confronted any type of lag. Animations, app opening/loading, multi-tasking, and nearly each different activity are a chunk of cake for the iQOO 13.

As for gaming, the telephone is a straightforward advice. We ran a few video games, equivalent to BGMI and Genshin Impression, on the telephone. The latter ran easily on the Highest graphics setting and body charge. Even BGMI labored flawlessly when set to the utmost obtainable graphics choices.

By way of warmth, we had been additionally capable of run the video games for over two hours with out operating into any main points. Even a 3-hour gaming check did not decelerate the telephone regardless of the body getting sizzling to the contact. The telephone contains a 7,000 mm2 Vapor Chamber, which is what helps hold the warmth underneath management.

iQOO 13 presents twin stereo audio system, and the sound output is fairly good. The audio system get loud and provide some bass as nicely. The earpiece and microphone additionally carry out very nicely, and we did not face any points throughout voice calls. Haptics on the telephone present first rate suggestions, nothing out of the bizarre. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth efficiency can also be prime notch, and we did not face any connectivity points in the course of the overview.

iQOO 13 Cameras: Largely good

• Main – 50-megapixel Sony IMX921, f/1.88, OIS
• Telephoto – 50-megapixel Sony IMX816, f/1.85, 2x optical zoom
• Ultrawide – 50-megapixel Samsung JN1, f/2.0
• Selfie – 32-megapixel Galaxycore GC32E1, f/2.45

The iQOO 13 comes with a triple rear digicam setup that is, in a approach, a step again from what we acquired on the 12. You now not get a periscope telephoto sensor, which was actually good on the predecessor. As a substitute, you now get a typical telephoto unit with 2x optical zoom. The entrance digicam now presents larger decision in comparison with the iQOO 12. The digicam app is your customary FuntouchOS affair, with most digicam modes only a faucet away.

You get triple 50-megapixel cameras

Whereas we have already performed a quick overview (click for samples) on the digicam efficiency of the iQOO 13, the place we have talked in regards to the main digicam and the telephoto, as seen within the overview, the first digicam does a fantastic job in each day and evening scenes, producing sharp, vibrant, and adequately detailed pictures. The white steadiness and dynamic vary are good, and the color copy is near pure. There’s nothing to complain about with the principle digicam’s efficiency in daylight circumstances. In low mild circumstances, the digicam continues to do nicely and manages to protect particulars. The images even have good white steadiness and dynamic vary. 

Let’s speak in regards to the ultrawide digicam. Images from the sensor end up sharp and detailed in daylight circumstances. Nonetheless, the pictures are usually darker and the colors are inconsistent with the principle digicam.

Ultrawide daylight pictures (Outside and Indoor) [Tap to expand]

In terms of low-light efficiency, the ultrawide digicam produces pictures with softer particulars, some noise, and darker colors.

The telephoto digicam is a downgrade (when it comes to sensor used) in comparison with the iQOO 12, however the iQOO now makes use of VCS (Vivo color science) for software program optimisation on the 13. It does a very good job with 2x pictures, and there is loads of element, a large dynamic vary, and the colors are in line with the first digicam.

A 4x choice can also be obtainable within the digicam app, which crops into the 2x shot. Right here, the images do carry some softness, and you will discover a loss in particulars, however they’re nonetheless usable.

Low-light images from the 2x telephoto are first rate, however the 4x pictures function softer particulars and a few noise. You possibly can verify the Portrait efficiency within the digicam overview.

4x Low mild photograph [Tap to expand]

Coming to the entrance digicam, selfies are detailed with good dynamic vary and white steadiness in daylight circumstances. Low-light selfies are first rate, with pictures showing softer and darker.

By way of video efficiency, the iQOO 13 helps 8K recording at 30fps from the first rear digicam. The video is detailed and sharp with good colors and white steadiness, however you will discover shakiness as this mode solely helps customary stabilisation. You possibly can solely use extremely stabilisation in 1080p 60fps movies. The 4K mode additionally produces well-detailed pictures with barely boosted colors. The principle digicam does a very good job in relation to low-light video recording. Nonetheless, the ultrawide and 2x telephoto sensors aren’t nice for capturing movies.

iQOO 13 Battery: Glorious

• Capability – 6,000mAh
• Charging – 120W
• Charger – 120W within the field

We had been extremely impressed by the battery efficiency on the iQOO 13, but it surely wasn’t stunning. The 6,000mAh battery on the telephone can simply last as long as 2 days with minimal utilization. In our HD video loop check, the telephone lasted for round 29 hours, which is spectacular because the check was carried out with the decision set to QHD, refresh charge at 144Hz, and 50 % brightness.

The telephone prices to 100% in round 45 minutes

In terms of charging, the telephone helps 120W FlashCharge know-how with a number of security measures in place. In our charging check, the telephone took 46 minutes to cost from 1 to 100%. The handset was capable of attain a cost of 69 % in 30 minutes and 30 % in simply 10 minutes. Charging does warmth up the telephone a bit, and in case you are frightened about battery put on, you’ll be able to allow optimised charging in Battery settings. Sadly, the telephone nonetheless would not provide wi-fi charging assist.

iQOO 13 Verdict

If you’d like one of many best-performing telephones at the moment obtainable out there, get the iQOO 13. The telephone presents unimaginable efficiency that you just will not discover in some other Android flagship at the moment obtainable in India. It additionally presents glorious battery life, a very good set of cameras, a fantastic huge show, and tremendous quick charging.

On the beginning worth of Rs. 54,999, no telephones can compete with the iQOO 13 when it comes to efficiency. The not too long ago launched Realme GT 7 Pro (Review) is the one true competitors because it’s the one different telephone with the Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC in India and is priced equally. If you’d like higher digicam efficiency, we would suggest the GT 7 Professional. For the whole lot else, the iQOO is a more sensible choice. Nonetheless, you’ll be able to await upcoming telephones such because the OnePlus 13, which could possibly be priced equally and provide higher efficiency and cameras.