iQoo has brought its Neo series to India with the launch of the Neo 6 at the super-competitive sub-Rs. 30,000 price segment. To give the phone a fighting chance, iQoo has equipped it with powerful hardware like Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC, and enhanced its features by giving it 80W fast charging and 120Hz AMOLED display. Charging speed especially is much higher than what you’ll find in this price range. But does this make the iQoo Neo 6 unbeatable? My first impressions This phone has had a lot of positives, and now is the time to see if it really is as good as it looks.
iQoo Neo 6 price in India
iQoo Neo 6 The price is Rs. 29,999 for the base variant that comes with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. The higher variant with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage, which I own, costs Rs. 33,999. iQoo Neo 6 has been introduced in two colors Dark Nova and Cyber Rage.
iQoo Neo 6 Design
iQoo Neo 6 is a rebranded iQoo Neo 6 SE Which was launched in China earlier this year. Neo 6 is a big smartphone and it weighs 190 grams. It sports a 6.62-inch AMOLED display that has a hole-punch at the top for the selfie camera. Very thin bezels have been given all around it. The frame of the phone is made of plastic and is flattened at the top and bottom.
iQoo There’s an IR (infrared) emitter paired on the Neo 6, which sits on top next to the secondary microphone. The bottom of the frame houses the USB Type-C port, speaker and SIM tray slot. The back panel is also made of plastic and has curved edges, which makes the phone easy to hold. The right side of the frame is narrower and houses slim power and volume buttons.
This Dark Nova color of iQoo Neo 6 looks classy
In my opinion, the Dark Nova trim of the iQoo Neo 6 looks classy. It has a gradient finish with a mix of dark blue and bright teal. This latter shadow glows when the light hits it at certain angles. If you prefer something more flashy, then Cyber Rez color might be your choice. The camera module of the iQoo Neo 6 will also grab your attention. It features a two-stage design with a prominent Neo branding.
iQoo ships the Neo 6 with a transparent case in the box. The back panel of the phone has a matte finish, so fingerprints aren’t really an issue, but the case should offer some extra protection. You also get a USB Type-C to 3.5mm audio adapter, which is a nice addition.
iQoo Neo 6 Specifications and Software
iQoo Neo 6 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC which is one of the most powerful SoCs in this price range. Mi 11X ,review) which directly competes with this phone, is powered by the same SoC. iQoo says that it has used a liquid cooling system to keep the SoC cool.
Neo 6 flaunts a full-HD+ E4 AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate. It has a 360Hz touch sampling rate that can boost up to 1,200Hz in some games. The panel is also HDR10+ certified and its brightness is 800 nits. iQoo has also added stereo speakers to the Neo 6 but it is deprived of the IP rating.
The phone supports Bluetooth 5.2, dual-band Wi-Fi, four 5G bands, dual-4G VoLTE and five satellite navigation systems. There is no NFC. The iQoo Neo 6 packs a 4,700mAh battery and has up to 80W fast charging support. iQoo also bundles a compatible charger in the box.
iQoo Neo 6 has a fair amount of bloatware apps pre-installed
On the software side, iQoo Neo 6 runs Funtouch OS 12 on top of Android 12. iQoo promises two years of Android OS updates and three years of security updates. User interface is almost the same Vivo X80 that I recently reviewed Since both use Funtouch OS 12. Sadly, I faced the same problem with bloatware like I did on the Vivo X80, as it has a lot more. You can uninstall most of these apps to reclaim some storage space. On the iQoo Neo 6, I found that the browser app pushed out unwanted notifications throughout the day, which became annoying very quickly.
iQoo Neo 6 performance and battery life
iQoo Neo 6 uses a powerful SoC and delivers consistent performance without any signs of slowing down. I had the 12GB variant which allowed me to multitask comfortably without needing to kill any open apps in the background. I could switch between different apps and games, and I never noticed the phone reloading apps. The iQoo also has an Extended RAM feature that allowed me to allocate 4GB of system storage as Virtual RAM.
Watching videos on the iQoo Neo 6 looked appealing on the crisp AMOLED display. The stereo speakers added to the viewing experience as well. The high refresh rate made it very easy to scroll through apps and menus. iQoo has set the refresh rate to Smart Switch by default and with this setting, the Neo 6 runs at 120Hz most of the time.
The triple camera setup on the iQoo Neo 6 sits in a large camera module at the back
The iQoo Neo 6 has an in-display fingerprint scanner, which was reliable and never failed to unlock the device whenever I tried it. I had also set face recognition which worked equally well. The phone performed well in benchmarks. It managed 729,331 points in AnTuTu which was more than oneplus nord 2 ,review) In Geekbench 5, the Neo 6 scored 983 and 3074 in the single-core and multi-core tests. In the GFXBench graphics benchmark, the iQoo Neo 6 managed 50fps in the car chase test. Overall, scores were high in this segment, so those looking for good performance should be pleased.
I played Call of Duty: Mobile on the iQoo Neo 6, which was on the ‘Very High’ graphics preset by default, while the frame rate was set to ‘High’ by default. I played the game for about 20 minutes which resulted in a five percent drop in battery level. The phone was not hot to touch which could be a result of the liquid cooling system doing its job.
I was happy with the battery performance on the iQoo Neo 6 as the phone easily lasted for a day and a half without any issues. The phone lasted 21 hours and 17 minutes in our HD video loop test, which was impressive. The supplied 80W charger managed to charge the phone to 83 percent in 30 minutes and was fully charged in less than 50 minutes.
iQoo Neo 6 Cameras
iQoo Neo 6 sports a triple camera setup that includes a 64-megapixel primary with OIS, 8-megapixel ultra-wide with 116-degree field of view, and 2-megapixel macro. For selfie, it has a 16-megapixel camera. The camera app is fairly easy to use and looks very similar to the Vivo X80’s app, minus the Zeiss additions. The main camera defaults to 16-megapixel to pixel-bin photos, but you can shoot at full resolution if needed.
Daylight photos from the primary camera were detailed and distant objects could be recognized. The texts on distant buildings were also legible. The phone has AI Scene Optimization option which sometimes bumps up the contrast in the output. The ultra-wide-angle camera offers a wider field of view and has the same color profile as the primary camera. However, the output was distorted along the edges of the frame.
iQoo Neo 6 primary camera (top) and ultra-wide-angle (bottom) camera samples (tap to see full size)
Close-up photos looked crisp and the iQoo Neo managed to capture 6 minutes of detail well. It also manages to create a soft, natural bokeh between the subject and the background. Edge detection was good in shots taken in portrait mode. The macro camera manages to have nice extreme close-ups of subjects. However, quality was limited by the resolution of the sensor.
iQoo Neo 6 close-up (top) and macro (bottom) camera samples (tap to view full size)
The iQoo Neo 6 was able to measure scenes quickly in low light and automatically keep the shutter open for longer periods of time. This resulted in a fairly detailed image. The phone prompted me to switch to Night Mode in very dark scenarios, which looked brighter and brought out better details in shadows.
iQoo Neo 6 Low Light (top) and Night Mode (bottom) camera samples (tap to view full size)
Selfies taken with the iQoo Neo 6 were captured at the full resolution of the sensor. The app applies a beautification filter by default but it can also be adjusted or disabled if required. Daylight photos had the exact same skin tone. In low light, the phone enabled screen flash automatically which helped in achieving better output. Selfies taken in portrait mode had decent edge detection and I could fine-tune the level of background blur before capturing the image.
iQoo Neo 6 Portrait Selfie in Daylight & Low Light (Tap to see full size)
Video recording tops out at 4K 60fps for the primary rear camera, as well as the selfie camera which is not something we see very often. Video footage was stabilized well in daylight, but there was a flicker in the output when moving in low-light footage. The camera app also has a dual-video mode which allowed me to shoot using the primary and selfie camera at the same time.
Decision
If you are looking to buy a smartphone whose budget is around Rs. 30,000, the iQoo Neo 6 should definitely top your list. It has the great performance you’d expect from a high-end Qualcomm SoC, along with excellent battery life and extremely fast charging. Guaranteed Android OS and the promise of security updates make the iQoo Neo 6 somewhat futuristic. In my opinion, the base variant of the iQoo Neo 6 is what it gets as it offers better value than the 12GB variant.
I have no major complaints with the iQoo Neo 6 except for the bloatware that comes pre-installed, which is definitely a concern. Those looking for good video recording performance should note that the iQoo Neo 6 does not perform well when shooting videos in low light.
If you value clean software, recently launched Motorola Edge 30 ,review) is something you should consider. However, if you don’t want to compromise on performance, Mi 11X ,review) And this oneplus nord 2 ,review) There are great options to look for in the same price range.