vivo iQOO 12 appears in hands-on photos, to arrive with dedicated chip for gaming

The iQOO 12 series will arrive on November 7, and today the vivo brand revealed the duo will feature new design, a periscope camera for combined 100x zoom, and a new iQOO Q1 gaming chip. A couple of hands-on images also surfaced.

We know a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset will power the Pro member of the duo, but it's unclear if the vanilla will share the chispet. The BMW Motorosport collaboration will go on for this generation as evident by the official teaser.

vivo iQOO 12 series official poster

One vivo VP shared their thoughts on the new phones. According to Jia Jingdong, who is in charge of branding at the company in China, the roots of iQOO are in online gaming, and devices will always be performance-centric. vivo developed the Q1 chip, designed specifically to support the gaming engine, although details on what exactly it does weren't provided.

It is said to bring “super image resolution” and “ultra-high refresh rate”, while the device itself would have four-zone cooling system.

The executive also revealed the main camera of the iQOO 12 top phone will have a 1/1.3” sensor, while the ultrawide and telephoto shooters will also be significantly improved.

Images revealed the two members of the series will be different in design - one will have flat sides, while the other will have slightly curved edges. The white Legend version with the BMW M branding will have a glass panel, but there is also a Black option with a sandstone-like look, which is said to be a fluorite AG Glass, similar to the vivo V23 and V25 finish, and a striped red (probably vegan) leather variant.

The Black appeared in hands-on images, and while it doesn't look like plastic, it surely is not a typical glass panel as well.

Alleged vivo iQOO 12 smartphone | Image source: Weibo

The phones will boot OriginOS 4 out of the box. We expect to learn more details in the eight days leading to the event.

Source 1 • Source 2 (both in Chinese) | Via