iQOO Neo 6 review

GSMArena Team, 15 June 2022.

Display

The 6.62-inch AMOLED screen is the centerpiece of the iQOO Neo 6. The panel has extended 1080p resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, 360Hz touch response, and HDR10+ certification.

iQOO Neo 6 review

The actual resolution of the screen is 1,080 x 2,400 pixels or 398ppi density and 20:9 aspect ratio. There is no information on the screen protection, but most of the iQOO phones lately use Panda Glass, so there is a good chance the Neo 6 has such a glass sheet as well.

Like most phones nowadays, the Neo 6 also has a perforated screen - the selfie camera sits within the small punch hole.

So, we've completed our display measurements on the Neo 6's display. iQOO has listed 500 nits of typical, 800 nits of high maximum, and 1300 nits of peak brightness. We don't measure peak, but we've captured about 490 nits of typical and 770 nits of high brightness - in line with the official numbers.

The minimum brightness at point white was 2.1nits.

Display test 100% brightness
Black,cd/m2 White,cd/m2 Contrast ratio
iQOO Neo 6 0 487
iQOO Neo 6 (Max Auto) 0 772
iQOO 9 0 455
iQOO 9 (Max Auto) 0 749
Realme GT Neo3 0 466
Realme GT Neo3 (Max Auto) 0 796
Realme GT Neo 3T 0 516
Realme GT Neo 3T (Max Auto) 0 803
Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G 0 383
Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G (Max Auto) 0 800
Samsung Galaxy A53 5G 0 427
Samsung Galaxy A53 5G (Max Auto) 0 830
Realme 9 Pro+ 0 433
Realme 9 Pro+ (Max Auito) 0 613
Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G 0 470
Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G (Max Auto) 0 746
Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G 0 479
Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G (Max Auto) 0 760
Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G 0 514
Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G (Max Auto) 0 846
Motorola Edge 20 Pro 0 484
Motorola Edge 20 Pro (Max Auto) 0 673

Color accuracy

The iQOO Neo 6 has three display color modes in Settings - Standard (default), Professional, and Bright. You can adjust the color temperature in each of those. Standard and Bright cover the DCI-P3 color space and offer accurate color presentation, excluding the slightly bluish white and gray hues. The Professional setting corresponds to sRGB, and it offers a superb color accuracy with an average deltaE of 2.

Refresh rate

The iQOO Neo 6 has three refresh rate options - 60Hz, 120Hz, and Smart Switch. Both Smart Switch and 120Hz are dynamic options, with the only difference we noticed is that Smart Switch sometimes may render the UI with 90fps instead of 120fps.

iQOO Neo 6 review

Many apps that can use a high refresh rate are able to do so on the iQOO Neo 6. This includes the entire interface and all system apps.

Video apps usually draw their interface at 60fps, and the videos play at 60Hz, too.

Some compatible HFR games seem to be choosing 120Hz, too, no matter if the Refresh rate was set to 120Hz or Smart Switch. There is a catch, though. It turned out that the refresh rate indicator always showed 60Hz when we weren't touching the screen, and this led us to believe that all games are actually drawn at 60fps, no matter what the refresh rate indicator was showing.

Display enhancements

The iQOO Neo 6 has a feature called Visual Enhancement in Display settings, which optimizes the colors and contrast in some streaming apps like Netflix and YouTube (you can pick the apps manually from the compatible list). It does offer a minor boost in color saturation and contrast in non-HDR content, but it also increases the overall battery consumption.

Colors - iQOO Neo 6 review Refresh rate - iQOO Neo 6 review Visual Enhancement - iQOO Neo 6 review
Colors • Refresh rate • Visual Enhancement

The iQOO Neo 6 has a couple of interesting settings as part of the Ultra Game Mode.

The Esports mode, available for selected games, allows for automatic DND mode. It disables unnecessary screen gestures, locks the brightness and balances frame rate and temperature to keep the best possible FPS. It is currently compatible with Call of Duty Mobile and BGMI.

There is also 4D Game Vibration, which uses the phone's built-in z-axis linear motor to provide dynamic haptic feedback in compatible games. The setting will list all compatible games (like Asphalt 9), and you can turn this feature on/off for each one.

We also want to praise the excellent tactile feedback the screen provides thanks to the said vibration motor - it is prominent and accurate.

The Eagle Eye Enhancement offers local tone mapping for better contrast, color enhancements, and detail sharpening. It is available for a couple of games, though.

There is also something called Frame rate priority, but it has no explanation, and we couldn't find a compatible game.

Ultra Game Mode - iQOO Neo 6 review Ultra Game Mode - iQOO Neo 6 review Ultra Game Mode - iQOO Neo 6 review Ultra Game Mode - iQOO Neo 6 review Ultra Game Mode - iQOO Neo 6 review
Ultra Game Mode

HDR

The iQOO Neo 6 display is HDR10+ certified, and the device comes with Widevine L1 DRM support. This means you should be able to stream HDR10 1080p content from any popular services. And we can confirm that - Full HD HDR10 streaming is available right out of the box across the popular streaming apps.

Battery life

The iQOO Neo 6 features a 4,700 mAh battery capable of fast charging up to 80W. The phone has the Snapdragon 870 5G chipset and a large E4 AMOLED screen.

The iQOO Neo 6 scored a 97h endurance rating on our battery test. It posted similarly great times to the iQOO 9 across our three standalone tests - calls, web browsing, and video playback.

iQOO Neo 6 review

But the standby performance was somewhat subpar and hence the slightly lower endurance rating if compared to the iQOO 9.

Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSerDevice app. The endurance rating denotes how long the battery charge will last you if you use the device for an hour of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. More details can be found here.

Video test carried out in 60Hz refresh rate mode. Web browsing test done at the display's highest refresh rate whenever possible. Refer to the respective reviews for specifics. To adjust the endurance rating formula to match your own usage - check out our all-time battery test results chart.

Charging speed

The iQOO Neo 6 supports 80W fast wired charging for the 4,700mAh battery, and the phone comes bundled with the 80W brick and the 4A-rated USB cable.

iQOO Neo 6 review

The official numbers for this charger and phone are 50% in 12 minutes and a full charge in 32 minutes.

We put those to the test, and we recorded exactly 50% in 12 minutes! A full 30 minutes on the 80W power adapter will give you a 98% charge.

30min charging test (from 0%)

Higher is better

  • iQOO 9 Pro
    100%
  • Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
    100%
  • iQOO Neo 6
    98%
  • OnePlus Nord 2
    98%
  • Realme GT Neo3T
    95%
  • IQOO 9 SE
    91%
  • Realme 9 Pro+
    77%
  • Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
    74%
  • Poco F3
    67%
  • Realme 9 Pro
    52%

The phone reached 100% in 32 minutes - exactly what iQOO has promised.

Time to full charge (from 0%)

Lower is better

  • Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
    0:16h
  • iQOO 9 Pro
    0:21h
  • OnePlus Nord 2
    0:31h
  • iQOO Neo 6
    0:32h
  • IQOO 9 SE
    0:38h
  • Realme GT Neo3T
    0:40h
  • Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
    0:45h
  • Realme 9 Pro+
    0:49h
  • Poco F3
    0:56h
  • Realme 9 Pro
    1:14h

There is no wireless charging support on the iQOO Neo 6.

Speakers

The iQOO Neo 6 has a hybrid stereo speaker setup - one speaker at the bottom, while the front-facing earpiece is a second speaker.

iQOO Neo 6 review

We were pleased with the balance - both speakers seem equal in both loudness and sound quality.

The iQOO Neo 6 speakers scored a Very Good mark on our loudness test. The audio quality is okayish, though nothing praise-worthy. The high notes are very well presented, and there is some bass, but the setup is lacking in mid-tones and vocals.

Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.

Reader comments

  • A.k
  • 02 Feb 2024
  • rAN

What about the connectivity like 5g, etc

I am facing network connectivity issues in my phone.. Both the cellular and WiFi...during calls my voice is not audible by others and vice versa...is someone facing this sort of issue??

  • Caco
  • 14 Jul 2023
  • cTE

Will 5G work well in this phone in other countries given its limited 5G bands compared to other models?