iQOO Neo 6 review

The competition

The iQOO Neo 6 is a great all-round smartphone with plenty of premium features like a smooth AMOLED screen with HDR10, a powerful Snapdragon 870 5G chipset with outstanding sustained performance, incredibly fast charging and reliable cameras even if their photo quality is undistinguished.

The iQOO Neo 6 starts at about INR 30,000 (about €370/$390), and it's quite a reasonable price tag for such a smartphone.

The first competitor that comes to mind is the Realme GT Neo 3T - this is pretty much the same smartphone from another maker. There are two notable differences - Realme's primary camera is not stabilized, and the battery capacity is slightly larger. The GT Neo 3T is not available in India yet, but you can get it in Europe. It is as good as the iQOO Neo 6 and worth having as your daily driver.

If you live in India, you can get the Realme GT2 for about as much as the iQOO Neo 6. It has a more powerful Snapdragon 888 chipset, and the primary camera's photo quality is better. The rest is a match to the iQOO Neo 6. You should consider the GT2 if you are not a fan of Funtouch, otherwise just pick the phone you like the most - there is no right or wrong choice.

The Poco F3 GT is another excellent offer that goes for as much as the iQOO Neo 6. The F3 GT has a similar 120Hz AMOLED but with a billion colors thanks to the 10-bit native color support. It runs on the very capable Dimensity 1200 chipset. The F3 GT trumps the iQOO Neo 6 with IP53 certification for basic dust and water protection and offers dedicated physical gaming triggers. We guess the Poco F3 GT is better suited for gaming than the iQOO Neo 6.

The Samsung Galaxy A52s is also priced the same as the iQOO Neo 6, and it's an excellent choice for its IP67 water protection, great 120Hz AMOLED and quite powerful Snapdragon 778G 5G chipset. The Galaxy offers better photo quality across the board, which may eventually tip the scales in its favor.

Finally, if you want an even more interesting device, the iQOO 9 is worth considering. It's INR 10,000 more expensive, but for the extra money, it offers even more powerful hardware and a better display with more colors and a Monster Touch panel. Its imaging department is much better too - there are better main and ultrawide cameras and an additional 2x telephoto. Oh, and the phone supports jaw-dropping 120W fast charging.

Realme GT Neo 3T • Realme GT2 • Xiaomi Poco F3 GT • Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G • iQOO 9

Our verdict

At the end of the day - we are happy with the iQOO Neo 6. It's a beautiful phone with a solid and lightweight build, stereo speakers and a large battery with blazing fast charging.

The most notable features of the iQOO Neo 6 are its excellent 120Hz HDR10 AMOLED screen and the lovely performance with excellent stability. The speakers turned out loud, though the quality was a mixed bag. The battery life was also pretty good, but the standby performance was rather mediocre.

Then there are the cameras - all four cameras saved overprocessed photos - not bad, but not up to par either. The video quality was mostly good, though.

Ultimately, we'd recommend putting the iQOO Neo 6 on your shortlists as it is an excellent device for gaming and multimedia, and it is priced just right. It will do the job as a cameraphone, too, though if the photo quality is a priority, the competition has better offers for that.

Pros

• Likable design, lightweight.
• Excellent AMOLED screen, 120Hz refresh, 360Hz touch, HDR10+.
• Outstanding speed and sustained performance.
• Fast charging.
• The main camera offers great video quality.

Cons

• No ingress protection.
• The speakers' audio quality is not up to par.
• Mediocre photo quality across the board.
• No EIS for selfie videos.
• No NFC.