iQOO Z1 announced: Dimensity 1000+ SoC, 144Hz screen, and 48MP triple camera

vivo's gamer-centric sub-brand iQOO today announced the iQOO Z1, which is the first smartphone to have MediaTek's Dimensity 1000+ SoC at the helm.

However, the iQOO Z1 isn't an entirely new smartphone. It's actually the iQOO Neo3 5G powered by the Dimensity 1000+. That means you get a 6.57" 20:9 LCD of 2408x1080 pixel resolution, that has a refresh rate of 144Hz and a punch hole in the top-right corner for the 16MP selfie camera.

Around the back is a 48MP main camera accompanied by an 8MP ultrawide and 2MP macro units. The smartphone boots Android 10 with iQOO UI on top and has three memory configurations - 6GB/128GB, 8GB/128GB, and 8GB/256GB.

The iQOO Z1 comes with Multi-Turbo 3.5 for performance boosting as well as liquid cooling heat dissipation, which iQOO claims can reduce the temperature of the smartphone by 10-12 degrees Celsius.

Other highlights of the iQOO Z1 include a side-mounted fingerprint reader, 3.5mm headphone jack, Wi-Fi 6, dual-mode 5G (SA/NSA), dual SIM (5G+5G), NFC, USB-C port, and super linear dual speaker.

The iQOO Z1 packs a 4,500 mAh battery with 44W SuperFlash charge support, which juices up the cell from flat to 50% in 23 minutes and takes another 36 minutes to reach 100% charge.

The Z1 comes in Galaxy Silver and Space Blue colors (machine translated from Chinese) and there's also a special edition called One Piece which features the One Piece skull and logo on its back.

iQOO Z1 in Galaxy Silver and Space Blue colors

The base model of the iQOO Z1 with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage is priced at CNY2,198 ($310/€280), and for CNY300 ($42/€39) more, you get 2GB extra RAM. And if you go for the top-end variant with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, you'll have to shell out CNY2,798 ($395/€360).

iQOO also launched a few accessories for the Z1, which include covers, Bluetooth controller with a joystick, and neckband wireless earphones priced at CNY39 ($6/€5), CNY159 ($22/€20) and CNY269 ($38/€35), respectively.

The iQOO Z1 is up for pre-orders through vivo's official China site, with pre-bookings on e-commerce sites kicking off from May 25. The smartphone will go on sale in China from June 1, but availability in other markets is currently unknown.

Source 1, Source 2 (both in Chinese)