iQOO Z3 unveiled with Snapdragon 768G, 5G, 120Hz display and 55W fast charging

Peter, 25 March 2021

vivo launched the iQOO Z3 in China, an affordable 5G phone with fast charging and some gaming inspirations based on the Snapdragon 768G chipset and a 120Hz display. The Z3 is currently in the pre-sale stage, availability is set for 7 days from now.

The Snapdragon 768G chipset is connected to a heat pipe that leads to a graphite heat sink that then transfers the heat into the air. vivo makes the bold claim that this system drops the chipset temperature by 10ºC.

Snapdragon 768G powers iQOO Z3' 5G connectivity, 120 Hz display and 55W fast charging also on board

The chipset is hooked up to 6GB or 8GB of RAM (LPDDR4X dual channel) and 128GB or 256GB of storage (UFS 2.2). Storage can be expanded with a microSD card up to 1 TB. The phone comes with OriginOS (based on Android 11) out of the box.

The phone has a 6.58” LCD with 1080p+ resolution (20:9 aspect ratio). The screen supports HDR10 and has a 120 Hz refresh rate plus 180 Hz touch sampling rate. There’s a 16 MP selfie camera (f/2.0) tucked into the teardrop notch. It does face unlock or you can use the side-mounted fingerprint reader.

The main camera on the back features a 64MP sensor (f/1.8) and it can record 4K video. Joining it are the 8MP ultrawide-angle camera (120°, 108º after distortion correction) and a 2MP macro cam.

The iQOO Z3 is powered by a 4,400mAh battery that supports 55W Flash Charge. This enables quick top ups – 15% to 60% takes only 15 minutes. And you get the necessary adapter and capable in the box.

The phone has a 3.5 mm headphone jack. If you want to go wireless instead, aptX HD and LDAC are supported. Either way, there’s a “4D” haptic feedback system that should provide a more immersive experience.

The Qualcomm chipset enables 5G connectivity, which has lower latency than 4G. Since vivo designed this phone with gaming in mind, it carefully placed the antennas so that they work well in landscape while you hold the phone with both hands.

The iQOO Z3 comes in three colors

The iQOO Z3 can be found on vivo’s official web store and other online retailers like JD.com. The first sales will start Thursday next week at CNY 1,700 ($260/€220) for the base 6/128 GB model. The 8/128 GB and 8/256 GB options are CNY 1,800 and CNY 2,000, respectively. By the way, the Z3 is an upgraded version of vivo's Y72 5G.