iQOO Z9 first impressions

12 March 2024

iQOO unveiled the iQOO Z9 today, and we got to spend some time with its Brushed Green color version, so let's see what it's all about.

The iQOO Z9 features a 6.67" FullHD+ AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, 300Hz touch sampling rate for gaming, and 1,200Hz instant touch sampling rate. The panel has HDR support with 1,800 nits peak brightness and can display 16.7 million colors. You also get 4D Game Vibration and Motion Control gaming features we've previously seen on more expensive iQOO smartphones.

The iQOO Z9's AMOLED display - protected by DragonTrail Star 2 Plus glass - also has a centered punch-hole for the 16MP selfie camera. It uses Samsung's S5K3P9SP04-FGX9 sensor with an f/2.0 aperture and is surrounded by a metallic ring, which adds substance to the design. But that's something you'd only notice when looking closely.

Additionally, the screen has a fingerprint scanner embedded, which we found to be fast and accurate in the time we spent with it. However, like many other smartphones, the iQOO Z9's fingerprint scanner is also placed closer to the bottom bezel, making it difficult to reach. Placing it higher would have made the unlocking experience more comfortable, especially for users with small hands.

Around the back, we have a squircle-shaped shiny, plasticky protruding module housing a flash and two protruding cameras - 50MP primary and 2MP depth with f/1.79 and f/2.4 apertures, respectively. The primary camera uses the Sony IMX882 sensor and has OIS and EIS. It can record 1080p videos at up to 60FPS, while 4K recording is capped at 30FPS.

The shiny camera module looks nice but it's a dust magnet and gets smudged quickly, necessitating constant wiping.

That said, the iQOO Z9's back cover has an AG finish that is resistant to fingerprints. Our Brushed Green version flaunts an interesting brushed pattern, which looks cool, especially when the panel reflects light at different angles.

However, the iQOO Z9's flat frames and rear panel could make it uncomfortable to hold for some people. Using a back cover with curved edges like the ones we've seen on the iQOO 12 and iQOO Neo9 Pro would've been a better idea since those phones are more comfortable to hold despite having flat frames.

Speaking of, the iQOO Z9 sports a power button and volume rocker on its right-side frame, with the USB-C port located at the bottom. It's joined by a speaker, microphone, and hybrid SIM slot. Up top is the secondary mic. The 3.5mm headphone jack we had on the iQOO Z8 is removed from the Z9, but you do get stereo speakers.

The iQOO Z9 is powered by the Dimensity 7200 SoC, paired with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM. The smartphone has 128GB/256GB of UFS 2.2 storage onboard, expandable up to 1TB via a microSD card. It runs Android 14-based Funtouch OS 14 out of the box, and iQOO has promised two years of Android version and three years of security updates.

The rest of the iQOO Z9's highlights include 5G connectivity, an IP54 rating, Hi-Res Audio, and a 5,000 mAh battery with 44W charging. The battery is advertised to charge up to 50% in 31 minutes.

The iQOO Z9 will go on sale in India starting March 13 for Amazon Prime members with a base price of INR19,999 ($240/€220). Open sales beginning a day later, but availability in other markets is yet to be confirmed.