Chinese phone brand iQOO has a (short) history of releasing smartphones with flagship specs and mid-range prices. But at a time when even Motorola is pricing its flagships at $1000 and up, it’s a little surprising to see that the new iQOO Neo3 starts at just $380.
That’s despite having premium features including a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor and x55 5G modem, a 144 Hz display, 44W fast charging support, and UFS 3.1 storage.
The phone is up for pre-order in China, where it should begin shipping April 29th in four pricing/spec configurations:
- 6GB/128GB for 2,698 CNY ($380)
- 8GB/128GB for 2,998 CNY ($425)
- 12GB/128GB for 3,298 CNY ($465)
- 8GB/256GB for 3,398 CNY ($480)
Each version of the phone has a 6.57 inch, 2400 x 1080 pixel IPS display with support for HDR10 and a 144Hz refresh rate.
Other features include support for WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1, NFC, a headphone jack, a 4,5000 mAh battery, and a fingerprint sensor on the side of the phone.
The iQOO Neo3 has a 16MP front-facing camera (in a hole-punch cut-out), and three rear cameras:
- 48MP primary
- 8MP wide-angle
- 2MP macro
via GizmoChina and xda-developers
This suggests the camera is where the money goes.
No, it isn’t. It is more than likely that the cameras on this phone can be rated as more than decent. Moreover, there are other sub $400 phones like the Oppo Reno 2 with an excellent array of cameras.
Like the Reno 2, it is the only spec item on this phone that doesn’t match the high end phones. The P40 for example has a main sensor about 4x the area.
Also it’s LPDDR4X while other high end phones use LPDDR5 now. The price is quite tempting but Funtouch OS is a major trainwreck comparing to Color OS, EMUI and MIUI.
This phone its just for marketing, they will produce few of it, sell them in flash sales, but in their store they will put other expensive phones. Vivo is like that for years.