iQOO 11 launched in India: 4 reasons to buy the flagship phone (and 2 reasons not to buy)

iQOO 11 has been launched in India as the first Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen2-powered phone. The handset comes as a direct successor to the iQOO 9 since there are no iQOO 10 models for India. The iQOO 11 is a flagship right from the word go. The phone comes with a QHD+ 144Hz display, there’s 120W super fast charging support, a 50MP Samsung GN5 sensor with OIS and there’s an additional V2 imaging chip, and a large 5000mAh battery. The phone brings some notable improvements over the previous generation.

The iQOO 11 is priced at Rs 59,999 for the 8GB + 256GB version and the high-end 16GB + 256GB version with Silicon Leatherback and design inspired by BMW Motorsport costs Rs 64,999. The phone will be available from January 13th for everyone via Amazon. Ahead of the sale, here are the top four reasons to buy the device (and reasons to skip it). This will help you whether to buy the phone or to skip it.

4 reasons to buy the iQOO 11

Excellent performance: The iQOO 11 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen2 SoC paired with Adreno GPU for graphics. The chipset is coupled with up to 16GB RAM and 256GB storage. The performance of the phone is extremely fast and flies through everything that is thrown at it. Multitasking was also supremely good as apps and even high-end games were in memory. There’s a huge 4,013mm² VC for heat dissipation.

Good display: The iQOO 11 sports a 6.78-inch QHD+ E6 AMOLED LTPO display with a 3200 x 1440 pixels display, 20:9 aspect ratio, HDR10+, 1.07 billion colours, DCI-P3 colour gamut, 1800nits brightness, and 1440Hz PWM dimming. Leaving aside the technicalities, the iQOO 11’s display is quite impressive be it for media consumption or gaming. The 144Hz refresh rate is butter smooth. The viewing angles are impressive and the outdoor visibility is also excellent. There’s literally nothing to complain about the screen.

120W fast charging: The iQOO 11 packs 5000mAh battery with 120W fast charging support. The battery life of the phone is quite good but what’s impressive is the fast charging speed of the phone. During our testing, the phone took just 20 minutes to fully charge to 100 percent. This is really fast for a flagship these days.

Decent cameras: iQOO 11 packs triple cameras on the back, comprising a 50MP primary Samsung GN5 sensor with f/1.88 aperture, OIS, LED flash, an 8MP ultra-wide angle lens, and a 13MP 2x telephoto camera with f/2.46 aperture. There is a 16MP snapper on the front for selfies and video chats. The cameras are very capable be it indoors or outdoors conditions. The images were fairly polished with good details and sharpness. The 2x telephoto lens is very handy when you want those close-up shots. The selfies were also decent enough with nothing major to complain.

2 reasons to buy the iQOO 11

For any product that is mass-produced, there will be a fair bit of downgrades as well. The iQOO 11 is no exception. Here’s why you should not buy the iQOO 11.

Telephoto sensor: The iQOO 11 comes with a 13MP 2x telephoto camera on the back. However, the results are not very encouraging as the sharpness is lost and the image is fairly noisy to be even usable. If you were excited about seeing a telephoto lens and wanted to buy this phone, you will be disappointed.

Bloatware: iQOO 11 is a flagship offering by all means, even if we consider the specifications and the price. However, the phone still comes with bloatware pre-installed. This hampers the user experience of the phone and it gets annoying even after paying a premium. While some of these apps can be removed, they should have existed in the first palce.