iQoo Neo 7 5G Review: Unmatched Performance, But Is It An All-Rounder?

iQoo Neo 7 5G has officially been launched in India. This new premium mid-ranger from the Vivo spinoff brand is the successor to the iQoo Neo 6 (Review), which was launched last year for under Rs. 30,000. The iQoo Neo 7 5G has received many upgrades over its predecessor including a 4nm MediaTek SoC, a bigger battery, faster charging, and a 120Hz AMOLED display. While the phone continues to feature a triple-camera setup, there is one major downgrade. Through the course of this review, we will help you decide if the iQoo Neo 7 5G should be your next upgrade.

iQoo Neo 7 5G price in India

The iQoo Neo 7 5G has been launched in India in two storage options. The base variant of this phone has 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage. This variant is priced at Rs. 29,999. The variant that iQoo sent us has 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. It is priced at Rs. 33,999 in India.

iQoo Neo 7 5G design and display

In this era, when many smartphones sport a flat frame design, the iQoo Neo 7 5G continues to offer a curved rear panel and frame. The phone has a polycarbonate body but by no means feels cheap. The colour we have is called Frost Blue and has a matte finish to it, which helps keep fingerprints and smudges away. I initially liked the Interstellar Black colour option more, but the Frost Blue colour kind of grew on me. Moreover, the gradient that is visible when light hits the rear panel gives this phone a premium look.

iQoo 11 5G (Review), but, the iQoo Neo 7 5G has a full-HD+ resolution with support for a 120Hz refresh rate. The screen is flat and has fairly thin bezels around it. The chin is the thickest at 2.65mm, and overall the iQoo Neo 7 5G offers a 93.11 percent screen-to-body ratio.

The screen supports HDR10+ and you also get WideVine L1 support which was detected by Netflix. Colours are vivid and you get a good multimedia experience, courtesy of the fairly loud speakers. There is a definite channel imbalance as the earpiece, which doubles as a secondary outlet for audio, is not as loud as the primary speaker at the bottom. I did not face any issues when using the iQoo Neo 7 5G outdoors under direct sunlight. The display offers 1300 nits at peak brightness but it achieves this only while HDR content is playing.

iQoo Neo 7 5G specifications and software

The iQoo Neo 7 5G has a MediaTek Dimensity 8200 SoC, which is manufactured based on a 4nm process. The SoC has a peak clock speed of 3.1GHz and comes with a Mali G610 GPU. There is support for eight 5G bands in India. The device also lets you assign 8GB of storage as Extended RAM. There's dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.3. There is a 5000mAh battery under the hood, and this phone supports 120W fast charging using the included charger.

iQoo Neo 7 5G performance and battery life

iQoo phones are known for prioritising performance, and the Neo 7 5G is no different. Its Dimensity 8200 SoC can breeze through almost anything you throw at it. Be it routine day-to-day tasks or playing games, the phone can handle it all. I played a few games on the iQoo Neo 7 5G, such as Call of Duty: Mobile, Asphalt 9, and Genshin Impact. While the former two offered smooth gaming experiences, Genshin Impact did not run as well for me and there were a few stutters. It could be the game being too resource-intensive, as even some flagship phones struggle with it.

Nothing Phone 1 (Review), which scored 6,05,375 points. The iQoo Neo 7 also has a significant lead over the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ 5G (Review), which scored 4,38,678 points in AnTuTu. In Geekbench's single-core and multi-core tests, the iQoo Neo 7 5G managed 995 and 3,885 points, respectively. These, again, are higher than the Nothing Phone 1's scores of 822 and 2,898 points.

iQoo Neo 7 5G cameras

While everything so far might have seemed to be going in favour of the iQoo Neo 7 5G, the camera department is where it falls slightly short. There is a 64-megapixel main rear camera with support for optical image stabilisation (OIS), a 2-megapixel depth sensor, and a 2-megapixel macro camera. Not having an ultra-wide camera on a sub-Rs. 30,000 phone feels like a disadvantage for a shutterbug like me who plays games sometimes. iQoo said that its customer surveys showed the target group for this phone not using the ultra-wide camera much, which was the reason for omitting it altogether from the Neo 7 5G.

Verdict

The iQoo Neo 7 5G gets many things right. It offers best-in-class performance with great battery life and fast charging. The big display and loud speakers also make this phone ideal for multimedia consumption. While the software has become better, there is still some room for improvement. A major plus point is that the iQoo Neo 7 5G comes with the latest software, unlike some other phones in this segment such as the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ 5G (Review).

Cameras are where the iQoo Neo 7 5G is not very versatile, and you have better options, such as the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ 5G, in this segment. Even the Nothing Phone 1 (Review) can be considered if you want an ultra-wide camera, a unique design, and superior features such as wireless charging and an IP rating.

However, if you are a gamer and have a budget of around Rs. 30,000, the iQoo Neo 7 5G can certainly be recommended.