Rating: 8.5/10
iQOO launched in India as Vivo’s sub-brand, and soon it managed to create its own identity by offering one of the best power-to-price and performance ratios in its devices.The latest offering from iQoo – Neo 10 – appears to follow suit by offering flagship-grade performance at not-so-flagship price.
What I am referring to is the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 processor at a starting price of Rs 31,999. The phone also comes with iQoo’s own Supercomputing Chip Q1 and a thermal system to keep the temperature in check. Not only that, the phone also comes with a pretty comprehensive camera setup and most importantly and perhaps the biggest strength of the phone is the 7000mAh battery with 120W fast charging support. On top of it, iQoo has also added some AI features to add to the user experience. Here’s how the phone fared over some weeks of usage:
iQOO Neo 10 review: Design and display
The first thing I noted about the iQoo Neo 10 is its substantial form factor and bold aesthetics. It is like not trying to hide that “powerful performance” attitude. Its back panel wears racing-stripe accents inspired by motorsport liveries, while the pill-shaped camera module echoes the flagship iQOO 13 on which it loosely draws. Although polycarbonate replaces glass, the polished finish resists fingerprints, and the fit-and-finish never feels sloppy in the hand.
Weighing just over 200 grams and sitting under 8.1 millimetres thick, the Neo 10 manages to feel both substantial and unobtrusive, pocketed—a compromise between heft that assures durability and lightness that enables extended use without wrist strain.
The phone's ergonomic factor is also on point. The buttons are placed right and within reach, even for people with small hands. On the other hand, the charging port, speaker grille, microphone, etc are placed at the bottom of the phone. Power and volume rockers are on the right and left of the phone. There is nothing on the left side.
Talking about the display, the phone features a 6.78-inch AMOLED display with 1.5K resolution display and 144Hz refresh rate. The overall quality of the display is superb and for a gaming phone, the high refresh rate helps a lot. Scrolling through social feeds at full speed or diving into fast-paced game menus feels fluid in a way that standard 60 Hz panels cannot match.
Text appears crisp at 452 pixels per inch, and brightness peaks at an impressive 2,000 nits—enough to read outdoors under harsh sunlight. Even better, a localised peak of 5,500 nits enhances high-contrast scenes, and PWM dimming at 4,320 Hz tucks screen flicker below perceptible thresholds, making low-brightness reading easier on the eyes. A centred punch-hole cutout holds the 32MP selfie sensor; once you acclimate to its presence, it fades into the background during immersive play or video playback.
iQOO Neo 10 review: Performance
Under the hood, the iQoo Neo 10 packs an almost flagship processor – Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 which is ideally the successor of last year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip. The new 8s Gen 4 comes with an octa-core setup – 1 performance core, five mid-codes and two efficiency cores and is based on a 4nm process.
While it delivers one of the best benchmarking scores in this price segment, it actually does not reflets the real-world performance. So, I decided to push it to the limits via different stress tests as a regular user.
The first test: Using iQoo Neo 10 as a regular daily driver
Every phone, whether a high-performance gaming phone or a regular phone, is a regular phone underneath and is designed to cater the other requirements like phone calls, messaging, browsing, etc.
I switched to iQoo Neo 10 full time and used it for days and it is an impressive performer overall. The phone does not stutter or lag, the software feels smooth and snappy too. Not only these, the faster UFS 4.1 storage also helps keep the phone at a set pace without any slow down.
My usage includes browsing, calling and a lot of social media. Additionally, editing photos and videos are also a part of it. And at times, I like to play some heavy titles. With all these, the phone managed to offer a good and stable overall performance.
The second test: As a gaming phone
The SD 8s Gen 4 is a very capable chip and it is also paired with the company's own Supercomputing Chip Q1. It is tuned specifically for frame interpolation and super-resolution duties. In titles such as Call of Duty Mobile and Free Fire MAX, I witnessed smoother animations as frame interpolation nudged visuals toward 144 fps, even when GPU-intensive effects threatened to pull them below that threshold. Meanwhile, texturing and fine details snapped into sharper relief under the super-resolution engine, all without introducing noticeable input lag.
But sustained performance hinges on temperature control, and this is where the Neo 10 stakes a claim. A 7,000 mm² vapour chamber spans the chipset cluster, flanked by graphite films and thermal gels that expand the dissipation area to 27,000 mm². In my two-hour marathon of Genshin Impact at high graphics settings, surface temperatures hovered at a little higher position than usual, but nothing that can be called as unsettling. Neo 10 also maintained its frame-rate ceiling without sudden dips, a testament to its engineering focus on uninterrupted play.
The third test: As a productivity device
Now, this is a little unusual test, but considering iQoo is positioning Neo 10 as a performance oriented phone and not just a beefed up gaming phone, this test became an important aspect.
So, I jumped onto some apps like KineMaster, Photoshop, etc. Edited a 4k video with multiple layers and also used AI-based additions too. The phone managed to process all of them without any issues. However, the temperature does get a little high during the exporting process. The same goes for photo editing.
iQOO Neo 10 review: Battery life and charging
Battery anxiety has long plagued gamers forced to choose between power and portability. The Neo 10’s 7,000 mAh Silicon BlueVolt cell eases that concern. Over several days of mixed use—an hour of gaming, two hours of video streaming, plus routine browsing and calls—the phone often stretched into a second consecutive day before requiring a top-up. Benchmark tests reinforced this: over ten hours of continuous 90 fps gaming, twenty-three hours of YouTube video playback, and eighteen hours of social-media browsing all stemmed from the same charge. Even hour-long GPS navigation sessions left over half the battery intact.
When it did run low, 120 W FlashCharge came to the rescue. A 1 to 50 per cent refill took just nineteen minutes, and it reached full capacity in thirty-six minutes with the bundled charger. The implementation also supports 100 W USB-PD and PPS charging from third-party adapters, retaining brisk speeds without compromising safety. A 10 W reverse-charging mode lets the phone double as a power bank for accessories, a handy fallback if you misplace your dedicated battery pack.
iQOO Neo 10 review: Camera and AI features
Although performance and battery life are two big USPs of this phone, the Neo 10’s camera is also good enough to cater to most users’ needs.
The 50 MP Sony IMX882 sensor leads the trio, equipped with optical image stabilisation to tame minor shakes for both stills and video. Daylight shots brim with fine details: I could read restaurant menus across the courtyard and discern individual leaves on trees under sunlight. Portrait mode unlocks three focal lengths—24 mm, 35 mm and 50 mm equivalents—granting creative flexibility between environmental context and subject-tight framing. The software-driven bokeh holds up well around hair strands and edge transitions, though backlit scenarios occasionally blur outlines too aggressively.
In low light, the “Super Night Mode” applies multi-frame fusion to suppress noise and preserve highlights. Urban nightscapes came out with balanced exposures; street lights glowed without blown-out halos, and shadowed alleys retained texture. Noise crept into darker corners, but far less than on midrange competitors. Video capture climbs to 4K at 60 fps with OIS active, delivering footage stable enough for casual vlogging. I found the stabilization effective in moderate motion, though rapid panning introduced slight judder—a minor quibble for non-professional use.
Beyond hardware, a suite of AI tools enhances the imaging experience. “Live cut-out” intelligently isolates subjects for quick background swaps, and “AI erase” removes unwanted objects with minimal manual brushing. Document scans align and crop pages automatically, while “live text” extracts on-screen text into editable form. A “Night Vision” gaming filter lives within the Game Box rather than the camera app, sharpening in-game visuals but not photographs. Together, these software features add practical utility without overwhelming the core shooter’s simplicity.
iQOO Neo 10: Software and connectivity
FunTouch OS 15, layered atop Android 15, brings a distinct personality to the Neo 10. The interface foregrounds gaming with a dedicated Game Box hub where you can toggle the in-game FPS meter, activate Bypass Charging to preserve battery health, or fine-tune performance profiles. System animations feel snappy, and default icons and settings inject a sporty flair without garish colours. For users preferring stock Android’s minimalism, the skin may feel busy; yet I appreciated its direct access to gaming modes and performance toggles.
Connectivity spans Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC and an IR blaster for legacy remote-control duties. On the cellular front, 5G support covers sixteen bands, and a 24-antenna array bolstered by “AI SuperLink” shuttles your signal between cells to mitigate dead zones. In dense urban areas, the Neo 10 latched onto high-speed 5G within moments and maintained consistent download speeds above 200 Mbps, even in crowded metro trains. The side-mounted fingerprint reader unlocked reliably, and face-unlock via the front camera offered a convenient fallback—both faster than average in my comparisons.
Audio output comes from dual stereo speakers tuned for clarity over bass depth. During gameplay, directional cues felt useful for locating in-game sounds, though movie-style stereo separation fell short of immersive. Volume reached comfortable levels for indoor use but occasionally distorted at maximum settings. For serious audio lovers, a dedicated portable DAC remains the gold standard, but the built-in speakers serve well enough for casual listening.
Verdict
The iQoo Neo 10 aims for performance and endurance with a Snapdragon 8s Gen 4, gaming coprocessor, robust cooling, 7,000mAh battery, and 120W charging. Cost-saving polycarbonate and mid-tier lenses allow strong gaming and daily performance despite less premium audio and materials. It handles heavy use well, with no throttling, smooth multitasking, reliable photography, and worry-free battery life thanks to FunTouch OS 15's gaming features. While competitors offer similar features or build quality, the Neo 10 effectively balances sustained performance, cooling, and charging, making it a strong mid-range option for India's mobile gaming market.
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