iQOO Z9s Review: Top Budget Mobile with ? Performance

Discover if the iQOO Z9s is the ultimate budget mobile! Our review dives into its performance, features, and value for money. Read before you buy!

iQOO Z9s Review

The iQOO Z9s, a successor to the popular iQOO Z9, brings subtle yet impactful upgrades to its design, performance, and battery life. Priced at an affordable Rs 19,999 for the base model, it aims to deliver strong performance in the budget mobile segment. Let’s dive into the design, display, cameras, performance, and battery life of the iQOO Z9s.

See Complete specifications

Design and Display:

The iQOO Z9s stands out with a sleek, curved profile and a thin 7.49mm body, making it the slimmest smartphone with a large 5,500mAh battery. Its pill-shaped camera module, inspired by the Vivo V40 series, adds a touch of elegance. The Onyx Green variant has a glossy finish that looks premium but does tend to attract fingerprints. Thankfully, a transparent TPU case is included to keep it clean and free from wobbling.

The display is one of the iQOO Z9s’s standout features. It has a 6.77-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, providing an ultra-smooth and immersive viewing experience. With a peak brightness of 1,800 nits, the display remains clear even under direct sunlight, perfect for outdoor usage. The thin bezels and dual stereo speakers further enhance the display quality, making it a joy for streaming and gaming.

Cameras:

Equipped with a 50MP Sony IMX882 sensor with OIS and a 2MP secondary camera, the iQOO Z9s captures good-quality images in daylight. However, low-light performance lags behind some competitors in this price range. The 16MP selfie camera produces decent images but lacks advanced image processing, making it suitable mainly for casual use.

Performance and Software

Under the hood, the iQOO Z9s is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 chipset. Despite its impressive AnTuTu score of 7,02,347, it still falls slightly behind its predecessor, the iQOO Z9. However, it performs well for most tasks, handling multitasking and gaming smoothly without noticeable lags. For gamers, it supports a 2,000Hz touch sampling rate, ‘4D Game Vibration,’ and ‘Motion Control’ for an immersive experience.

The device runs FunTouch OS 14 on top of Android 14. Although the software comes with many pre-installed apps, useful features like App Retainer, Split Screen, and Mini Window enhance multitasking. iQOO promises two years of major software updates and three years of security updates, keeping the device relevant.

Battery and Charging:

The iQOO Z9s impresses with its 5,500mAh battery, outperforming most competitors. It achieved 16 hours in the PCMark battery test and barely dropped in a 30-minute streaming test. The 44W charging, however, lags behind the competition, taking about 66 minutes to reach a full charge. Faster charging speeds would have made the battery performance even better.

Final Rating of Iqoo Z9s :

Rating: 7.5/10

Pros

• The phone comes with a unique pill-shaped camera module that sets it apart from the competitors.
• The AMOLED display is rich in colours and offers respectable viewing angles.
• The battery life is impressive, making it a top choice for longevity.
• The performance surpasses most competitors, handling most tasks seamlessly.

Cons

• The cameras are underwhelming compared to the competitors.
• The software comes with lots of apps pre-installed, which affects the usage experience.

The iQOO Z9s is a good device, but it is not as outstanding as its predecessor in terms of value for the price. Competitors offer better cameras, faster charging speeds, and longer software support. For instance, the Samsung Galaxy M35  provides an impressive four years of major software updates, while the OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite  boasts 80W fast charging.

However, the iQOO Z9s excels in performance, surpassing its competitors (excluding the iQOO Z9) and handling most tasks seamlessly. Additionally, its design with a unique pill-shaped camera module, a vibrant AMOLED display, and impressive battery life, set it apart. If these features are important to you, the iQOO Z9s should be worth considering.