Iqoo 8 Pro Bmw Edition

[Tarja Rabito]

NipunMarya in an X post announced the upcoming launch of the iQoo 12 Anniversary Edition model in India. He also shared an open letter with the post where he stated that the upcoming smartphone will be the first Anniversary Edition smartphone for the company in the country. The special edition model is aimed to mark the company's four-year-old journey in India.

At this point, it is unknown how this version will differ from the standard iQoo 12 model available in the country. Neither the company nor the executive has confirmed any additional details regarding the iQoo 12 Anniversary Edition. Typically, special edition phones may differ in colour or finish on the back panel. There are rumours that the upcoming variant could be launched in red colour, similar to the Burning Way variant released in China. However, since there is no official information available, readers should take this speculation with a grain of salt.

The iQoo 12 is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC with Q1 chipset. The chipset is paired with up to 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM and up to 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage. The smartphone runs on Android 14-based FuntouchOS 14.

On the camera front, the smartphone gets a triple rear camera setup, which comprises 50MP main sensor, 50MP sensor paired to UWA lens, and a 64MP periscope telephoto shooter. For selfies and video calls, the smartphone gets a 16MP front camera.

iQoo 12 Anniversary Edition is set to be introduced in India to celebrate iQoo's four-year anniversary in the country. The company has now announced the launch date of this special edition model and confirmed some of its details. The phone will be available in a special colour option to celebrate the four-year milestone. Pricing for the iQoo 12 Anniversary Edition in the country has also been revealed. Notably, the standard iQoo 12, with a triple rear camera unit, was launched in India in December 2023.

The company announced that the iQoo 12 Anniversary Edition will be available for sale in India on April 9 via Amazon and the iQoo India website. A landing page for the upcoming phone is live on the official site as well as an Amazon microsite. These listings reveal that the phone will carry a price tag of Rs. 49,999. Buyers can avail of no-cost EMI options of up to nine months during the purchase. Meanwhile, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank customers can also get a conditional Rs. 3,000 flat instant discount.

iQoo 12 Anniversary Edition will come with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset paired with the SuperComputing Q1 display chip. It features a 144Hz LTPO AMOLED display with a local peak brightness level of 3,000 nits. The phone will have 144 frames per second (fps) Game Frame Interpolation. It will also support 120W wired fast charging, which is claimed to charge the phone from zero to 50 percent in just 12 minutes.

For optics, the iQoo 12 Anniversary Edition will be equipped with a triple rear camera unit, similar to the standard iQoo 12. It will include a 50-megapixel primary sensor, a 64-megapixel periscope telephoto shooter, and a 50-megapixel sensor paired with an ultra-wide-angle lens.

The iQoo 12 Anniversary Edition will launch in India in a Desert Red shade with a vegan leather finish. This colourway was available earlier in China. In India, the standard iQoo 12 was launched in Alpha (black) and Legend (white) options.

On the occasion of its fourth anniversary, iQOO has a special gift for its users. The company has introduced a special edition smartphone to mark the occasion. I am talking about the iQOO 12 Anniversary Edition. It has now been unveiled in the Indian marker as well. The iQOO 12 was first launched in December last year and came in two colourways: Legend and Alpha, and now we have a new red colour as well.

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Amid the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, iQOO forayed into the Indian smartphone market. Since then, it has released a couple of good premium phones and I loved both the iQOO 3 and its successor iQOO 7. They came with exceptional hardware and yet priced far less compared to the tier-1 brands.

Now, the company has kicked off its 2022 campaign with the iQOO 9 series. The new phone like its predecessors comes loaded with premium top-notch specifications. But, does it live up to the hype? Let's check it out.

Design, build quality and display

The new iQOO 9 5G is completely different compared to the predecessor glossy smooth iQOO 7 (review).

I'd like to iterate what I said in the first impression story; the new iQOO 9 Legend edition is an instant eye-turner. It features a visually appealing shell sporting an AG glass in ivory white shade with a trademark black-red-blue colourway racing stripe on the right side. It offers a smooth touch-feel but is not shiny.

The ivory white shell has a matte finish and does an excellent job of repelling fingerprint smudges. Also, the overall design elements on the back are minimalistic. The company has engraved the brand logo at the base cutting the racing streak. No, it doesn't ruin the aesthetics of the device.

In the top left corner, there is a curved rectangular camera module with three sensors and a dual-tone LED flash. And, the shell cascades smoothly towards the edges to meet the rail at the mid-frame.

At the base, you will find the SIM slot along with a single-grille loudspeaker and the Type-C port with white antenna bands on both sides. On the right, the company has incorporated a matching blue-hued power button along with volume rockers. On the opposite side, there are no buttons except for the lone antenna band. And, at the top, there is mic and two antenna bands to maintain a good cellular connection.

I prefer to use 60Hz most of the time, as it will conserve the battery and also, to be honest, there are very few games in the Google Play Store that support 120Hz refresh rate. But, with the latter switched on, the browsing experience goes several notches up and doesn't strain the eyes while doom scrolling through the news feeds on the internet or while watching high-resolution videos on OTT platforms.

On the top of the display, the company has incorporated Panda glass and also pre-fitter another layer of a screen guard, which helps in improving the durability of the screen and offer protection against scratches from keys when kept in the pocket.

Performance

The new phone runs the reliable 5nm class Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Plus octa-core (2.99 GHz Kryo 680 x 1 + 2.42 GHz Kryo 680 x 3 + 1.80 GHz Kryo 680 x 4) processor, which can clock peak CPU speed up to 2.99Ghz. Add to that the device supports virtual RAM expansion up to 4GB. Our review unit comes with 12GB RAM and 255GB storage. Provided there is enough space, users can expand it from 12GB to 16GB RAM. This will improve the smooth operation of the device in terms of playing games, also loading apps and operating camera efficiently.

The new phone runs Android 12-based FuntousOS 12. Though there are a lot of unwanted apps on the phone, the big 256GB storage keeps us in the comfort zone and not lose sleep over running out of space any time soon. We can store thousands of songs and install big games such as Asphalt 9: Legends and even capture and stock up photos and videos for a long time.

The new iQOO 9 Legend edition comes with 4350 mAh and the company offers a 120W fast charging adaptor with the retail box. The phone easily lasts a day under normal usage with 60Hz display refresh rate and if you put on the 120Hz, the result will vary depending on how long you spend on the internet and playing games.

But, with 120W charger, there is less room for anxiety as it can fully charge up the device from zero to 100 per cent under 20 minutes. Even just 6 minutes of charging can get to the 50 per cent capacity mark.

As advertised, the iQOO 9 takes pretty good photos in natural light conditions. Most of the photos I have taken have managed to retain the near-natural colours of the subjects such as the flowers. However, when taking the shot of the red rose, the result came a bit saturated and warmer. But, can't complain, as the details have been captured quite well.

In the night mode, iQOO 9's camera turns the images into art. The coconut trees' leaves in the photo do retain the colours, but the windy night made the photo come off like an oil painting. The moon, which was playing hide and seek in the cloudy dark sky, got blurred. But, I can't complain as the picture quality is on par with other premium phones in the market.

The close-up shots too came off really good. As you can see in the sample photos, the camera has managed to get all the details. Also, the edge detection and clear differentiation of the foreground and the background in the portrait mode is impressive too.

The camera takes pretty good selfies on par with rival brands in its class. Also, it offers superficial filters and facial editing tools to adjust jaw bone structure, eyes size, nose, cheeks, chin, skin whitening and even offer additional make-up options to make the face more vibrant and note-worthy to be shared on social media platforms.

Final thoughts

Most of the rival brands have taken a shine to the glossy and smooth shells for their phones and also colour options too, are limited. In the end, they look similar to each other and make us the customer confused. But, with the unique BMW Motorsport-inspired racing stripe design, iQOO9 5G stands out among the competitors.

The iQOO 12, initially introduced earlier this year, has now revealed a special anniversary edition in India. While the iQOO 12 was previously offered in Legend and Alpha color options, it will now also be accessible in a striking new Aqua Red variant. Beyond this captivating new color option, the internal specifications of the phone remain unchanged.

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