Smart Android And Trik-Commenting on Andorid indeed never endless, because smart devices this one is often updated every certain amount of time. So that the market can always be garapnya menerinya with pleasure. And it is not denied if this device has become the lifestyle of each society. To not wonder if the 6th business information and many are turning to mobail smartphone. With Android which thoroughly dominated the mobile industry, choosing the best Android smartphone is almost identical to choose the best smartphone, period. But while Android phones have few real opponents on other platforms, internal competition is intense.
Introduction
The global rollout of the iQOO Neo 6 has recently begun and it's only fair we give the spotlight to one of the hottest midrangers India has gotten so far. It's an affordable smartphone with a great AMOLED screen, powerful hardware, capable camera, and incredibly fast charging.
As it happens quite often lately, the global model of the iQOO Neo 6 is not the same as the Chinese version. It is not a brand-new device either - the international Neo 6 is actually the Neo 6 SE that is still exclusively sold in China. Go figure!
And with that confusion sorted out, let's explore this iQOO Neo 6.
If we had to describe the iQOO Neo 6 with as few words as possible, it will go like this - imagine the Poco F3 with a better main camera and faster charging. And it runs on Funtouch instead of MIUI, of course.
Indeed, we can't shake the feeling we are getting a refreshed version of one of the best-selling smartphones in the recent years - the Poco F3. The iQOO Neo 6 has arguably a more appealing design but relies on a similar AMOLED screen with 120Hz refresh, 360Hz touch response, and HDR10+ certification.
Then there is the Snapdragon 870 5G chipset, which is still considered one of the best choices as it delivers flagship speed and sustained performance within the midrange bracket. iQOO advertises the Neo 6 as having a sophisticated multilayer cooling system and we will surely see how it will behave under pressure.
The iQOO Neo 6 features a triple-camera setup on the back with a 64MP OIS primary, an 8MP ultrawide, and a 2MP macro cameras. There is a 16MP selfie shooter on the other side.
Finally, the iQOO Neo 6 utilizes a 4,700mAh battery that supports up to 80W fast charging. You bet that power adapter arrives bundled with the phone.
Let's scroll though the iQOO Neo 6 specs now.
iQOO Neo 6 specs at a glance:
- Body: 163.0x76.2x8.5mm, 190g; Glass front, plastic frame, plastic back;
- Display: 6.62" AMOLED, 120Hz, HDR10+, 500 nits (typ), 800 nits (HBM), 1300 nits (peak), 1080x2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 398ppi.
- Chipset: Qualcomm SM8250-AC Snapdragon 870 5G (7 nm): Octa-core (1x3.2 GHz Kryo 585 & 3x2.42 GHz Kryo 585 & 4x1.80 GHz Kryo 585); Adreno 650.
- Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
- OS/Software: Android 12, Funtouch 12.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 64 MP, f/1.9, 1/1.72", 0.8µm, PDAF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 8 MP, f/2.2, 116˚, 1/4.0", 1.12µm; Macro: 2 MP, f/2.4.
- Front camera: 16 MP, f/2.0, (wide), 1/3.1", 1.0µm.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
- Battery: 4700mAh; Fast charging 80W, 50% in 12 min, 100% in 32 min (advertised).
- Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); Infrared port; stereo speakers.
It seems there is little, if anything, missing on the iQOO Neo 6. The phone appears to have basic water protection even if there is no official mention about this, there are two speakers, NFC, under-display fingerprint scanner, IR blaster. Well, there is no microSD expansion or an audio jack, so it's not all perfection, isn't it?
Currently, the iQOO Neo 6 is available in India in Dark Nova (ours) and Cyber Rage. It should launch in other markets later on, too.
Unboxing the iQOO Neo 6
The iQOO Neo 6 arrives in a stylish box with carbon-like pattern and yellow markings. Inside, you will find the 80W power adapter and a 4A-rated USB cable. There is also a soft transparent case.
Digging in further revealed a 3.5mm-to-USB-C adapter, which is quite welcome. Even if the phone doesn't come with an audio jack, the option is still available right out of the box.
Finally, the iQOO Neo 6, like many other phones, had a thin protective film applied on the display. It is for scratch resistance but is also a smudge magnet.
Design, build quality, handling
The iQOO Neo 6 is eye-catchy and likable right out of the box. The Dark Nova color is reminiscent of the northern lights but not as flashy as dedicated Aurora versions of other makers' phones. And the smooth transition between black and dark green is what makes the Dark Nova this cool.
On the other hand, if you want flashy, the Cyber Rage version will get you that with light blue towards purplish-pinkish transition.
So, iQOO Neo 6 build is nothing out of the ordinary - there is a flat tempered glass on top of the screen, a thin and flat plastic frame with matt finish, and a slightly curved plastic back with multiple layers of paint and matt, anti-glare coating.
The matt rear panel doesn't necessarily mean grippy. In the case of the iQOO Neo 6, both the frame and the back offer similar non-glossy surface, but neither offers much in terms of grip and handling. They are quite smudge-resistant though, so we do give them points for that.
The phone is not officially advertised as having ingress protection. It still appears to feature some insulation and tests published on YouTube revealed it can survive dips in water. While this doesn't mean much, it still gives a peace of mind of sorts.
And now it's time to take a closer look at the front.
The front is occupied by the 6.62-inch E4 AMOLED screen of 1080p resolution, 120Hz refresh rate and with HDR10+ support. It is a bright and colorful panel, with fast touch response and thin bezels.
There is a small perforation to make way for the 16MP selfie camera and for now - this is the most compact solution.
The iQOO Neo 6 has a dual-speaker setup of the hybrid kind - the earpiece also doubles as a speaker, while the other is at the bottom of the phone. There is no grille for the earpiece above the screen, just a thin outlet for the sound, while the speaker itself is somewhere behind the OLED panel.
The good news is that even if part of a hybrid setup, the speakers are balanced in loudness and sound quality.
Something you cannot see is the under-display fingerprint scanner. It is satisfyingly fast and reliable and rarely misses. Its placement is a bit lower than usual, and some may find it uncomfortable at first.
The camera island is a common theme within the vivo-made phones. Even if it's large, it houses just three cameras - the 64MP primary, the 8MP ultrawide, and a 2MP macro - and a LED flash. It's a two-step piece that's jutting out of the beautiful plastic back. The lower part contains a pixelated NEO logo.
Because of the camera setup, the phone wobbles a bit when left on a flat surface. If you find this annoying, you can solve the issue by using the supplied case.
The plastic back is quite pleasant on touch and fingerprint resistant. It's clean of text and logos, excluding the iQOO one. The subtle curved edges of the longer side make the iQOO Neo 6 look much thinner than it is.
The flat plastic frame is also thin on the longer sides, and of proper thickness around the top and bottom sides.
It is completely bare on the left.
The right side houses the volume and power/lock keys.
The top packs one of the mics and the IR blaster.
Finally, the bottom side is where you'd find the dual-SIM tray, the USB-C port, the primary microphone, and the other speaker.
The iQOO Neo 6 measures 163 x 76.2 x 8.5 mm and weighs 190 grams, making it one reasonably thin and lightweight smartphone.
Despite having a lot of matt plastic, the iQOO Neo 6 provides little grip and if it weren't for the flat sides, it would have been non-existent. It sure is not the worst we've experienced, but far from the best, too.
Overall, we had a positive experience using the iQOO Neo 6. It is of a solid build with some sorts of water insulation, and we liked its frame and back surface. The color options are quite nice, too. It's an easy-to-use smartphone, but if you don't feel it secure enough in your hand, the transparent case from the retail box will help for that.
Display
The 6.62-inch AMOLED screen is the centerpiece of the iQOO Neo 6. The panel has extended 1080p resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, 360Hz touch response, and HDR10+ certification.
The actual resolution of the screen is 1,080 x 2,400 pixels or 398ppi density and 20:9 aspect ratio. There is no in formation on the screen protection, but most of the iQOO phones lately use Panda Glass, so there is a good chance the Neo 6 has such glass sheet as well.
Like most of the phones nowadays, the Neo 6 also has a perforated screen - the selfie camera sits within the small punch hole.
So, we've completed our display measurements on the Neo 6's display. iQOO has listed 500 nits of typical, 800 nits of high maximum, and 1300 nits of peak brightness. We cannot measure peak, but we've captured about 490 nits of typical and 770 nits of sunlight brightness - in line with the official numbers.
The minimum brightness at point white was 2.1nits.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, |
White, |
||
| 0 | 487 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 772 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 455 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 749 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 466 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 796 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 516 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 803 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 383 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 800 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 427 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 830 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 433 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 613 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 470 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 746 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 479 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 760 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 514 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 846 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 484 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 673 | ∞ | |
Color accuracy
The iQOO Neo 6 has three display color modes in Settings - Standard (default), Professional, and Bright. You can adjust the color temperature in each of those. Standard and Bright cover the DCI-P3 color space and offer accurate color presentation, excluding the slightly bluish white and gray hues. The Professional setting corresponds to sRGB, and it offers a superb color accuracy with an average deltaE of 2.
Refresh rate
The iQOO Neo 6 has three refresh rate options - 60Hz, 120Hz, and Smart Switch. Both Smart Switch and 120Hz are dynamic options, with the only difference we noticed is that Smart Switch sometimes may render the UI with 90fps instead of 120fps.
Many apps that can use high refresh rate are able to do so on the iQOO Neo 6. This includes the entire interface and all system apps.
Video apps usually draw their interface at 60fps, and the videos play at 60Hz, too.
Some compatible HFR games seem to be choosing 120Hz, too, no matter if the Refresh rate was set to 120Hz or Smart Switch. There is a catch, though. It turned out that the refresh rate indicator always showed 60Hz when we weren't touching the screen, and this led us to believe that all games are actually drawn at 60fps, no matter what the refresh rate indicator was showing.
Display enhancements
The iQOO Neo 6 has a feature called Visual Enhancement in Display settings, which optimizes the colors and contrast in some streaming apps like Netflix and YouTube (you can pick the apps manually from the compatible list). It does offer a minor boost in color saturation and contrast in non-HDR content, but it also increases the overall battery consumption.
Colors • Refresh rate • Visual Enhancement
The iQOO Neo 6 has a couple of interesting settings as part of the Ultra Game Mode.
The Esports mode, available for selected games, allows for automatic DND mode. It disables unnecessary screen gestures, locks the brightness and balances frame rate and temperature to keep the best possible FPS. It is currently compatible with Call of Duty Mobile and BGMI.
There is also 4D Game Vibration, which uses the phone's built-in z-axis linear motor to provide dynamic haptic feedback in compatible games. The setting will list all compatible games (like Asphalt 9) and you can turn this feature on/off for each one.
We also want to praise the excellent tactile feedback the screen provides thanks to the said vibration motor - it is prominent and accurate.
The Eagle Eye Enhancement offers local tone mapping for better contrast, color enhancements, and detail sharpening. It is available to a couple of games, though.
There is also something called Frame rate priority, but it has no explanation, and we couldn't find a compatible game.
Ultra Game Mode
HDR
The iQOO Neo 6 display is HDR10+ certified, and the device comes with Widevine L1 DRM support. This means you should be able to stream HDR10 1080p content from any popular services. And we can confirm that - Full HD HDR10 streaming is available right out of the box across the popular streaming apps.
Battery life
The iQOO Neo 6 features a 4,700 mAh battery that's capable of fast charging up to 80W. The phone has the Snapdragon 870 5G chipset and a large E4 AMOLED screen.
The iQOO Neo 6 scored a 97h endurance rating on our battery test. It posted similarly great times to the iQOO 9 across our three standalone tests - calls, web browsing, and video playback.
But the standby performance was somewhat subpar and hence the slightly lower endurance rating if compared to the iQOO 9.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSerDevice app. The endurance rating denotes how long the battery charge will last you if you use the device for an hour of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. More details can be found here.
Video test carried out in 60Hz refresh rate mode. Web browsing test done at the display's highest refresh rate whenever possible. Refer to the respective reviews for specifics. To adjust the endurance rating formula to match your own usage - check out our all-time battery test results chart.
Charging speed
The iQOO Neo 6 supports 80W fast wired charging for the 4,700mAh battery and the phone comes bundled with the 80W brick and the 4A-rated USB cable.
The official numbers for this charger and phone are 50% in 12 minutes and a full charge in 32 minutes.
We put those to the test, and we've captured exactly 50% in 12 minutes! Then, 30 minutes on the 80W power adapter will give you 98% charge.
30min charging test (from 0%)
Higher is better
- iQOO 9 Pro
100% - Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
100% - iQOO Neo 6
98% - OnePlus Nord 2
98% - Realme GT Neo3T
95% - IQOO 9 SE
91% - Realme 9 Pro+
77% - Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
74% - Poco F3
67% - Realme 9 Pro
52%
The phone reached 100% in 32 minutes - exactly what iQOO has promised.
Time to full charge (from 0%)
Lower is better
- Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
0:16h - iQOO 9 Pro
0:21h - OnePlus Nord 2
0:31h - iQOO Neo 6
0:32h - IQOO 9 SE
0:38h - Realme GT Neo3T
0:40h - Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
0:45h - Realme 9 Pro+
0:49h - Poco F3
0:56h - Realme 9 Pro
1:14h
There is no wireless charging support on the iQOO Neo 6.
Speakers
The iQOO Neo 6 has a hybrid stereo speaker setup - there is one speaker at the bottom, while the front-facing earpiece acts a second speaker.
We were pleased with the balance - both speakers seem equal in both loudness and sound quality.
The iQOO Neo 6 speakers scored a Very Good mark on our loudness test. The audio quality is okayish, though nothing praise-worthy. The high notes are very well presented, there is some bass, but the setup is lacking in mid-tones and vocals.
Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.
Android 12 with Funtouch 12
The iQOO Neo 6 boots the latest Android 12 OS with vivo's newest Funtouch 12 launcher.
Funtouch 12 significantly departs from Funtouch 11's "core values". The stock-ish looking and functioning main UI elements and menus have been substituted with a highly customized and customizable UI. Some of the changes are pretty nifty, too, including the system menus being tailored toward a single-handed use. Some of the menus' content moves to the lower half of the screen when you swipe down, but not all, which is odd.
Lockscreen • Homescreen • Folder view • Settings menu
The recent apps menu, for example, has one of those useful proprietary features. You can choose between the standard carousel formation and a horizontal tiles layout - sort of like MIUI, only scrollable horizontally.
The app drawer, although stock-ish looking, has an expandable recommended apps category on the top (most commonly used ones), whereas using the vertical scroller on the right would highlight the apps beginning with the selected letter.
Recent apps • Recent apps • Notification shade • Quick toggles • App drawer
The notification shade has been revamped too, in terms of looks mostly.
The rest of the UI gets plenty of love, too. In the Dynamic effects sub-menu, vivo has grouped quite a few customizable aspects of the home screen, lock screen, animation effects, etc. There are even various charging and facial recognition animations.
The Ambient light effect gets more granular control with the option to enable it only during a limited time period, or you can choose which apps to trigger it.
Dynamic effects • Ambient light effect
The always-on display settings are in a different sub-menu, however, but the phone still gives you plenty of options to tinker with - a wide selection of animations, clock styles, colors, backgrounds, the lot.
Always-on display
You can also change the animation of the fingerprint scanner, the face unlocks, and even the charging animation.
Animations
Speaking of the fingerprint scanner, it is kind of always-on. Sure, you cannot see the icon, but it lights up the moment you touch the glass around its area. And it is quite fast and reliable, among the fastest UD solutions on the market.
Less secure Face Unlock is available, too, in case you were wondering.
Fingerprint and Face unlock
The Sound menu holds a few pleasant surprises. Just like Samsung, vivo is paying attention to people with hearing problems, and you can calibrate the sound to be heard by elderly people or those with impaired hearing. Additionally, notifications and calls get separate volume sliders. The vibration intensity can be adjusted for calls and notifications independently.
Sound options
The Smart motion menu holds a handful of familiar screen-on and screen-off gestures along with some new additions. One of those requires you to wave in front of the screen during an incoming call to answer hands-free - useful if you're cooking, for example.
Smart motion menu
Holding the volume down key can be used to launch an app or do a certain task, although the list of the latter is limited to launching the camera app, turn on/off the torch or start recording audio. The so-called Quick action feature doesn't work when playing music for obvious reasons. Why isn't there a double-press option for Quick action though?
Quick action • S-capture • Screen-split • Easy Touch
There is a bunch of proprietary system apps that compete with the Funtouch 12 app suite. These include Albums, Browser, iManager, Music and Video.
Albums • Browser • iManager • iManager • Music • Videos
There is also a Smart Remote app, which turns the iQOO Neo 6 into a universal remote thanks to the IR blaster.
Smart Remote
Themes app with many free themes is available, too.
Themes
All in all, the new Funtouch 12 runs great, and you can even make it snappier by disabling most of the animations and speeding up the transitions. Yes, Funtouch 12 gives you the freedom to do so. However, those that want to use Android as Google intended might not be okay with the colorful iconography and the highly customized system menus and animations.
Performance and benchmarks
The iQOO Neo 6 employs one of the fastest and fan-favorite available chipsets - the Snapdragon 870 5G. It is a rehash of the last year's flagship SD865 chip with even higher CPU clocks and its prime core goes all the way up to 3.2GHz. It still packs one of the most powerful GPUs around - the Adreno 650.
The SD870 features an octa-core CPU in a 1+3+4 configuration with the prime core maxing out at 3.2GHz. The Adreno 650 handles the graphics and should deliver flagship-grade performance, including HFR gaming.
The iQOO Neo 6 has two variants - 8GB RAM + 128GB storage and 12GB RAM + 256GB storage. Ours is the latter, the RAM is LPDDR4X, while the storage is UFS3.1.
And now, let's run some tests, shall we?
The Snapdragon 870 CPU is an easy champ in the midrange. It is only bested by the flagship Snapdragon 888+ and the Dimensity 8100 within the more expensive Realme GT Neo 3.
GeekBench 5 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Realme GT Neo3
4079 - iQOO 9
3503 - Realme GT Neo 3T
3180 - iQOO Neo 6
3076 - Xiaomi 11T
2834 - Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
2801 - Realme 9 5G Speed Edition
2753 - Realme 9 Pro+
2335 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
2225 - Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
1891 - Realme 9 5G
1823
GeekBench 5 (single-core)
Higher is better
- iQOO 9
1143 - Realme GT Neo 3T
1023 - iQOO Neo 6
984 - Realme GT Neo3
968 - Realme 9 Pro+
814 - Realme 9 5G Speed Edition
795 - Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
771 - Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
743 - Xiaomi 11T
742 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
736 - Realme 9 5G
610
The Adreno 650 GPU is one of the best performers not only in the midrange, but in the whole current smartphone chipset selection. And it easily aces the graphics benchmarks.
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- iQOO 9
65 - Realme GT Neo3
53 - iQOO Neo 6
50 - Realme GT Neo 3T
49 - Xiaomi 11T
40 - Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
28 - Realme 9 5G Speed Edition
28 - Realme 9 Pro+
23 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
22 - Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
19 - Realme 9 5G
14
GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- iQOO 9
110 - Realme GT Neo 3T
85 - iQOO Neo 6
84 - Xiaomi 11T
72 - Realme GT Neo3
60 - Realme 9 5G Speed Edition
50 - Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
49 - Realme 9 Pro+
41 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
38 - Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
35 - Realme 9 5G
25
3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- iQOO 9
5814 - Realme GT Neo3
5428 - Realme GT Neo 3T
4255 - iQOO Neo 6
4225
4172
2491
2476
2296
2292
2014
1228
The compound AnTuTu test puts the iQOO Neo 6 at the top of its price segment and among the best scoring non-flagship smartphones.
AnTuTu 9
Higher is better
- iQOO 9
852898 - Realme GT Neo3
819348 - iQOO Neo 6
730223 - Realme GT Neo 3T
726007 - Xiaomi 11T
590837 - Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
506432 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
437872 - Realme 9 Pro+
416031 - Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
379313
Finally, we've tested the stability of the Snapdragon 870 inside this iQOO Neo 6. The chipset has a Cascade Cooling System with a large vapor chamber area and a 5-layer 3D graphite cooling plates to further accelerate heat dissipation and provide sustained performance.
The cooling turned out incredibly adequate as the Neo 6 aced the stability tests. It managed to keep 80% of its CPU performance when running CPU Throttle for an hour. Then it scored 99.1% stability on the 3D Mark GPU Stress Test!
The iQOO Neo 6 was warm after each of these tests, but never got hot.
CPU test • GPU test
So, the iQOO Neo 6 is not only equipped with a flagship-grade chipset with excellent CPU and GPU performance, but it also features a superb cooling solution that will allow you to use the Neo 6 at full speed for prolonged periods of time without throttling or getting uncomfortably hot. And for all of these, it deserves an excellent mark for performance and stability!
Triple camera on the back with a stabilized high-res primary
The iQOO Neo 6 has a familiar trio of cameras at the back - a high-res primary shooter with optical stabilization, an ultrawide camera, and a small macro shooter. There is also a standard 16MP camera for selfies on the other side.
The primary camera on the iQOO Neo 6 uses a 64MP Samsung (S5K)GW1 1/1.72" sensor with 0.8µm pixels and a Tetrapixel filter. This sensor is paired with a 25mm f/1.9 lens.
The ultrawide camera relies on an 8MP OmniVision OV8856 1/4" sensor with 1.12µm pixels. It sits behind a 16mm f/2.2 lens.
Last at the back is the macro camera with a 2MP OmniVision OV02B10 1/5" sensor with 1.75µm pixels. It uses a 24mm f/2.4 lens and has a fixed focus at 4cm away.
The selfie camera uses a 16MP Samsung S5K3P9 1/3.1" sensor. The lens is 28mm f/2.0, and the focus is fixed.
No major changes were made to the default Funtouch camera app since the vivo X70 series. There's a straightforward zoom selector with 0.6x, 1x and 2x shortcuts. Accessing the Super Macro mode is done from the flower icon next to the hamburger menu.
The main modes are arranged in carousel formation, and you can switch between them by swiping. The More tab lists the rest of the modes, and from there, you can also customize the modes you have available in the viewfinder.
Camera app
The Pro mode gives you all the freedom to adjust the autofocus, white balance, shutter speed (32s for main, 0.8s for UW), ISO and exposure. You can do so on the main and ultrawide cameras. There's helpful information explaining all of the options above in case you are just getting into photography. Shooting in RAW is also an option.
Camera app
Photo quality
The camera app's default settings are HDR set to Auto (as on most phones) and AI turned off. The latter option usually boosts colors and contrast depending on the recognized scene and since the default photos you are about to see are unrealistic already, we'd advice against using the AI option.
So, the primary camera on the iQOO Neo 6 saves good photos with adequate detail levels, excellent contrast, low noise and likable even if a bit over the top dynamic range.
They are far from perfect though as the processing is a mess - for example foliage is sometimes smudged and oversharpened, other times it looks quite well. People and cars look glossy and like they came from an oil painting.
And then we have the unrealistically popping colors - though many people like them this way, so we are not sure of this critique will resonate with everyone.
As we wrote, the photos look good, but they are obviously overprocessed and we are not sure if everyone will find them appealing when looking them at 100% zoom.
Main camera Auto HDR, 16MP
You can get less processed photos by disabling the Auto HDR completely. The images have a more natural look, especially the foliage, the sharpening is just right, and the noise is more than tolerable. The colors are still oversaturated, but likable, nevertheless.
Main cam HDR off, 16MP
The portraits we shot on the main camera are good - the subject separation is proficient enough not to mess up some body parts, the blur is convincing, and the colors are realistic. The subjects are well exposed and detailed, and the contrast is good, too.
You can tweak the blur intensity and use various beautification effects.
Main cam portraits, 16MP
There is a dedicated 2x zoom toggle on the viewfinder, but there is no zoom camera on the iQOO Neo 6, and the phone does not offer any sort of smart or lossless digital zoom.
This means the 2x zoomed photos from the main camera are cropped and upscaled from the regular one and the levels of detail and sharpness are unappealing. Worse, they magnify the unrealistic look and messy processing and may not be good even for social networks.
Main cam 2x zoom, 16MP
There is a high-res 64MP shooting mode available and this is probably the best way to get the least processed photos with accurate colors, white balance, and realistic dynamic range.
It's a smart upscaling process that yields usable photos with okay-ish detail and, as we said, realistic white balance, contrast and dynamic. They can also be used for zooming in without losing much detail by cropping their 16MP center.
Main cam, 64MP
The 8MP photos we shot on the ultrawide camera are good as well. They present enough detail, acceptable contrast and wide dynamic range. They are also noise-free.
The UW photos share the unrealistic overprocessed look of the primary ones - they offer oversaturated colors, over the top dynamic, smudged foliage at times, and they can benefit from increased contrast and a notch down on, well, everything else.
Ultrawide camera, 8MP
The third and final camera on the back of the iQOO Neo 6 is a 2MP macro eye with a fixed focus at 4cm away.
The 2MP macro photos are usable and that's the best we can say about them. They are not that detailed, often over-sharpened, and somewhat desaturated or oversaturated pending on the scene and available light. They look just as overprocessed as the rest of the photos.
Macro camera, 2MP
We liked the 16MP selfies from the front camera. When the Auto HDR is disabled (first photo), you will get a sharp and detailed photo with realistic colors, excellent contrast and low noise.
If you rely on the default Auto HDR state (2,3,4 photos), or the light is not ideal, you will get halved detail with arguably improved dynamic range. The colors and contrast, as well as the dynamic remain realistic and likable across all photos.
Selfie camera, 16MP
The portrait selfies offer the same quality as the regular one - it depends on HDR and available light. Other than that, the subject separation is quite good, and we did like the blur.
Selfie portraits, 16MP
Quite expectedly, the low-light photos are always heavily processed, no matter whether you've opted for Night Mode or not. Usually, there isn't a big difference between the regular and night modes because the standard mode has faster simulated exposure.
So, the default photos taken at night with the primary camera are quite good - they are notably bright and with wide dynamic range, good contrast, and the color saturation is excellent. The noise has been cleaned well even if some fine detail got smeared in the process.
Main camera, 16MP
You can manually shoot in Night Mode, and you will see there is barely a difference at first. But zooming in revealed the Night Mode photos offer more detail and better sharpness and far less smearing.
So, the Night Mode photos have higher per pixel sharpness and that is the main reason we do recommend using it.
Main cam Night Mode, 16MP
The 2x toggle on the viewfinder offers digitally zoomed photos at night. These are cropped and upscaled from the standard 1x photos and you can tell if you pixel peep in those - the resolved detail is halved. Still, these are quite usable and will do for sharing across various apps and services.
2x • 2x Night Mode • 2x • 2x Night Mode
The low-light images from the 8MP ultrawide camera are not as processed as the ones from the primary cam. They have realistic exposure and true to life colors, good contrast and acceptable dynamic range. The detail is mediocre.
Ultrawide camera, 8MP
There is barely any difference between the default and the Night Mode ultrawide photos. Sometime the Night Mode cleans noise better than what we saw in the standard photo. It may or may not improve on the color saturation.
There is one thing to consider, though - the Night mode takes noticeably longer time to shoot each ultrawide photo and that's why we are not sure that the tradeoff is worth it.
UW Night Mode, 8MP
And here are photos of our usual posters taken with the iQOO Neo 6. You can see how it stacks up against the competition. Feel free to browse around and pit it against other phones from our extensive database.
iQOO Neo 6 against the Realme GT Neo 3T and the Galaxy A52s in our Photo compare tool
Video recording
The iQOO Neo 6 captures videos with all cameras but the macro. The main camera records video up to 4K at 60fps, 1080p at 60fps is also supported. The ultrawide and the selfie shooters are limited to 1080p at 30fps capturing.
OIS is available on the primary camera, while optional electronic stabilization is supported on the primary and the ultrawide cameras.
iQOO stabilization options are a bit awkward - there is Standard, Ultra, and Off. Standard means OUS+EIS for the main camera, and EIS for the ultrawide cam. Ultra uses the main camera and 1080p@60fps mode to capture an action camera-like video. And Off, well, it means no stabilization, obviously.
Unfortunately, there is no stabilization available for the selfie video capturing.
The camcorder is incredibly generous with the bit rates - 4K footage gets 50Mbps, while 1080p/30fps is allocated a similarly about 30Mbps. The audio bitrate is 128Kbps, the sound is stereo.
The 4K footage from the main camera is excellent. The resolved detail is plenty, the sharpness is great and the foliage, among everything else, looks natural. There is no visible noise, the contrast is great, the colors are true to life, and the dynamic range is just right.
You can also use the main camera for 2x zoomed videos and they are alright. The detail is not on par with the 1x footage, of course, but it's not that bad either. Overall, these videos are quite usable, especially if you are going to share them on YouTube or among friends via IMs/social accounts.
The 4K low-light clips from the main camera are very good with realistic exposure, good detail levels, likable contrast and true to life colors.
The 1080p videos from the ultrawide are merely acceptable. The colors are realistic, and the dynamic range is notably wide. The contrast is low and the footage looks out of focus.
Finally, here is the iQOO Neo 6 in our video tool so you can make your own comparisons.
2160p: iQOO Neo 6 against the Realme GT Neo 3T and the Galaxy A52s in our Video compare tool
The competition
The iQOO Neo 6 is a great all-round smartphone with plenty of premium features like a smooth AMOLED screen with HDR10, a powerful Snapdragon 870 5G chipset with outstanding sustained performance, incredibly fast charging and reliable cameras even if their photo quality is undistinguished.
The iQOO Neo 6 starts at about INR 30,000 (about €370/$390) and it's quite a reasonable price tag for such a smartphone.
The first competitor that comes to mind is the Realme GT Neo 3T - this is pretty much the same smartphone but from another maker. There are two notable differences - the Realme's primary camera is not stabilized, and the battery capacity is slightly larger. The GT Neo 3T is not available in India yet, but you can get it in Europe. It is as good as the iQOO Neo 6 and worth having as your daily driver.
If you live in India, you can get the Realme GT2 for about as much as the iQOO Neo 6. It has a more powerful Snapdragon 888 chipset and the primary camera's photo quality is better. The rest is a match to the iQOO Neo 6. You should consider the GT2 if you are not a fan of Funtouch, otherwise just pick the phone you like the most - there is no right or wrong choice.
The Poco F3 GT is another excellent offer that goes for as much as the iQOO Neo 6. The F3 GT has a similar 120Hz AMOLED but with a billion colors thanks to the 10-bit native color support. It runs on the very capable Dimensity 1200 chipset. The F3 GT trumps the iQOO Neo 6 with IP53 certification for basic dust and water protection, and it offers dedicated physical gaming triggers. We guess the Poco F3 GT is better suited for gaming than the iQOO Neo 6.
The Samsung Galaxy A52s is also priced the same as the iQOO Neo 6 and it's an excellent choice for its IP67 water protection, great 120Hz AMOLED and the quite powerful Snapdragon 778G 5G chipset. The Galaxy offers better photo quality across the board, which may eventually tip the scales in its favor.
Finally, if you want an even more interesting device, the iQOO 9 is worth considering. It's INR 10,000 more expensive, but for the extra money it offers even more powerful hardware and a better display with more colors and Monster Touch panel. Its imaging department is much better too - there are better main and ultrawide cameras, and an additional 2x telephoto. Oh, and the phone supports jaw-dropping 120W fast charging.
Realme GT Neo 3T • Realme GT2 • Xiaomi Poco F3 GT • Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G • iQOO 9
Our verdict
At the end of the day - we are happy with the iQOO Neo 6. It's a beautiful phone with a solid and lightweight build, stereo speakers and large battery with blazing fast charging.
The most notable features of the iQOO Neo 6 are its excellent 120Hz HDR10 AMOLED screen and the lovely performance with excellent stability. The speakers turned out loud, though the quality was a mixed bag. The battery life was also pretty good, but the standby performance was rather mediocre.
Then there are the cameras - all four cameras saved overproccesed photos - not bad, but not up to par either. The video quality was mostly good, though.
Ultimately, we'd recommend putting the iQOO Neo 6 on your shortlists as it is an excellent device for gaming and multimedia, and it is priced just right. It will do the job as a cameraphone, too, though if photo quality is a priority, the competition has better offers for that.
Pros
- Likable design, lightweight.
- Excellent AMOLED screen, 120Hz refresh, 360Hz touch, HDR10+.
- Outstanding speed and sustained performance.
- Fast charging.
- The main camera offers great video quality.
Cons
- No ingress protection.
- The speakers' audio quality is not up to par.
- Mediocre photo quality across the board.
- No EIS for selfie videos.
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