If you want to say what is the most embarrassing product line in the mobile phone market in recent years, I think “e-sports mobile phones” are definitely one of them. The performance of truly top-level e-sports flagships is very strong, but the price, weight, and shape are often not acceptable to everyone. Although general mid-range mobile phones are cheap, they are prone to encounter old problems such as heating, frame drops, and insufficient battery life when playing games for a long time. Therefore, a mobile phone that is not too expensive but is really willing to stack up the processor, heat dissipation, screen, and battery is actually very attractive to mobile game players. The iQOO 15R launched by iQOO in Taiwan this time is to target this market gap. It uses the current highest specification Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 processor, with a self-developed gaming chip Q2, a 6.59-inch 1.5K 144Hz AMOLED eye-protection screen, a 7600mAh blue ocean battery and 100W ultra-fast flash charging. The Taiwan version is 12GB RAM + 256GB ROM, with a recommended price of only NT$19,999. Currently, vivo The official mall also has a discounted price of NT$17,999, which is an unbeatable price-performance ratio. Next, let Ada show you whether iQOO 15R is the most noteworthy e-sports flagship under 20,000 yuan.
Unboxing of iQOO 15R, the e-sports flagship under 20,000 yuan
In accordance with international practice, start by unboxing. iQOO 15R focuses on the “performance iron triangle” this time, which is the three core directions of smoothness, calmness, and durability. Therefore, the overall packaging and positioning are actually very clear, which is to allow players to directly enter combat status as soon as they get the phone:
The iQOO 15R box contains the phone body, transparent protective case, 100W charger, USB Type-C to C transmission cable, SIM card pin and manual:
I think I should give iQOO some applause for the charger, because some brands now don’t even provide chargers, but although the price of iQOO 15R is very cheap, the original manufacturer is not stingy and directly provides 100W fast charging, which is quite impressive:
Let’s take a quick look at the appearance of iQOO 15R. iQOO 15R is equipped with a 6.59-inch AMOLED screen and also has a fingerprint recognition function. The resolution is 2750 × 1260, the update frequency is up to 144Hz, and the instantaneous touch sampling rate is 3200Hz (it is worthy of being a gaming machine, so this part is not spared). The peak screen brightness is 1800 nits, 4320Hz high-frequency PWM dimming, the local peak brightness is also as high as 5000 nits, the lowest 1 nit brightness and DC-like dimming, it still has a good use experience outdoors during the day. There is a 32-megapixel front selfie lens above the screen, the frame is also very narrow, and the overall visual appearance is good:
Next, take a look at the back. iQOO 15R is currently available in two colors: “Pixel Silver” and “Samurai Black”. There are some slight differences in weight and thickness between the two units. The one I have is “Samurai Black”.
Take a quick look at the appearance of iQOO 15R. There are speakers and noise-cancelling microphones on the top:
The bottom is equipped with a SIM card slot that supports IP68 and IP69 dust-proof and waterproof (supports 5G dual-SIM dual standby), TYPE-C port, stereo speakers and radio MIC. The sound performance is honestly average:
On the right side of the fuselage are the power button and volume button, and there are no hardware buttons on the left side:
iQOO 15R Pixel Silver uses a glass back cover, with a body thickness of 8.1mm and a weight of 206g; Samurai Black has a thickness of 7.9mm and a weight of 202g.
For a mobile phone with a built-in 7600mAh large battery, the thickness and weight control are quite good. It only weighs just over 200 grams. At least it does not have an exaggerated feel that makes you know that it is a reinstalled gaming machine as soon as you pick it up.
The camera is not the main battleground, but the 50-megapixel performance is surprisingly good
For a machine with such a hardware configuration as the iQOO 15R and selling such a cheap machine, there must be some trade-offs. After all, all parts are costs. The subtraction of the iQOO 15R is in the “photography” that e-sports players may not care about. Its camera configuration is a 50-megapixel Sony LYT-700V OIS main lens (1/1.56-inch, f/1.88 aperture, supports 2x lossless zoom), and an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens. It is not the current three or four lenses of high-end flagships (at least it is not packed with some bad lenses, which I personally affirm), but it is definitely enough for daily photography:
The following are photos taken with iQOO 15R. The picture quality is actually better than expected. The main point is that it is functional and not ugly. First up is daytime outdoor:
Super wide angle:
Close up shot:
indoor:
Indoor super wide angle:
At night, the performance is better than expected, but the super wide-angle performance is inferior:
iQOO 15R is also surprisingly good for taking pictures of people. This is because the main lens is not turned on for portrait, so the sense of depth of field is revealed:
The performance is better after turning on the portrait mode, and it is worthy of being tuned by vivo: 
There is no problem in taking daily photos of food, family, and travel records. The main lens also has OIS, and the night shots and 2x zoom are not too weak. But if you usually attach great importance to telephoto, ultra-wide-angle image quality, concert shooting, or want to use your mobile phone as your main creative tool, then iQOO 15R is not the top priority.
OriginOS 6, 4-year Android version upgrades and 6-year security updates, the software finally catches up with the hardware
iQOO 15R is pre-loaded with OriginOS 6, which officially promises 4 generations of Android version upgrades and 6 years of security updates, and claims that after system optimization, it can ensure a smooth experience for about 5 years. This is a very important improvement for Android phones, because no matter how powerful the hardware performance is, if the system updates are short and the software experience is rough, the lifespan of the entire phone will be reduced:
OriginOS 6 also adds many cross-device and AI functions this time, including mobile phone projection, remote computer control, one-touch transfer, AI creation, AI file scanning, AI subtitles, Atomic Island, etc.
The recording function also has AI functions for transcribing text and summarizing. Although iQOO is not the main AI application, it does not lack the necessary AI functions:
What surprises me most is that it also has an infrared remote control function for home appliances, which is really good:
Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 + Q2 dual-chip, this machine doesn’t just shout e-sports slogans
The core selling point of iQOO 15R is undoubtedly its performance. At this price point, it is still equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 mobile platform, and is equipped with 12GB LPDDR5X Ultra memory and 256GB UFS 4.1 storage. In addition to the smaller memory, the specifications are still very impressive. What’s more interesting is that iQOO 15R not only houses a high-end processor, but also adds a self-developed gaming chip Q2. This chip mainly handles game super-resolution, game frame insertion, real-time FPS display and other functions. It is officially claimed to support PC-level 1.5K super-resolution and native-level 144 FPS game frame insertion, which is equivalent to splitting the gaming experience into two stages: Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 is responsible for the main calculation, and Q2 is responsible for picture and frame rate enhancement. :
The measured AnTuTu score is 3.08 million points, while PCMARK 2.0 has 15,723 points:
For game performance, please refer to 3D MARK performance. In principle, all games currently on the market can run at full frame. E-sports phones are not just for fun:
6.5K Ice Dome VC cooling system, playing games for a long time is the key
Many mobile phones are very fast when they first start playing games. The real difference is whether the performance drops after 20 or 30 minutes of playing. iQOO 15R has a built-in 6500mm² Ice Dome VC cooling system, with double-layer graphite sheets, ultra-large graphite area and high thermal conductivity materials. It is officially claimed that the CPU core temperature can be reduced by up to 15°C, and the temperature difference between hot and cold zones is only 1.8°C. I actually ran 3DMARK STEEL NOMAD LIGHT for 20 rounds of stress tests, and the temperature after the run was only a maximum of 35 degrees, which is close to body temperature (room temperature) 26 degrees), this kind of heat dissipation performance is indeed excellent:
In addition, iQOO 15R also supports global bypass charging 2.0, which is very useful for gaming phones. Bypass charging means that when charging and playing at the same time, power can be directly supplied to the system, reducing the heat accumulation caused by consuming the battery while charging.
7600mAh blue ocean battery + 100W ultra-fast flash charging, battery life is the scariest thing about this phone
iQOO 15R has a built-in 7600mAh Blue Ocean battery. The official official capacity is 7600mAh and the rated capacity is 7440mAh. It uses the 4th generation silicon anode technology and the 2nd generation semi-solid battery technology. Compared with most current flagship phones, which are still around 5000mAh to 6000mAh, iQOO 15R is directly packed with 7600mAh. This is one of its most impressive specifications. In actual tests, PCMARK 2.0 was used to conduct stress tests in situations such as browsing the web, editing pictures, playing videos, etc., and it actually survived 100% to 20%. At 30 hours and 19 minutes, it is estimated to have at least 36 hours of performance. It is also the longest battery life of any mobile phone tested by Ada so far. It’s really exaggerated for a flagship processor to perform like this:
Conclusion
In summary, iQOO 15R is a mobile phone with a very clear positioning. It’s not about taking pictures with flagship imaging devices, nor is it about competing with thin and light fashionable phones in terms of hand feel. Instead, it uses Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, Q2 gaming chip, 6.5K VC cooling, 1.5K 144Hz AMOLED screen, 7600mAh large battery and 100W fast charging to directly target mobile gamers and heavy users.
If you usually play “Genshin Impact”, “Honkai: Star Rail”, “Mobile”, MOBA or FPS games, and also hope that your phone will not get hot after just playing or run out of power for half a day, then the specification combination of iQOO 15R is indeed very attractive. In particular, the official recommended selling price in Taiwan is NT$19,999, and the official store currently has a discounted price of NT$17,999, which makes it very competitive in the performance mobile phone market within 20,000 yuan.
But if what you value most is photography, especially telephoto, portrait, ultra-wide-angle or concert photography, then I would suggest you look at vivo X series, Motorola or other image-oriented models instead. The most suitable group for iQOO 15R is those who want to buy a mobile phone with close to flagship performance, long battery life, and stable gaming experience at a reasonable price, but do not want to buy a mobile phone with an overly exaggerated gaming appearance. The above is shared for your reference.
Source: KOCPC Chinese