iQOO 12 5G Becomes 1st Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Starting At ₹52,999

Vivo's sub brand iQOO has introduced its latest flagship smartphone in India — the iQOO 12 5G. This device is noteworthy for being the first in India to incorporate Qualcomm's newly released 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, unveiled in October. Additionally, it is the first handset outside of the Pixel 8 series to come preloaded with Android 14. The phone is available at a starting price of ₹52,999, with higher-end models priced at ₹57,999, offering 12/256 GB and 16/512 GB memory configurations. It will be offered in a BMW Motorsport edition and a matte black finish, sold exclusively on Amazon.

The smartphone boasts cutting-edge features, including a 6.88-inch LTPO AMOLED display capable of 3000 nits brightness and a 144Hz refresh rate at a 1.5K resolution. It also includes 2160Hz PWM dimming, an in-display fingerprint scanner, and wet touch technology, enhancing usability with wet hands, a feature similar to OnePlus phones.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset is paired with up to 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM and UFS 4.0 storage. A significant vapor chamber helps maintain cool temperatures during high-resolution gaming. The camera setup is impressive, featuring dual 50-megapixel sensors and a 64-megapixel telephoto lens with optical image stabilisation. The primary camera uses the OV50H sensor with an F/1.68 aperture OIS, the ultra-wide employs a Samsung JN1 sensor, and the telephoto lens offers 3x optical zoom and up to 100x digital zoom.

The device includes a 16-megapixel front camera and a 5,000mAh battery, supported by iQOO's 120W fast charging technology. Additionally, a Q1 chipset prevents frame rate drops. The software experience has been enhanced by eliminating preloaded hot apps bloatware. iQOO also promises three years of software updates and four years of security updates.