The curtain was about to fall for 2024 , but before the year wrapped up for commodity , we sire a glance of what is to total in 2025 for smartphone partisan . So far , thing count good . Batteries are getting big , the performance legal community keeps rising , and cameras are leaning more into pro - grade and artistic genius .
Yet , the rising costs are also a lingering worry . Of course , scarce any innovation comes sans a good-looking price . However , some outliers are still carrying the Mickey Mantle once championed by the likes of OnePlus .
TheRed Magic 10 Prosurprised me with an all - out power - packed approach to swing nomadic gambling fans . Yet , it was not without its own set of compromises . move into the iQoo 13 from the sign of the zodiac of China ’s Vivo .
rock the same $ 650 sticker price as its predecessor , the latest iQoo phone boasts everything that will shine atop this year ’s flagship phones . It ’s so good that the current - gen iPhones and Samsung Galaxy phones look like a bad peck .
Performance without a tax
presently after Qualcomm revealed theSnapdragon 8 elite group , we started hearing rumors of its successor and a slightly irrigate - down trim to extend a more affordable alternative to smartphone makers . The latter is n’t an exotic strategy for the chipmaker .
The latest outing from Qualcomm was theSnapdragon 8s Gen 3 , which go for a less brawny core cluster , a ho-hum cellular modem , and a few cuts in the television camera capabilities .
It has allow the likes ofMotorola to make less expensive foldable phones , while Taiwanese smartphone labels have been able to deliver fantastical midrange phone . Some brand , however , duck’s egg that cost dilemma and go all - in .
iQoo is one of the wallet breavehearts .
The iQoo 13 is one of the first phone with the Snapdragon 8 Elite to hit the shelves . It ’s not a gaming phone , mind you . As such , my expectations were pretty modest , especially with caloric direction and performance throttling .
Surprisingly , this sound go past my expectations . Even under sustained cargo , the monumental 7,000 square - millimeter vaporization chamber did an admirable occupation of keeping the phone cool and run for in the top brackets of its eyeshade performance .
Look at the strangling graph below after running the gadget at 40 threads . The speech sound only shake off to 85 % of its meridian processing world power , but it ’s the stability prosody that impress the most .
For comparison , theSamsung Galaxy S24(which set forth at $ 800 ) dip as low as 60 % of its acme functioning , with a continued declivitous trend . Also of promissory note is that at no point did the iQoo 13 run spicy enough that I would need to keep it apart .
picture temperature under the 50 - level Centigrade mark after run a 3DMark stress test is a oddment , but the iQoo 13 also managed to pull that off . As far as play goes , there are a handful of surprises in there , too .
While I mostly kill time inDiablo ImmortalandDevil May Cryat the salutary graphics configurations they can declare oneself , I also dipped into other title . InGenshin Impact , Call of Duty : Mobile , Call of Duty : Warzone , and BattelGrounds Mobile India , I could easily act the games at flower nontextual matter preferences and revel in the gloriole of a fluent 60 frame per 2d ( fps ) experience .
This is also where Vivo ’s custom Q2 micro chip comes into the mixture . It perform an interpolation and upscaling trick to encourage the firmness of purpose and skeleton rate of sure optimize games to 2 K and 144 fps figure .
There are only a few titles that can take vantage of the extra dynamism at the moment , but when the Super Resolution and Frame Interpolation shaft are enable from the game center jury , you may clearly feel the add up dash of fluidity and fidelity in the games . Even the likes of Apple or Samsung have n’t gone that far .
Who needs a power bank?
One of the respectable trends I saw in 2024 was the innovation in battery engineering . The exploitation of semi - solid state batteries and those with atomic number 14 carbide anode has move over benefits such as improved longevity , good heat energy management , enhanced safety , and most importantly , higher vigour denseness .
The net benefit for an average smartphone shopper is expectant battery in a minor package , with faster charge being the optional perquisite . The iQoo 13 thirstily laps up all those welfare and serves them atop a platter ’s deserving 6,000 mAh capacity .
For mention , the Galaxy S24 offers only a 4,000mAh battery and much slow charging . On the iQoo phone , you get keep for blaze - tight 120 - watt firm charging .
A 120W battery charger comes bundled in the box seat .
To give you an idea of just how fast this battery charger is , even against a monumental 6,000mAh battery , it fill up an empty tank in just 36 bit . That figure is still slow as trickle charging ensues in the latter phase .
When you start , the pace is quicker . This battery can reach the halfway mark with just about 15 minutes of plugged - in time . That ’s madly tight and a lovely reassurance that even if you ’re in a bang , this speech sound can offer enough electrochemical mojo within a few moment to last at least half a day .
Of naturally , the per - change endurance is fittingly grand . I fall in the lowering substance abuser course . I hoodwink between Teams and Slack , almost all - Clarence Day music listening over pumped headphones , frequent texting , intermittent Instagram Reels bingeing , an minute or two of play , and loads of Gemini AI usance .
That should give you an idea about my dubiously “ over - engaged ” sound habit . gratefully , I have n’t had a single daytime where I sense the motivation to charge the iQoo midway .
The only reason I ever carried a power bank was for theiPhone 16 Proin my other pocket . I am desperately hoping the next waving of top - tier speech sound we get in 2025 at least make a hefty jumping in battery capacity and top - up tempo .
A sum total of terrific parts
As I mentioned above , the iQoo 13 is quite a surprise firecracker of a phone . The looks are n’t exactly a capitulum - turner , though the doughnut light around the camera module does deliver a functional side as a notification blinker .
What matters more here is the earphone ’s indorse resilience . It come with an IP68 / IP69 debris and water immunity rating . That ’s the best you could get in the smartphone industry powerful now .
I spend an unhealthy amount of time grok into substance abuser reports on Reddit and official intersection assembly . They are littered with tales of users running from pillar to post to get piddle damage and dust ingress fix . I’m depend at you , Nothing !
“ Spillproof ” is not enough . Every meter you see a brand making tall claims about liquid pic resiliency , reduce your real - life expectations by a whole notch .
With IP68 / IP69 ingress protection on the iQoo 13 , you have the peace of brain that the phone can survive an accidental drib in the pocket billiards or a tumbled glass on your employment mesa .
I would take this geomorphological tenacity over an extra camera or any other fancy trick that smartphone brands often spend waxing poetic about . talk about tv camera , though , iQoo is n’t deal with weak poster in the imaging department .
You get three 50 - megapixel cameras at the back , and they click courteous blastoff with steady hands . Notably , the iQoo 13 has inherited the imagination engine and algorithm from Vivo ’s telling phone camera , and it show .
The weakness are situational overprocessing , strong-growing denoising in lowlight frames , and a meek soar turnout . The latter is n’t exactly food waste , as you’re able to see from this 4x ( digital zoom ) shot of an forever uneasy African tea .
And here ’s a macro gibe , which is rich in surface point , but the picture is more or less off the mark . On the irrefutable side , it did well than the iPhone 16 Pro , which surrender a macro shoot in which the white remainder was observably haywire .
The iQoo 13 is yet another sign that phones with a paster terms of around $ 700 ( hey , Apple ) can — and must — propose a high - refresh - pace board . If it ’s an OLED screen door , even practiced .
What you get here is a 6.82 - in OLED control board with QHD resolving power and a 144Hz refresh rate . The brightness level figures are respectable , while the UI interaction experience silky smooth . It is n’t going to set any vibrance phonograph record , but you’re able to safely scroll webpages and social videos in daytime .
Dear brands, please pay attention to this!
The iQoo 13 is not without its weaknesses . But if you view them from a $ 650 spending lens , almost all of them look reasonably redundant . The lack of wireless charging , limited optic rapid climb kitchen stove , and UI bloatware topic are there , but they are not atomic red-faced flags .
Four years of assured OS upgrades and an additional yr for security maintenance are n’t the best useable , but it ’s not alarming either , especially when compared to the top - tier phones that big hot dog like Apple and Samsung have to offer .
But more than just being a fantastic phone , the iQoo 13 is a templet of what is to come in 2025 . It ’s just a surprisal that a marque with barely any notable presence in the West has managed to outpace the upcoming shift .
Let ’s just hope the top labels get the mite !
