iQOO Z10 5G: iQOO has been known for offering feature-loaded smartphones for budget-conscious consumers in need of great performance.
A product being designed in the same direction is the iQOO Z10 5G – a smartphone meant to strike a balance between speed, design and battery life while retaining an aggressive price tag.
As a mid-range offering, the iQOO Z10 5G aims at delivering daily reliability with gaming and multimedia smarts. But does it work in practice? Here’s what you need to know.
Design & Build: Simple and Minimalistic
It is designed well and doesn’t shout attention. The back has a frosted matte finish that looks high-end and doesn’t get fingerprints on it. The phone gets a contemporary, symmetrical look with its rectangular dual-camera module on the top-left.
It’s also a relatively lightweight affair at about 190g, with a thin body that feels nice to hold. With the paint job options of Graphite Blue and Aurora Silver, the phone isn’t a shout for attention, but it also isn’t left wanting when compared to flashier handsets.
The side-mounted fingerprint sensor (in the power button) is fast and accurate and the flat sides make it feel solid in the hand.
Display: Smooth and Immersive
The iQOO Z10 5G features a 6.67-inch Full HD+ LCD screen with 120Hz refresh rate. It lacks the AMOLED screen, but the color calibration is good and contrast isn’t too shabby for an LCD.
It gets bright enough to see outdoors and offers a high refresh rate for buttery smooth scrolling and gameplay.
The display is HDR10 compatible as well, which boosts the visual experience of supported apps such as YouTube and Amazon Prime Video.
Performance: Speedy for Its Class
Powering the Z10 5G is the MediaTek Dimensity 7020 SoC fabricated on a 6nm process node. Well, with up to 8GB RAM and 128GB UFS 2.2 storage the handset manages your regular day-to-day tasks seamlessly.
Apps opening, jumping between social media stuff, and some light gaming runs like butter. Games such as Call of Duty: Mobile and Asphalt 9 play on medium to high without any frame drops. There is also this extended RAM which adds up to 8GB of virtual memory for better multitasking.
Experience with Software: Neat and Light In Weight
The Z10 operates Funtouch OS 14 based on Android 14, and although it comes with a few pre-installed apps, many others can be uninstalled. The UI is too had configurable dark mode, gestures, and icon styles.
iQOO is promising update of two years and security patches of three years which is good enough at this price segment.
Camera: Good, but Not Great
The phone comes with a 50MP main camera and 2MP depth sensor. Daylight photos are good, with nice detail and dynamics range. Indoor shots are serviceable, but low-light photos are so-so — and this is with night mode activated.
Selfies are solid using the 8MP front camera, though skin tones can look a bit washed out when under very bright lighting.
Video is restricted to 1080p at 30fps, with rudimentary stabilization. It’s good enough for posting to social media, but not for anyone serious about editing.
Battery & Charging: All-Day Peace Of Mind
The phone packs a 5000mAh battery, and lasts through a full with moderate to heavy usage. If you’re watching videos, jumping on calls or browsing all day long, you won’t be unable to make it at least until bedtime without needing a battery charge.
And when you do need to plug in, the 44W FlashCharge tech will get you from 0 to 50% in approximately 25 minutes, which is impressive for the segment.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
Clean, premium design
Smooth 120Hz display
Trusty Dimensity 7020 SoIIC performance
Long-lasting 5000mAh battery
Fast 44W charging
Side fingerprint recognition is sensitive.
Cons:
No AMOLED display
Only dual camera setup
No ultra-wide or macro sensor
No stereo speakers
Limited control in video recording 11.
iQOO Z10 5G Final Verdict
The iQOO Z10 5G isn’t trying to win over anyone; It has clear goals and doesn’t worry about what it’s not competing against—yes, it doesn’t support 5G networks, but that’s okay.
Though it doesn’t come with all the snazzy camera extras or AMOLED displays, it’s more than made up for with its strong performance and use in everyday life.
If you really need a 5G device under 15k to 17k, look no further than the Z10.