iQOO’s Neo 10R may not end up being the successor to last year’s iQOO Neo 9 Pro when comparing price tags. However, the two phones appear to cross paths because their hardware specifications and features overlap in several areas. The new iQOO Neo 10R lacks the “Pro” branding and, so we could expect a proper successor to the iQOO Neo 9 Pro, sooner than later. Interestingly, each of these two phones have their strong points. If you are looking to buy the iQOO Neo 10R, you should also take a look at the Neo 9 Pro and here’s why.
iQOO Neo 10R Design: Plain Jane
- Dimensions – 163.7 x 75.8 x 7.9mm
- Weight – 196g
- Durability – IP65
Compared to the iQOO Neo 9 Pro, the iQOO Neo 10R is as basic as possible. Yes, it has a slim overall appearance, but the materials used are quite basic. The confusing graphics aside, the Raging Blue finish uses a polycarbonate frame and a polycarbonate rear panel. I have no issues with its polycarbonate frame, as its overall quality is quite good and helps with the phone’s weight. But its polycarbonate rear panel is a proper smudge and dust magnet. These are easy to wipe off, but they just need some skin contact to get smudgy once again.
The use of polycarbonate does make sense because this phone packs a very high-capacity battery. And even after taking such weight-saving (or cost-cutting) measures, the phone still feels a bit heavy at 196 grams.
The iQOO Neo 10R’s Raging Blue finish is a very confusing colourway
An IP65 rating is good to have at this price point, but there are competing smartphones that offer a better IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. However, do keep in mind that most manufacturer warranties do not cover damage due to water ingress.
A design element that I really liked about the iQOO Neo 10R is to do with its display. It has very thin borders at the top, left and right. The border at the bottom, too, is quite thin, even though it’s a bit thicker than the others.
iQOO Neo 10R Display: Neat and tidy!
- Display size – 6.78-inch, 1,260 x 2,800 pixels, 1.5K, 452 ppi
- Display type – AMOLED, 60-90-120Hz
- Display protection – Schott Xensation Up
The display shows mostly natural colours in the default screen colour mode. Sharpness is on point, and the display gets sufficiently bright (4,500 nits peak) outdoors. Despite packing the same peak brightness as the Nothing Phone 3a, I noticed that iQOO’s display sustained those brightness levels for a lot longer.
iQOO uses Schott Xensation Up glass for display protection. It does a fine job of rejecting fingerprints, which contrasts with the rear panel.
The display also supports Widevine L1, meaning you can stream content in Full HD quality. To my surprise, the display is also HDR10 certified and supported content on supported apps appeared as expected.
The in-display fingerprint reader works as expected, and I had no trouble using it during the testing period.
iQOO Neo 10R Software: Something better
- Android version – Android 15
- Software – Funtouch OS 15
- Software commitment – 3 years of software and 4 years of security updates
The iQOO Neo 10R runs Funtouch OS 15, which is powered by Android 15. Funtouch OS originally focussed on areas that other smartphone brands ignored (fingerprint unlock customisation, charging animations, etc). But with Funtouch OS 15, they have added new live wallpapers, new icon styles, new always-on display effects and plenty more. The OS, in general, also feels fluid and responsive.
I also like that you can run even the most demanding games in a pop-up window, which comes in handy when you have to wait for your turn. Or you simply need to get some other task done in full-screen while waiting for your game to log in/load.
Funtouch OS 15 gets Android 15, some AI tools and plenty of customisation options
There is also the usual set of artificial intelligence (AI) tools. The AI Erase tool works surprisingly well but struggles when removing complicated objects in a scene. After selecting the object you want to erase, you can also see how the tool gradually erases it from the image as it’s getting processed. There’s also an AI-enabled Photo Enhance tool, which is built to enhance the resolution of Portrait photos. The content creation AI tools also worked as expected.
During the testing period, I don’t remember getting any spammy notifications, but the phone does come with a bunch of preinstalled third-party apps. However, they can be uninstalled if you have no use for them.
iQOO Neo 10R Performance: Great for its price
- Processor – Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3
- RAM – 8/12GB (LPDDR5X)
- Storage – 128/256GB (UFS 4.1, UFS 3.1 for 8+128GB)
Funtouch OS runs smoothly sans any hiccups. With indoor use, the phone rarely heats up except when playing demanding games like Genshin Impact. Outdoors, it’s business as usual until you fire up the camera and start shooting. This is when the phone starts to heat up. Funtouch OS still runs buttery-smooth in this condition, and the same can be said about the camera app. The heat generated when using the camera app can mainly be felt on the display and not so much on the rear panel or the frame. Despite getting very hot, the phone did not ask me to stop recording 4K 60 fps video, nor did it reduce the number of camera features available.
As for gaming, which is the highlight of this phone, it performed as expected. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is not a high-end premium chipset; in fact, the slightly older Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in the iQoo Neo 9 Pro performs better in some areas.
The iQOO Neo 10R has a dual rear camera setup
I could play Call of Duty: Mobile comfortably at Very High graphics and Max frame rate without any heating issues, with the phone managing a steady 59-61 fps during gameplay. So, I tried out something a bit more challenging (in terms of graphics) and installed Genshin Impact. The phone managed a steady 60 fps with all graphics settings maxed out to High. However, at Very High graphics settings, even 30 fps was a bit unstable. This is fine given that it’s only the top-end chipsets on premium devices that can handle this setting well.
In short, iQOO Neo 10R is a performer who can handle most games well without noticeable performance issues. For a smartphone priced from Rs. 26,999, it does deliver in terms of raw performance, as can be seen from the table below.
| Benchmarks | iQOO Neo 10R | iQOO Neo 9 Pro | Poco F6 | Nothing Phone 3a |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chipset | Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 (4nm) | Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (4nm) | Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 (4nm) | Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 (4nm) |
| Display resolution | 1.5K | 1.5K | 1.5K | FHD+ |
| AnTuTu v10 | 14,91,562 | 15,85,868 | 14,57,491 | 8,04,179 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 | 12,072 | 13,319 | 15,743 | 13,554 |
| Geekbench 6 Single | 1,927 | 2,050 | 1,835 | 1,158 |
| Geekbench 6 Multi | 5,047 | 5,741 | 4,693 | 3,255 |
| GFXB T-rex | 121 | 120 | 120 | 60 |
| GFXB Manhattan 3.1 | 114 | 119 | 112 | 55 |
| GFXB Car Chase | 71 | 85 | 71 | 28 |
| 3DM Slingshot Extreme OpenGL | Maxed Out | Maxed Out | 5,481 | 5,485 |
| 3DM Slingshot | Maxed Out | Maxed Out | 4,655 | 6,954 |
| 3DM Wild Life | Maxed Out | Maxed Out | Maxed Out | 3,988 |
| 3DM Wild Life Unlimited | 7,797 | 12,789 | 11,734 | 4,175 |
iQOO Neo 10R Cameras: Could have been better
- Primary camera – 50-megapixel, f/1.79, OIS, AF
- Ultrawide camera – 8-megapixel, f/2.2, FF
- Selfie camera – 32-megapixel, f/2.4, FF
I have compared the iQOO Neo 10R to the Nothing Phone 3a I reviewed earlier to give our readers an idea about where the iQOO ranks at this price point.
The Nothing Phone 3a’s primary camera (below) performs better in a basic daylight photo comparison
Off the bat, there seems to be a colour consistency problem both between the two rear-facing cameras and even when using the primary camera itself. In the Natural colour mode, photos show slightly muted colours compared to the ultrawide camera, which showed the most true-to-life colours. At the same time, when shooting objects up close, I noticed that the primary camera randomly boosts saturation levels, so you may notice a strong red or green tone when using it, depending on what you capture.
The Nothing Phone 3a’s primary camera (below) shoots photos with better colour accuracy when shooting close-up photos
Colour accuracy aside, the photos from the primary camera do a bit of post processing, adding a bit of contrast. While I like that this processing adds some emotion to the images captured (despite cutting down on the overall dynamic range), the hardware somehow is unable to pull much detail from a scene even in daylight, leading to reduced detail and increased softness, especially near the edges of the frame.
In low light or street-lit scenes, the iQOO Neo 10R’s primary camera suffers from the same issues with softer images that are low on resolved detail. Nothing manages better. (Top: iQOO Neo 10R, bottom: Nothing Phone 3a)
As for the iQOO Neo 10R’s ultrawide camera, it produces poor images, which are a bit too soft, lacks any resolved detail whatsoever and also show a lot of purple fringing in the bright areas.
When shooting in low light, the photos from the iQOO Neo 10R (top) are primarily unusable versus what you get from the Nothing Phone 3a (below).
Portrait mode selfies captured in daylight have decent edge detection but are a bit low on detail, even though they appear a bit oversharpened. Low-light selfies also cut down on detail and, despite using the display flash, have an over-processed look.
Video recordings in daylight are surprisingly good. 1080p video recordings (30 and 60fps) showed accurate colours have a smooth framerate along with good stabilisation. 4K video recordings appear cropped and mimic the 1080p footage in terms of character but with slightly better quality. Shooting at 4K at 60fps offers the best quality but will limit you to the primary camera only. Sadly, in low light, noise creeps in, and the videos appear soft and blurry at best.
iQOO Neo 10R Battery: Fantastic
- Battery capacity – 6,400mAh
- Wired charging – 80W
- Charger in the box – Yes
With a massive battery and good standby time, the iQOO Neo 10R easily lasts a whole day and a bit more with heavy usage. With casual use, expect this one to last more than 1.5 days on a single charge. Our video loop test, which runs an HD video in a loop at 50 percent brightness till the battery runs out, lasted an impressive 34 hours and 56 minutes. Running the PC Mark Work Battery test saw the phone last an equally impressive 24 hours and 38 minutes, far ahead of its rivals.
The iQOO Neo 10R charges very fast, given the high capacity of its battery
Charging speeds are equally impressive, given that this phone packs a high-capacity 6,400mAh battery. The bundled charger managed a 26 percent charge in 15 minutes, 55 percent in half an hour and 100 percent charge in an hour, completing the charging process 3 minutes later (1 hour and 3 minutes).
iQOO Neo 10R Verdict
Indeed, the iQOO Neo 10R packs quite the punch given its attractively low price tag. The phone delivers when it comes to software performance, gaming, battery life, and charging, but it comes up short in the camera department.
It’s here that the recently launched Nothing Phone 3a (Review) shines, keeping in mind its lower price, coupled with its arsenal of cameras that are rare for this price segment. While its software experience is unmatched in this segment, the Nothing Phone 3a is not a performance-oriented device like the Neo 10R.
A direct competitor to the iQOO Neo 10R is the Poco F6 (Review), which retails at a lower price. Fortunately for the Poco, it also packs good camera performance (primary only). However, it also cannot match the Neo 10R when it comes to battery life or charging.
At an additional Rs. 5,000, is the elephant in the room, the iQOO Neo 9 Pro (Review), it packs a powerful, premium-grade Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, an excellent set of cameras and even offers a better finish with a vegan-leather option. Battery and charging are top-notch, though not as good as the Neo 10R. If you can stretch your budget a bit, I highly recommend skipping the iQOO Neo 10R and reaching for the Neo 9 Pro instead.
