The IQOO NEO 10R, priced at ₹24,999, comes equipped with the Snapdragon 8S Gen 3, a 6,400mAh battery, and 80W fast charging. Despite being a performance-driven phone, the smartphone has camera inconsistencies and lacks NFC. Overall, it’s a good option for budget gamers. https://www.amazon.in/s?k=iqoo+12&adgrpid
Just weeks after the launch of the flagship IQOO 13, IQOO has brought its new gaming phone to India—the first of its mid-range ‘R’ series. On paper, the IQOO NEO 10R appears to tick all the right boxes for a phone that’s under ₹25,000. But are things quite as rosy as they seem, or are there some secrets here that are yet to be discovered? I’ve had the Neo 10R in my possession for about two weeks now, and here’s my two cents on how the phone performed in real life.
1. Unboxing:
You get the phone itself within the IQOO Neo 10R’s black box, wrapped in a layer of plastic type and sporting a pre-applied screen protector (always a nice gesture). Underneath, there’s some documentation that no one will ever have time to read, a SIM ejector tool, an 80W charger and a USB A to USB C type cable options, and a transparent PU case that will serve you for a few weeks to months before it starts to turn yellow. https://www.iqoo.com/in/products/neo10r
2. Design and connectivity:
In design terms, the back of the NEO 10R takes a direct cue from the IQOO 13, with a squeaky camera island – minus the RGB lights, though. Unlike the iQOO 13 (Review), however, the NEO 10R features a dual-tone design (only on the Ragin Blue colour), separated by a dotted line that features a ‘Neo’ Easter egg.
The back and body of the NEO 10R are both plastic and slippery to hold in the hand. I feel handling this phone could use a little improvement, but considering the price, it’s not a deal-breaker. On the front, we have the flat screen with a small cut-out for the front camera. https://www.flipkart.com/iqoo-neo-10r-5g-moonknight-titanium-128-gb
The SIM ejector is located at the bottom, with the USB type C port (USB 2.0 type) and speaker above it and the power and volume rockers on the right. The best part is that despite having a massive battery, this phone isn’t that thick at 7.98mm and weighs a paltry under 200 grams (196 to be precise). In case you were wondering, this phone has an IP65 rating, which means it will tolerate some splashes and rain, but not be fully submerged in water. There is no NFC or wireless charging or even that available.
3. Display:
The iQOO NEO10R has a 6.78-inch 1.5K AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and 4,500 NITS peak brightness – 1,200 NITs in high brightness mode (HBM). There are no complaints with the screen here, it offers passable picture quality for the price, with snappy colours and great legibility even under bright sunlight.
Although the phone is protected by a Scott Zensation Up glass, within a few days of usage, a large scratch was noticed in the middle, i.e., it is not advisable to remove the plastic cover provided with the phone unless you buy a genuine screen protector on it. It is accompanied by a stereo speaker setup that is far from being good, the sound is not loud enough and the richness and bass are also weak. When it comes to binge watching purposes, you basically have to hook it up with speakers or use earphones.
4. Performance:
The IQOO NEO 10R is equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 chip, which offers similar performance to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (last year’s flagship Qualcomm chip). This is the same chip I reviewed last year on the POCO F6, and it has some of the same issues, but IQOO has fixed some critical bugs, probably with its cooling system. It has LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 3.1 storage in the 128GB model and UFS 4.1 storage in the 256GB model. Even though personally I would have appreciated if IQOO had done away with the 128GB model, it’s still a big deal for a budget phone to have LPDDR5x RAM and offer the option of UFS 4.1 storage as there are some phones even in the below ₹ 40,000 segment that don’t even offer this option. https://www.91mobiles.com/hub/iqoo-neo-10r-sale-india-price-offers-specifications/
Now, let’s talk about benchmarks. On Antutu, the NEO 10R posts 14,69,865 which is in line with other Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 devices, so isn’t artificially capping the SoC. It has a single-core score of 1,940 and a multi-core score of 5,032 on Geekbench 6. And on 3D Mark’s Extreme Wild Life stress test, the NEO 10R achieves a best loop score of 3,171 and a lowest loop score of 1,552, but stability was not optimistic at 48.9%. However, the good news was that the phone did not get too hot while running the benchmarks and it was observed that the peak temperature was during the Antutu test when the mercury rose to around 41 degrees. On Antutu, the NEO 10R posts 14,69,865 which is in line with other Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 phones, meaning there is no software cap on the SoC.
On Geekbench 6, it has a single-core score of 1,940 and a multi-core score of 5,032. And when running 3D Mark’s Extreme Wild Life stress test, the NEO 10R has a best loop score of 3,171 and a lowest loop score of 1,552, but stability wasn’t great at 48.9%. The positive aspect was that the NEO 10R didn’t overheat during the benchmarks and the highest temperature it reached was during the AnTuTu test when the mercury reached a maximum of 41 degrees. That’s at the detriment of the Snapdragon 8S Gen 3. One problem I experienced with the POCO F6 last year was that the phone ran a little warm with 5G enabled during the summer months while performing regular tasks.
An almost similar problem was present with the NEO 10R, with the CPU temperature sitting at around 38-39 degrees even when used out of doors with the ambient outside temperature being a good 6-7 degrees lower. I tried to verify the over the top heating issues by playing COD Mobile on the highest possible settings at the same temperature and the positive thing is that the heating settled down after a certain point with the temperature reaching a maximum of 43-44 degrees. In day-to-day use, this is an excellent performance phone, and you won’t feel any lag or stuttering while running day-to-day activities or heavy gaming. I particularly appreciate some of the gaming mode features that IQOO offers such as direct power supply, a specific Esports mode (prevents notifications of incoming calls and messages from being displayed) and voice changer. IQOO has taken some inspiration from the IQOO 13 and is rolling out support for 144Hz refresh rate in some games like Clash of Clans, Brawl Stars, and Clash Royale via an OTA update in the coming weeks.
5. Software and Battery:
The NEO 10R comes with Funtouch OS 15 which is Android 15 out of the box. There are some bloatware apps that come preinstalled on the device, such as the Snapchat app, Facebook app, PhonePe app, LinkedIn app, Netflix app, Amazon app, and IQOO’s first-party apps. All of these apps can be removed except for the IQOO browser, which cannot be uninstalled or disabled. Most UI ads can be disabled at the time of phone setup, and there are no significant interruptions afterwards. The NEO 10R has a massive 6,400mAh battery, which is even bigger than the capacity offered by the IQOO 13. An 80W charger is included for charging, which will charge the phone from 0-100% in about 1 hour and 10 minutes. From my experience, Funtouch OS is efficient at maximizing battery life and this phone is no exception. Even with 5G turned on, you will get more than a day of battery life when using power-intensive activities like gaming or video streaming.
6. Camera:
The NEO 10R has a dual rear camera system—a 50MP SONY IMX882 primary sensor with OIS and an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens and a 32MP selfie camera. The main shooter shoots 4K video at 60fps (even when stabilization is activated), the front camera shoots 4K at 30fps, and the ultra-wide lens shoots only in 1080p. The 50MP main shooter takes surprisingly great photos. Photos tend to be somewhat overbright, but are otherwise pleasing. In-door portraits are passable; the NEO 10R, however, struggles with bright sunlight, where skin tones appear off and shots can look overly processed. Night shots are average for the money, but nothing to really get anyone excited. Light shot portraits are quite excellent, though, and edge detection needs just a little improvement. As for the ultra-wide-angle lens, its performance is in line with other 8MP shooters on the market. Daytime shots are fine, but you can notice a significant color shift and loss of detail (compared to the primary shooter), which is even more noticeable under artificial lights.
The 32MP selfie camera tends to overbrighten skin tones. This can be fine during the day, but in night situations, you lose detail and the artificial processing is more obvious. In general, I would say the cameras are good value for money, but don’t hold your breath. As always, don’t just take my word for it – feel free to check out all the camera samples via the Google and on other platforms and decide for yourself if the NEO 10R delivers.
7. Verdict:
With a price tag of ₹24,999 (and plenty of offers), the IQOO Neo 10R is probably best suited for gamers, thanks to its Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 processor, 6,400mAh battery, 80W wired fast charging, 120Hz AMOLED display, LPDDR5X RAM, and UFS 4.1 storage. Granted, it’s not perfect—a slightly uneven camera system, the absence of NFC and wireless charging, a plain plastic build, and an outdated USB 2.0 port are some of the compromises. But in light of the overall package, they’re easy concessions to swallow.
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