iQoo has released the U5 in China with a 6nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 chipset and an affordable price tag! (If Filipinos can obtain one that is)

iQoo is an underrated brand that should be available also in Southeast Asian countries. It’s basically Vivo’s Pocophone.

iQoo (pronounced “eye-koo”, or so we are told) is basically Vivo’s flagship killer division because let’s face it, the company’s phones are geared more towards premium users now and is basically just an Oppo clone with a cuter facade. Unfortunately though iQoo’s availability is very limited and is one of the factors why their phones are a lot cheaper than expected.

Today the company has announced a top-notch midrange phone with a budget phone pricing. Something Realme and Xiaomi wish they could do. This phone is the iQoo U5 that’s intended for gamers who have little budget for a gaming phone but wanted a gaming phone.

Even if it’s cheap, the design isn’t that way. It’s an all-glass back design and the screen is 6.58in. IPS LCD panel with FHD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate that uses the outdated waterdrop notch to house the 8mp front camera.

Speaking of cameras, the main cameras are taken off on one of Vivo’s budget phones. There’s a 50mp main camera coupled with a 2mp macro camera that’s completely filler. While there’s no telephoto or depth sensor, the phone can still take bokeh shots thanks to advanced AI and scene recognition systems. According to iQoo, all variants apart from the 4GB RAM version sports night mode for both the main and front cameras.

So as you can see, the phone is not really geared towards photographers, and if you go to the performance side of things, you will experience the newly created Snapdragon 695 processor that’s paired with 4-8GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. As an added bonus, the phone comes with a Liquid Cooling System to help the phone stay cool even during challenging situations.

It has 5G services, dual-band Wi-Fi, a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, and a headphone jack. It’s now available for sale in China starting at CNY 1,299 (~Php 10.2K) for the base 4/128 variant.

SPECS:

• 6.58in. IPS LCD, FHD+ , 120Hz refresh rate
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G (6nm)
  • Liquid Cooling System
• CAMERAS:
  • 50mp (main)
  • 2mp (macro)
  • FRONT: 8mp
• 5000mAh, 18W fast charging on a USB–C
• 5G services, Dual-band Wi-Fi, Side-mounted Fingerprint scanner, Hi-Res Audio, 3.5mm jack
• PRICES:
  • 4/128: CNY 1,299 (~Php 10.2K)
  • 6/128: CNY 1,399 (~Php 11K)
  • 8/128: CNY 1,499 (~Php 11.8K)

Source: iQoo (in Chinese)