iQOO will provide 3 years of Android OS updates and 4 years of security patches for the iQOO Neo 9 Pro. But will the same software policy also be coming to other devices the brand launches in 2024?

In an interview with The Mobile Indian, Nipun Marya, CEO of iQoo India, confirmed that the 3 years of Android OS updates and 4 years of security patches software commitment is currently limited to the iQOO 12 and the iQOO Neo 9 Pro. iQOO 12 is the brand’s most powerful smartphone to date and debuted in December last year.

He further added that Android OS update tenures for other phones that iQoo will be launching in 2024 will be made at the launch of those products.

It’s impressive that iQOO is bringing the same Android OS update policy for its mid-range smartphones as it does for its flagships. However, other brands are offering longer tenure for Android OS updates on their flagship smartphones compared to iQOO 12. Nevertheless, Neo 9 Pro will receive 3 years of OS updates until Android 17, which shows the brand’s commitment to providing a satisfactory experience to the consumer. This matches what the competition is offering in the same price range.

Moreover, we don’t have any doubts as to whether the device can handle updates for so long, considering it sports one of Qualcomm’s most powerful chipset, which is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.

In our first impression of the iQOO Neo 9 Pro, we concluded that the handset wasn’t ready to slow down. Whatever we throw at it, the device handles it easily, whether it’s gaming or other heavy tasks. As iQOO is also marketing the device as a gaming phone, it has many features built-in to back that claim. One of them is 4D game vibration, where the vibrations sync up with in-game actions.

iQOO and Nothing have been fierce competitors as both have been launching smartphones in the same price segment. The CEOs of both brands have now begun taking it to their social media handles to take this fight into the open arena, where they have comments on each other’s launches.

When a tweet was posted regarding how iQOO specified that its latest Neo 9 Pro is the most powerful smartphone under the Rs 35,000 segment launched till February 2024 through an asterisk, Nothing CEO Carl Pei took shots at the brand and commented “Cringe”.

When The Mobile Indian asked Nipun Marya, CEO of iQOO India, about Pai’s statement and if he was shocked, he responded by saying “Bhai, something is better than nothing”. implying that the brand isn’t shocked by Nothing’s comment. Interestingly the same statement Marya also made on Pei’s comment on X, which also contains the term “Bhai”, pointing out the “Bhai” marketing campaign that Pei began through his social media channel.

Read More: iQOO Z9 5G: Live Shots, Specifications Leaked

iQOO has always been subtle with its marketing tactics and doesn’t get into such ‘showdowns’, but it seems like Marya decided to switch things up this time. On the other hand, Carl Pei has been known for his humorous takes and proactive marketing techniques since the OnePlus days, which he follows to date.

Whatever the techniques may be, it’s always an interesting interaction for the consumers and media alike. It’s also intriguing to see brands taking it to open forums to brag about their products and prove their offerings are better than the competitors.

Meanwhile, talking about iQOO’s latest launch, the Neo 9 Pro, is priced starting at Rs 35,999. In our initial impressions of the Neo9 Pro, we felt that it is impressively built and has a lot to offer in terms of performance.

iQOO has finally unveiled the Neo 9 Pro smartphone in India, which is also the country’s cheapest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-powered smartphone. Priced at Rs 37,999, the iQOO Neo 9 Pro has a lot to offer, and here we are with the first impression of the handset while we work on a detailed review.

Pricing & Availability

The iQOO Neo 9 Pro will come in three variants including 8GB + 128GB, 8GB + 256GB and 12GB + 256GB, priced at Rs 35,999, Rs 37,999 and Rs 39,999, respectively. ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank card users can get a flat Rs 2,000 discount or existing iQOO & Vivo customers can avail a Rs 4,000 exchange offer while non-Vivo and non-iQOO customers can avail a Rs 2,000 exchange offer.

Moreover, users are offered with an 18-month warranty instead of the industry standard 12 months. The sale for the 256GB models begin from February 23 while the 128GB model will begin selling from March 21. Those who pre-booked the device can buy from today itself.

Design & Build

The iQOO Neo 9 Pro comes in two shades, and definitely, the Fiery Red colour looks more attractive than the black, which has a minimal approach. The red one, which is also the model we have with us, has a bright red flat frame with buttons on the right that have a tactile feel to them when clicked. The rear has this vegan leather two-tone finish, which attracts a lot of eyes in the public.

The handset feels quite premium in the hand, and due to the leather finish, it’s grippable as well. iQOO also offers a case within the device’s box for better protection. Regarding protection, it has an IP54-rated build, meaning occasional water splashes shouldn’t be an issue for the handset. There’s an X-Axis linear vibration motor for handling the haptics, which, of course, aren’t as strong as iQOO 12 but still feel nice in hand.

Overall, we can say that the Neo 9 Pro is one of the most impressively designed smartphones we have seen from iQOO.

Display & Performance

The iQOO Neo 9 Pro sports a 6.78-inch LTPO AMOLED Display with a 1.5K (1260 x 2800 pixels) resolution, HDR10 support, 2160Hz PWM dimming and up to 1400 nits brightness (3000 nits peak) and up to a 144Hz refresh rate. It is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC paired with up to 12GB RAM and 256GB storage.

The Neo 9 Pro display has the usual characteristics we see on iQOO smartphones, and that’s impressive and responsive. The quality of the panel is high-end, with accurate and vivid colour reproduction. It gets bright enough outdoors and is clearly visible. Moreover, iQOO says that this panel supports wet hand touch technology, meaning even if your hands are wet, you can use the panel, and it won’t cause accidental touches.

Coming to the performance, so far in our initial tests, the Neo 9 Pro isn’t ready to slow down. Whatever we throw at it, the device handles it easily, whether gaming or other heavy tasks. As iQOO is also marketing the device as a gaming phone, it has many features built-in to back that claim. One of them is 4D game vibration, where the vibrations sync up with in-game actions.

Moreover, the Neo 9 Pro supports a refresh rate of up to 144Hz in select titles and also supports MEMC technology, which can scale up the refresh rate in some videos. Games such as Clash of Clans, COD: Mobile, BGMI, and many more support upscaling of resolution as well as refresh rate simultaneously, which accounts for an ideal gaming experience.

A 6K VC Cooling System handles the thermals and combined with the efficient chipset, the Neo 9 Pro always had the temperatures under control even during sustained workloads during our tests. A bunch of other gaming features are a part of the Ultra game mode, such as picture-in-picture for other apps while playing games, screen mistouch prevention, frame rate priority and more.

The user interface is typical FunTouch OS, based on Android 14, and iQOO is claiming to provide updates up to Android 17 for this one, which is, again, a great move. There’s some preloaded apps like the V-Appstore, Tile master 3D, etc. However, V-Appstore cannot be disabled, and it contains the shortcuts to Hot apps & games, which are turned off by default when you set up the phone.

This was our first impression of the iQOO Neo 9 Pro; from the looks of it, it is here to give its competitors a run for their money. We’ll be diving deep into other aspects of the smartphone, such as the user interface performance, stereo speaker quality, cameras, battery, performance of gaming-related features and more in the full review, so definitely stay tuned for it.

Vivo has debuted a new lower mid-range smartphone in India with a premium design called the Vivo Y200e 5G. The new smartphone is competing mainly with the Poco X6 5G. Further, the handset has specifications such as a Snapdragon processor, 128GB of storage and more.

Vivo Y200e 5G: Price, Availability

The Y200e 5 comes in two variants, such as 6GB + 128GB and 8GB + 128GB. These variants are priced at Rs 19,999 and Rs 20,999, respectively. It comes in two shades, including Black Diamond and Saffron Orange. The Y200e 5G is available for pre-orders via the Vivo India website, Flipkart, and offline stores in India. It can be purchased starting February 27.

Vivo Y200e 5G: Specifications

The Y200e 5G runs on Android 14 based FunTouchOS 14 and sports a 6.67-inch E4 AMOLED Display with a Refresh Rate of 120Hz, peak brightness of 1200 nits, 100% P3 colour gamut, and a 20:9 aspect ratio. The phone is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 chipset, paired with up to 8GB of LPDDR4x RAM, 128GB UFS 2.2 storage which is expandable up to 1TB.

The Vivo smartphone features a triple rear camera setup with a 50MP-megapixel f/1.79 main sensor, a 2-megapixel f/2.4 depth camera and a flicker sensor. There is a 16-megapixel front-facing camera, which is housed in a punch-hole at the top of the display.

The device packs a 5000mAh battery with 44W FlashCharge support. Connectivity options include Dual-Band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, USB-C port and GPS. There’s an in-display fingerprint sensor for Biometrics and a stereo speaker setup for audio.

Samsung and Google have been two of the most prominent players when it comes to smartphone business with the former leading in the foldable space and the latter having only a single foldable under its portfolio. However, new leaks have spilled beans on a lot of big changes coming to their respective upcoming foldables, which include the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Google Pixel Fold 2.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Leaks

The Galaxy Z Fold lineup has remained stagnant in terms of design for the past 3 years except for the hinge being improved and other subtle improvements. However, this year, with the Galaxy Z Fold 6, Samsung might finally shake things up with a revamped design, departing from the narrower form factor to a wider one that’s close to the Galaxy S24 Ultra in resemblance with sharper edges, according to a new leak.

It could have a 6.4-inch panel on the front, which won’t have curved edges like they do now. Then, there won’t be any S-Pen slot within the handset, as it was leaked in some prototypes earlier. It will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy chipset, similar to the S24 Ultra and pack a 4600mAh battery, which is 100mAh bigger than the current Z Fold 5.

There will be 3 cameras on the back with a setup of a 50MP primary sensor, plus a 10MP ultra-wide angle sensor and a 12MP telephoto sensor. The under-display camera on the inside will also be improved, along with a Titanium build for the body. It will be available in 3 colours and will sport a much thinner and lighter profile overall.

Google Pixel Fold 2 Leaks

Another leak from a separate source has revealed the design of the Pixel Fold 2 through high-quality renders. This design has already leaked once before but it was expected to be a prototype where things could change drastically before launch. However, with this new leak coming from a reliable source, it can be said that this may be the final design for the Google Pixel Fold 2, which has ditched the camera bar design on the back in favour of two pill-shaped cutouts housing three sensors.

The design of Google Pixel Fold 2 now also resembles the front design of the OnePlus Open and other foldables in the segment. Also, the inner screen’s aspect ratio is now closer to a square, while the front has intensely curved edges, too. The cover screen measures about 6.4 inches. With the corners, the number goes up to 6.6 inches. There’s also the centrally-located punch-hole camera at the top.

The device also looks slimmer in the renders with flatter edges. Further, the previous leak didn’t give us any look at the inner display, but this one does, and you can notice that it’s a lot more modern with uniform bezels on all sides and is 6.9 inches in size. The inner selfie camera resides at the top right. One can also note that the phone will have a stereo speaker setup.

The device is set to run on the Tensor G4 Chipset paired with up to 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage. Out of the box, the device should run on Android 14 and, ideally, get seven years of software updates like the Pixel 8 series. Overall, Google is playing catch up with the rest of the foldables market and will equip the Pixel Fold 2 with drastic changes to compete well in the space.