iQOO 15R review: A worthy option for gamers and multitaskers

Pros:

Cons:

Price: Rs 44,999

Rating: 4/5

After 3 months of the launch of its flagship, the iQOO 15, the company has recently rolled out its younger sibling in the market – the iQOO 15R.

The newly launched smartphone, while set for a lower budget segment, gives you a premium feel. This feel is extended to not just the design language but also the performance of the smartphone.

My work life requires me to be on the phone for most of the time. Whether it is reading, writing, researching or just keeping myself updated on current affairs, I am always on my phone and the iQOO 15R proved to be a solid companion to my daily tasks. But, priced at Rs 44,999, it is designed to do much more than just basic tasks. How does it perform in heavy-tasks? Let’s find out.

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Design: Good looks, good looks and good looks

Smartphone brands are placing greater emphasis on design language these days, and iQOO has clearly embraced the trend. The iQOO 15R features a sturdy, boxy frame with curved edges, giving it a comfortable feel in hand.

On the rear, you’ll find the brand’s signature squoval camera island. Although it occupies a significant portion of the back panel, the phone does not feel unbalanced in terms of weight. That said, it does wobble slightly when placed on a flat surface, though that’s a minor quirk. Since I usually keep my phone face down, it hasn’t really affected my day-to-day use.

At first glance, the iQOO 15R closely resembles the iQOO 15, but the finish is where it carves out its own identity. It comes in two colours: Dark Knight and Triumph Silver. I’ve been reviewing the latter, and it looks absolutely stunning.

The glass back gives it a premium feel, while the subtle gradient effect adds depth and character. As the light hits it from different angles, the silver shifts in tone, which makes it surprisingly dynamic.

Of course, the glossy glass finish does make it a touch slippery, but the transparent case included in the box provides a welcome bit of grip and reassurance. Despite its boxy aesthetic, the iQOO 15R remains slim enough to slip easily into a pocket, and I found it comfortable to use one-handed.

Display: Bright and beautiful

The iQOO 15R sports a 6.59-inch 1.5K AMOLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate, and it’s easily one of the highlights of the phone. Everything feels incredibly smooth, whether you’re scrolling through social media or diving into high-intensity games. The higher refresh rate really comes into its own during fast-paced gaming, making the whole experience feel more responsive and immersive.

Brightness isn’t an issue either. Even under direct sunlight, the screen remains perfectly legible. Over the past few weeks, I’ve used it for everything from reading articles and binge-watching films to extended gaming sessions, and it’s been a genuinely enjoyable experience throughout.

I binge-watched Bridgerton Part 2 on the iQOO 15R, and the experience was thoroughly enjoyable. The display delivered rich, vibrant colours and impressively crisp details, making every frame look vivid and immersive.

The slim bezels along the sides add to that immersive feel, giving you more screen and less distraction. The in-display fingerprint sensor is quick and reliable, unlocking the phone feels almost instantaneous.

Performance: How much power can it have?

Coming to the performance of the iQOO 15R, it does not disappoint. At sub-Rs 45,000, the smartphone delivers power-packed performance. The iQOO 15R packs a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset and runs on Origin OS 6.0, based on Android 16. The device also comes equipped with a dedicated network enhancement chip alongside the Supercomputing Chip Q2, enabling gameplay at up to 144 FPS.

The result is impressively smooth and stable performance, particularly in fast-paced titles such as BGMI, where every frame and split-second reaction truly matters.

Before we get into high-intensity gaming tasks, let’s discuss how it performed in daily day-to-day tasks. The iQOO 15R delivers smooth performance, even when multitasking.

On a regular day, I have several windows open on my devices (and my brain too!). I was using this smartphone for texting on WhatsApp, scrolling Twitter and Instagram, and sometimes picking my boss’s call, all at once. While my brain hanged for a bit, the iQOO 15R did not.

I tested the iQOO 15R with the Asphalt 6, and not once did the phone lag. It is highly impressive how the phone handles high-intensity games. I played Asphalt 6 for quite some time and it ran without breaking a sweat. Yes, it heated up a little bit, but not to an uncomfortable level.

All in all, the iQOO 15R is one of the best gaming phones in the sub-Rs 45,000 price segment.

To make our judgement more concrete, we ran some benchmark tests on the iQOO 15R and here is what we found. On Geekbench, the phone scored 2707 for single-core tasks, and 8593 for multi-core.

On the Wild Life Extreme Stress test, which gives you a score to judge performance in high-intensity games, the iQOO 15R scored 84.8 per cent stability. While the stability score is not as impressive, it is noteworthy that it is just a marker and the real-life performance can be different. And in this case, it is much better.

On the software front, OriginOS 6 genuinely transforms the feel of the device. Compared to FuntouchOS, which was found in previous iQOO smartphones, it comes across as far more cohesive and thoughtfully designed.

The animations are fluid, haptics feel tighter and more responsive, and the overall interface has a cleaner, more modern aesthetic. There’s a subtle gloss to certain visual elements that nods to the current “liquid glass” design trend, giving the UI a contemporary edge without overdoing it.

One feature I particularly enjoyed is Origin Island, iQOO’s interpretation of Apple’s Dynamic Island concept. It neatly displays music controls, navigation updates from Google Maps, and even live order tracking, all within a compact floating bubble at the top of the screen. It’s unobtrusive, functional, and quickly becomes something you appreciate in everyday use.

It looks like a dream, doesn't it? But, there is one thing that bothers me: bloatware. The iQOO 15R comes with bloatware apps, including Netflix, Facebook, Instagram, PhonePay and more. For me, a cleaner UI elevates the overall experience, which was missing here.

Battery: A pro

The iQOO 15R’s battery is one of the coolest hardware. It packs a 7,600mAh Lithium-ion battery and lasts over 24 hours. I am among those people who are always on the phone, quite literally. Either reading something, or scrolling through social media or even playing games, my whole day runs around it. (PS: It is not a good habit).

With iQOO 15R, I need not to worry about the battery. The phone can run for more than a day, even with high intensity gaming.

Moreover, the charging speed is also decent. The iQOO 15R supports 100W wired fast charging and bypass charging. While testing, it took me just 30 minutes to charge the phone from 2 per cent to 80 per cent.

Camera: Decent rear lens, but what about the selfies?

The iQOO 15R sports a 50-megapixel Sony LYT-700V primary camera with OIS and an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens.

The rear camera delivers detailed and crisp images.

Using the Portrait mode was a little tricky. The bokeh is at 0 by default, so to get a perfect portrait shot you manually need to adjust it. Once done, the iQOO 15R offers perfect edge detections.

Here are images clicked using three different: Normal, Portrait and Pro

On the front, the handset has a 32-megapixel selfie camera. While the photos are bright, the iQOO 15R smoothes the texture of the subjects.

iQOO 15R review: Should you buy it?

At a starting price of Rs 44,999, the iQOO 15R is a solid smartphone in this price segment. Powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset, the phone is capable of running all tasks smoothly. When it comes to gamers, the big display, powerful processor and a long lasting battery, the iQOO 15R is a delight to have.

At sub-Rs 45,000, it is surely a great option to go for. But the choice is yours; for the Indian market, it is a moderately expensive phone.