iQOO Neo 10 Review – High Performance, Big Battery

Unboxing

Inside this black-colored box is the iQOO Neo 10, the lineup of which made is debut in Malaysia recently to serve the mid-range segment for the brand. You are immediately greeted with the phone itself as soon as you lift the box open (like virtually all phones do), and beneath it you get a bunch of accessories to get things going.

These are the items included in the box:
– Quick start guide
– Warranty card
– USB-C charging cable
– 120W charger
– SIM ejector pin
– Protective case
– iQOO Neo 10 main unit

Walkaround

The design of the iQOO Neo 10 is highly similar to that of the brand’s flagship, the iQOO 13 – the camera bump adopts the exact same look sans the RGB you’ll find in its bigger brother, though what’s inside does differ. Here, you’ll find the primary 50-megapixel Sony IMX882 sensor for the wide camera, along with an 8-megapixel designated for ultrawide duty.

A ring-shaped LED completes the rear camera setup, and there’s even a fourth ring which, as far as we can tell, is strictly for aesthetics; we wouldn’t rule out this particular part is simply reused and adapted to Neo 10’s components, which is a valid strategy to save manufacturing costs.

The side-profile views shows a very typical arrangement in terms of button and port placements. The SIM slot is located at the bottom next to the USB-C port sandwiching one of the microphones, and on the other end you’ll find the primary speaker paired with earpiece unit to form a stereo setup. Above, another microphone is present, accompanied by an IR blaster, which is a rarity among smartphones these days. Nothing is on the left, while right side is the usual volume and power keys.

As vivo’s sub-brand, iQOO smartphones share some of the underpinnings from vivo’s handsets, which includes its software. In this case, you get Funtouch OS 15, which is vivo’s adaptation of Android 15 operating system and comes pre-installed with some of vivo’s apps (like the V-Appstore), though the iQOO Store co-exist with it, as seen in the phone’s default home screen.

Specifications

iQOO Neo 10 (I2405)

Full specifications available on product specifications page.

Form Factor & Build	Smartphone (candybar) Glass front, composite plastic rear
Chipset	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 iQOO Supercomputing Chip Q1 co-processor
CPU	8-core (1X+3P+2E+2LP) Prime: Arm Cortex-X4 @ 3.21GHz Performance: Arm Cortex-A720 @ 3.01GHz Efficiency: Arm Cortex-A720 @ 2.8GHz Low Power: Arm Cortex-A720 @ 2.01GHz
GPU	Qualcomm Adreno 825
RAM	16GB LPDDR5X-9600 (+16GB virtual) [As tested] 12GB LPDDR5X-9600 (+12GB virtual)
Storage	512GB UFS 4.1 [As tested] 256GB UFS 4.1 No microSD expansion support
Display	6.78″ C9+ AMOLED 2800×1260 (20:9) 144Hz refresh rate 3000Hz touch sampling rate 2000 nits max brightness, 5500 nits HDR peak 4320Hz PWM dimming 10-bit (1.07B) color, DCI-P3 color gamut 452 ppi pixel density SGS Five-Star Sunlight Display Certification SGS Low Blue Light and Low Flicker Certifications
Audio	Stereo speakers No headphone jack (USB-C only)
Cameras	Rear: Dual cameras 50MP Sony IMX882 (wide 1/1.953″, f/1.79, OIS) 8MP (ultrawide f/2.2) Front: Single cut-out camera 32MP (wide f/2.45)
Biometric sensors	Fingerprint scanner (in-display optical)
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 7 (dual-band) Bluetooth 5.4 IR blaster
Cellular Networks	Dual-standby nano-SIMs 2G: 850/900/1800MHz 3G: B1/B5/B8/B6/B19 4G: B1/B3/B5/B7/B8/B18/B19/B20/B26/B28A/B28B/B38/B40/B41/B42/B48 5G: n1/n3/n5/n7/n8/n18/n20/n26/n28A/n28B/n38/n40/n41/n48/n77/n78
Operating System	Android 15 (Funtouch OS 15) 3 years major Android upgrades 4 years security updates
Battery	7,000mAh dual-cell Li-ion (typical, 2x 3,400mAh / 6,800mAh rated) 120W USB-C wired charging
Ingress Protection	IP65
Colors	Desert Gold [As tested] Astral Black
Dimensions	163.72 x 75.88 x 8.09 mm
Weight	206g

Performance

System

The Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chip inside the iQOO Neo 10 is quite a powerful chip overall, able to keep up with the likes of MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ from Xiaomi’s 14T Pro, as well as Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, the predecessor of the Snapdragon 8 Elite powering 2025’s flagships. Comparing against its direct predecessor in the form of 8s Gen 3 and we see quite a substantial jump in overall performance, although it’s worth noting the HONOR 200 Pro in this case scored below average for the chip it uses.

CPU

Same story applies for CPU performance, where iQOO Neo 10’s SD8s Gen 4 remains in the same performance envelope as the Dimensity 9300+ and SD8 Gen 3, both released last year (it does lead slightly against the HONOR 400 Pro, while losing out slightly to Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6, despite both sharing the same SoC). Not too bad as the chip being second fiddle to the SD8 Elite. Once again, it gains a big jump from the SD8s Gen 3.

GPU

The GPU of the SD8s Gen 4 is the Adreno 825, and it’s a bit of an odd GPU when you look at the performance numbers here. The regular Wild Life benchmark shows the GPU has no problem keeping up with the phones in this chart, though the Extreme version of this benchmark brought the scores down to a whole level below others (the same applies to its predecessor). If resolution is indeed a limitation of this GPU, at least the Supercomputing Chip Q1 onboard this smartphone can take care of the upscaling duty to compensate for it.

Battery

Battery is one of the most surprising aspect of the iQOO Neo 10, despite the fact that it already has among the biggest capacity available on the market today. The power efficiency of the SD8s Gen 4 paired with the massive 7,000mAh battery translates to over 22 hours of runtime in this PCMark battery test – head and shoulders beyond the competition in this chart.

User Experience

Software

Generally speaking, the Funtouch OS 15 is intuitive to use if you’re familiar with Android operating system as a whole, though one thing I didn’t like as much is the frequent presence of “suggestions” – lock screen backgrounds, apps, games, in the notifications, and even straight up ads in the search menu. You’ll need to spend time to de-clutter since there are quite a few scattered around the operating system.

Camera

The iQOO Neo 10’s rear camera is fine for most use, although the software forcibly applies AI upscaling and there seems to be no way of turning it off, even in Pro mode. In practice, this made high zoom levels impractical to use as the resulting image produces lots of bloom and Vaseline-like smearing effects, and it is already somewhat visible at zoom levels as low as 2x.

Still, looking past that and the camera is decently capable at low-light situations, although it has a tendency to overcorrect the colors on light sources; the default photo mode is good enough for most uses as the software will figure out most settings from the get-go. Below are some of the photo examples:

Gaming

All of the gaming features of the iQOO 10 Neo are neatly tucked into a sidebar that you can activate by swiping form the left edge – generally, it’s straightforward to use, though some features like upscaling and frame generation will only work on specific games. The speakers are plenty loud, although it’s not great for media consumption if audio quality is what you’re looking for.

The Good

The iQOO Neo 10 has a few big numbers going for it, which includes the performance and battery aspects. The Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 is by no means a flagship chip in 2025, though its performance are largely capable of keeping up last year’s flagship. Its efficiency paired with the super large 7,000mAh battery meant you get a lot of performance for a very long time, making it one of the few smartphones on the market truly capable of achieving multi-day battery life (charging is very quick if you’re using the included 120W charger as well).

Another highlight is the display: this AMOLED panel can get up 144Hz and produces extremely high brightness for outdoor use, with the former particularly useful if you want high framerates via the smartphone’s built-in upscaling features courtesy of its Supercomputing Chip Q1. The gaming features are easily accessible via the side panel when you’re in game, and it includes a single-tap “Esports Mode” option if you’re getting into a competitive gaming session for minimal distractions and maximum performance.

The Bad

While it is generally a solid phone to use, there are a few quirks that can be rather annoying to deal with. The amount of ads and promotional content you’ll see upon finishing the setup is honestly too much – a handful of pre-installed apps is reasonable, but I don’t like the idea recommended app folder that masquerades as a regular app folder. Besides that, you’ll see suggested content in search box, built-in browsers, and other spots around the operating system, and the amount of time needed to clean them up is not something a regular user would spent their time doing.

Performance-wise, the performance drop after sustained load also gets a big hit, up to 40% less if the smartphone is completely heat-soaked (and that meant the phone’s Monster Mode – which is designed to aggressively push the performance at the cost of extra heat – is largely unusable). Granted, the heat dissipation is quite effective, and pairing it with some form of active cooling will bring its performance up a level.

Verdict

The iQOO 10 Neo configuration we have here is the upper-end version with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage, which sets you back for RM2,199 apiece; that is a lot of performance to be had for a price this low. Still, there are some downsides that you might have to consider before committing the purchase, although the price-to-performance ratio and battery life are both its major selling points that can convince a lot of users looking for something with immense value.

Special thanks to iQOO Malaysia for providing the iQOO Neo 10 smartphone for this review.