iQOO Z7 Pro review: A solid 5G phone under Rs 25,000

The iQOO Z7 Pro is a new entrant in the market with a price starting at Rs 23,999. The company has seemingly chosen a more measured approach for its new iQOO Z7 series compared to its predecessor, considering the iQOO Z6 series boasted three models to cater to the different needs of consumers. While the standard model is already available and the Z7 Lite variant is yet to debut, the spotlight is squarely on the iQOO Z7 Pro. The new iteration comes with several upgrades at an attractive price, but is the iQOO Z7 Pro worth your money? Let's find out in our detailed review.

iQOO Z7 Pro review: Design, build

The iQOO Z7 Pro puts up a striking pose with its design overhaul compared to the iQOO Z6 Pro. It immediately catches the eye with a slim and sleek profile. It is refreshing to see a completely new design rather than bulky devices with a thick form factor. One of the standout features is the implementation of a curved design on the front and back, improving the phone's ergonomic feel. The slim form factor makes it easy to carry the phone and use it with one hand. The new iQOO phone also offers a premium touch because of the glass back panel and minimal bezels on the front, giving it a modern look.

The iQOO Z7 Pro uses a matte glass rear panel that feels smooth to the touch, although it is also a bit slippery. I used the bundled case to ensure it didn’t slip out of my hands. The iQOO Z7 Pro comes with IP52 rating, which protects the phone from splashes and rain. Although, this water resistance may not be robust enough for swimming pools, so do keep that in mind. As I was reviewing the phone, it once got drenched in rain. It survived, so I can say, in my little anecdotal way, that the IP52 rating works as advertised.

The camera island on the rear has undergone a transformation, housing two big camera modules and a unique ring flashlight for improved photography capabilities, which we will talk about in a bit. One downside to mention here is the single speaker housed at the bottom of the device. While a dual speaker setup could have offered a deeper sound experience during binge-watching, I did find the sound quality from the single speaker loud and good enough.

The power and volume buttons have been placed on the right side of the iQOO Z7 Pro. They offered tactile feedback and were quite responsive most of the time. You get an in-display fingerprint reader for security purposes. In its range, the device seemingly has the fastest sensor as I was able to quickly unlock the device without encountering errors.

All-in-all, the iQOO Z7 Pro comes with a significant upgrade in terms of design and build quality when compared to its predecessor. The attention to detail is evident, and it's safe to say that this smartphone stands out as one of the best-looking options under Rs 30,000 price range. The Blue Lagoon color variant with glittery effect, in particular, adds a touch of elegance that is hard to ignore.

iQOO Z7 Pro review: Display

The iQOO Z7 Pro doesn't disappoint when it comes to display improvements over its predecessor. With it users are getting a larger 6.78-inch 10-bit AMOLED display, offering a more expansive canvas for content consumption. The screen is also now brighter with support for up to 1300nits. The content on the display was clearly visible to me under direct sunlight and it looked vibrant while using the phone indoors. I saw smoother animations and transitions while navigating the UI or scrolling through Instagram pages -- all thanks to its support for a 120Hz refresh rate. The new version comes with a curved display, which seemingly has become a trend in the mid-range segment as we are seeing several phones with this design.

The support for HDR10 is not unique, but would be a treat for binge lovers. I enjoyed watching content on Netflix in high-end quality with punchy colours and contrasty visuals. However, it misses out on support for high PWM Dimming for eye protection from screen flickering at night. The tech helps save people from having headaches or eye strain while watching content on screen in low light Nevertheless, the tech companies have acknowledged the importance of this feature and we have started seeing it on several phones in the mid-range segment. We will hopefully see it on future iQOO phones because when we asked about this, iQOO told India Today that the tech is not that affordable and it is a bit difficult to add everything in its range.

iQOO Z7 Pro review: Performance, battery

The new iQOO Z7 Pro can easily handle basic tasks well and is able to deliver almost smooth performance during gaming -- thanks to its use of MediaTek Dimensity 7200 chipset. I played Call of Duty: Mobile, and the graphics as well as frame rate were set to Very High by default, which seemingly looked surprising for a mid-range phone. It supports Ultra frame rates too; although, the graphics aren’t all that great.

Taking on heavyweights like Genshin Impact, known for its very resource-intensive graphics, the device managed well. Adjusting settings to low ensured a smoother experience, despite the visual sacrifice. While certain details, colors, textures, and sharpness in elements like foliage, waterfalls, and mountains lack clarity, the performance mostly remained lag-free, even during intense in-game clashes. Also, for most part, I got solid and responsive touch inputs - thanks to its support for 1200Hz touch sampling rate.

Throughout extended gaming sessions, the iQOO Z7 Pro offered commendable thermal management as the phone maintained relatively cool temperatures while handling demanding tasks or games.

While gaming, the device lost at least 5 per cent in about 30 minutes and 11 per cent in 1 hour. This is impressive also because I enabled Monster mode while gaming, which basically makes the phone fully utilise its hardware for high-end performance. There is also a Balanced mode that doesn't utilise both GPU and CPU to their full potential and it also saves some amount of battery. In real-world usage, the disparity between these modes is relatively subtle. Also, watching YouTube videos for an hour drained 7 percent of the battery.

The iQOO Z7 Pro has a 4600mAh battery under the hood. I easily got around 9-10 hours of battery life with usage involving lots of calls, texts, and browsing. This even includes one hour of gaming. If I add hours of photography sessions and binge-watching, then the battery life is much less than that. But, iQOO has bundled a 66W charger along with the phone and it quickly fills up the battery. It took close to 45 minutes to fully top up the battery.

iQOO Z7 Pro review: Camera

iQOO has made bold claims about the photography capabilities of the iQOO Z7 Pro, and to put it simply, this phone delivers on those promises. It has a 64-megapixel dual rear camera setup, which is accompanied by an Aura LED light in the shape of a ring. The camera's performance is commendable. Colors in photos appear natural, and while the white balance slightly leans toward cooler tones, it doesn't spoil the photo's appeal. In well-lit conditions, the camera produces sharp, detailed shots with a balanced dynamic range. Be it a portrait or any scenic shot, the iQOO Z7 Pro produced colorful and contrasty shots with balanced sharpness levels.

Color reproduction was also accurate in most scenarios. I also got attractive portrait shots with the iQOO Z7 Pro. The subject-background separation is good and bokeh (blur) effect is also added perfectly in the background. Although, this doesn't happen in every scene. I had to take a few shots to get a good shot. For instance, the texture of the shirt, hair strands, skin tone, background, and other things in the human portrait shots have been captured well.

However, I did miss having an ultra-wide angle camera to capture wider scenes or to fit a lot of people in one frame. In addition to this, there is also no macro sensor for better close-ups, but who needs a 2 or 5-megapixel macro sensors that we see on affordable phones. Though, I do feel an ultra-wide sensor would have added more convenience.

Click on any photo to access all camera samples

In low-light conditions with decent lighting, night photography highly impressed me because expectations were pretty low for a mid-range phone. The iQOO Z7 Pro maintains a natural look without over-brightening images or over-saturating, a notable and appreciated aspect of its night photography. The camera was able to retain details and colours without even using the rear LED light. While night selfies could see improvement, in favorable lighting, selfie performance is fine for putting it on social media.

All-in-all, when it comes to photography in the Rs 25,000 price range, I can say that the iQOO Z7 Pro stands out. It is a reliable device for capturing sharp, detailed photos in various day-night scenarios, making it a compelling choice for photography enthusiasts on a budget.

iQOO Z7 Pro review: Should you buy?

The iQOO Z7 Pro is a solid all-rounder 5G smartphone priced under Rs 25,000 in India and interested people can buy it. It has one of the finest designs, and it is also capable of delivering a solid performance. The battery life is good and you get one of the best cameras in its segment. Unlike some brands, iQOO is still shipping a charger for free, which is an added bonus that people will appreciate. Yes, there is no ultra-wide-angle camera and you get only a single speaker. But, these two things are not a deal breaker as iQOO has done a good job in most of the key areas of a smartphone, specially making it available at a very affordable price. So, yes, you can buy the iQOO Z7 Pro for 23,999 via Flipkart.