Why Is the iQOO 16 Creating Buzz? Check Price, 165Hz Display and Features
The iQOO 16 has launched in China with a 165Hz AMOLED display, a powerful Snapdragon chipset, triple cameras and an 8,400mAh battery. Check its price and features.
September 30, 2026: Vivo's sub-brand iQOO has launched its new flagship smartphone, the iQOO 16, in China. The phone was unveiled alongside the new iQOO Pad Ultra at an event in China on Tuesday. The new flagship smartphone comes with a powerful processor, a Samsung M16 AMOLED display, a triple-camera setup and a large battery.
The iQOO 16 will be available in China from October through Vivo's online store. The phone will be offered in three colours, whose names translate from Chinese as Chasing the Light, Legend and Racing Track.
Price of iQOO 16
The base model of the iQOO 16 comes with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. It is priced at 5,999 Chinese yuan, which is approximately Rs 86,000 in India. The prices of the other variants are:
| RAM and Storage | China Price | Approx. Indian Price |
|---|---|---|
| 12GB + 256GB | 5,999 yuan | Rs 86,000 |
| 12GB + 512GB | 6,799 yuan | Rs 97,000 |
| 16GB + 512GB | 7,499 yuan | Rs 1,07,000 |
| 16GB + 1TB | 8,499 yuan | Rs 1,21,000 |
The price and launch date of the iQOO 16 in India have not been announced yet.
Samsung M16 display with 165Hz refresh rate
The iQOO 16 features a 6.85-inch 2K AMOLED display. Samsung's M16 luminescent material has been used in the panel. The display has a resolution of 1,440 × 3,168 pixels and a pixel density of 508ppi. It supports a maximum refresh rate of 165Hz, 1.07 billion colours and a 5,000Hz instantaneous touch sampling rate.
The display can reach a peak brightness of up to 2,800 nits in high-brightness mode. It also comes with an AR anti-reflective film and LEAD technology, which stands for low power, eco-friendly, augmented brightness and a slim, lightweight design. The phone also has IP68 and IP69 ratings for water and dust resistance.
2-NM Snapdragon chip
One of the biggest attractions of the iQOO 16 is its new-generation Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset. The phone is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 5 chipset, with a maximum clock speed of up to 5.01GHz. The chipset is claimed to be built on a 2-nm process. It is paired with iQOO's own Q4 gaming chip and an Adreno GPU.
The phone will be available with up to 16GB of LPDDR5X Ultra RAM and 1TB of UFS 4.1 storage. To control heat during long gaming sessions or heavy workloads, iQOO has used an upgraded vapour-chamber cooling system. The heat-dissipation area measures 8,500 square millimetres.
Three 50-megapixel rear cameras
The iQOO 16 also gets a major camera upgrade. It features a triple-camera setup on the rear. The main camera is a 50-megapixel sensor with an f/1.68 aperture and a 1/1.3-inch sensor. It also supports OIS.
The second camera is a 50-megapixel periscope telephoto lens with an f/2.65 aperture and up to 100x digital zoom. The third camera is a 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera with an f/2.05 aperture. On the front, there is a 32-megapixel selfie camera with an f/2.2 aperture. The phone can record videos at up to 8K resolution at 30 frames per second.
8,400mAh battery and 100W charging
The iQOO 16 packs a large 8,400mAh battery and supports 100W wired fast charging and 40W wireless charging. Connectivity options include 5G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 and USB Type-C.
For navigation, the phone supports GPS, BeiDou, GLONASS, Galileo and QZSS. For security, it features an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor. Other sensors include a gravity sensor, ambient light sensor, proximity sensor, gyroscope and e-compass.
The iQOO 16 measures 163.75 × 76.90 × 8.30mm and weighs around 222.5 grams. The phone runs on Vivo's new OriginOS 7, which is based on Android 17.
