The iQoo Z9x does not look like a budget, lower mid-segment phone. The excellently crafted plastic back frame does not look cheap at all. It can be mistaken for glass finish.
It has a 6.72-inch LCD display with full-HD+ resolution, and a refresh rate of 120 Hz. It features a high brightness of 1000 nits and a rare IP64 dust and water resistance.
It boasts Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chip which can handle casual games with ease. Alto's Odyssey and Monument Valley were well handled. You can play high-end titles with low graphics.
Asphalt can be played too but be ready for the odd lag and stutter. Apart from that, web browsing, social media and messaging and mail are handled very smoothly with hardly any glitches.
Photography is mainly about the 50MP main camera, the other camera is there just to make up numbers. The main camera delivers reasonably good detail and colours in both well-lit and dim conditons.
Video quality is very decent too, for the price point, although 4K video at 30 fps is supported only on the 8 GB RAM variant of the phone.
FunTouch OS on Android 14 runs smoothly and is feature-rich (especially in the photography department), although some might be a little annoyed by the third-party apps that come preloaded on the device.
The star performer is the massive 6,000mAh battery which gives close to two days of power backup on normal usage which is very impressive. About half an hour of charging will charge it up to 40-50 per cent.
It is one of the best phones for someone who is on a tight budget but is still looking for a stylish-looking phone that just works. It gets you through the everyday game that is life, rather than actual high-end games.
The vanilla variant is priced at Rs 12,999, the mid-storage variant i.e., 6GB + 128GB variant is available for Rs 14,999 and the top-end 8GB + 128GB option comes at Rs 15,999. For those prices, we think it offers very good value.