This iQOO 15 is the Next Best Android Phone You Should Get

I have been a long time iPhone user, but the Android phone that I’ve been testing for a while now – the iQOO 15, blows my iPhone 17 out of the water. It has a lot going for it, including the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, a 7000 mAh battery, and impressively fast charging. Of course, I am not planning to return to my iPhone for now.

Design and Build Better than Most Flagships

The iQOO 15 keeps a clean, understated design that stands out in the right ways. The Legend, Alpha, and Grey finishes cater to different tastes, with the Grey variant using a laser holographic pattern that looks different every time the light hits it. I have been testing the black Alpha, and it looks pretty decent. The camera module has a floating effect, thanks to its transparent edges, and the Monster Halo light around it adds a subtle glow during games or notifications.

It also has IP68 and IP69 protection, so the phone can handle deeper immersion and even high-pressure jets, although the iQOO rightly reminds you that water resistance isn’t permanent.

An ultrasonic fingerprint scanner sits under the display and unlocks faster than the iPhone’s Face ID in low light or awkward angles. The scanner sits where your thumb naturally falls when you hold the phone. The Xiaomi 15 T Pro I tested recently puts the sensor too low, making it a bit awkward to reach.

The iQOO 15 easily has one of the best screens of 2025. The first thing that hits you is how bright the Samsung 2K M14 LEAD OLED panel gets. It packs 6000 nits of peak brightness, making it brighter than most flagships, and more visible under the sun. The iPhone 17, which tops out at 3000 nits, doesn’t come close in outdoor visibility.

The display supports a 144 Hz refresh rate, but since most apps barely support 120 Hz, it’s not a dealbreaker. Watching HDR content, gaming, or even scrolling, feels noticeably superior on the iQOO.

Performance Close to iPhone Pro

The iQOO 15 runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and it delivers 32 percent faster responsiveness and a 23 percent GPU uplift over the previous generation.

In my testing, I found the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and Apple A19 to be very close in performance, with the Snapdragon chip leading in multi-core performance and the A19 leading slightly in single-core performance, at least on benchmarks like Geekbench. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 has a performance advantage in multi-core tasks, while the A19 Pro is more efficient and better optimized for everyday use due to tight hardware and software integration.

The Snapdragon’s advantages include higher multicore scores, potentially faster GPU performance, and a new AI engine with a 37% faster NPU, while the A19 Pro still maintains the lead in single-core performance and has better performance per watt.

The iQOO 15 also comes with a Supercomputing Chip Q3. It’s supposed to handle super resolution, frame interpolation, and even full scene ray tracing. From what I’ve seen, supported games genuinely look better here than on the iPhone 17, which still doesn’t offer hardware-accelerated ray tracing. On the iQOO, some titles can hit 144 FPS with steady frame stability. I’m not really into mobile gaming, but if you are, you’ll appreciate these features.

iQOO 15 comes with a Dual Axis Vibration Motor that produces tight, precise feedback, and typing feels much more premium than other performance-focused devices.

Cameras Are Respectable

On paper, the iQOO 15 brings a serious camera setup, a 50 MP main camera, a 50 MP periscope telephoto with 3x optical zoom, and a 50 MP ultrawide.

The periscope lens is where the iQOO pulls ahead of the iPhone 17. Apple still reserves optical zoom improvements for its Pro Max models, while the base iPhone sticks to modest zoom performance. The iQOO 15’s 85 mm equivalent telephoto delivers natural portraits, clean separation, and strong stabilization. Even 10x images look sharper than expected.

This saves me $1,199, which I’d have to spend on an iPhone 17 Pro Max just to get optical zoom and a few better camera features. I’m not very picky about phone cameras, but things like a periscope lens are nice to have. If I’m at a concert, I want a phone that can zoom well enough to capture decent shots. If I’m on a trip, I want to zoom in and take pictures of things that are far away. The iPhone 17 barely lets me do that, while the iQOO 15 handles it without any trouble.

The main camera captures detailed, stable shots with well-balanced colors. Low-light performance matches what I’ve come to expect from Vivo’s camera tuning, and iQOO’s 2K Live Photo upgrade makes motion shots look smoother.

Battery and Charging Absolutely Embarrass the iPhone

Surprisingly, the iQOO 15 packs a massive 7000 mAh silicon anode battery, and supports 100W wired and 40W wireless charging. In real use, the iQOO goes from zero to near full in about half an hour.

What this means is that the battery barely drains through the day, and even if I forget to charge it, I can plug it in for 15 to 20 minutes, and I’m set for the entire day.

I pushed the iQOO through long gaming sessions, streaming, maps, and photography, and still ended the day with charge left.

One of the biggest reasons I ditched Android for an iPhone was the ecosystem. I could share things with friends and coworkers through AirDrop without thinking about it, since everyone around me uses an iPhone or a Mac. The iQOO 15 fixes that, to a decent extent.

You get a one-tap transfer option that works between iQOO phones and iPhones, and the Office Kit lets you move files and mirror your screen to a Mac. Apple still leads in ecosystem integration, but the gap feels smaller than before.

iQOO is also promising five years of major Android updates, along with seven years of security patches from Google.

Availability of the IQOO 15

iQOO’s top-end phone is one of the best all-rounders you can buy right now, as long as it’s available where you live. Pricing varies by region, and the company has not revealed exact figures for every market. In the regions where it is available, it’s retailing for around $800.

The iQOO 15 nails the balance between price, hardware, and everyday usefulness, even with the noticeable jump in pricing this year. The higher cost is easier to accept once you look at the upgrades, although it does push the phone into the same bracket as more established flagships. That’s where things get tougher, as phones like the OnePlus 15 sit in the same range and go even further in a few areas.

Even so, the iQOO 15 is a good reminder of why competition matters. It outperforms the iPhone 17 in all the places that actually matter, including charging speed, battery life, display brightness, gaming performance, and overall flexibility in day-to-day use.

If you’re still on the fence about whether to get an Android, we have the perfect Android vs. iPhone comparison.