New iQOO gaming phone launches with 9,000mAh battery and 185Hz display

Vivo's iQOO 16 was among the first gaming phones that featured the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6. While it is a proper upgrade over its predecessor, it's on the expensive side, starting at around $900 in China. Vivo has now launched the Neo 12 for gamers who might be looking for something a bit more affordable.

It's a new phone that doesn't come with the latest and greatest hardware, but the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 inside is still capable of offering flagship-level gaming performance. This SoC is paired with an 8,200 mm² vapor chamber and an active cooler, which should ensure stable performance under prolonged loads.

The Q3 esports chipset promises multiple gaming enhancements, and Vivo notes that over 50 games have native 185FPS support. On that note, the front of the phone features a 6.83-inch AMOLED display with a 185Hz refresh rate. The company highlights that it has the same flagship touch chipset as the iQOO 16 (12/256GB curr. $976.19 on TradingShenzhen), bringing a 5,000Hz touch sampling rate.

This AMOLED panel is also said to have a 2,200 nits peak brightness rating, and the integrated eye protection technologies promise a comfortable viewing experience. The back of the phone has a dual-camera setup with a 50MP primary camera and an 8MP ultrawide sensor, while the front features a 16MP selfie shooter.

Another notable highlight is the 9,000mAh battery, which is larger than the one inside the flagship iQOO 16. It supports 100W fast charging and bypass charging. Other highlights include WiFi 7, IPX8 and IPX9 water-resistance ratings, and speedy UFS 4.1 internal storage and LPDDR5X "Ultra" memory.

In China, the iQOO Neo 12 has a starting retail price of CNY 4,399 (about $659), which is for the configuration with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The top-end configuration with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage goes for CNY 6,499 (around $974).