The flagship iQOO 16 may not be a China-only release after all

A Geekbench listing points to continued testing of the global iQOO 16, months after rumors saying iQOO's much anticipated flagship could stay in China without a global launch due to price hikes.

The firmware string tied to the listing, PD2606DF_EX_A, uses an "EX" tag that has previously corresponded to global builds of vivo and iQOO devices, suggesting this unit is intended for markets outside China.

The listing identifies the device as vivo I2607, running the Qualcomm Snapragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, same chipset as the Chinese version, which means there shouldn't be any downgrade performance wise for global consumers. The unit carries 12GB of RAM and runs Android 17. Single-core and multi-core scores came in at 2,944 and 10,029, respectively

The China version of the iQOO 16 already launched on September 29, arriving with a 2K 165Hz Samsung OLED display, an 8,400mAh battery, 100W wired and 50W wireless charging, and a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 processor. That model is on sale now in China.

A source with knowledge of the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed to NotebookCheck that an India launch is planned. No date or pricing was provided.