iQOO 11S tipped to launch as ultimate Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-powered flagship smartphone refresh later in 2023

Qualcomm's abrupt announcement of an unusually early start to the Snapdragon Summit event of 2023 might be a sign that there will be no Plus version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC this year, and that the company will proceed directly to the 8 Gen 3 for 2024 instead.

Should that be the case, what are smartphone OEMs to do for their nearly-inevitable run of refreshed flagships this year? iQOO is said to have the answer to this potential problem: wrest exclusive access to the 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy from Samsung to sustain a second wave of top-end 2023 mobile devices.

This "iQOO 11S" may also be one for fans of the switch to a flattened display in the vanilla 11, as opposed to the more traditional curved screen of the 11 Pro. The putative newer model is still tipped to rock its brand's leading combination of a 2K resolution, E6 AMOLED and a 144Hz refresh rate.

The latest "11S" leak also hints at the same rear cameras of the 11 Pro - as well as its class-leading 200W charging technology, even if the battery in question is of a slightly smaller 4,700mAh capacity.

Its mid-frame may have a combination of metal and plastic - nevertheless, the "iQOO 11S" could well lead the mid-year phase of the Android release cycle - especially if it follows the 11 in becoming available in markets such as India as well as China.