iQoo Z7 5G first impressions: a segment shaker?

The iQoo Z7 5G is official and is the company’s latest contender for the best smartphone under Rs. 20,000 in India. Compared to the iQoo Z6 5G, the iQoo Z7 5G has received many improvements such as better display, more powerful SoC, improved camera configuration and faster charging. However, like most smartphones launched in 2023, the iQoo Z7 5G is more expensive than the outgoing model.

The iQoo Z7 5G has a full polycarbonate body. The choice of materials helps the weight of the phone to be lighter at 173g. It’s also thinner than its predecessor at 7.8mm. The phone sports a flat frame design and rounded corners. Overall, I kinda like the in-hand feel of the Z7 5G.

The Pacific Night color of the iQoo Z7 5G gives it a pretty premium look with a shimmering back that glows when light hits it from different angles. There are also diagonal gradient patterns on the back panel. If you want something colorful, there is also a Norway Blue variant. Both color options come with an IP54 rating for basic water and dust protection.

iQoo Z7 5G offers a good grip thanks to its lightweight design

The iQoo Z7 5G has a 6.38-inch Full HD+ screen with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels. The display has been upgraded to an AMOLED panel, with a 90Hz refresh rate. The display claims to have 1,300 nits of peak brightness. There is a small teardrop notch that gives the phone a slightly dated look. The chin is also quite thick compared to the rest of the glasses. There’s an in-display fingerprint scanner and AI facial recognition support too.

The iQoo Z7 5G has a single speaker at the bottom which, while loud, doesn’t seem like enough for a proper multimedia experience. Fortunately, the smartphone has a 3.5mm headphone jack next to the USB Type-C port on the bottom edge. The power and volume buttons on the right side are quite easy to reach. At the top, there’s the hybrid SIM slot, which supports storage expansion up to 1TB via a microSD card.

iQoo Z7 5G’s display is said to offer 1,300 nits of peak brightness

The iQoo Z7 5G features a MediaTek Dimensity 920 SoC, which the company claims is the fastest in the segment. It certainly looks like a decent upgrade over iQoo Z6 5G’s Snapdragon 695 SoC, which featured in several smartphones last year, such as the Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G (Review), OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite 5G (Review), etc. However, we’ll have to test it out and see how well the hardware is tuned with the Android 13-based Funtouch OS 13 software, in the full review. The iQoo Z7 5G is confirmed to get two major Android updates and security patches for three years.

There is a dual camera setup on the back. The phone has a 64-megapixel Samsung GW3 main sensor with support for optical image stabilization (OIS). There is also a 2-megapixel sensor which is used for depth calculation in Portrait mode. For selfies, the phone has a 16-megapixel front camera. We’ll share our detailed experience with the iQoo Z7 5G’s cameras in the full review.

iQoo Z7 5G’s teardrop notch gives it a slightly dated look

The phone has a 4,500mAh battery with 44W fast charging support. While the charging speed has improved, the iQoo Z7 5G packs a smaller battery than the outgoing model. iQoo claims the phone can charge from zero to 50% in 25 minutes.

The iQoo Z7 5G was launched in two storage options. The base configuration offers 6GB of RAM, while our review unit came with 8GB of RAM. Both variants offer 128GB of UFS 2.2 storage as standard. The iQoo Z7 5G has a starting price of Rs. 18,999 in India. Should you consider this your next smartphone? Find out in the full review coming soon to Gadgets 360.

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