After several leaks and teasers, the iQOO 15R’s India launch date has been officially revealed. The iQOO 15R is set to debut in India on February 24th. The handset is important as it’s the first ‘R’ model in the flagship lineup, and it’s expected to play the part of a sub-flagship or affordable alternative to the iQOO 15. Nothing has been revealed about the device except for its design, but benchmark listings suggest it will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 SoC, a popular chipset in the sub-flagship category.
Nipun Marya, CEO of iQOO India, shared the launch date announcement on X with a teaser image of the phone’s back design. The iQOO 15R is seen sporting a checkered design, which seems quite bold and may not be the final look. The camera module is a squircle, but with the sensors sitting together horizontally. The design is closely similar to the iQOO Z11 Turbo, which launched in China earlier this month. It’s also speculated that the iQOO 15R will be based on the Z11 Turbo, and the design further corroborates it.
Another indication is the iQOO 15R’s listing on Geekbench. A Vivo device with the model number I2508 was spotted on Geekbench, which is believed to be the Indian variant of the iQOO 15R. The chipset details suggest it’s the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 SoC, which also powers the Z11 Turbo. This makes sense too, since the iQOO 15R will be based on the flagship iQOO 15, and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 is the closest in performance to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. The Geekbench listing also reveals Android 16 and 8GB RAM for the iQOO 15R.
Based on the strong speculation that the iQOO 15R is indeed a rebrand of the Z11 Turbo, we can expect it to feature a 6.59-inch 1.5K AMOLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate, similar to the OnePlus 15R, which also uses the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5. Camera specs could be a 200MP primary sensor and an 8MP ultra-wide camera at the back, and a 32MP front camera.
The iQOO 15R could pack a 7,600mAh battery with 100W wired fast charging, making it one of the best setups in the segment. This would be a big boost for the phone in terms of endurance, especially for gamers and power users. The smartphone could also come with IP68 and IP69 ratings for dust and water resistance. It could be offered in multiple variants, going up to 1TB UFS 4.1 storage and 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM.
It’s safe to say that the iQOO 15R will be a performance-focused smartphone like most phones in the near-flagship category. This isn’t to say that other key aspects like camera and design will not be great, but there may be better alternatives. With less than a month to go for the iQOO 15R India launch, the smartphone could be one to wait for if a sub-flagship is on your mind.
Pricing will be key here, and one that might just change the phone’s positioning in the segment. It’s tipped that the iQOO 15R could be priced around Rs 40,000 in India. If true, then it would give the phone a major advantage over the OnePlus 15R, which is priced at RS 47,999.
