iQOO is all set to launch its next flagship smartphone, the iQOO 16, in China later this month. With the launch now just around the corner, a new leak has revealed some key details about the phone’s display. The iQOO 16 will feature Samsung’s latest M16 OLED panel, along with a 2K resolution. The display is also expected to bring improvements in brightness, power efficiency and touch response. Let’s take a detailed look at it below.
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iQOO 16: specifications and features
At the Samsung Display × iQOO screen technology event, the company confirmed that the iQOO 16 will feature a 2K 165Hz display, making it the first smartphone to combine the two specifications. The higher 2K resolution will make images and text look sharper, while the 165Hz refresh rate allows the phone to push better framerates in games.
Samsung Display and iQOO jointly developed the panel using Samsung’s M16 luminescent material and new 2K LEAD 2.0 technology. iQOO has also added a custom high-refresh-rate IC and a dedicated production line for its flagship phones. You can find the presentation slides translated from Chinese below.
iQOO has improved the display’s colour performance, with 1.24x P3 gamut coverage allowing it to reproduce a wider range of colours than standard displays. The company has also improved colour uniformity by 39.6 percent and brightness uniformity by 22.3 percent compared with the previous generation. The company also claims a colour accuracy of ±0.001 using its sub-pixel-level colour and brightness compensation algorithm, although independent testing will give us a better idea of how this performs in real-world use.
For gaming, the display supports 5,000Hz instantaneous touch sampling and 500Hz multi-finger sampling. The iQOO 16 supports 5,000Hz instantaneous touch sampling and 500Hz multi-finger sampling, allowing the display to detect touch inputs more quickly. iQOO’s Q-Flex control technology also reduces the delay between a user’s touch and the corresponding action on screen. These technologies will mostly help competitive gamers and enthusiasts in e-sports titles.
The display supports 1,100 nits of manual peak brightness, 2,800 nits of global peak brightness and up to 10,000 nits of local peak brightness. The global figure refers to the brightness the display can achieve across a larger portion of the screen, while local peak brightness applies to smaller areas, such as highlights in HDR content.
Other features include full-brightness DC dimming and up to 3,300Hz PWM dimming, which are designed to control screen brightness while reducing visible flickering. The panel also gets three photosensitive full-area light sensors, an unpolarised natural light display and a gaming glare protection mode.
Should you wait for the iQOO 16?
The iQOO 16 keeps the same 2K resolution and 508ppi pixel density as the iQOO 15 (review), but the newer panel brings several upgrades. It gets a 165Hz refresh rate, Samsung’s newer M16 material and LEAD 2.0 technology, along with better colour and brightness uniformity. iQOO also claims improved power efficiency and longer panel longevity compared with the previous generation. On paper, the iQOO 16 also offers higher brightness, although the different measurement methods make a direct comparison difficult.
For existing iQOO 15 users, the display upgrade alone may not be enough reason to switch, especially since the resolution remains unchanged. However, the newer panel, improved efficiency and other hardware upgrades could make the iQOO 16 a decent upgrade when considered as a complete package.
The iQOO 16 is expected to cost around Rs 85,000 to Rs 90,000 in India, with the ongoing memory shortage pushing component costs higher. That makes it an extremely premium option, but if you want a phone focused on gaming and performance while also delivering a high-end multimedia experience, the iQOO 16 could be one of the best choices in India. It is expected to feature Qualcomm’s latest flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro chipset along with top-end memory and storage, which should make it very appealing to power users.
