iQOO Z10X review: for gamers on a budget

iQOO’s push to offer the best gaming phones in India at highly competitive prices continues with its latest Z10 series. We recently reviewed the iQOO Z10, which comes across as a terrific option under Rs 25,000 for users focused on performance and battery life. The series also includes a more affordable Z10x, focusing on the same parameters (with a few compromises). The smartphone features the MediaTek Dimensity 7300, which has become a go-to chipset for many OEMs for their offerings across segments. Can the iQOO Z10x live up to the reputation of its predecessor, which remains a great choice under Rs 15,000? Let’s find out.

Verdict

The iQOO Z10x brings a handful of thoughtful upgrades over its predecessor, making it a solid choice for users seeking a balanced, reliable smartphone. It handles mild gaming and moderate multitasking quite well, offering decent cameras and good battery life. I was also pleasantly surprised by its stable 5G connectivity for the price. That said, there’s room for improvement in areas like charging speed and overall software experience.

Design and display

There are many similarities between the iQOO Z10x and Vivo T4x‘s design. Apart from the different branding and colour options, both smartphones carry dual cameras on the back inside a rectangular module and have identical dimensions. I prefer the iQOO Z10x colour options (Ultramarine and Titanium) much more than the Vivo T4x’s Pronto Purple and Marine Blue models. The latter’s colours have a minimalist appeal and are less flashy than Vivo’s.

The iQOO Z10x’s in-hand feeling is also highly ergonomic, at least for my grip. Despite carrying a massive battery, the phone is reasonably thin and light, which undoubtedly is a plus point. I also prefer its button placement, though a headphone jack and IR blaster on the smartphone would’ve been ideal for users in this segment. Durability-wise, the IP64 rating offers decent protection against dust and water, though Realme has raised the bar with an IP69 rating (with Rs 13,999-worth Realme P3X) for much better and more reliable protection. The Z10X also has the MIL-STD 810H certification to ensure its durability in case of accidental drops.

Like most rivals in the segment, the iQOO Z10X features a tall 120Hz 6.72-inch display with full HD resolution (1,080 x 2,408 pixels). However, iQOO has utilised an IPS panel, which has limitations in colour compared to an AMOLED display.

During my review, the iQOO Z10X offered a decent viewing experience, with its tall display handy for reading and messaging. Its colours and contrast can feel slightly muted, especially if upgrading from an older Redmi phone with an AMOLED screen. But if that’s not a dealbreaker, the tall display (L1 Widevine certified for full HD streaming) paired with loud stereo speakers delivers a sufficiently good multimedia experience.

Cameras

The iQOO Z10X features a familiar camera setup, similar to many rivals in its segment. It houses a 50MP primary camera with auto-focus support. However, there’s no ultra-wide lens – something I hope becomes a standard across all segments as we move into 2025. Instead, the phone offers a 2MP depth sensor to improve portrait shots. The rear camera module also includes a second LED flash, though not for improving low-light shots, but to light up while the phone is charging, adding a fun and aesthetic touch.

Like its predecessor, the iQOO Z10X prioritises natural tones and balanced contrast in most lighting conditions. There can be occasional inconsistencies with the bokeh effect, but that could be a common issue across smartphones in this category. Otherwise, the dynamic range is typically good, though HDR mode can sometimes overexpose the images.

I was equally surprised by the selfie camera performance, as the shots turned out with a fair amount of detail and balanced colours. It’s not always perfect, but the colour science makes up for it, especially for those who prefer a neutral finish.?

Therefore, the iQOO Z10X is a decent choice for camera-focused users on a tight budget. I also compared its camera performance against the POCO M7 Pro (review) under various lighting conditions. Let’s take a look.

Daylight

There’s a fair bit of difference in both smartphones’ colour science. The daylight shot with POCO M7 Pro is closer to the reality, but the iQOO Z10X’s image is more aesthetically pleasing with deeper blues and blacks. The latter also captures greater detail levels.

Portrait

The iQOO Z10X offers a tighter focal length with portrait mode enabled, but it lacks a rich bokeh effect even with consistent settings across both smartphones. The POCO M7 Pro’s image looks closer to an actual portrait with a deeper depth of field, though it struggles with exposure balance. That said, both smartphones capture near-accurate skin tones, which users will surely appreciate.

Selfie

iQOO Z10’s selfie looks more natural, though the POCO M7 Pro does a brilliant job of capturing facial details. The latter also offers a wide field of view, which can be useful in group shots.

The POCO M7 Pro has also boosted green spots in the image for a dramatic approach.

Low-light (night mode enabled)

As mentioned, the iQOO Z10X remains consistent with its natural colour approach even in low light, even with night mode enabled. iQOO handles excessive light relatively better and also captures slightly more details.

The iQOO’s shot suffers from noticeable grain, likely a result of bumping up the ISO to brighten the image. In contrast, the POCO M7 Pro manages to preserve respectable detail without introducing distracting noise, delivering a cleaner shot in the same lighting.

Performance and software

The iQOO Z10X draws power from MediaTek’s Dimensity 7300 SoC, a chipset that’s become fairly common in this segment. This SoC also powers the newly launched Infinix Note 50x (review), OPPO F29 Pro (review), and Vivo T4X. iQOO has done a terrific job optimising the processor, achieving the highest AnTuTu score in the sub-Rs 15K category (based on our data). Meanwhile, the Vivo T4X retains the top spot in Geekbench benchmarks, suggesting iQOO has fine-tuned the GPU to deliver smoother gaming performance on the Z10X.

In our 90-minute BGMI, COD Mobile, and Real Racing 3 gaming tests, the iQOO Z10X left a solid impression with its battery and thermal efficiency. It supports HDR graphics with Ultra frame rates (60FPS) in BGMI – a decent combo considering its price. With HD graphics and High frame rates, it delivered an average frame rate of 28.8FPS after 30 minutes of continuous gaming, only a notch below rivals like the Realme P3X (29.6FPS) and POCO M7 Pro (29.8FPS) under the same graphical settings in BGMI. On the other hand, it offered one of the best gameplay experiences in COD Mobile, clocking an impressive average of 57FPS at Medium and High graphical settings for the same duration.

For daily work, the iQOO Z10X offers a reasonably fluid interface and animations. As a part of the Android 15-based FuntouchOS 15 OS, there are a few AI-backed features, like Circle to Search and AI Eraser, which are also my go-to tools on a daily basis. Otherwise, you might notice some lag if you push the limit, particularly while multitasking. It’s not a dealbreaker in this segment, and the issue does not isolate iQOO Z10X from the competition.

iQOO is gradually working to reduce the number of pre-installed apps on its devices. The latest iQOO Z10X ships with 53 apps, including six third-party removable applications. I also appreciate its efforts to improve the update cycle to two major OS updates and three years’ worth of security patches. The CMF Phone 1 (review) remains the best option under Rs 15K for stock Android lovers. Motorola has a few decent options in this range for those who want to experience a near-stock Android OS.

The iQOO Z10X also has several 5G band support (SA and NSA) to ensure reliable 5G connectivity in different areas.

Battery and charging

As mentioned, the major attraction here is the 6,500mAh battery powering the iQOO Z10X. The phone also supports 44W fast charging, with the charger included in the box. The Vivo T4X took considerably less time to charge despite having the same battery capacity and charging support. That said, the battery backup offered by the iQOO Z10X is solid for productivity and gaming-focused users.

With the highest settings enabled, the phone easily lasted an entire day. As highlighted earlier, the iQOO Z10X also proved its strength in our 90-minute gaming tests across BGMI, COD Mobile, and Real Racing 3. We recorded an average battery drop of 6 percent by the end of the session. The Vivo T4X continues to lead the segment with an average consumption of 5.33 percent under the same conditions. However, the iQOO Z10X managed thermals much better – something hardcore gamers will surely appreciate.

The iQOO Z10X also performed decently in the synthetic battery benchmark, lasting over 14 hours in the PCMark battery test, which includes testing the battery capacity in ideal conditions, like flight mode-enabled and 50 percent brightness and audio levels.

Final verdict

While the iQOO Z10X shares similarities with the Vivo T4X, it’s undoubtedly one of the best options for productivity-focused and gaming lovers at just Rs 13,499. iQOO is also offering several deals on its official channels, effectively reducing the price by around Rs 1,500 – a terrific deal if you’re eyeing the higher 8GB RAM or 256GB storage variants.

It’s equally worth considering if battery life and 5G support matter to you. That said, the next iteration could benefit from improvements in the display quality and fewer pre-installed apps to better stand out against rivals like Motorola and CMF.

If those aren’t dealbreakers, the iQOO Z10X, powered by the Dimensity 7300 SoC, is sure to impress BGMI and Call of Duty enthusiasts.

Editor’s rating: 8 / 10

Reasons to buy:

• The iQOO Z10X offers a dependable performance for gaming and daily productivity.
• Its 50MP camera takes decent shots in various lighting conditions.
• The 6,500mAh battery provides a reliably long backup per charge.
• The tall display, with loud stereo speakers, will appeal to customers.

Reasons not to buy:

• The phone comes with several pre-installed apps.
• The charging speed is slower compared to rivals.