iQOO Z10R review: the sweet spot between value and performance

The iQOO Z10R is the brand’s new addition to its Z10 series lineup, and takes a middle ground strategy. The more affordable iQOO Z10x (review) is all about performance and battery life at a more entry-level price point. Meanwhile, its pricier cousin, the iQOO Z10 (review), similarly boasts about its performance capabilities and has one of the biggest batteries to date. The iQOO Z10R, instead, opts for a more balanced approach. Let’s find out if the iQOO Z10R manages to stand out as the true all-rounder it promises to be.

Verdict

The iQOO Z10R offers a premium, water-resistant design and vibrant display, excellent for multimedia usage. Performance is quite reliable for daily use, and the 4K video support on the front camera is a highlight feature for creators. However, the lack of a wide-angle camera is a major drawback, and the charging time feels a bit slow. All in all, it’s a strong choice for users who prioritise a durable build, display, and high-resolution selfie videos.

Sleek, yet sturdy design

Smartphone	Thickness	Weight	IP Rating
iQOO Z10R	7.39 mm	183.5 grams	IP68 +IP69
CMF Phone 2 Pro	7.8 mm	185 grams	IP54
Realme Narzo 80 Pro	7.55 mm	179 grams	IP68 +IP66 +IP69

The iQOO Z10R’s design looks quite similar to the Vivo V50 series. You get a brushed, reflective finish on the back, and the frame has a metallic finish, and both come together nicely. The large camera island on the rear panel incorporates a circular flash ring that the brand calls “Aura Light.” There’s no wobble, which is a pleasant surprise. It is quite lightweight and very sleek, which makes it comfortable to hold and gives it a premium feel overall. The device incorporates both IP68/69 ratings, so its dust and water resistance is top-notch.

A charming, vibrant display

The display is honestly my favourite aspect about this phone. What makes it special is its quad-curved design, which makes the device feel very distinct compared to other offerings in this price bracket. The phone comes with a 6.78-inch AMOLED panel with a standard 120Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness level of 4,500 nits. The high brightness mode maxes out at 1,300 nits, which I feel is more than sufficient for both indoors and outdoors. I never faced issues with visibility, even when I was out and about.

The colours are quite punchy, and the viewing experience is very immersive. It is all made better by the accompanying stereo speaker setup. The sound is crisp and loud, and it improves the multimedia experience immensely. Another point to note is that the regular iQOO Z10 surprisingly comes with a mono speaker, so this is an upgrade in some ways.

Cameras

The iQOO Z10R comes with a 50MP Sony IMX882 primary sensor paired with a depth sensor. The primary camera has OIS and a wider field of view to somewhat offset the absence of the wide-angle lens. At the front, you get a 32MP sensor for selfies and video calls. In daylight, the cameras take appealing images with good dynamic range and balanced highlights and shadows.

The colours lean a little warmer and more vibrant, which makes them social media-ready, and you don’t need much post-processing. The portraits come out looking clean, with a good level of detail, although the facial details aren’t the best as the camera tends to soften the skin. The selfie camera is quite nice, with sharp, detailed shots and good overall colours.

In low light, the device manages to click decent pictures, although when you zoom in closer, noise tends to be present quite often. I’m not too fond of iQOO’s night mode wither. It tends to overdo colours, which makes the final result look quite off. The key highlight here is that both the primary camera and the front camera are capable of 4K recording, and you can even switch between the two without interruption.

I compared the iQOO Z10R’s cameras against the CMF Phone 2 Pro (review), which is another capable camera phone in this price bracket. Here’s how it went: 

Daylight

In daylight, both phones output good results, albeit with some minor differences. The iQOO Z10R’s image has higher contrast and a wider dynamic range compared to the CMF Phone 2 Pro, which looks flatter. In terms of details, both devices are almost on par with each other, and there are minimal differences between the two. When it comes to colour accuracy, neither device is very colour-accurate, and they both represent the actual scene quite differently.

Portrait

In portraits, there’s a stark difference between the output of both phones. The CMF Phone 2 Pro’s image is underexposed and looks dull. The iQOO Z10R’s image, in turn, is much better exposed and even represents the skin tones quite nicely. In terms of facial details, the CMF Phone 2 Pro does a better job, owing to its telephoto lens; however, its edge detection isn’t as clean as its competitor’s.

Selfie

The iQOO Z10R does a much better job when it comes to selfies, owing to a few factors. Its skin colour reproduction is quite close to reality, and it preserves a lot more facial details. The CMF Phone 2 Pro’s image has softer facial details, and its dynamic range is comparatively lower.

Low light

With night mode enabled on both phones, the iQOO Z10R’s low-light results look more appealing than the CMF Phone 2 Pro’s at first glance. The former manages to better expose the actual scene and handles lens flares and stray light a lot more cleanly. The CMF Phone 2 Pro’s colour science, however, is a lot closer to reality, while the iQOO Z10R takes a lot of liberties with colour correction.

Performance that delivers

At its core, the iQOO Z10R uses a MediaTek Dimensity 7400 SoC, paired with up to 12GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage. There is a major hiccup here, though: the lack of expandable storage. You are stuck with the storage variant you choose, so it’s better to go for the 256GB variant in 2025.

Coming to the phone’s performance, for regular everyday use, it works without issues. I didn’t notice any performance dips or lags while scrolling through the app drawer, switching between different apps, or multitasking. There were no heating issues during general day-to-day tasks either.

When it comes to gaming, the iQOO Z10R handles most modern titles fairly well. Even demanding ones like BGMI and Genshin Impact can run at medium settings with a playable 30fps experience. BGMI also supports 90fps on Smooth graphics, and while it doesn’t hold a steady 90fps, you can expect consistent performance around the 75fps mark.

Relatively less demanding battle royales like COD: Mobile run smoothly too, averaging over 50fps at medium settings. Thermals are also well under control, with just an average 2.3-degree Celsius increase after 30 minutes of gaming. The phone does have a Vapour Chamber for cooling, but the brand has not specified its dimensions. It still stays pretty cool, so, all in all, it’s a great pick for gamers.

Software needs more refinement

Funtouch OS 15, based on Android 15, is quite stable and smooth for day-to-day use and offers you tons of features. There are a lot of options to customise OS animations as well, from the app drawer, home screen, face unlock, screen lock, etc., and you can add a personal flair to your device. The number of pre-loaded apps is lower compared to before, which is a good decision, but you still get your fair share of pre-installed apps out of the box—14 of them, to be exact.

While the OS functionally, is mostly flawless, there are a few things that I feel could be improved. The refresh rate isn’t consistent across apps, even when you restrict it to 120Hz. The UX elements receive no love, and the UI overall looks rather archaic; it doesn’t exude any premiumness. It is a function-over-form approach, but in 2025, the software experience is an aspect that’s just as essential. An OS that lacks aesthetics and customisability detracts from the otherwise excellent device at hand here.

You also have a suite of AI features like AI Screen Translate, Live Image (extract text from images), Circle to Search, etc., which basically function as their namesakes. The AI Documentation is a new feature that helps you quickly scan photos and convert them to files in moments. You get two major OS upgrades until Android 17 and security updates until 2028, which is pretty standard for this price segment.

A decent battery but we could do with more

One of the more surprising aspects of the iQOO Z10R is its smaller 5,700mAh cell paired with 44W fast-charging support. Despite the comparatively smaller size, the battery shows great results both in benchmarks and actual use. During our lab tests, which span around 2 hours and involve gaming and video playback, the battery dropped just 21 percent, which is slightly better than the segment average of 22 percent. Even in the PCMark battery life test, the result was superior to quite a few devices with 6,000mAh cells.

In my day-to-day use, I got about 6–7 hours of SOT with 5G usage thrown in. That’s not a big number in 2025, but it is more than sufficient for my use case, and the phone will get through the day for most regular users unless you happen to be a particularly demanding user. In terms of charging speed, the 44W paired charger takes a little over an hour to charge fully, which is acceptable, but it could have been faster given the battery isn’t that large.

Final Verdict

Starting at Rs 19,499, the iQOO Z10R offers a good set of features and strong performance for its price. Its main competitors in this segment are the CMF Phone 2 Pro and the Realme Narzo 80 Pro. The CMF Phone 2 Pro gives you better cameras, including dedicated telephoto and wide-angle lenses, a smoother OS experience, and a unique design, but it falls short in battery life and durability. On the other hand, the Realme Narzo 80 Pro has a larger battery, much faster charging speed, and offers comparable performance and durability metrics.

Coming back to the iQOO Z10 R, the only real drawbacks are the absence of a wide-angle lens and a charging time that feels a bit slow, though neither is a major dealbreaker. If you value a sleek, durable build, reliable performance for day-to-day tasks, a decent camera setup with 4K video support on both the front and rear cameras, and an exceptional multimedia experience, then the iQOO Z10R will be a good fit. It is a capable all-rounder under Rs 20,000. 

Editor’s Rating: 8 / 10

Reasons to buy:

• The phone features a premium design and comes with IP68/69 ratings for water and dust resistance.
• Its multimedia output is excellent, thanks to the vibrant display and stereo speakers.
• The overall performance is fast and reliable for daily use.
• The front camera supports 4K video recording, which is great for creators.

Reasons not to buy: 

• The charging time feels somewhat slow compared to rivals with faster charging support.
• The camera system lacks a wide-angle lens, limiting versatility in photography.