Smartphone prices are rising industry-wide due to a sharp increase in global component costs, especially memory and advanced chips, driven by massive backend AI demand from data centres and cloud infrastructure, Nipun Marya, iQOO CEO told Financial Express.
Since mid-November, average smartphone prices across various segments have risen by 5 to 21 percent. Prices may climb further by April if component expenses stay high and the rupee keeps depreciating.
“Consumers are understandably not happy with these price hikes, but unfortunately this is beyond the control of smartphone makers. While iQOO 15R pricing will reflect this new reality of flagship-class hardware costs, as a brand we are committed to make iQOO 15R as accessible as possible,” Marya mentioned.
As per Marya, global component costs—particularly chipsets, memory, and displays—have been rising sharply, driven by massive demand from AI workloads, data-centre expansion, and cloud infrastructure. This has directly increased the cost of flagship-class hardware across the industry, and the iQOO 15R reflects this broader market reality.
iQOO to go beyond gaming
iQOO is positioning itself as a brand focused on delivering strong overall performance, not just gaming-centric devices. Instead of limiting its appeal to gamers, iQOO is building smartphones that offer powerful processors, efficient multitasking, smooth displays, reliable battery life, and fast charging to meet everyday needs.
The brand aims to create well-rounded devices that handle gaming, productivity, entertainment, and daily tasks with equal ease, making them suitable for a wide range of users.
“iQOO has always been positioned around high performance, not just gaming, with gaming being one visible way to demonstrate performance. iQOO’s research shows only around 40% of iQOO users play hardcore games, and the majority are non-gamers who choose iQOO for fast performance, smooth multitasking, strong battery life, and reliable everyday use,” he said.
“Gaming has always been a proof point of performance for us, but performance today means much more than just gaming. For today’s generation, performance is about how fast your phone helps you complete tasks, switch between apps, respond to emails, edit documents, join calls, and create content without lag or friction,” Marya mentioned.
iQOO 15R will soon make its debut in India
The iQOO 15R will soon make its debut in India as the latest entrant in the brand’s flagship portfolio, which currently includes the iQOO 15. The smartphone is confirmed to feature a 144Hz AMOLED display, support for Bluetooth 6 and Wi-Fi 7, and an ultrasonic 3D fingerprint sensor for enhanced security.
“Though for iQOO even in this environment, our priority with the iQOO 15R was to prioritise consumer-requested upgrades instead of scaling back. We focused on delivering maximum value by combining flagship-level performance, long battery life, AI features, and a premium design in a highly competitive segment,” Marya noted.
iQOO has revealed that its upcoming mid-tier flagship smartphone will be driven by the octa-core Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 processor, developed on a 3nm fabrication process. The handset has reportedly achieved an AnTuTu score exceeding 3.5 million. The company says the new chip delivers nearly 36 percent better CPU performance and about a 46 percent gain in NPU efficiency.
In addition to the main processor, the device will incorporate a Q2 supercomputing chip and a separate chip designed to enhance network performance. To manage heat, it features a 6.5K IceCore VC cooling system that, according to iQOO, can bring down the phone’s temperature by up to 15 degrees Celsius within 10 minutes. The brand also claims the device will support gameplay at up to 144Hz using frame interpolation technology, along with up to 1.5K Super Resolution support.